Corsair Memory, a company we mostly know for its high-performance DDR SDRAM memory modules for gaming and overclocking applications, has announced the development of a new high efficiency external water-cooling unit for hardcore computing enthusiasts. This product is designed to provide up to 200W of cooling while significantly reducing fan noise.

The first in a family of cooling products, the HydroCool200 uses patented cooling technologies from Delphi Thermal Systems, the world's largest manufacturer of liquid-based cooling systems. The heart of the system is the copper cooling block which removes heat from the processor. Though very small and light, the block contains enhanced micro-channel surface technology using Delphi-patented technology. The micro-channels present a huge contact area between the liquid and metal, providing outstanding thermal efficiency.

The microprocessor-controlled unit offers a multitude of monitoring services, many of which are user definable. These monitoring services include alarms when temperature thresholds are reached and different cooling levels depending on temperature. The unit has a carrying handle and self sealing quick connectors for transportability without having to bleed the system when reconnecting (I wonder how should we connect all the tubes to our personal computer).

The Hydrocool comes with retention brackets for both the Pentium 4 and Athlon CPUs, as well as a visual flow meter to check water movement. The user can read the temperature of the cooling block from a large display on the front on the unit. The unit is also built for quiet operation; in normal circumstances the unit runs in a barely-audible "whisper mode". When the processing load demands more power, the Hydrocool automatically switches to "Turbo mode" for full cooling capabilities.

The Hydrocool 200 will be available from Corsair resellers in mid-April, 2003. Pricing is to be decided.

Read our review of Koolance water-cooling solution over here.