by Vasily Melnik
02/04/2006 | 12:20 PM
Thermaltake can be noted for having been very active recently in developing and promoting various cooling systems under its brand. Not long ago we wrote about a series of new air coolers from the company; its products have also performed successfully in our water-cooling systems roundup. To all appearances, Thermaltake takes the latter direction as a priority for today. Just take a look at the list of new products on the company’s website and you will see water-cooling solutions rather than traditional coolers being in focus there. I don’t mean air coolers are completely forgotten, yet Thermaltake seems to be ready to get firmly established on the market of water-cooling systems as none other manufacturer can offer as extensive product range as Thermaltake’s.
<%BANNER[article]%>We have been lucky to get one new air cooler and five water-based coolers (three new ones and two updates) from Thermaltake for this review. At least two of the water-cooling solutions feature a unique design and it’s hard to foretell their market future just because they may prove too uncommon even for lovers of exotic products.
The air cooler is a kind of special guest. Thermaltake has decided to restore the once-famous Orb brand and has released two new models: Golden Orb II and Blue Orb II. We unfortunately couldn’t get a sample of the former, but are looking forward to get one soon. But without any more introductions let’s get right to the coolers to be tested.
It’s easy to test a liquid-cooling system. Putting aside the problems of assembly and filling, you don’t need a real system case as a testbed: you don’t have to deploy the cooling system in a system case to check its efficiency since the heat is transferred to the outside anyway. As for the assembly procedure, there’s not much sense in verifying how the system deploys since this will largely depend on the type and internal design of a particular system case.
So, we tested the performance of the reviewed coolers using the following hardware parts:
There were two test modes: Idle and Burn (with two copies of CPU Burn running). The graphics card was loaded by running Unreal Tournament in 1280x1024 resolution, in 32-bit color, at the maximum graphics quality settings and with turned-in 4x full-screen antialiasing and 8x anisotropic filtering. The temperature of the CPU was read with Intel Desktop Utilities version 2.1 which is supplied with the mainboard. The temperatures of the GPU and the graphics card’s PCB were read with RivaTuner.
The room temperature remained constant at 20°C throughout the tests. The same brand of thermal paste was used with all the tested cooling systems.
The level of noise is evaluated subjectively and is specifically mentioned for each cooler. If it is possible to adjust the fan speed, we test the system at different fan speeds, depending on the system’s capabilities.
Thermaltake’s Bigwater is already known to our readers as it was covered in our previous review of consumer-class liquid-cooling systems (for details see the article called Four Liquid-Cooling Systems for the Masses ), so I won’t dwell long on water-blocks, pipes, fasteners and such as they were all described in detail earlier. Nothing seems to have changed in the updated system at first:
But on a closer inspection I found that the system had acquired an expansion tank and a new pump:
The new pump is of course the more interesting component of the two:
I don’t have detailed information about the characteristics of the older pump, so I can only say definitely that the new pump is better or worse after I test it in action. What I can say is that it is smaller and heavier than the older one (see the specification below). The curiously designed expansion tank is installed into a 5.25” bay of the PC case:
The fittings will be inside the system case and the coolant level indicator on the front panel, but how do you fill this system up?
You can only fill it after you take the tank halfway out of the bay. The plug remains inaccessible otherwise. Despite the fact that you have to move the tank, the filling procedure has become more convenient. You just pour some coolant into the tank and pump the system up. That’s all and there is only one hitch – there are no labels on the pump to tell you what fitting is for input and what fitting is for output of the coolant. If you connect the pump’s input to the top fitting on the tank, the system just won’t work. I couldn’t find anywhere in the manual what fitting acted as input and had to determine this experimentally with a couple of pipes and a mug of water. So, if you do like this system and plan to purchase it, here’s some undocumented info: the lower fitting is an input and the upper fitting is an output as shown on the snapshot of the pump above.
The other components of the system (radiator, water-block, fasteners, etc) have remained unchanged, so you can refer to our earlier review for details.
And here is what the system achieved in our tests:
The results of the ordinary Bigwater are given for comparison. The expansion tank surely brings in some gains: there is almost no difference in the Idle mode, but the updated system looks considerably better under load. This is an expectable outcome as the performance of a liquid-cooling system depends on the amount of coolant and the new Bigwater can take in almost three times more of it.
The pump left me with rather mixed feelings (by the way, the same is true for the Tribe and the Symphony kits, reviewed below, as they use exactly the same pump). It has become smaller and, according to the manufacturer, more efficient, but it produces a noticeable vibration and a characteristic “babbling” sound. It means the user has to carefully choose the place of the pump in the system case. The babbling is only audible in complete silence when the PC case is closed, but the vibration is harder to deal with and the solution will depend on the specifics of your particular system case. Well, if you don’t strive to make your computer absolutely silent, you may not bother about the pump at all.
The fan and the radiator have not changed since our previous review, so their noise is exactly the same.
Highs: Easy to assemble and fill; New pump; Good performance; Appealing price
Lows: No labels on the pump’s fittings; You have to bother about finding the right place for the pump
Conclusion: Users who are looking for an inexpensive liquid-cooling solution are going to like this update, especially since it is also accompanied with a price reduction.
Average price: $90
This is another variation of the Bigwater, this time a more advanced one:
The pretty package contains an external unit and a box with accessories.
The accessories are a bottle with coolant, a water-block, fasteners, pipes, and a special bottle for filling the system up.
The latter is made of supple plastic and has a special tip:
This seemingly useful accessory is actually ineffectual in this particular case as you’ll learn below.
The system comes with a special bracket and a cable for taking the pipes and power out of the system case:
The cable is about two times longer than necessary, but it’s better than to have a shorter-than-necessary cable.
The external unit is an aluminum framework meshed on all sides and equipped with two handles:
On seeing this unit for the first time, some people would inquire who made this barebone. Well, this box really has the shape and size of a typical barebone system. The similarity is even stronger at work…
…because the front-side fan is highlighted:
It looks just like an element of the cooling system of the “barebone”.
The whole arrangement isn’t as small as to fit under your arm, so the handles are quite appropriate:
On the back panel, there is a fan-speed controller, fittings for the pipes, and a power cable connector.
You have to adjust the fan speed “by ear” because the Tribe lacks any monitoring. Well, you can add it yourself, if you’ve got the skills necessary.
The additional hole in the bracket…
…seems to imply that there can be at least two fan-speed controllers, so the system’s functionality may be extended.
The case is assembled using special angled retentions:
To access the internals of the box, you have to remove the handles and unfasten the top angles – a mere 16 screws. The top panel removed, we can see that there’s quite a lot of free space inside:
There is an ordinary heatsink for a 120mm fan from Thermaltake at the front – similar to the fan employed in Bigwater and Bigwater SE.
In the corners at the back there is an expansion tank…
…and a pump:
The pump is the same as employed in the Bigwater SE. The middle of the box is free space. As a matter of fact, the Tribe is an ordinary Bigwater with a small expansion tank and a fan with LED-based highlighting, all in a big external box. The system is now easier to deal with. For example, it is incredibly easy to fill the system up – just pour the liquid from the bottle into the tank and pump it up, and then repeat the same steps until the system is filled to the full. I just don’t understand what that filling bottle is included for – it is not necessary at all here.
So the Tribe kit can be recommended to users who don’t mind the cooling system to occupy some more space in the room. The system is easy to install and fill up, and you don’t have to clutter your PC case with the radiator. The Tribe may also be interesting for modders because it is much easier to replace something in an external spacious container than in a system case. Components of larger sizes can be used, too.
And here are the test results:
There is nothing particularly surprising here. The Tribe doesn’t differ much from the Bigwater in the components employed, but the new fan and the uncommon position of the radiator affect the performance of the system negatively, so it does somewhat worse than the earlier-tested Bigwater. The Tribe, however, is beyond competition as concerns the ease of installation and filling because the external container can be placed just anywhere, it is very simple to fill the system up, and the whole installation procedure is as easy as mounting a water-block and connecting two pipes. Modders are going to appreciate the opportunity of easy replacement of any components in the external case.
Highs: Easy to install and fill up; original design; the main unit is external
Lows: Somewhat lower performance in comparison with the ordinary Bigwater; the external unit has to be placed somewhere, too
Conclusion: The Tribe is surely an interesting offer, but hardly a product for a mass user.
Average price: $150
The Silent Water is a typical representative of small and fully preassembled water-cooling systems, packaged into a small box:
The box contains the cooler proper and a pack of near standard fasteners for Thermaltake’s water-cooling systems.
Roughly speaking, the system consists of a Bigwater radiator on which a small copper-alloy expansion tank is installed…
…along with a super-compact pump:
The size of the pump is truly amazing…
…as it is not much bigger than a standard Molex!
This miracle is created by Delta, a well-known brand among PC enthusiasts.
Thermaltake’s specification (see below) contradicts what you can read on the Delta website: the pump performance is 0.9 liters per minute or 50 liters per hour (rather than 72). Anyway, the performance is quite high for such a small mechanism.
Another interesting component of the system is the new water-block:
This molded water-block is rather heavy and is polished well at the bottom:
The standard fastener with two additional holes is used for mounting the block on the CPU:
The fastening bracket is screwed to the water-block and then the whole arrangement is installed on the mainboard:
So, the system is good all around. It can be easily installed into a modern system case with a 120mm exhaust fan on the back panel.
And here are the results of the test:
Despite the rather weak pump, the system can challenge some more serious products, the new water-block contributing a lot to this performance. As for how easy this system is in use, I can’t say anything new to you because it has the typical drawbacks of systems intended to be placed inside the PC case. The most curious fact about the Silent Tower is that it costs more than the Bigwater SE – a system with fewer components costs more than a more sophisticated one! The new water-block and the Delta pump are probably not quite cheap. On the other hand, this is only a drawback if you compare the system with other products from Thermaltake. Similar products from other companies are considerably more expensive.
Highs: No need to assemble and fill; Good performance
Lows: This system cannot be installed in some PC cases
Conclusion: The Silent Tower is a compact water-cooling system at a reasonable price and with normal functionality.
Average price: $95
And here is the largest product package in this review…
…that contains one of the largest off-the-shelf water-cooling systems of today:
The thing you take out of the package does not look like a cooler at all. It looks more like a hi-fi speaker designed in the hi-tech style. This exterior is determined by the positioning of the product, which is meant to cool the processor of a high-performance HTPC and must match the living-room interior. Thermaltake has really done a good job of the exterior design – the system looks splendid. As for the internals, I’ve got some complaints and will express them below.
Besides the main unit, the box contains a water-block similar to the Silent Water one, and a pipe with special fittings:
In the foam-rubber box you will also find some coolant, fasteners, and a filling bottle:
The water-block fasteners are the same as included with the Silent Water. What I couldn’t quite understand was the meaning of the kit of five fittings and 10 braces that looked like that:
They are probably meant for experiments with the layout of the system.
The pipes are connected to the bottom of the “tower”:
There is a power connector nearby. If you unfasten the screws that hold the back panel, you can access the filling tank and the pumps:
Yes, there are two pumps in this system, connected sequentially!
Well, the water must be pumped up rather high and by a rather big distance, so one pump of this type wouldn’t suffice. Buy why in succession, I wonder? We’ll talk about the pumps more shortly.
Let’s now see what is inside the main casing:
The huge radiator – as radiators of off-the-shelf water-cooling systems go – is cooled with five 120mm fans! I haven’t seen anything like that before. The fans are the same width as the radiator and are placed at a distance of a couple of centimeters between each other.
So, we’ve got five fans and ten copper pipes, each nearly 1 meter long and with dense aluminum ribbing:
This system should definitely perform better than average. The pipes have special fittings for easy connection to the tower.
The user just has to install the water-block, take the pipes out of the PC case, connect them to the tower and connect power (a bracket and cable like the ones included in the Tribe kit are used for that). It’s easy to fill the system up: just pour the coolant into the expansion tank and pump the system up by turning it on and off again until the coolant begins to trickle into the tank from the radiator.
Then leave the system working for 10-15 minutes so that it could pump out all the air, and then add more coolant if necessary.
So, everything’s all right with this Symphony, but I’ve got two questions. Why did the developer use such weak pumps for a system of that class and that price and why did they use this design of the water-block? The radiator’s potential cannot be revealed because of the weak pumps and the improper design of the water-block’s input pipes (which are too thin). Just take a look at the numbers:
I deliberately tested the system in passive mode and the results speak for themselves. If this system were equipped with a high-quality pump and if the water-block were just a little improved, it would deliver the same performance as the best products on the market. I didn’t like the sound the system made: 1400rpm is too high a speed and the fans are loud, especially since the system should be absolutely silent to meet its own market positioning. Well, you can try to put a speed controller on the tower’s back panel with the help of a drill, but I don’t understand why the manufacturer neglected to do so, considering the price of the product.
Thus, the system can be recommended as it is and to those who can spend the money asked. It just has no analogs. I think you may appreciate it even more if you’ve been into assembling your own custom-made water-cooling systems. It will take no more than $50 to replace the pump and the reservoir and to install a speed controller, but the resulting performance will be much higher. As for the price of the system, it won’t seem high for those users who it is intended for.
Highs: Easy assembly and filling; Excellent performance; Superb design
Lows: Big size; Weak pumps; No fan-speed controller
Conclusion: A unique and eye-catching system, the Symphony will make an ideal CPU cooler for a high-performance HTPC.
Average price: $340
It’s not so easy to guess what device is inside this box and what its purpose is:
The last water-cooling system in this review differs from everything we’ve ever tested on our site. This cooler is specifically designed for graphics cards:
Like the Silent Water, this cooling system comes preassembled with only a pack of fasteners and a user manual as accessories. Well, you don’t need anything more, actually. The system consists of two parts: a water-block and a rather big case inside which a radiator, pump and reservoir are located.
The fan is not too small (considering the size of the whole cooler), so there is a hope that the system is not too loud.
A reservoir, filled to the full with the coolant, can be seen in the bottom right corner:
Above it, the familiar pump is located, the same as included in the Silent Water kit:
The manufacturer didn’t save on metal and the springs the pipes are enveloped in don’t allow the pipes to fold in two.
The radiator is all copper, as opposed to other water-cooling systems from Thermaltake.
The fan speed can be adjusted:
High Speed and Low Speed are for more performance and more silence, respectively.
The cooler is installed instead of two PCI cards:
The two plates are meant for fixing the cooler in PCI slots. That’s not the best solution as the card itself blocks two slots, and the upper slot can only take in some small network adapter, for example. Considering that there are usually no more than 3 PCI slots on modern mainboards, the Tide Water can’t be installed on some of them. This cooler can be redesigned for external placement, but more problems would arise then.
The hot air is exhausted to the outside:
So the main unit also works as an exhaust fan. On the reverse side, there are fittings for pipes, a power cable connector, a reservoir plug, and a window to control the coolant level.
The water-block is quite an ordinary water-block for cooling a GPU.
It is made of copper and its silvery color is just a protective coating.
The sole is polished well:
You can see traces of the milling machine, but it’s all right. The manufacturers just don’t strive to achieve a mirror-like polish nowadays. I took a Sapphire X800 XL graphics card as a carrier and testbed for this cooler. The card normally comes with an OEM version of the Zalman VF700 cooler:
The all-aluminum model is not available in retail – you can only get it with some particular graphics cards. Despite the all-aluminum ribbing, the cooler is far better than standard coolers usually installed on graphics cards of that class. One more reason for me to choose this card was that the air cooler cools not only the GPU, but also the graphics card’s PCB which the Tide Water doesn’t do. Well, you’ll see the results of the test soon. As for installation, it was simple to mount the water-block on the GPU:
I didn’t even have to use the included fastening extensions. They should have positioned the fittings at an angle, however:
The pipe from the water-block pressed down on a memory chip heatsink after installation, and the heatsink eventually fell off. It means that you may have troubles installing the cooler on graphics cards where there are tall elements near the GPU. It won’t take you long to install the cooler on the PCB:
As you see, you can only install a not-very-thick expansion card into the neighboring slot. Frankly speaking, I tried some popular audio cards and TV tuners and had no problems with any of them. The neighboring expansion card will block the air inlets on the reverse side of the main unit of the cooler, however.
The card and the cooler get along quite nicely together…
…but there must be at least one free slot between them.
So, the system is installed and ready for tests. Here are the results:
So, it is all clear enough: the GPU feels cold while the PCB and memory are rather hot. Such a cooler is not in fact needed on a graphics card of the X800 XL class – a good air cooler would be enough in our case. The Tide Water is more appropriate on a top-end graphics card and its price will look more reasonable then, too. As for the noise factor, the cooler is almost silent at low rotations-per-minute and is very loud at the maximum speed.
Highs: Simple installation; Good performance
Lows: Occupies two PCI slots; Loud at the max speed
Conclusion: This innovative cooler for graphics cards is unlikely to become widely popular because of its rather high price, which is about $80.
Average price: $80
So, I’ve prepared the most thrilling thing for the end. Welcome the returning legend, the second Blue Orb:
Thermaltake’s traditional packaging envelopes the traditional kit:
This is the cooler and a small box with fasteners.
There’s no universal compatibility – only modern platforms are supported. Well, no one will buy an exclusive cooler for an obsolete platform anyway. When cooking this model, Thermaltake’s engineers must have mixed together a standard boxed cooler for Intel’s top-end LGA775 processors and a Fatality series Zalman 7700CU. The former gave the Blue Orb II the characteristic forked aluminum ribs and the copper, while the latter, the shape and the 120mm fan with moderate-intensity blue LED highlighting:
The sole is polished very well:
It’s not exactly mirror-like, but you cannot see any traces of the milling machine. The surface is somewhat matte and flat.
It is easy to install the cooler on the mainboard – I just had to fasten two brackets on the PCB (the back-plate would have to be replaced on a Socket 939/940 mainboard):
And then I put down the cooler proper:
It is secured with special spring-loaded screws for uniform hold-down pressure.
And that’s all, actually. One thing left to do is to check the new Orb in action.
Here are its results in the tests:
No miracles happened: the cooler is good, but can’t match the performance of coolers on heat pipes. Moreover, it works at a higher speed than the Big Typhoon, for example. On the other hand, the Blue Orb II is far cheaper than the Big Typhoon and will make a nice cooler for a midrange computer.
Highs: Simple installation; pretty appearance
Lows: Big dimensions and weight; Not suitable for top-end computers
Conclusion: This is an average-efficiency air cooler that is going to meet tough competition from heat-pipes-based coolers in its price category.
Average price: $30
As a conclusion to this review we offer you a summary diagram that compares the performance of the reviewed coolers:
All in all, summing up the obtained results I can say that Thermaltake did a great job on extending and enhancing its model range, although there is still way for further improvement, of course. I will refrain from detailed comments on the last summarizing diagram, since we have already discussed the results for each system individually in the corresponding sections of this roundup. Moreover, it is not quite correct to compare Symphony, for instance, against Silent Water cooling system, because these are very different solutions from the positioning, application and pricing stand points.
If we try to split the solutions into groups according to their price range, we will get three major groups. The first one will include Silent Water, Bigwater SE and Tribe, which demonstrated pretty much the same level of performance. The second group will be represented by Symphony, which is beyond all competition in this test. And finally, the air coolers will form the third group. The comparative performance analysis of the latter two proves very illustratively that regular coolers have no chances against solutions with heat-pipe technology.
However, if you are looking for something like Zalman 7700CU, you should definitely consider the new Orb from Thermaltake: the current price-to-performance ratio it offers makes it a great buy, especially for AMD Athlon 64 based platforms.