Overclockers Hideout Nitro Watercooled Case review

Published By: Paul Machado
Review Date: August 9/2002
Product Supplied By: Overclockers Hideout

Conclusion:

Well what can I say? What I can personally say about the Nitro system is that it has to be one of the nicest looking and one of the best performing water-cooled case on the market. The Z4 watercooling kit keeps everything nice and neat and does a great job at cooling a CPU. The Cooler Master ATC210 case with the side window is the perfect housing for the entire system.

Now I haven't really talked about how installing hardware into the Nitro system was. Since the Cooler Master ATC210 case has a removable motherboard tray installation of all the expansion cards and motherboard was a breeze. With the use of thumbscrews to hold the expansion cards there are no tools required for this part of the installation. Once the motherboard and expansion cards were installed in the tray simply slide it back into place and that's it. The next step is to install all of the CD-Rom drives, HD's and so forth. After that is done do all of the cabling. Connect the CD-Rom drives, HD's and any power wires you may need. After all if this is done then go ahead and install the Z4 Aquasink. I found out this is the best order to install all of the components with ease. To install the Aquasink it is best to keep the case on its side while installation to prevent any accidents from occurring like putting to much pressure on the core of the CPU.

As you can see on the previous page the Nitro system performs extremely well. I was able to get my XP1800 to 1870MHz which is a very nice overclock and the highest I have been able to get this CPU to go. The CPU has a lot more potential but my HD is preventing me from going any higher. Will have an update on that later. Not just that but the temperatures are quite low as well. So I think we have a lot more to see from the Nitro system.

Now I have to be honest and point out some quirks of the Nitro system. I believe what is really holding the system back as far as temperatures go is the fact that the radiator used in the Nitro system is not the greatest. OCH does have a nice larger radiator which would perform much better in this system. But due to the limit of space the smaller less effective one had to be used. Although it does perform quite well it is still holding the system back.

Another down point in the Nitro system is that the radiator takes up one 5 1/4" bay. Now there are not many people who fill up all three bays in a computer so this is not really a terrible con. Due to the size and type of case used this was the best place for the radiator. I don't want to be so picky but I feel this should be mentioned.

Overall the Nitro system is a great performer. OCH certainly did a great job with the layout of the system and put a lot of work into the case like they do in every product they carry. The quality just can't be matched. With that said the Overclockers Hideout Nitro System receives the TechwareLabs "Seal of Approval".