Review: Kryotech Renegade.

After months of feeling inadequate with my AMD K6-200, I finally decided to put together a new computer. As a college student, it’s tough for me to afford a Pentium chip, and though a firm AMD supporter, I did some research and finally decided to go with an Intel Celeron, primarily for price reasons. It was with some hesitation at first that I decided to go the overclocking route, but figured it was the best way to save some money so that I could funnel funds towards other hardware, like a new AGP video card. Despite the amount of information out there regarding overclocking, especially overclocking Celeron chips, a lot of people are still hesitant to jump on the bandwagon, mainly because of the few stories out there of failed attempts, or burnt out chips for other reasons. Only a year prior, I burnt out my AMD K6-200, and had to get it replaced. I wasn’t overclocking it, and I found that the reason was because the computer store I bought the chip from gave me an insufficient heatsink. It became very clear to me that the overclocking route would require a monolithic cooling system, especially if I wanted to be safe from burn-outs.

I managed to find a couple sites that boasted great cooling for someone taking the Celeron-overclocking route. Though I almost went with one of these models, ranging from 25 to 80 dollars, I decided not to for a couple reasons. First off, they were still fans, and though fans blow air, they still blow warm air if the computer case doesn’t have great circulation. My old case was a full tower with three case fans in it, plus the fan on my heatsink, and it was still pretty warm in there. Since my new computer would be on for extended hours, just like my old computer was, I knew that I’d need to get a big darn case if I wanted to get a fan. Considering the amount of peripherals I have in my computer (2 HDs, 7 cards, 2 FDs and 2 CDs), I needed to maintain as much circulation as possible, and that simply wasn’t possible unless I got a full tower, something server-size.

So, as it stood, I was probably going to shell out 60 bucks for a good fan, and about 200 bucks for a decent case. Now, if you know anything about the Renegade, you know that it’s pretty expensive, running about 400 dollars. Your reaction to this is probably similar to what my own was, and I figured that throwing a big ol’ fan onto the Celeron would be enough. What you have to realize, though, is that the big ol’ fan is really damn big, sucking in air from all over the place. I knew right away that the fans would likely be too big, sitting adjacent to some peripheral, or maybe taking up space that could otherwise be used to throw wiring or another card. That simply wasn’t agreeable with me, and when I looked into what boards the fans were used with, so that I could know if the fans conflicted with the way the board was layed out, I found only one model listed for both boards, the Abit BH6. Now, I didn’t buy a BH6, so this information was useless to me, and neither of the fan vendors had any information as to what other boards the fans worked with, Abit boards or not.

One more variable thrown into the equation was the fan’s power. While I was going to get a 300W power supply with my case anyway, I knew that the fans themselves, in addition to the case fans, would be pretty darn loud. Considering that while I’m at school the computer stays on most of the time, even at night when I’m going to sleep, I didn’t want the computer roaring. It’s one thing when my car does it, but another entirely when my computer does.

Along these same lines, anyone who works a lot with computers knows that they emit a lot of heat. In a tiny room in a non-air-conditioned apartment, with only two small windows on one wall, you want to create as little heat as possible during the warmer months. Going the fan route, even if the CPU was kept cool, the area around the computer wasn’t, and as for the peripherals in the system, including a Voodoo2 card, I started to lean towards the Kryotech solution.

Before I decided on what kind of computer to put together, I considered getting a barebones Kryotech system with an AMD K6-3. The idea of a super-cooled computer running at -40 degrees C was appealing, but expensive. This, in addition to the fact that the case was not reusable, made me decide that a Kryotech system was not the best idea. However, the Renegade case could be reused, and though the cooling system didn’t go to -40 degrees C, but rather to room temperature (27 degrees C), the removal of heat was still excellent compared to other options.

The merits of the Renegade became pretty obvious after a little contemplation. The cooling system stood below the case itself, as a base, and from it came a black tube with a metal plate at the other end. This was attached to the processor, and since it was just a metal plate, it was actually smaller than any heatsink/fan combination I could put on it. What’s more, since the metal plate became cool when the system was on, that coolness was distributed throughout the case, meaning I wouldn’t have to add any fans to the case, either. This brought about yet another bonus: since I didn’t need to add case fans, I wouldn’t have to worry about dust being sucked into the computer and covering my hardware. There would also be no fans to clean, and the coolant system would always be running at peak performance.

With all this in mind, I purchased the Renegade from a reseller from another state, because those that claimed to have it near me didn’t. One major flaw in Kryotech’s distribution is that the Renegade doesn’t come with a power supply. They claim that most users probably already have power supplies, yet in almost every review I’ve read on the Renegade, the author didn’t have extra power supplies lying around. In the many years that I’ve been collecting old computer parts, I haven’t yet had a power supply I wasn’t using. Considering that what I needed was a 300W power supply, the very same that Kryotech recommends, it’s a wonder that their stance is what it is; 300W power supplies haven’t been out there for that long, and have not yet been sold mainstream in most commercial computers.

I read early on that the Renegade was a hulking mass. There were warnings that the case ought not to be picked up by a person bending over, because of potential back damage. When I first brought the huge box up the stairs and into my room, I realized that the reports were right. The Kryotech was really heavy, though after carting the completed system to and from friend’s houses for the NetFests that followed, I got somewhat used to it. The main problem of the case isn’t the weight, but the lack of holding space. There are three plastic panels that can be removed from the base of the computer, revealing the metal casing of the refrigeration unit. Since you’re not supposed to carry the case with these plastic panels on (as you might break them off), all you can grab onto is the thin metal base, which is wider than the rest of the case. This is really awkward for moving the case longer distances, and when carrying the system up stairs and such, you’ll definately feel stress on your back.

The inside design of the case was actually quite decent. I tend to be pretty picky about cases, and though I wouldn’t have purchased the Kryotech for its case design, the refrigeration unit more than made up for it. The inside of the case itself was pretty roomy. Considering there are only three external drive bays (5.25″), I was able to wire everything with little hassle, and the fact that the area for the computer components wasn’t extra tall made wiring the system pretty easy.

The manual that came with the Renegade was pretty complete, and a quick skimming of it paid off. The motherboard diagrams were nice, though the holes diagramed in the manual didn’t match up with the holes in my motherboard. Slight annoyance, but no big deal.

The thermal tube that runs from the refrigeration unit into the upper-level case was pretty tough to move. The manual that came with the Renegade suggested I not twist it too much, or bring it to any tight angles, else it could break. The feel of bending the tube was like bending thick wire, and I wasn’t quite sure what Kryotech considered “too much” bending. When I first tried getting it the way I wanted it, even using very little force, I heard a slight crack, though I think this was the outter tubing, rather than the wire within. Once I popped my Celeron processor into the Slot-1 interface on the board, I needed to bend the thermal cable in such a way so that the metallic plate was placed against the CPU. There was no way to do this without applying additional force to the thermal cable, as well as the area between the cable and the metallic cold plate. Additionally, I had to bend it in such a way so as to leave room for the seven peripheral cards I wanted to add to the system later, and yet still have the thermal cable be as close to the case wall as possible so I could still close the case later. Getting the metal plate to stay attached to the CPU was another matter entirely, as I struggled with the included attachment piece. I was glad, however, that I was using the Renegade with the Celeron, because had I wanted to use it with a Pentium, I would have had to drill holes into the casing of the chip. That fact alone would likely have whisked away my idea to purchase the Renegade, had I bought a Pentium chipset.

Aside from that, the rest of the computer setup went along pretty normally. My lower PCI and ISA cards needed to be inched in carefully between their respective slots and the thermal cable, but it was a pretty insignificant hassle. Somewhat more annoying, something that many cases have, are those metal “holders” that sit at the opening of unused bays. Prying those off tend to be really hard, and the ones on the Renegade were no exception. The only ones that were tough were the ones in front of the 5.25″ bays, which took me a good 15 minutes to remove, scratching the case skeleton and some of my tools.

The only time where I ran into a near-fatal annoyance, however, was when I inserted my CDR, which I intended to place in the bottom-most bay, leaving one bay unused between my CD-Rom (upper bay) and the CDR. However, when I pushed the CDR into place, it caught onto something. Assuming it was a power or IDE cable, I applied a bit more pressure. Seeing as the CDR would still not slide into place, I pulled the cables out and tried again. Still no luck. When I took a more careful look, I noticed that the CDR was hitting a transister on the motherboard, and had already bent it back some. After cursing something or another, I bent the transister back and moved the CDR to the middle bay. Had the case been a little wider, both this problem and the struggling I did with the thermal cable would not have been such issues.

After my system was put together, I turned the machine on and installed my software. It took a couple minutes for the refrigeration unit to kick in and cool my system to a cool 19 degrees C. Once everything seemed to be running fine, I overclocked my Celeron, and miraculously, the Renegade still held onto its 19 degree temperature. Only after the rest of my hardware arrived days later did the heat in the Renegade go up considerably. Perhaps the addition of an extra two cards brought the temperature up a bit, or perhaps it was the increase in outside temperature. Either way, the Renegade displayed a nice 27 degrees C, and I haven’t yet had it go above that, even during extended periods of operation. From time to time, depending on where the computer is, the Renegade temperature drops back down to between 19 and 23 degrees C. Certainly worthy of note, there are two models of the Renegade, one with an external temperature display, and one without. Though the former is slightly more expensive, I wouldn’t advise getting the cheaper model, as the external temperature display is not only helpful in checking the efficiency of the system and making sure it works properly, but is also pretty darn cool lookin’. Though what it represents isn’t obvious to the casual bywalker, those who know, or bother to check, will certainly note something about it.

After over a week of varied useage, I’ve already been asked whether or not the purchase was worth it. Honestly, I have to say that it was, though not without reservation. If you need to move your computer a lot and you’re not big enough to handle a large case that weighs around 100 lbs, the Renegade may not be your thing. If you want to overclock your chip and don’t worry about burning it out with conventional fans, the Renegade may not be for you. If neither of these apply, though, you can be on the safe side by spending a little more money on your case and rest free during your machine’s operation. Heck, the Renegade will keep your CPU cooler than those of your friend’s, whether their chips are overclocked or not. In the future, I definately see a place for cooling solutions similar to the Renegade in many commercial computer packages, especially when chips start becoming hotter as CPU density continues to increase. For now, though, if you’re an overclocker that wants to preserve some extra life on your CPU and be sure that it doesn’t die on you, the Renegade is certainly a smart purchase.

Tagged as: hardware, mendax.org, pc