A convenient way to get wet, from Thermaltake.
Watercooling systems are something that a lot of enthusiasts dream of, hope for and fantasise about - after all they do offer certain things that standard heatsink cooling can't offer. There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding watercooling (such as the rumour that they're dead quiet - sure, until you add a pump and fans!), but this is a kit that aims to answer a few of them in a convenient package that includes everything a decent watercooling system should have. We'll start with the price, which is a pretty significant $330, especially when compared to a $90 heatsink that does a similar job. Which is better, and is wetter worth the hassle?
This is Thermaltake's umpteenth attempt at offering a full kit, and is aimed at the highest-end of the cooling market, also known as those with pockets deep enough to tread water in. It's an arrangement of the separate parts of the system and a decently clear manual, all of which are pretested to work together without any part-searching or head-wracking. Some might argue that finding all the parts separately is half the fun, but for sheer convenience this can't be dissed. Compatibility covers socket 478, LGA775, LGA1366, K8, and AM2/AM2+, which is every socket that anyone is running today.
The componentsPerhaps the most important part of any watercooling loop is the waterblock, or the lump of metal that mounts directly to the CPU and draws the heat away. The one included with the ProWater is a Thermaltake branded copper block, which is a simple in-out block with a small cavity in the centre. Liquid flows through a series of copper pins inside, and exits with the heat. A universal mounting bracket is preinstalled from the factory on top, and the base is flat - if a little rough.
The second most important part is the pump, and again it's a Thermaltake one rated at a very impressive 500L/h. It's got ceramic bearings inside it, so should last for about 30-40,000 hours (it'll make an ungodly noise if it begins to fail). While running it made 54.2dBA of noise, which is pretty quiet considering the volume of liquid it pushes. Hooked directly into the pump is the reservoir, which holds 350ml of liquid and provides the pump intake with a large source of liquid - getting air into your pump while it's running is fatal in a very short time, so do your best to make sure it stays well-filled.
Third most important is the radiator, in this case a simple dual-slot rad that takes the water up and down its length one time. A series of small aluminium fins contact with the water pipe inside, taking away the heat to spread over a very large surface area, as the two 12cm fans blow it away. These fins are very fragile and even a waywardly overenthusiastic fingertip can bend them, so be careful when moving it around. One cool feature about this radiator is that it comes with a plastic mounting frame, meaning that this can be attached to the rear of a standard ATX case - completely externally. Otherwise this frame can be removed, and the radiator installed as per normal.
The fans are standard Thermaltake models, with orange blades and black frames. They're hooked up to a variable rheostat to control the speed, and their noise ranges from the almost quiet 57.9dBA all the way to the annoyingly loud 76.1dBA at full. On lowest setting however, they're very inoffensive. Both the fans and the pump are powered by Molex cables.
There's a nifty flow meter included in the pack; basically a paddle wheel mounted in a clear plastic bubble. This rotates when the water in the loop is flowing, and is a great way of showing off when installed in a case - most times you can't tell if there's any water moving at all without one! We found it caught a few air bubbles under initial use, but was otherwise functional and cool to look at. Also cool was the four metres of included UV reactive 3/8 tubing, and 1L of UV reactive liquid. Check out the gallery link at the top of the article for detailed pics of all the components.
Installation and tempsInstallation on our LGA1366 testbed was pretty simple, and the manual explains things quite well - it just needs updating as the LGA1366 socket wasn't included. It mounts identically to the LGA775 mount, but for beginners it might be confusing. The waterblock goes on first with a series of long screws, holding the waterblock down firmly. Components were laid out in this order:
The tubing was measured - twice! - and finally cut as cleanly as possible with a pair of sharp scissors. A quick soak in a cup of hot water for one end was needed to get it firmly on the barb, and a clamp threaded down the tube to hold it securely. Then a clamp was put on the tube in the middle, the end of the tube soaked and installed, and finally the clamp moved to secure.
A quick fill, flicking the power on and off to get the liquid moving around (don't let any air in, remember), and the loop was finally running. We got a very nice result on stock settings, with temps as in the table below, but even when overclocked it was solid. As a final stress test we set the CPU speed to 3.86GHz @ 1.425V, which survived 1.5 hours under OCCT - a very impressive result indeed as it only hit 63 degrees.
While it's not for everyone, the ProWater performs decently for the money and will look good while being simple - but if you're after performance, building your own kit is still the best way to go.
Issue: 109 | February, 2010