There have been many discussions on the interwebs of whether or not traditional air cooling is efficient enough and if it can provide enough performance or if water cooling can supersede it and offer things that air cooling just can’t. Noise, power draw, reliability, performance and pure price are among common categories mentioned in these discussions. The camps are still divided but the manufacturers aim at the middle and hopefully will change that. A few years ago we started seeing hybrid all-in-one liquid cooling kits showing up on the market. The first models where still very closely related to traditional water cooling; however, soon after we started seeing more complete and pre-assembled kits taking over. And the benchmarking wars began.

Testing liquid and water cooling devices is rather different from testing air cooling devices. There are different things to consider and focus on. As we primarily focused on air cooling in this section, devices like the Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 are difficult to pin against traditional water cooling or air cooling as it is very difficult to accomplish a level playing field. However, we would like to like to see how well they perform and how well they perform compared to air coolers.

Antec explored the opportunity in a new market as well and developed the Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920. The cooler was released January 2011 and is what we will be reviewing today. The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 620 is the little brother of the Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920. The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 620 was released in April 2011 and we will also be reviewing it soon.

This type of hybrid cooler, if you even can call it that, has gained interest in the enthusiast market and grabbed a foothold quickly. They resemble a water cooling system much more then a air cooling system but they are less complex from a user standpoint. Because of the size and simplicity they usually resemble the performance of an air cooler much closer, So far.

The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 separates itself from the field with a rich feature set. We will get into more detail about those features along the way but for now, lets get started with a little into who Antec is and hear what they say about the KÜHLER H₂O 920:

About Antec

Antec, Inc. is the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in the industry and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of quiet, efficient and innovative products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators.

The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 provides maximum-performance liquid cooling for your CPU in a quick, easy-to-install package. Unlike traditional liquid cooling systems, this self-contained unit comes prefilled and requires zero maintenance. The dual 120 mm Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) fans and 3rd generation copper coldplate ensure quiet, efficient cooling, while the 49 mm thick radiator is equipped to handle the highest performing CPUs on the market. Lastly, the included software helps you monitor and control the KÜHLER H₂O 920’s performance and allows you to customize its stylish RGB LED. Designed to unlock the maximum potential of your CPU, the Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 delivers exceptional cooling when you need it the most.

Features:

• Included software provides essential tools to control and monitor the KÜHLER H₂O 920
• Non-corrugated easy-bend tubes for maximum flexibility in radiator positioning
• Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) radiator fans
• Customizable RGB LED creates brilliant illumination
• Cooling Liquid – Safe, environmentally-friendly, anti-corrosive
• Copper Micro-Channel cold plate
• 25,000 hours (MTTF)
• LGA 2011 compatible

Supported Sockets:

*Intel LGA 2011 Mounting bracket is now included

Next: Unboxing, Packaging and Accessories

We got some Voodoo in the lab. No seriously, some Venom Voodoo. I think you got it now. Correct, The Akasa Venom Voodoo spooked it’s way in our labs. Let’s hope that the black magic doesn’t effect the results.

The company Akasa is well established. Akasa has development and manufacturing operations in Taiwan, China, Brazil and England to makes this an international operation. There is a wide range of products Akasa is developing and manufacturing. We will focus on the retail air cooler and fans segment of the company.

The Akasa Venom Voodoo is a rather recent release by Akasa and is a follow up improvement of the Akasa Venom. The Venom name has been expanded to an entire product line, including cases and fans.

The Voodoo features the HDT design combined with dual fan configuration. The cooler boasts 6 uncoated full copper heatpipes and the exposed copper heatpipe base we have come to know from the HDT deign.The 6 heatpipes are all 6mm in diameter which should move heat efficiently from the cooler base tho the fins. The Akasa also shows some forward thinking and provides socket 2011-compatible mounting mechanism.

Features:

• Six high capacity heatpipes with direct CPU contact
• Dual 12cm viper fans for extreme performance
• Award winning S-Flow fan providing 30% more airflow

Supported Sockets:

Next: Unboxing, Packaging and Accessories

A sample from our next contender comes from Gelid. The company is based in Hong Kong with management in Swiss. The company is a fairly young player in the industry and was founded in 2008 by Gebhard Scherrer and VC Tran. Gelid is Gebhard Scherrer’s latest project after co-founding the well known Arctic Cooling brand. Gelid’s name established quickly and well in the industry, rather known for their case fan product line, Gelid now is also more determined to get a foothold in the CPU cooler market.

The Tranquillo is not Gelid’s first attempt at CPU air cooling but Gelid took some time out after the “Silent Spirit” release. The sample we will be reviewing today is actually the v2 or Rev2 of the “Tranquillo” cooler with updated design and mounting to accommodate newer socket configurations.

The Gelid Tranquillo is a tower design CPU heatsink and features 4x heatpipes which measure all 6mm in diameter. The Tranquillo cooler does not feature the popular HDT design and instead provides a traditional uncoated full copper base. The base has a small heatsink in top to enhance cooling. The design of the heatsinks body is unusual as it is shaped like a chevron. This design takes advantage of the airflow gap right between the fan and the cooler as well as extending the airflow out back where it is best.

The 6 uncoated full copper heatpipes add up to a full 1 foot in length if put together. The H612 also features a broad range of applications and installation options.

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Features:

• 4 Power Heatpipes in new constellation
• Intelligent PWM Fan Control Curve
• Silent Operation with High Airflow
• 4×90° AMD Clip Mounting Direction
• Optimized Fan Blade
• 5 Year Warranty

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Supported Sockets:

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Next: Unboxing, Packaging and Accessories

The Features

The board features many of the standard AM3+ features, such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6 GBps, as well as rapid charging for cell phones and other USB accessories via the enchanced power states of the USB 3.0 controllers. It also supports the next generation AMD FX “Bulldozer” processors as well as handling all of your current Generation AM3 CPU needs. The board supports memory speeds up to 2000 MHz (via OC) and can use AMD overdrive overclocking/tuning software. Most importantly, however, is the inclusion of SLI capability on an AMD system. Such a thing is a shock indeed, and the 990FX chipset saw fit to have both CrossfireX and Tri-SLI capabilities built into it.

What Gigabyte brings to the table on their own is the 2x copper PCB branding, a wicked truly black PCB with a tuned and stable power delivery system. Gigabyte believes in Blu-Ray quality HD sound and all boards are now shipping with 108dB SNR audio. A dual BIOS provides extra system stability in the event of a bad flash or corruption due to extreme overclocking. 3TB+ drives are supported for increasing storage to the maximum limits, and, to further augment your storage needs, it offers a software called XHD, which automatically sets up a RAID0 stripe when using the AMD SATA 6Gbps ports.

Gigabyte is also supporting remote device functionality with BIOS support via some new software. TouchBIOS allows you to attach a touch screen monitor and access the BIOS much like a Android app. CloudOC lets you remotely clock your PC via Bluetooth or 802.x interface. One more feature (Gigabyte loves their 3’s!) is called Autogreen. With an optional Bluetooth transceiver your computer can be set to automatically go into a sleep state when your cell phone leaves the vicinity of the PC.

Without further ado, let’s get onto the GA-99FX-UD5 AM3+ motherboard.

Today we have an exclusive Cooler Master release product on the bench. The H612PWM is an ambitious attempt to take the cooling crown. We are very proud to be one of the first to have it to get an exclusive look at what could be the future of the air cooling market.

Looks like sheer size and the brutal force of 6 heat pipes is the magic behind the Cooler Master H612. The cooler was not intended for small cases but performance was the primary idea behind this design. The H612 features a 120mm fan with a clip on retention clip. The package also comes with a second set of clips and screws to enable a second fan to be installed in the rear of the cooler. This will further enhance the cooling characteristic and ability of this cooler.

The Cooler Master H612 is actually released in two different versions. The H612S and the H612PWM. The two version differ visually by the two top most fins which are silver or chrome on the H612S and black with the H612PWM. The physical difference between the two boils down the difference in fans. The H612″S” includes a single speed fan spinning at a mere 1300 RPM. The H612″PWM” however sports a variable speed fan running anywhere from 600 RPM all the way up to 2000 RPM. The model we received is the later.

The cooler does not feature the popular HDT design and instead provides a uncoated full copper base.The 6 uncoated full copper heatpipes add up to a full 1 foot in length if put together. The H612 also features a broad range of applications and installation options.

Features:

• Power Management Fan
• Fan Clips for fast and easy Fan installation
• 2nd Fan installation option
• 6 Heatpipe design
• Full copper base
• Performance Optimized
• Redesigned Heatpipe Array
• Improved Airflow

Supported Sockets:

Next: Unboxing, Packaging and Accessories

With the market for extreme PC cooling growing at a rapid rate over the past few years, we are seeing a much greater number of PC components and accessories geared to this end of the spectrum.  This goes back to the Foxconn “Quantum Force” line, which was kicked off with a killer mainboard, the BLACKOPS with features that had never been seen before.  Fast forward a few years, and now all the top manufacturers are mimicking elements from that board, and pushing forward with other innovations geared towards extreme cooling enthusiasts.

However, one area that has not seen any special attention is in the TIM (Thermal Interface Material) market, at least until now (the last time there was anything resembling this kind of enthusiast buzz over some cooling goo was when Arctic Silver hit the market). eVGA recently unleashed on the world their new TIM dubbed “Frostbite,” and for good reason.  eVGA claims this new compound is not only better for the extreme cooling crowd, but also superior for everyday users as well.  Not only that, but k|ngp|n himself is signing off on all these claims and endorsing the product for extreme cooling use.

The longtime standard-bearer for extreme cooling has been Arctic Silver’s Céramique, which k|ngp|n and many others have used it for years.  However, over the past year of so, many users have been testing alternatives.  Elmor (a top overclocker from Sweden) swears by OCZ Freeze, and there have been a number of positive reports with several other compounds as well.  Considering all the recent speculation, we needed to take a closer look at this new contender.

Next: eVGA Frostbite, a closer look…

Packaging:

The video card:

Specifications and features:

Next: Test System, and Overclocking

Though the packaged is a rather plain, no frills, box; the Sapphire Radeon HD6770 is anything but plain looking. Stepping away from the flashy packaging of most other Sapphire branded products this package is pure function and utility. By focusing on the product contained inside rather than marketing a pretty box Sapphire presents this card (and a few others) with a bold and different approach.

Packaging:

Looking at the card itself makes one forget about the rather plain box:

For a size comparison a GTX 465 was used to represent the more massive cards in this price range. The smaller size of the Sapphire HD6770 makes it more versatile increasing its usefulness in applications where space is at a premium.

Next: Features

Last but not least in our Xigmatek review lineup is the Xigmatek GAIA SD1283. We have been talking about the company in previous reviews already and won’t go into much detail again. Xigmatek has impressed consumers with a good quality product line up and performance that can be shown off, remaining at an affordable price level. Xigmatek’s “ICE” philosophy is well-illustrated in the company and its products.

“ICE” = Impressive / Creative / Essential

The Gaia is a 120mm vertical airflow cooler featuring a heatpipe direct touch design. The HDT design is making a comeback this year in the air cooler market and many of the current top coolers implement the HDT
design in some way, shape or form. The design allows the heatpipes to make direct contact with the CPU’s heat-spreader and thus allowing for direct heat transfer. The GAIA also features a fairly unique fin design which we will get into more detail about later.

Xigmatek deploys their traditional HDT design with 3 straight heatpipes in the GAIA. The design in this specific cooler employs 3 uncoated copper heatpipes in a fairly straight forward “U” shape. The GAIA’s heatpipes stand out, visually, because of its rather narrow design. The depth of the cooler measures a mere 50mm across, which makes it pretty slim compared to many other coolers in its class. This can be a big advantage if space is limited or oversized memory modules are used.

The cooler is outfitted with a single 120mm fan, which is attached with a set of 4 rubber pins. The package includes a 2nd set of rubber pins which can be used to attach an additional fan on the back of the cooler to enhance cooling performance.

Features:

• H.D.T. (Heat-pipe direct touch) technology
• Anti-vibration grommets to prevent vibration and absorb noise
• 3x 8mm high performance U-type heat-pipes
• 120mm PWM fan

Supported Sockets:

Next: Unboxing, Packaging and Accessories

A couple years ago, I put together a simple water cooling system that I dubbed FFF&FM.

• Form
• Follows
• Function
• and
• Fully
• Modular

And the name really tells you everything you need to know. It was not a pretty system, nor did it need to be….but it did work very well for cooling my HW while pretesting for more serious benching session with liquid nitrogen. Here is a link to the original forum post where I detailed the build.

FFF&FM Rev1.0 parts

The original system used two Swiftech triple 120 radiators sandwiching three 120×38mm San Ace fans. It used a single DDC style pump, and performance was excellent, especially in the winter when I could hang it out the window for some extra cool benching sessions.

FFF&FM Rev1.0

While the original system has served me well, I recently decided that I needed to correct a couple flaws with the design, and also push the performance to the limit….so with that in mind, I bring you the next generation….

Revision 2

The idea with revision 2 is to keep the original design goals, but enhance performance, and correct two flaws in the original design. What were those flaws?

1. First off, there was no reliable indication of flow, this is pretty important especially when disabling the safety mechanisms built into modern HW like we do with benching. When you tell the CPU not to throttle if it’s overheating, then if something goes wrong with the cooling system you’re liable to kill some HW. This almost occurred this past winter when I had a pump fail on the original FFF&FM and my CPU temps skyrocketed. Luckily I was running a Bloomfield CPU which has proved to be extremely durable.
2. The second flaw in the original design was the lack of pump redundancy, as I just described pump failure was a major concern in the new revision. So with the new design I knew I wanted to support two or more pumps in case one fails.
3. The last issue with the first desing was the use of thin walled tubing. I used 3/8″ ID and 1/2″ OD tubing which means the wall thickness was only 1/16″ thick. With the new system, I’ve upgraded the tubing to 3/8″ ID and 5/8″ OD which means the wall thickness is now twice the original, or 1/8″ thick. This new Primochill tubing is MUCH more kink resistant, and this is super important for a system thats continuously being reconfigured and played with.

All of the other design goals remain, and the most important ones are performance, and the “modular” design made possible with the Koolance quick disconnects. These have made this water cooling system as useful as it is.

The build

So, I wanted to take you through a quick step-by-step build log, showing how I put the system together. The biggest part of the new system is the new Watercool radiator, which is a monstrosity designed to use 18 140mm cooling fans, nine on each side. This is the “light” version, which only allows for mounting fans on one side.

Watercool MO-RA3 front

In the picture above, the radiator is resting on the box for a Swiftech MCR-320-QP quad 120 radiator….that should give you some scale, this thing is huge! There are actually 6 fill ports, two on the front, two on the rear, and two on the top which provides tons of flexibility for your desired configuration.

Watercool MO-RA3 rear

Based on this testing I wanted to put some shrouds on the fans, and I also wanted to use some good 120mm fans, due to the lack of decent 140mm fan options. So, I decided to use a 30mm thick piece of wood as a shroud for the entire bank of fans.

pum & res position

I started by getting the board cut to the correct size at the hardware store. Then I drilled holes to mount the radiator, and positioned the pumps and reservoir to ensure the board would accommodate the desired layout. The reservoir selected for this project is the Tecnofront Challenger X1 from Italy. It has an integrated flow meter, which will be a nice visual indicator for me. The two DDC based pumps (10W OEM versions) are linked with the EK Dual DDC Turbo Top.

fan hole placement

Next, I drew out the spacing for all the fans. My goal was to have each fan placed directly over the intended location for the standard 140mm fan, to get as even a distribution of air as possible.

cutting fan holes 1

Then I slowly began cutting the fan holes, going 1/2 way through on the first side, and then finishing the cut from the opposite side.

cutting fan holes 2

After cutting all the holes, I then routed the rear side (the side facing the radiator) to help airflow spread out from the fan to cover the gaps in-between the fans.

test fit

Then, I bolted the board up to the radiator for the first time to ensure a proper fit and alignment.

res & pump placement

With the radiator mounted, I was able to trace the edges of the reservoir and pump wires to plan for proper placement of each.

res & pump cuts

Next, I made some rough cuts for the reservoir and the pump wires, and I also routed the corners of the fans intake side.

weatherstrip

I took my Dremel sanding wheel to the corners and then some good ol’fashioned elbow grease and got them nice and smooth. Now the holes are proper square with rounded corners to match the fan’s frame. Then I placed weather strip around the edges to ensure a good seal on the radiator.

final fitting

Next, I mounted the radiator for the final time; the first tube was also connected with a compression fitting to the front side of the rad.

tube routing 1

You can see here the reservoir and pumps placed in their final locations. Both are secured to the top of the radiator with double sided sticky tape.

tube routing 2

You can see the basic tube routing here, the water comes in through the lower white tube on the left (into the front radiator port, not seen), exits the radiator into the black tube on the right and goes into the reservoir, the out of the reservoir into the pumps, and out of the pumps in the upper white tube and out to the system.

tube routing 3

Another angle.

tube routing 4

And another.

fans mounted

The next step was to mount my fans, nine San Ace 120×38mm 110+CFM gems. Been really happy with these fans over the last few years and they should be perfect for this project as well. You can also see the reservoir mounted at the top.

base 1

With everything mounted up, I also wanted to create a stable base for the system. I used the leftover wood from the original board.

base 2

I used some additional scrap to make some strengthening plates to put on each side.

base 3

Another shot from the front.

fan seals

No matter how hard you try, if you don’t have the proper tools to complete your cuts perfectly, you’re never going to have perfect alignment. That’s where silicon sealant comes in.

wired and running

The last step was to wire the fans and pumps together and fill and blead the system. I have to say this Tecnofront reservoir made that job easier than with any other reservoir I’ve ever used…99% of the air bubbles were bled within a couple minutes….very impressive!

system complete

After getting everything hooked up and running, I played with a few benchmarks. But first I wanted to give you a quick sound check, and made the video below. Also notice the flow meter showing you a good indication of flow.

Results

Well, this is not a review, but I still wanted to leave you with some results. I have not spent much time with the system yet. But I did have a chance to test out a new 990X and improve my previous best 5970 Vantage score.

3D Vantage with 5970

The CPU cores reached a max temp of 72C and the GPU cores hit 47C and 43C….not bad considering the 20C ambient temp in my room at the time.

I’ll have tons more testing with this system, and I still have a few more minor improvemtnes to make (fan grills and weather protection)…but the meat and potatoes are all here, I hope you liked it and it inspires some of you.