EVGA Hadron Air Combo (Hadron Air, Z87 Stinger, and CPU cooler) mini complaints

[coltonpan]

A while ago, I decided to build an mini ITX board and I decided to use as much EVGA branded product as possible to match the beautiful case. So I bought the combo from Amazon which includes the EVGA Hadron Air, EVGA Z87 Stinger, and EVGA ACX CPU cooler. Oh and a slim slot loading DVD drive. Total cost of all 4 items is around 540 after tax which is a lot compare to my other choices that I was considering.

I've already started thinking that I spent a pretty good amount of dollars on these stuff, I mist be really pleased with these stuff especially they're all bundled together and should fit each other really well.

After I received the stuffs, I was pretty happy with the build quality. But the problem started to pop up when I build the system and after it was built. When I tried to put on the CPU cooler after the motherboard is installed in the case because I need to switch out the CPU, it was extremely hard to install since it's so big and there is no way to tie the thumb screw without taking out the heatsink fan and putting the fan back is another hassle. Another annoying thing is the heatsink would slightly hit the ram, which I thought it is supposed to be really well compatible with the combo motherboard. It is too big that it is really hard to switch out the components like ram and other stuff with the heatsink.

Moving on to the motherboard. I was an ASUS user that loved the utilities like ASUS Suite that can control the fans and stuff. The utility software provided with this motherboard is just crap in my opinion. It does pretty much nothing compare to Asus.

On to the case, this is my main complaints. I bought this case mainly because of the beautiful window that shows my components. The window is EXTREMELY easy to be scratched and left with inrecoverable scratches. For some reason, I put on the EVGA tatoo sticker thingy that they provided with the case onto the window, I didn't like it after I put it on. So I used my fingernail to strip off the sticker.... and there goes my perfect window. Big scratch on the window that cannot be cleaned. I was so disappointed. Antohet complaint is that they do not provide 90 degree SATA cable when you would actually have to use it. The hard drive cage opening is facing outwards and towards the window. If you do not use the 90 degree SATA cable, you are not going to fit the hard drive without banding the cables and against the window.

Overall it was an Okay case that has some things that I don't like. Honestly, I regretted it. I could have saved couple hundred dollars and have the same experience. I was expecting much more than that when I spend that much on an ITX case and motherboard and the CPU fan.

What are your experiences if you have the EVGA Hadron Air like me?

btw, I ended up returning the CPU FAN and get the Noctua low profile Cpu cooler which is 10000 times better in terms of size with pretty much the same performance as the EVGA ACX CPU cooler.

[hawaiims]

A while ago, I decided to build an mini ITX board and I decided to use as much EVGA branded product as possible to match the beautiful case. So I bought the combo from Amazon which includes the EVGA Hadron Air, EVGA Z87 Stinger, and EVGA ACX CPU cooler. Oh and a slim slot loading DVD drive. Total cost of all 4 items is around 540 after tax which is a lot compare to my other choices that I was considering.

I've already started thinking that I spent a pretty good amount of dollars on these stuff, I mist be really pleased with these stuff especially they're all bundled together and should fit each other really well.

After I received the stuffs, I was pretty happy with the build quality. But the problem started to pop up when I build the system and after it was built. When I tried to put on the CPU cooler after the motherboard is installed in the case because I need to switch out the CPU, it was extremely hard to install since it's so big and there is no way to tie the thumb screw without taking out the heatsink fan and putting the fan back is another hassle. Another annoying thing is the heatsink would slightly hit the ram, which I thought it is supposed to be really well compatible with the combo motherboard. It is too big that it is really hard to switch out the components like ram and other stuff with the heatsink.

Moving on to the motherboard. I was an ASUS user that loved the utilities like ASUS Suite that can control the fans and stuff. The utility software provided with this motherboard is just crap in my opinion. It does pretty much nothing compare to Asus.

On to the case, this is my main complaints. I bought this case mainly because of the beautiful window that shows my components. The window is EXTREMELY easy to be scratched and left with inrecoverable scratches. For some reason, I put on the EVGA tatoo sticker thingy that they provided with the case onto the window, I didn't like it after I put it on. So I used my fingernail to strip off the sticker.... and there goes my perfect window. Big scratch on the window that cannot be cleaned. I was so disappointed. Antohet complaint is that they do not provide 90 degree SATA cable when you would actually have to use it. The hard drive cage opening is facing outwards and towards the window. If you do not use the 90 degree SATA cable, you are not going to fit the hard drive without banding the cables and against the window.

Overall it was an Okay case that has some things that I don't like. Honestly, I regretted it. I could have saved couple hundred dollars and have the same experience. I was expecting much more than that when I spend that much on an ITX case and motherboard and the CPU fan.

What are your experiences if you have the EVGA Hadron Air like me?

btw, I ended up returning the CPU FAN and get the Noctua low profile Cpu cooler which is 10000 times better in terms of size with pretty much the same performance as the EVGA ACX CPU cooler.

Well the case is not that premium/expensive considering it includes a pretty good PSU (it would be a normally priced 90$ case if not for the PSU). Also, it's EVGA's first case, so there are bound to be many issues. I would never buy a first gen product, ever, no matter the company.

 

As far as the CPU cooler, I wouldn't know. From benchmarks and temps I've seen those low profile coolers from many companies are barely better than the stock intel cooler, which is quiet under idle (noise gets drowned out by gpu anyway when gaming)

 

If it's not been that long since you've ordered them, you might be able to still return the case to amazon because amz is great with return policies. 

[coltonpan]

Well the case is not that premium/expensive considering it includes a pretty good PSU (it would be a normally priced 90$ case if not for the PSU). Also, it's EVGA's first case, so there are bound to be many issues. I would never buy a first gen product, ever, no matter the company.

 

As far as the CPU cooler, I wouldn't know. From benchmarks and temps I've seen those low profile coolers from many companies are barely better than the stock intel cooler, which is quiet under idle (noise gets drowned out by gpu anyway when gaming)

 

If it's not been that long since you've ordered them, you might be able to still return the case to amazon because amz is great with return policies. 

Yeah, first gen product really sucked.

 

It is slightly better and yeah, not much better in terms of temperature.

 

I've had that for a while and it has been done it works fine now. It's just the process of building isn't so pleasing.

[Mouse-Potato]

Kind of feeling the downsides of a first gen product. I had mine RMA'd for a defective PSU, it started ticking like a second hand on a wall clock but louder.

 

Also after my rig had been turned on for a bit one of the fans started to make a whinning noise almost as if the bearing was dry.

 

I'm running a GTX 780 in mine with rear exhaust to keep the heat down inside the case as much as possible, I think my Processor (i7 4770K) maxes out at 65 celsius full load with intel cooler, I've been looking around at other rad's and found the AXP 200, which in theory should cool everything down on the board including ram and should be fairly quiet. 

 

Anyways I'm getting my "new" case this week and hopefully it won't have anything wrong with it.