by Kirill
03/30/2006 | 08:48 AM
The winter is over, and the temperature in our dwellings and computers is steadily rising up. It’s now the critical moment for the cooling system of your PC because it has been easier for it to do its job under low ambient temperatures.
If you were using a traditional air cooler through the winter and were quite satisfied with its noise and performance characteristics, you may find yourself having to increase the fan speed in the warmer weather to improve the cooling. The noise from the cooler increases at that, too, probably up to an uncomfortable level.
The main parameter of a cooling system is efficiency which is the ratio of performance to noise. The system is the more efficient as it keeps the temperature lower and produces less noise. From the end-user’s point of view, there is such a parameter as price appeal that should also be accounted for. It can be measured by dividing the cooler’s efficiency by its price. So, the best cooling system is one that delivers high performance at low noise level and at a low price. Unfortunately, the market currently offers either high-performance or quiet or cheap systems –the user can only have only two of these parameters at once at the very best. This formula works for air as well as liquid-based coolers. Phase-change systems are positioned somewhat differently than consumer-class coolers and are usually super-efficient, very expensive and quite noisy.
In this review we are interested in liquid-cooling systems which are generally more expensive than air coolers but have one important advantage over them. We mean that the heat-absorbing and heat-dissipating elements are separated in a water-based cooler. You have surely seen the latest models of air super-coolers which have a considerable weight and size and a fan with a diameter of 80-90 or even 120mm! Sometimes there are even two fans installed. Such a gigantic design helps improve the cooling efficiency. The performance gets higher while the noise remains at the same or lower level than with the coolers for processors of earlier generations. The price of new air coolers has grown much higher, though. But besides the CPU, there are many other hot components inside the system case: the graphics processor, mainboard’s chipset, memory, power elements on the mainboard and the graphics card. The CPU cooler not only blows hot air at them, but also creates strong turbulence in the internal airflows, thus reducing the efficiency of the system fans and worsening the cooling quality. And finally, the power supply is yet another component that demands intensive cooling. In most system cases the power supply is located at the top of the case, i.e. at the hottest part of it. The components of the PSU are cooled with the air the CPU cooler has already heated up. It means the PSU has to drive more air through itself by increasing the speed of its fan and, accordingly, its noise.
The second advantage of a water-cooling system is that you can install several heat-absorbing elements in your computer. Water-blocks are usually mounted on such components as central and graphics processors and mainboard’s chipset, but there exist more exotic water-blocks for the hard drive or memory modules. Enthusiasts even make water-blocks for the MOSFETs and power supplies. The water-cooling system usually works well with just one pump and radiator at that, while each air cooler in your computer needs its own heatsink and fan.
The heat-absorbing element of a water-cooling system is typically very small. The water heats up in it and is then driven into the radiator which can be placed anywhere, either inside or outside the case. You can even hang it out of the window if you wish. The size of the radiator is virtually unlimited, and it can be made larger to cool the water more effectively. Some systems to be reviewed here come with impressively large radiators and lack any fans altogether. They are usually referred to as passive, which is not exactly true as they have one active component, a water pump.
The compact size of the heat-absorbing component may be most important for very compact, yet powerful computer systems that cannot accommodate a huge air cooler, but wouldn’t be cooled well by a small one.
Today, there are more companies involved in water-based PC cooling manufacture, so there are ever more available products each month. A few years ago you could count up the available factory-made systems by the fingers of one hand and their price was often far higher than their efficiency, but now you’ve got dozens of cooling kits to choose from. We have managed to get together 16 systems for our today’s comparative review. This is far from being a comprehensive selection, yet our tests will give you a clear enough picture of this market as it is today.
So, each system is characterized by its price, performance and noise level. We know the price of each kit, so we are set to learn more about the other two factors.
A special testbed is used to check the performance level of a PC cooling system. Most often it is just a regular top-end computer. Such a testbed yields rather stable and repeatable measurements. Yet another advantage is that real-life components with their real-life dimensions and heat dissipation are in use instead of some simulations. Such testbeds do have drawbacks, though:
Considering all these factors, we decided to develop an all-purpose specialized testbed for testing air- as well as water-based cooling solutions for the PC, but we met some problems in our early experiments with CPU emulators.
At first we built a testbed with a power transformer and a wire-wound resistor in a metal casing. The resistor proved to be the weak link as it burned down due to high density of the generated heat energy, but we couldn’t use a more powerful resistor since it would have been much bigger than a normal processor.
We didn’t try to make a heater element on nichrome or Peltier elements due to certain problems with such devices and their operation.
The fundamental solution was to use a high-power semiconductor device as a heater. We didn’t come to this solution by chance, but based our choice on the CPU analogy. The CPU die and the die of a high-power transistor have the same basic manufacturing technology. The high-power transistor, like the CPU, can have a high heat dissipation density at small dimensions and weight.
The first and cheap emulator of CPU heat dissipation was made by us out of a bipolar transistor from Toshiba, part number 2SC-5200. It is meant for low-frequency equipment like power amplifiers, output and driver stages of high-power drives.
We’ve learned the parameters of the transistor well enough, and our long tests in linear mode proved its reliability at peaks of critical power dissipation.
The transistor is not the only option here. Various chips, amplifiers or transistor packs, special semiconductors capable of linear operation at high power loads can be employed. When choosing the semiconductor for our operating mode, the main factors are small dimensions, high operating power and power dissipation, and easy implementation of control.
The first version of the stand was JudgeMARK-300.
The testbed is based on a mainboard PCB, which necessary components such as the power section and the measuring instruments were all laid out on.
The tested sample was installed right on the case of a 2SC 5200 transistor which played the role of a heater. The sensor was put right into the transistor’s case.
We quickly discovered some considerable defects like the overall fragility of the testbed, inconvenient fastenings and other drawbacks. Some results we got during our experiments were downright incorrect and were not repeatable in a series of subsequent tests. The testbed was dismantled and the defects and errors were accounted for when we were designing the next version of the testbed.
Based on the components from the previous version, the Mark Evolution testbed was created. It is mainly intended to carry out experiments with a heater and measurement instruments. The testbed is universal.
Here are the points where the Evo-1 differs from the Mark 300:
The noise from water-cooling systems is evaluated by the ear: silent, low level, average level or noisy. You should be aware that all water-cooling kits include components with moving parts, the pump motor at least, so there will always be some noise, but we consider a system silent if we can’t hear its noise at a distance of half a meter.
The ambient temperature remained constant at +23°C during our tests. We used the same thermal compound for the CPU water-blocks of all the water-cooling systems included in this review.
The heater itself is a copper plate with a 35x35mm square in its top part the test sample is taking heat off from. The surface of the square is finely polished on a machine and finished. The heater is installed on a 10mm getinaks plate which has holes for all the main fastening standards (Sockets 939, 775, 478, 462, etc). The tested sample is secured with screws and special brackets.
The actual source of heat is a pair of 2SC 5200 transistors which are soldered up to the bottom side of the plate. The transistors are placed as close as possible to each other. The thermal field they create is shaped like two overlapping circles, the hottest point being in the center of the overlap. It is in this center that the temperature sensor is installed. Two transistors ensure very high combined power dissipation, yet we may be sure about reliability and stability of the heater’s parameters.
Between the 2SC 5200 transistors and on the same line with their dies, a hole is milled right through the transistors’ cases. It goes into the copper sole by 4.5 millimeters and it is there that we insert a thermal sensor with thermal paste. After we make sure the sensor works fine, we fix it and fill the hole with thermal glue.
This design of the heater only approximates the heat dissipation of a real central processor, so it is incorrect to extend the temperature and power showings we get on our testbed to a specific CPU. The thermal sensor is not placed right in the heater’s core, unlike the sensor in a real CPU, so the temperature is going to be somewhat lower. This fact should be kept in mind when you are analyzing the performance measurement results. It also should not be wondered that some of the tested water-cooling kits managed to dissipate 300-400 watts of thermal power on our testbed. This is not an error or mistype. These are real numbers we got on our testbed since the generated heat energy is not concentrated in a certain point, but is dissipated from a larger, 35x35mm area.
The heater itself provides all the basic characteristics to carry out a correct comparative testing of different cooling systems. After this test and review the heater will be further improved to get closer to real CPUs in its parameters.
And here’s a description of the test procedure: we apply some thermal paste and secure the water-block on the heater. Then we make a trial measurement by choosing a thermal power of 100 watts and monitoring the core temperature. When the temperature stabilizes, we write down the value, shut down the testbed, reinstall the tested sample and make another trial measurement. If the stabilized temperatures are the same in both cases, the water-block is ready for tests proper. If the temperatures differ by more than 1°C, we make more reinstallations and trial tests until we get the real temperature at 100W thermal power. It usually takes no more than 3 reinstallations for the temperatures to coincide.
And then we perform the actual test. The measurement instruments tell us exactly how much energy is being dissipated as heat: the multiplication of current by voltage gives us the amount of power. The voltage and current are being constantly controlled and the instruments are connected in such a way as to ensure the highest accuracy of measurements in the circuit. There are no detachable connections; the power and measurement cables are soldered right to the instruments’ circuits. The power cables all have a triple operating current reserve.
The temperature-measuring tool was assembled in our labs. It consists of a data decryption unit (the data are received encoded from a Dallas Semiconductor thermometer) and units that process and output these data in a readable form on the display. The device also emits a command to reset the emergency protection relay installed in the power circuit of the high-voltage section. The protection threshold is set up from the keyboard and is written into the tool’s memory. We set it at 85°C for our tests: contemporary microprocessors (other than military or special-purpose ones) cannot be stable under so high a temperature.
However perfect a testbed may be, the results will be different on it than with actual processors. That’s why we took one of the latest and most expensive (at $65) air coolers, Zalman CNPS 9500LED, and used its results as a reference point. The cooler is equipped with an 80mm fan and performs well enough, producing a moderate noise at the maximum fan speed.
The performance of each water-cooling kit was compared against the performance of this cooler. The cooler’s performance graph is added into the performance graph of each tested kit.
This is the most Spartan-looking water-cooling kit in this review, but it comes from Asetek, the renowned manufacturer of very advanced water-based cooling solutions as well as phase-change systems of the VapoChill series. We have already reviewed it in detail in our article called Two Brothers from Asetek WaterChill Family: Maximum Performance against Minimal Cost, so now we woul like to repeat the most essential things about this cooling solution.
The KT03-L20 Entry is packed into a plain cardboard box with only a simple white label on the side that reports the name of the model to you.
The components of the system reflect its status as of an entry-level product; the kit lacks a fan and a reservoir. On the other hand, they included a powerful Hydor L20-2 pump with a declared performance of 800 liters per hour. This is an ordinary aquarium pump and it is powered from a wall socket.
The Black Ice radiator is made of copper and is painted black. This is a high-quality component indeed; it is compact and looks quite stylish.
The water-block is made of copper and an acrylic compound. It is designed very simplistically with only a crescent-like groove between the fittings. This solution can hardly be very efficient, but we will check it out shortly in action.
The sole is finely milled but not polished:
We encountered some problems as we were trying to assemble this water-cooling kit because there was no reservoir and the pipe proved to be too short. Although the system can work well without a reservoir, it is not convenient to do the filling and pumping-through. It is especially difficult to drive air bubbles out of the system. The user manual doesn’t offer a helping hand because it is very low quality, like a tenth Xerox copy, and it’s hard to discern anything in the photographs there.
The kit doesn’t include a fan, but it cannot work without one due to the small size of the radiator, so we took the fan from Asetek’s other kit, WaterChill KT03A-12VX, for our test.
We should confess we had greatly underestimated this system’s potential, being somewhat misled by its very simple water-block. But coupled with a high-performance pump (it worked at 180lph in the assembled system) the WaterChill KT03-L20 Entry did better than entry level! The noise was rather loud at that, however, so you may want to use a quieter fan with this kit.
Summary: The WaterChill KT03-L20 Entry is a well-made water-cooling kit, even though somewhat unfinished. It is rather targeted at enthusiasts of water-based PC cooling. If you add a quiet and powerful fan and, optionally, a reservoir, you will get an efficient system capable of handling almost any existing processor. And you can have the legendary Asetek quality for a mere $130!
We have already reviewed this system in great detail in our article called Two Brothers from Asetek WaterChill Family: Maximum Performance against Minimal Cost, so let me refresh your memory real quick before we pass over to the tests.
The box reads “High-end water-based processor cooling” and this system has really been long enjoying the reputation of one of the highest-performing and most expensive water-cooling kits.
Even the box itself differs from the rest of the reviewed kits – it is made of plastic rather than of cardboard.
There is a unique accessory inside, a CD with software! No other system in this review can be fully controlled from the PC.
There are also two thermal sensors and an interface cable enclosed.
And here’s what you can call a real solid radiator. A dual Black Ice – Asetek is the exclusive European supplier of this famous dual radiator – is accompanied with two 120mm fans.
The water pump is combined with the reservoir as a single unit in this system. The rather big dimensions imply high performance.
Like the reservoir, the system control unit is integrated into the pump’s case. It is connected to power, thermal sensors, fans and an interface USB cable. The pump delivered a performance of 180lph in our tests.
This is the legendary Antarctica water-block. You can learn more about it in our comparative review of handmade and factory-made water-blocks.
Out testbed not having a USB port, we didn’t make a deep check of the software section of this WaterChill system.
The Asetek WaterChill KT03A-12VX delivered an expectably impressive performance. It coped not only with 400 watts, but also with half a kilowatt of heat at the maximum speed of the fans! At lower fan speeds the noise level is comfortable, and the system gets almost silent at the minimum speed. That’s very good, too.
We couldn’t help trying the system and software in a real PC:
The interface cable is meant to connect to a USB header on your mainboard. After installation the WaterChill Control Panel displays the data from the thermal sensors as temperature graphs and allows adjusting the speed of the fans. You can even control the motor of the pump! We should confess that dragging the speed slider was not unlike playing with the accelerator pedal of a fast car which reacts with a powerful purr to your every movement.
Increasing the pump motor speed to the maximum reduced the CPU temperature by an additional 1-2°C.
This is to show that air coolers will never quite match a well-made water-cooling system!
Summary: An innovative and powerful system, the Asetek WaterChill KT03A-12VX is an excellent choice for an overclocker, aesthete, and lover of silence who can afford this rather expensive water-cooling kit.
The Aucma Coolriver was one of the first water-cooling systems that could be recommended for purchase without any reservations. Unlike the competing Poseidon series, it featured molded copper water-blocks (as many as three of them!) and a copper radiator. At the time of its release it boasted an excellent performance and was quite affordable, too. The poorly designed fastenings for the chipset and GPU water-blocks were the single drawback of the system, but it couldn’t stop modders who just made their own new fastenings. Those who didn’t, ran a big risk: you could inadvertently hitch a pipe and tear the water-block off the cooled component, damaging the latter.
The system comes with a small water reservoir combined with the pump in a single unit, and a very good radiator with a 120mm fan. The Aucma is shipped preassembled and already filled with coolant. The pump has a rather mediocre performance, about 30 liters per hour. The latest modification of the system includes LGA775 fasteners.
As before, the Coolriver surpasses the showings of the Poseidon systems but cannot match the performance of modern water-cooling kits. However, its efficiency is still on a competitive level as it delivers a good enough performance, producing little noise.
Summary: The best-seller of the past still offers a high enough performance. If you need a three-component water-cooling system and are not afraid of doing some manual work on improving the fasteners, the Aucma Coolriver 3 may suit you fine. A piece of good news is that the price of the system has dropped from $130 to $110.
The well-known manufacturer of top-class PC cases has recently started production of water-cooling systems. We have already told you about this system in our article called Four Liquid-Cooling Systems for the Masses. Let's briefly remind you of the main features of Aquagate mini R120.
The compact package contains a compact cooling system.
The modest selection of accessories allows adapting the system for all platforms, modern and old. The fan speed controller is to be installed into a rear slot of your system case. The user manual is rather too brief and sketchy.
The water radiator for a 120mm fan is made of aluminum.
The water-block is combined with the pump. This helped make the system smaller and get rid of an extra couple of tubes. The declared performance of the pump is 160 liters per hour. The system coming filled-up already, there is a smaller risk of your making any assembly or fill-up related mistakes. Users who don’t like to mess with their PC hardware will surely appreciate this.
The water-block’s bottom has a round projection and four fastening holes. The bottom is well processed with fine milling, but there’s no polish on it.
The installation procedure is easy. You should take the fastener for your particular platform and attach it to the water-block’s bottom with four screws. This solution looks reliable and convenient: the fastening plate is firmly fixed on the water-block and doesn’t fidget as you are mounting the whole arrangement on the CPU socket.
It took us just a few minutes to install the system on our testbed and get it running.
The Aquagate mini kit comes filled and preassembled, so we didn’t have to pump it through. It was operable right away.
The system performance is good enough, but it proved to be loud at work, regrettably. You can reduce the fan speed using the included controller, but the rumble of the pump cannot be so easily stopped. It’s sad, but this simple and compact system can hardly be called a good buy; you will hardly want to spend your money for a rather noisy cooler. It is also going to be difficult to use this system in compact PC cases due to the limited length of the connecting pipes.
Summary: The Aquagate mini R120 system is very simple to install and to use but the noise from its pump somewhat spoils the overall impression. Still, it seems to have no real competitors in the below-$100 price category – the price of the Aquagate mini is only $95.
Gigabyte Technology, a well-known manufacturer of mainboards and graphics cards, recently began to explore new markets for itself. First they came up with air coolers and PC cases and now they are offering a water-cooling system under their own brand. So, the Gigabyte 3D Galaxy GH-WIU01 has found its way into our labs, we have already reviewed it in great detail in our article called "Out of This World" Liquid-Cooling System: Gigabyte 3D Galaxy Review. So, let me briefly refresh your memory here, for more indepth story you can always check our the individual review.
It is packed in a large box painted orange hues and with a side window you can see the main components through:
Besides the standard units, there is an ordinary enough 80mm fan here, which is called MOSFET Cooler and is meant to be installed on the water-block. The developer says this fan is necessary to protect the power circuit transistors and coils near the CPU socket against overheat (this problem doesn’t arise if you use an air cooler on the CPU, because it also cools all these nearby components).
There’s nothing unusual about the kit besides that.
The pump is installed on a single chassis with the reservoir. There is system leakage protection: if the water level is below a critical mark, you’ll hear a warning sound and a light and the computer will be shut down automatically. The pump did well in our tests, driving the water through the system at a rate of 200 liters per hour. Its noise was rather loud, though.
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.
The ProModz team is not new to the PC market. They already have very top-class modding projects under their belt and currently the team is busy designing and manufacturing high-quality water-cooling systems. Let’s see if they can beat the long-established leaders of this market.
The Cooled Silence Extreme Package is shipped in three boxes, each sealed with a holographic stamp that bears the manufacturer’s logo. So, it’s not a fake!
The kit includes three water-blocks, a big radiator, a pump, an acrylic reservoir and pipes. The Aucma Coolriver includes the same number of water-blocks but of much inferior quality.
The aquarium pump Hydor Seltz L30 is the highest-performing one in this review. Its specified performance is 1200 liters per hour and it yielded 400lps in this liquid-cooling system, which is the highest result among all the pumps from the tested kits.
Even the WaterChill radiator looks less impressive as it is two times thinner than the ProModz one. Running a little ahead, we’d want to tell you that we tested both these radiators with a single system and the Black Ice from the WaterChill did 1-2°C worse depending on the dissipated power (Asetek has thicker radiators in its product range, however, so you can always upgrade your WaterChill if necessary).
The reservoir is supposed to go into a 5.25” bay of your system case. It has three outputs for the pipes and a fill-up opening in the top. To our surprise, the plugs let the water leak out. This is a serious defect and an odd one for an off-the-shelf product, but the developers have assured us that this problem has been corrected and the new reservoirs do not leak.
We don’t use more than one water-block in this test session, so we tested the system with only its CPU water-block installed. The water-block itself is designed and made well; the protective coating prevents corrosion and chemical reactions between the coolant and the copper.
Of course we expected the system to deliver a high performance, yet the results were so high as to be shocking! The ProModz Cooled Silence Extreme Package beats every other system included in this review. The heater’s temperature had never been so low on our testbed! As for the noise factor, we used the fans from the Asetek WaterChill kit and the noise was low enough. The only thing missing in this system is a fan speed controller. You don’t need that much of performance always, while lowering the fan speed would make the system almost silent without compromising its performance much.
Summary: The ProModz Cooled Silence Extreme Package is an outstanding kit if we put aside the leaking reservoir problem. We recommend it for purchase if its price of $270 doesn’t seem too high for you. This kit can easily cool any modern or upcoming processor. If it is indeed too expensive for you, consider the simpler and more affordable models from the same Cooled Silence series.
Thermaltake will never stop surprising us with its new products. We took in total four systems from this manufacturer for this review and the Tribe is to be the first discussed. We have already reviewed this system in great detail in our article called 2006 Cooling Fashions from Thermaltake: Six New Cooling Solutions Reviewed, so feel free to check it out for more details.
And now let's recall what this system looks like. One glance at the box is enough to realize it is a very beautiful system.
A fill-up bottle is the non-standard accessory you will find included here. It is a useful trifle and we used it to fill other systems, too, throughout this test session.
The case has a fantastic appearance with its aluminum carcass and metal wire side panels. Black aluminum handles are installed on the top. The only drawback of this case is the number of screws you have to unfasten to open the cover up – as many as sixteen of them! On the other hand, you won’t need to do that often.
There’s enough empty room inside, so you can stuff something else in here. You can even try to squeeze in a small computer. That would be kind of surreal to have a PC inside a liquid-cooling system rather than otherwise!
The modular design worsens the cooling efficiency somewhat as part of the radiator is covered with fastening elements. The standard pump has a performance of 46 liters per hour.
The system looks even prettier when it’s assembled and turned on:
Its performance is average, not far better than the performance of our reference air cooler.
Summary: We did like the Tribe kit despite its modest performance. The astonishing design and low noise level (at the min speed of the fan) will surely be appreciated by people who don’t need the highest cooling performance possible. Moreover, the Tribe gives you the unique opportunity to install some additional device into the case of your water-cooling system.
The Bigwater SE is the second system from Thermaltake to be tested in this comparative review. You can always refer to our article called 2006 Cooling Fashions from Thermaltake: Six New Cooling Solutions Reviewed for more details.
The package contains a typical set of components and accessories:
The key feature of this kit is the reservoir which is to be inserted into a 5.25” bay of your system case. The windows in the reservoir help control the level of water in the system. We highlighted the reservoir from behind with a neon lamp and it looked very beautiful. It’s sad the developers didn’t implement this – the solution suggests itself.
Here’s how the reservoir looks when viewed from the bottom:
The water-block with a zigzagging internal design is employed in most water-cooling systems from Thermaltake. It features a blue LED implanted into the Plexiglas cap:
The water-block’s bottom is finished well, but without polishing:
The components of the Bigwater SE look very much alike to the Tribe’s components. We can even regard them as one and the same system, except that the Tribe is external and the Bigwater SE is internal. We don’t think the test results of the two will differ greatly.
The Bigwater SE really has roughly the same performance as the Tribe, with a minor advantage that varies from 1 to 4°C. It can also dissipate 300 watts of heat whereas the internal version of the system couldn’t. The difference is probably due to the different fans installed. The noise of the Thermaltake Bigwater SE is on an average level. The system is not comfortably quiet even at the minimum fan speed.
Summary: The Thermaltake Bigwater SE is assembled out of unified components and is less interesting than the Tribe kit which has a slightly lower performance, but is quieter and features a steel case. The price difference is a mere $26, so the Bigwater SE has no chance unless you only need an internal system. Well, there are better options to be found among the available internal water-based coolers, too.
The Symphony is the biggest system in this review. We have also already taken it apart in our previous article called 2006 Cooling Fashions from Thermaltake: Six New Cooling Solutions Reviewed, so you might want to check it out for more extensive details. If you don't feel like digging into details at this time, here are a few most essential things about this system.
Its package can take up an entire table:
An ingenious solution, the aluminum cooling unit designed as a floor speaker:
The huge radiator behind the black grid is cooled by as many as five 120mm fans! The cooling potential of the whole arrangement seems to be immense.
Curiously enough, Thermaltake decided to use a new design of the water-block here instead of their standard design.
We liked the pipes and the fittings: when the radiator is detached from the water-block, the water doesn’t pour out of the “tower”.
Of course, we couldn’t resist the temptation to take a peep at the internals of the system. It’s strange, but there is the same low-performance pump here that they use in their other systems.
You can spot a second such pump in the background. One pump is driving the coolant into the radiator and the other, into the water-block. There are springs inside the pipes to prevent them from bending in the cramped compartment.
The springs slow down the speed of the water flow somewhat. Coupled with the weak pumps, we’ve got a low coolant circulation speed here.
As we said above, the water-block differs from what is supplied with other water-cooling kits from this manufacturer. It is all-copper here and has fittings on the sides. The engineers must have tried to reduce its resistance to water flow.
There’s a thickening on the bottom of the water-block opposite to the CPU core; the sole is polished well.
The performance showings of this system are among the best. It is a little inferior to the highest-performing system in this review, but the radiator is not to be blamed for that. The fans are quiet, but we wish there was a switch to turn them off altogether. We guess the system will do its job right even without the help of the fans, i.e. in fully passive mode.
Summary: This is an excellent product for aesthetes and audiophiles. The system will make a fine addition to a HT PC system and will match perfectly a hi-tech-styled room interior. The price of $370 won’t stop a true lover of the beautiful!
This is the fourth and last system from Thermaltake in this review. You can always refer to our previous article called Four Liquid-Cooling Systems for the Masses for more details about its construction and features. Right now I will briefly mention the distinguishing features.
This system features a passive radiator:
The name describes the appearance of the system well.
There is not one but two bottles with anti-corrosion coolant enclosed. No wonder as the volume of the tower is quite large.
Unfortunately, Thermaltake has done something wrong with the chemistry of the coolant as there was muddy sediment at the bottom. We generally try to avoid using suspicious-looking spirit-based liquids in our tests, preferring water instead as a better heat carrier.
There’s nothing very remarkable about this ordinary low-performance pump from Thermaltake.
There are only water in- and outlets in the chassis of the tower. The pump is to be installed right into the PC case and to be filled through the top Plexiglas cap. The pipes have a sufficient length; the fastenings can give you no problems at all.
We found a defect in the radiator design during our tests. The snapshot shows that the case ribs have a small area as for a passive system and are also crowned on top with the transparent plastic cap which is an obstacle on the way of the hot air that is going up along the ribs.
To see the right design, take a look at the design of the Reserator which is conceived according to the rules of heat engineering: nothing obstructs and hinders a free flow of the hot air.
So, the results are not quite good, but you shouldn’t forget that this is a fully passive system and is cooled by means of convection only. The effective performance of the pump is 44 liters per hour and it is near silent at work.
Summary: This entry-level passive cooling system is meant for inexpensive home PCs. The total area of the radiator is insufficiently large; there is a flaw in the aerodynamics of the design. The pipes on the pump require your special attention during installation as they can bend in two and block the water flow. Note, however, that the Thermaltake Rocket is also the cheapest passive system in this review, priced at $135 only.
The water-cooling system under the female name of Bianca comes in a brightly colored package the size of a mainboard box.
Take a closer look at these advertising icons to see what Titan is promising us with its TWC-A05:
High performance and low noise is all could you wish for in a water-cooling system! Let’s see if the Bianca really has such qualities in practice. Most of the package is occupied by a neat main unit of the system that looks like a big soap tray. A box with the system accessories lies nearby.
Each thing is sealed in a separate and labeled pack, so it is easy to find the necessary one. You receive water-block fasteners for all processor sockets since Socket 370.
There are also 4 silicone pipes included, one with a water flow indicator, a small bottle with anti-freeze and an anti-corrosion additive. Titan’s exclusive Nano Blue thermal paste is offered as the thermal interface between the CPU and the water-block.
The water-block has a very beautiful chromium-plated cap with the manufacturer’s logo. The fittings are carefully plugged to prevent foreign substances from getting into the water-block.
The bottom has a mirror-like polish:
Now let’s take a look at the cooling unit. The case is not very large; there is a fan speed controller and a fill-up opening combined with a water level indicator on the front panel. There are vent holes in the unit’s top.
Two fittings and a standard 4-pin power connector are located at the back panel.
Before we tried to assemble the system, we wanted to see what was inside it. There are a lot of screws at the bottom that hold the panel and the internal components.
We found these things inside the compact cooling unit:
Having a tiny pump and a condenser instead of a water radiator, the system can hardly deliver a high performance. The 80mm fan also seems too weak to cool the radiator.
We checked the performance of the system with all the components included into the water loop. The pump drove 1 liter of water through the system in 135 seconds, which equals a performance of 27 liter per hour. Not much, but you cannot really expect anything more from such a pump.
The pipes that connect the cooling unit with the water-block are joined via a special bracket which is to be inserted into the rear panel of your PC case. The Molex connector on the bracket is meant to power the main unit of this water-cooling kit.
Now it’s time to assemble the system. It’s not very difficult. First, you choose the appropriate fastener and use it to secure the water-block on the CPU. Then, attach the pipes to the water-block and the back-panel bracket. And finally you should connect the external unit with the bracket. That’s all. You now only have to fill the system up and get it running. Filling is done easily, the rather too narrow opening being the only inconvenience. It was starting the system up that we had some problems with. The fact is we couldn’t get rid of the air bubbles and pump the system through with water. We looked up the solution in the user manual which proved to be not only pretty-looking but also quite useful:
The problem being resolved, the system started up successfully as was immediately reported by the water-flow indicator.
This is a snapshot of the Bianca installed on our testbed:
Under a mild external lighting the system looks very cute with its highlighting of the reservoir, fan and rheobus.
The system proved to be noisy at work even at the minimum rotation speed of the fan. The performance is low. Our reference cooler is more efficient and is both quieter and higher-performing.
Summary: The manufacturer’s promises didn’t come true. The Bianca is in fact noisy and low-performing. Of course, it’s difficult to provide good cooling with a system with such a compact case, but if the developers had equipped it with a quieter fan and a better radiator, it would make a good choice for barebone systems for which a massive air cooler is usually too big. So, we can’t regard the TWC-A05 system from Titan as a good buy notwithstanding its very moderate price of $100.
The second water-cooling system from Titan tested in our labs is TWC-A04 v2.0 or Nikita. Unlike the previous system, this one is parceled into a larger box which is an indication of a higher status of the product.
And here’s what we found inside:
The kit is smugly packed in foam-rubber inserts to prevent any damage during transportation. The main system component is a plastic box with a control/indication panel and a fill-up opening. Unlike the previous system, the Nikita can be installed either outside or inside the system case, occupying two 5.25” bays in it.
At the unit’s back panel there are fittings for the pipes, a power connector, a socket to connect the external radiator’s fan and the thermal sensor.
To make sure the performance of the system would be high the developers added an external radiator to it. This small thing with a copper pipe and aluminum ribs is cooled with an 80mm fan. The manufacturer recommends putting it on the back panel of your PC case.
The accessories are almost the same as you receive with the Bianca, but there are also an additional GPU water-block with fasteners and a thermal sensor here. There are more pipes in this kit (to connect the second water-block).
We were curious to see what was inside the cooling module. We dismantled it to find a reservoir and a pump that we were already familiar with. The radiator is familiar, too, but there are two of them here – at the top and bottom of the module.
Air is driven through the radiators by a centrifugal blower which is hidden under a casing. We haven’t seen a fan of that type in any other water-cooling kit. This fan sucks air in through the top radiator and exhausts it through the bottom one so that the hot air didn’t get inside the PC case. So, this is an interesting and original solution, but we have some doubts about the direction of the air stream. We think it would be logical to take cold air from below and then issue hot air at the top.
We have only one heater in our testbed, so we will only test the CPU water-block which is an exact copy of the one from the Titan TWC-A05 (Bianca) kit.
The system’s display shows the current temperature of the thermal couple, the secondary radiator fan speed, the fan and pump operation status. The external radiator’s fan normally works at the min speed but spins up to its maximum after reaching a specific temperature which you can set up using the buttons. The highlighting around the handle changes depending on the speed – from blue to bright pink. If the fan fails, the highlighting becomes red.
The system quite expectedly performs much better than the previous model. Well, the higher status of this kit is indicated by its every detail. The Nikita beat our reference air cooler quite confidently, and with a very good result. Unfortunately, it is rather noisy even at the minimum speed of the fans. The performance of its pump was 28 liters per hour.
Summary: This system has an average efficiency because its noise cannot be described as comfortable although its performance is high enough – the system can cope with almost any existing CPU. It costs about $140, so it is a good choice, even though it is not the best in its class (we think it is inferior to the Gigabyte 3D Galaxy and Asetek WaterChill KT03-L20 Entry, for example). It will suit you perfectly if you are looking for a water-cooling kit with an original external design.
Zalman’s products don’t need long introductions. The company turns out highly efficient CPU coolers, various gadgets on heat pipes, and effective passive-mode water-cooling systems. So, the first passive water-cooling kit from Zalman to be discussed here is called Reserator 1. We have already reviewed this solution, so feel free to check our article called Aesthetic Water Cooling Solutions: Zalman Reserator 1, ZM-WB2 Gold and ZM-GWB1 for more details.
The pretty-looking tower of the cooling module is made of blue-anodized aluminum. It looks truly impressive:
You will find a curious accessory here – a water-flow indicator.
The fittings for the pipes are at the bottom of the back of the tower. The fittings do not lock when you detach the pipes. Keep this fact in mind or you’ll have all the water from the tower down on your feet.
The pump stands right on the floor of the reservoir unlike in the Thermaltake Rocket where the pump is to be installed in the system case. The measured performance of the pump was 140 liters per hour.
There’s a cap with the manufacturer’s logo on top of the tower. It looks imposing enough.
The Reserator 1 comes with one of the earliest water-block models ever produced by Zalman.
The quality of the water-block is high. The copper base is fashioned on a lathe, then polished and coated with gold. The case is aluminum and is anodized the same color as the radiator tower.
The design of the water-block doesn’t give it any special advantages because its performance is rather average due to the thick base. It is worse than many other water-block models available.
Zalman’s system did a lot better in our tests than its analog from Thermaltake. The reasons are the larger area and intricate surface of the radiator.
We heard a booming sound when we assembled and launched the system. It was caused by the pump which was resonating inside the tower. After we put a rubber pad under the tower, the noise vanished completely.
Summary: Excellent pipes, simple assembly and near-total silence at work! This best-performance, stylish-looking passive-mode water-cooling system is worth every cent of its price of $245.
We also tested the improved version of the previous model. For more details about it you can check our review called Zalman Reserator 1 Plus Liquid Cooling System Review. This is the same tower as in the original model, but it is painted black rather than anodized blue (we tried both the blue and black radiators in the same system and got absolutely identical results, so there’s no difference between them other than color).
As opposed to the Reserator 1, this kit includes a simple GPU water-block and a few aluminum heatsinks for the graphics memory chips.
The ordinary fittings of the Reserator 1 are replaced with very handy self-locking ones in the Reserator 1+. This is indeed a plus of the updated system as the fittings prevent water from leaking out when you disconnect the pipes.
The water-block has been redesigned, too. It is now much smaller and lighter.
The results of the test are somewhat discouraging. The new water-block is much worse than the previous model’s. We do put all the blame on it because the rest of the components are absolutely the same in both the systems, including the pump.
Summary: We’d rather call this system Reserator Minus rather than Reserator Plus because it performs worse, but costs more. The additional aluminum GPU water-block looks like a bad joke when you recall that the heat dissipation of a single Radeon X1900 XTX is as high as 120 watts. You cannot put such a simple water-block on a powerful or overclocked GPU. Suitable for entry-level PCs with low heat dissipation, the Reserator 1+ is meant for midnight Internet surfers and people who enjoy listening to music without the irritating noise of numerous fans. We only cannot understand why this system is $35 more expensive than the original Reserator.
3RSystem’s Poseidon series was among the earliest water-cooling systems on the market. We’ve got two such kits, WCL-02 and WCL-03, for our today’s tests and are curious to see how they compare with the modern level of performance.
The system comes with opaque pipes of a vivid yellow color.
The simple aluminum radiator is equipped with a 120mm fan. You receive two aluminum water-blocks besides the main CPU one. The additional blocks are meant for the chipset and the graphics card. The pump is the same as in the Aucma Coolriver kit. There’s a bottle of coolant included.
The CPU water-block’s bottom is made of copper; it is milled and finished.
We only tested the CPU water-block on our testbed and were very surprised at the performance of the Poseidon WCL-02. The good old Poseidon is still hale enough to equal our reference air cooler Zalman CNPS-9500LED!
Summary: Contrary to our apprehensions, the system didn’t fail completely in our test, yet you can see that its CPU water-block doesn’t suit to cool a modern processor. We also had an irreparable leakage inside the pump-tank, so the effective performance of the pump, 30 liter per hour, was lower than it might be. The additional aluminum chipset and GPU water-blocks look unconvincing. The fill-up opening is rather inconvenient as you can only fill the system by using the enclosed fill-up bottle. The fittings are poorly designed. The system isn’t worth the $90 you are asked for it.
The second Poseidon system to be tested resembles CoolerMaster’s Aquagate mini R120 kit. Well, considering at what time they were developed, it would be more correct to say that the CoolerMaster is like the Poseidon. The system comes filled already.
The cooler-resembling pump is combined with the water-block as a single unit. The water-block’s fastenings are not designed well.
A miniature reservoir is glued to the radiator:
This system performs about 1-2°C better the WCL-02 and its noise is still at a rather low level. We should confess it was a problem to get the system going: the pump motor was rotating, but the water wouldn’t circulate. The pump only began to work normally after we had repeatedly pumped and blew it through. After the air bubble was driven out, the performance of the pump was 43 liters per hour.
Summary: This is a primitive and out-dated system that has no chance against modern kits. You will hardly want to part with $80 to get it.
The performance data for all the tested water-cooling systems are presented in the next table for comparison:
The last diagram is most remarkable as it shows the performance data for the highest-performance systems included in this review. These are all highly appealing products and are recommended for purchase as the best solutions in their respective classes.
First, it is the Cooled Silence Extreme Package from ProModz which has no competitors in pure performance among the water-cooling kits we have covered in this review.
Second is the Thermaltake Symphony, a monumental system designed as a floor speaker. It is going to impress you with its size and style as well as superb efficiency.
Third, it is the Asetek WaterChill KT03A-12VX kit from a recognized leader in production of premium water-cooling systems. Featuring innovative management software, this water-cooling system also boasts a highest manufacturing quality of every component, has a lot of optional accessories, and bears a legendary brand. All this is enough for us to recommend it as a good buy in the “ultra-high-end” product class.
And finally, here is the 3D Galaxy GH-WIU01 system from Gigabyte, a newcomer on the market of water-cooling solutions. The Taiwanese company debuted with a high-performance and, which is very important, affordable system. Of course, it cannot compare with products from Asetek or ProModz in efficiency, but it is two times cheaper and is powerful enough to cool any modern CPU. As a result, the system from Gigabyte must be considered the best buy as having the best price/performance ratio.
Among the rest of the tested systems, the following kits deserve your attention:
This test session shows the considerable progress the manufacturing companies have made in creating water-cooling solutions of all kinds. The number of models offered is now much bigger; the systems have become more powerful and different, too. The factor of aesthetics is also considered by the manufacturers: many models have a very stylish appearance and may become a real decoration of your computer and room interior, besides just doing their cooling job.
With such a wide variety of water-cooling kits to choose from, we think any user can find a solution to suit his/her particular taste and budget.