“So Linus, you’ve probably made some great value upgrades to your system that increase performance while decreasing total cost of ownership.”

At least, that’s what most people would be concerned about with a computer upgrade. Here’s what I’ve actually done over the last couple of weeks:

1. Changed from a Gigabyte EX58-EXTREME to a DFI X58-T3EH8 for looks and to get an extra internal USB header
2. Added a $135CAD (by the time it’s shipped to me from Europe) fan controller
3. Made a whole lot of adapters & sleeved a lot of cables
4. Added another water cooling radiator to the front of my case (a HW Labs Black Ice Pro II that I had lying around)
5. Modded 6 mesh front bay covers to sit in place of the solid aluminum ones that came with my case
6. Took my case apart down to the bare frame and washed it with soapy water (much like I should do to my car

Things still to be done:

1. The fans don’t match, as those of you with a good eye may have noticed, so I need to get some more GELID UV Blue fans for the top, back, and bottom rad. I also need some LED blue fans for the front rad, but I’m not yet decided on that one. I may just add a UV cathode in the front for the UV blue fans I already have there.

Well XSPC has launched a couple of new blocks. This company has been around for a while, but this is the first time in the last few years at least that they’ve been getting any attention in North America.

I’m looking into carrying their products, and so far they’ve been extremely receptive and the prices look great compared to competitors Danger Den and EK Water Blocks. The only thing that makes me apprehensive is the fact that we’re in a period right now where there aren’t really any single GPU graphics cards over $300-$350, so it feels like the market for full covers is a little bit less than it was when everyone and their dog was designing, releasing, and selling 8800 G80 blocks.

None of that changes the fact that these are some SEXY looking blocks. Please post in the comments if you want to order one and I’ll see what I can do about bringing them in sooner.

links to 9600GT and 9800GTX product pages