X-bit labs

Water-Cooling Systems Roundup: 16 Systems Reviewed! (page 13)

Category: Coolers

by Kirill "ALT-F13" Balalin

[ 03/30/2006 | 08:48 AM ]

The all-aluminum radiator of a standard design is cooled with a very powerful and very noisy 120mm fan:

The water-block is designed in an odd way. The needles on the water-block’s bottom are placed in a checkerboard pattern. The bottom microrelief enlarges the heat transfer area and the water stream turbulence. The cap is made of transparent plastic and the fittings are placed at an angle of about 45 degrees rather than at 90 degrees as in other water-blocks. They must have done this to permit installation of the MOSFET Cooler on the top, yet we also see a positive side effect here: the hydrodynamic resistance of the water-block is weaker when the water stream runs at an angle other than 90 degrees. Our only gripe is about the material of the cap and the fittings – it seems rather too fragile to us. On the other hand, the fittings did pass our tests undamaged.

The assembled system looks splendid. You get an illusion the pipes shine from the inside when there is no external lighting. The pipes in this kit have the biggest diameter among the water-cooling system included in this review. This minimizes the hydrodynamic resistance of the system, but makes the assembly process a little more complicated.

The performance of the Gigabyte system is among the highest in this test session. The single drawback is the noise from its fan which proved to be the loudest. Even with the speed controller set at the minimum position, the noise was not comfortable. As for the efficiency of the MOSFET cooler, the results were 1-2°C worse when we removed it. If the power transistors of our testbed were located where they are on an ordinary mainboard, they would be cooled well. The noise characteristics of this additional fan are good; it is in fact the quietest component of this cooling kit.

Summary: This is a very good choice for a majority of users, but the noise problem is to be solved somehow. We guess it would be enough to replace the fan on the radiator with a more efficient one and perhaps to remove the grid on the radiator’s casing. This would make the system prettier and reduce its noise, too.

Anyway, the Gigabyte 3D Galaxy is one of the two entry-level systems in this review (the other is Asetek WaterChill KT03-L20 Entry) which is not too far behind the leaders in terms of cooling performance.