sled! put down the crack pipe and walk away slowly with your hands in the air! :evilaugh:

The Z3 is copper, it's always been copper, the Z2 was their Al block of similar design.

I think it is very interesting that you failed to get any coolant pressure readings to go along with you water-block tests . Since you are curious as to the effects of flow , one of the major factors becomes contact time . Higher presssures will enable lower contact times (but higher flow rates ,at low pressure may lower the contact time thus reducing efficiency), but there is a balance point to consider . The turbulence in the flow will cause localized cavitation which will increase as the pressure rises . in some systems the internal friction created by high pressure / cavitation situations offsets the the higher flow rate in two ways, one by causing localized heating within the block and reducing eff by less heat transfer (contact time) and friction .
Not one of those blocks utilizes proper water turbulence with regard to direction of flow and while a large base plate may be good for stabilizing the over-all system equlibrium , the "dead solid area's within the blocks will always require a much larger pump than is absolutely necessary .

P.S> I install and repair all types of solar heat exchangers for water . From domestic copper systems to plastic pool panels (vastly different in terms of operation - pools work best with metered panels (even flow all pressures-this from data going back 30 years ) and domestics are full pressure -low flow. the interesting thing is that most of the water block/ radiator setups work almost exactly like domestic hot water water heating systems , in that the recirc temp is dependant on the resavoir (or radiator ) size . I would like to see if you get a wider range of temperature differentials using a larger radiator (as I suspect that you were actually measuring your radiators capacity) , say the heater core (you know that neat radiator from under the dash) from a 72 chevy caprice classic?

as newbie sort of pointed out, I'd be most interested to see the average ambient temp for each block across the entire test, not just those 5 min readings, it might affect the order of the blocks by a bit overall.

Glad to see the article finished, job well done ;) what happened to my block and Xjinn's crossdrilled?, I'm sure mine didn't measure up but I'm curious about Xjinn's, it showed some serious potential.

Brad did you even read the chart???

Each core temp chart, has the "adverage ambient" and "Average core" temps, those temps are figured out using the ENTIRE test data NOT just the every 5 min data.

I told you this 4 times in Chat... You get it now?!

lol

I think we all ought to commend Joe for taking the time to present so painstaking an analysis for us readers in the midst of finding employment!

Your consistent and logical method will no doubt serve as the bechmark for waterblock reviews in the future.

(oh, and btw, will the Spir@l be in roundup II :D)

All the blocks you WANT to see are coming dont worry. but NO ETA for them as of yet... see if I do get this Job that I am VERY sure that I got ( I am on my 5th interview, and I am the only person left in the running for the job outta a lot) I will be moving out to Madison, WI. Which is like an hour from here. Starting a new job, and moving will more than likely take me down for a month.


So its coming.. just not sure when.

uhh yeah Joe, I must have been asleep, but it was not 4 times I swear :P

I completely agree with jaani, someone who actually gives us the full data

Data analysis
 

Joe,
You wrote
I understood that which is why I selected the data tail.

Take a look at the graph for becool. The last 20 minutes of the data show an oscillation between 41 and 42 degrees. That's 200 readings of nothing but 41's and 42's. But the average temp for becool is listed as 40.63 . The only way it can be that low is if you use data from the warm up phase of the test.

My point in recasting the data is that I didn't think the warmup phase is material to the performance of the block. I don't care if the block reaches a steady state quickly or slowly, what I care about is the steady state temperature. The graphs say that all the blocks seemed to have stabilised by the last 15 minutes of the test so that's the data I used.

Since there was a slight difference in the ambients I went for a delta analysis. You're right - it's amazing they were as stable as they were over the testing period.

Thanks for posting the data - it's very enlightening. Combined with the radiator analysis over at overclockers.com it's clear that the radiators are the biggest factor in bottom line performance but the waterblocks do matter somewhat.

Funny thing. Is it just me who got better temps with thinner base? Also, with the same thickness of copper, surface area would be increased with a thinner base.

good article

very useful if you make a water cooler by yourself


but aren't there any real professionell water coolers in the us?
(not innovatek)

the tested coolers look very ugly and semiprofessionell to me

some german highlights:


http://www.low-noise.de/shop/images/k41_400.jpg

http://www.aqua-computer.de/prodimg/cuplex-g-s.jpg

http://www.watercool.de/gsshop/10010.jpg

greetings from an euro country :D

Re: Data analysis
 

The AVERAGE temp is NOT Peak temp inication, it shows how STABLE the block is. Stability is something a value more than Peak temps. Averages also help null out any sudden and mommentary peaks or valleys.

I fell the warm up/cool down cycles are very valid to show how heat soaked that block gets

I did also post in one of the blocks, that the .1 - .5 C temp range that held the first 3 blocks was withing the margin for error with the ambient temps. If I wanted to, narrowing down the data set to given areas I could make it seem like any block won. So using on estandard time length for the avreage is sorta key.

I do understand what you are saying, and I was going to do a Delta between Ambient/Core. I dont know why I didnt. I think I did on the HSF reviews or Radaitor round up reviews. I think I was just tired and afraid of just overwhelming people with too much data.

These are all very professional companies.. please don't think they are half assed just cause my samples had a lil oxide on them.

I have never heard of Innovatek. ( Till yesterday with that useless, Biased, and overall joke of a review was posted... those THG guys need to stop smoke'n so much crack durring the day I think)

I am trying to get some of those blocks to review.

Joe

?What you mean? You still all grumpy cause I didn't post the 2.8MB Spreadsheet that all the data is in?

There is a SIMPLE reason for that - Every half assed website on the globe would instantly have a WB roundup test data, all they would need to do is steal some images from around the web and they are done.

This has happened with previos test data I posted (GF3 test benches) so it will not be done again. All source data for all tests is kept under lock and key now. I spent too much time on this stuff to let it fly around the web so some hardextremetweakoverclock3dtech.com website to copy it all.

thank you for your posting

in germany we often take a look over the sea ;)
and discussing it

the radiators made in usa are simply amazing
but we are getting better



maybe you need a translator:

http://www.low-noise.de/web/artikel/cooler-tests/

Flow Sensor
 

Joe,

First off i wanna say WOW.

So much data. This is without a doubt the best put together analysis of Waterblock performace i have seen yet. Good luck on the Ones coming.

I have one question though. Could you elaborate some on the flow sensor you used? Perhaps you already have elsewhere on the site, but i didnt notice. You said :

"The Flow meter used in these tests was the Swiss Flow digital meter. Using it with MBM on the test machine it was easy to read the flow rate. "

So it just outputs a tachometer to your Motherboard's header? then some software converts that to a flowrate?
Available online? Aprox Cost?

Sorry if this has been answered before but this is the first time i've seen a setup like that and i know a lot of people who have been looking for one.

the Swiss Flow meter outputs the same signal as the Hall Sensor in fans do. except the lil turbine in it spins at 16000 RPM. There is a math formula to get from that 16,000RPM to GPH, its simple yet long formula ;)

they cost around 100+ $ and are imported from well the place in europe its named after :)

yes, I've wandered around that german site before, the maze2 gets destroyed compared to some of those other blocks.

http://www.low-noise.de/web/artikel/...ests/inno_rev3

that thing wins overall, which looks like the one from the THG review. It looks like it has a ribbed inside, can't see anything else on it though.

http://www.low-noise.de/web/artikel/...tests/cuso_k41

that one comes second, there is a lot of surface area in that one for sure.

avoiding my question joe?

no, he answered by saying socket a blocks will be tested soon

data analysis
 

Well Joe, that's why some guys prefer blonds and others prefer redheads. I'm glad you posted the numbers and labeled the axis on your graphs so I could draw my own conclusions.

By way of contrast, there's that god-awful waterblock review over at Tom's Hardware. Very light on the data, very heavy on the hype - it reads like a bought review.

I saw that but he said the socket A blocks were one's with the 4 mounting holes which Xjinn's and mine lack and therefore I thought ours would be put in the socket 370, just looking for a straight answer, thanks

I wasn't avoiding your question. Xj's block was tested and will be with the other blocks its size ( the socket A blocks).

Sorry if I was confusing on that part.

Joe,

I just wanted to say "Thank you" for your time, and tests.

I know that I prolly would have gotten bored half way thrue it. And I would have hated to type 8 pages.

Thank you to you and the other PorCooling staff for all the hard work and opinions. They have not gone un noticed.


Good luck on the job. And the move.
If I was closer I would chip in and help ya move.

I woulda thought the reaktor woulda done better :D

VERY good job Joe.

Heh just read the review at tom's, nothing like a 5 page advertisement...