X-bit labs

Cooler Master Aquagate S1 Liquid Cooling System Review (page 2)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 02/12/2008 | 12:45 PM ]

Main Water Block and Radiator Design and Functionality

Cooler Master Aquagate S1 is a pre-assembled ready to be installed liquid-cooling system that consists of a main water block with a heatsink and fan and a processor water block combined with a pump:

The components are connected with one another using flexible tubing, no longer than 0.5m and 3/8 of an inch in diameter.

The main block with a heatsink and fan measures 158mm x 128mm x 88mm and weighs 348g:

The whole thing sits inside a casing with a wire mesh, so that you can see a 120-mm fan with 9 aggressively bent blades through it. The fan rotation speed can be adjusted manually in the interval from ~800RPM to ~2500RPM and with 92.8CFM airflow. The minimal level of generated noise equals 20dBA, as for the maximum, the manufacturer doesn’t mention it anywhere unfortunately. In addition, the fan is also equipped with four blue LEDs.

The system radiator is made of aluminum with metal panels on the sides:

The remarkable peculiarity of this casing is that it can accommodate a second fan that will oust the warm air outside:

However, the accessories bundle doesn’t include additional long screws that you will need to install a second fan, so you will have to find some on your own, or you will have to use short ones on the opposite side. This is pretty much all we can say about the radiator unit, so let’s move on to the water block and pump.

In fact, water block combined with pump doesn’t really boast anything outstanding about its design. It consists of a round copper unit 40mm in diameter with a small pump sitting above it:

All in all, the water block measures 58mm x 58mm x 24.5mm that is why we were really surprised how the manufacturer managed to also fit the pump in there.

According to the specification, the pump’s performance is 200 l/h at 21dBA noise level and 50,000 hours MTBF of its rotor ceramic bearing (about 5.7 years). According to the technical specifications, the pump rotor rotation speed should be 2600~3100RPM, however, our monitoring tools report ~5260RPM (the pump has a common three-pin plug for the corresponding mainboard connector).

The base of the water block is covered with removable film protecting it from scratches:

When you remove the film, you see pretty well finished and remarkably even base surface:

The nozzles coming out of the pump are designed to be connected to 3/8 inch tubes, although in case of Aquagate S1 everything is already pre-connected, tightened up and filled.

Now we should say a few words about the installation procedure, namely the installation of the water block onto mainboard and then of the entire liquid-cooling system into the system case.