X-bit labs

Four Liquid-Cooling Systems for the Masses (page 27)

Category: Coolers

by Vasily Melnik

[ 10/14/2005 | 03:30 PM ]

Conclusion

The results of this test session are overall satisfactory, yet I am left somewhat displeased. Why? Just take a look at the summary diagram:

Yes, I added the results of an air cooler to those of the four water-cooling kits. And yes, it is the top-end model from Thermaltake, but its air cooling is no worse than the water-based cooling of the tested systems! Any reasonable person would ask if water-cooling kits are really necessary if they produce the same results as an air cooler. Why would you want to buy one and bother about such things as its deployment in the system case, overheat of the CPU power elements, etc., if you can just take an ordinary and simple-to-use air cooler? Well, people who install water-cooling kits in their computers are seldom reasonable pragmatics. Moreover, in some situations it is just impossible to use such a monster cooler as the Big Typhoon (for example, in barebones and other cramped system cases). A liquid-cooling system also looks much more impressive than any air cooler and this is a heavy argument for many users in favor of the purchase. Yet anyway, the Big Typhoon has the best price/performance ratio among the solutions presented on the diagram above. The Aquagate seems to be the worst among them – with its exterior it is just an ordinary, utilitarian thing, but its price is too high for the functionality alone. The Gigabyte system can’t become a leader because it costs $25 more than the Big Water and poises some installation problems due to the excessive thickness of the pipes. The passive solution from Thermaltake called Rocket is a separate story. Not all people would like to put such a missile on their desk – you’d need the rest of your room decorated in the same style. On the other hand, you can just put it somewhere on the floor and enjoy the silence – the design of the system and the length of the pipes allow choosing the position of the radiator quite freely.

So, if you want to buy an entry-level “ready-to-fly” water-cooling system for less than $100, you can do so. But it’s up to you to decide if it’s really worth the trouble. There are so many things to be considered that I can’t give you general advice as to when water cooling is going to be better than air cooling for your particular computer. So, we, at X-bit labs, restrict ourselves to keeping up with the situation in this market sector and informing you on all things of importance that are going to happen there.