X-bit labs

New Liquid-Cooling Systems from Thermaltake and More!

Category: Coolers

by Vasily Melnik

[ 02/22/2007 | 11:20 AM ]

Today we are going to introduce to you a few new solutions from Thermaltake’s liquid-cooling product line: we will be talking about very successful BigWater 745 and new AquaBay accessories. Read more from our detailed review!

Table of contents:

• Accessories: AquaBay M3 and AquaBay M4
  
• Boxed Kits: BigWater 735 and BigWater 745
  
• Assembly Tips
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Thermal Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

We already wrote about liquid cooling systems from Thermaltake on our site and our overall impression could be put down like this: cute and well-made for their price, and mostly appealing to those who wanted liquid cooling as a means of self-expression or building a quiet PC rather than for hardcore overclockers. There was not much time between our previous two reviews of Thermaltake’s liquid cooling kits, but the progress was evident. The innovations were scarce, however, to push performance much higher, and the company must have been aware of that while preparing its new series of modernized systems. They have changed almost everything, from water-blocks and pumps to fasteners and pipes. The only thing that has remained the same is the standard 120mm radiator that should have been replaced in the first place. It is a condenser, not a true radiator, after all. Thermaltake’s marketing people found a solution, though. If one condenser is not enough, two will do! Why marketing people? Because an engineer would just replace the radiator with a better one, keeping the volume the same, while for a marketer it is more profitable to sell two old devices instead of putting into production and selling one new device.

A reader who is not familiar with the market of liquid cooling systems may think me wrong in having thus criticized what I haven’t even tested yet. That’s not exactly so. I’m not criticizing Thermaltake. This company does what no one else does. It produces an affordable series of liquid cooling systems with all the accessories you may ever want and ensures their full compatibility with each other. A good radiator costs a lot of money, you know. Some people would be shocked at seeing the price of Black Ice radiators and wouldn’t understand what they are asked to pay so much money for. The answer is simple – for degrees of temperature. But as a matter of fact, not all users need such super-low temperatures!

The best systems from Thermaltake outperform top-end air coolers by 5-10°C. They are good-looking, easy to assemble, and cheap. That’s enough for a market success among moderate overclockers who can appreciate the aesthetic properties of a product and don’t want to spend their money for immodestly expensive stuff.

Besides updating the liquid cooling kits themselves, Thermaltake has considerably expanded the series of exclusive accessories to them. You can now get water-flow indicators, a water-block for your hard disk drive, a water-block for memory modules, a coolant temperature sensor, and even a panel for 5.25” bays that combines a water-flow indicator with a reservoir to control the level of coolant. I guess there is only a liter counter missing to make this list of accessories absolutely complete. This huge heap of accessories are obviously targeted at enthusiasts who like to tinker with the innards of their PCs and want not just a boxed cooling kit, but a boxing kit they can improve further by purchasing various extra gadgets like the two I’ll begin this review with.