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...

yeh THG is a freak'n joke eh?

hehe, on the same day the best and the worst watercooling reviews ever are posted.

the only reason why I go to THG is because they get cpu's first, and they do nice huge mobo roundups. Other than that, Dr Tom has really ****ed up his site

Wouldn´t changes in the relative humidity of the air in your lab, change the performance of the radiator.
As far as I know a higher relative humidity of the air can transfer more heat.

The same thing goes for air presure.
the higher air presure the better heat transfer.

At least the humidity does change quite a bit between the difrent seasons. It does of course depend on where you live, but the changes are quite big here in Sweden, where the humidity is very low in the cold subzero winter days and high in the varm rainy summer days.

The effect of humidity can quite easily be tested by runinga a bong-cooler for a few hours in the lab, between two test runs of a waterblock.(should get the relative humidity up to at least 90%).

My personal uneducated gues is that the air presure is negliable, but that the humidity is of importance.

Great review by the way.

/Mr_Pyro

thg is such a lousy page

they are germans
we are so sorry

thg didn't have many friends here :D

Where are those waterblocks available?
 

Bonbonfoni -
Where are those blocks you showed available? They certainly are interesting looking!

I'd bet a bottle of Glen Livet though that they don't outperform the Danger Den/Z3 by more than 1 degree celsius, if at all. Reason I say that is if you look at Joe's core temp graph for all the blocks, the curve appears to be approaching an asymptote. It looks like the Danger Den and Z3 are very close to what's possible given the other components in the test.

Of course it could be that the asymptote is a result of the block designs that were tested and that the cross-hatched copper core with the lucite top might adjust the curve. At a hunch though, I think those narrow channels would only strut their stuff if the water is pushed pretty hard. Water can get pretty sticky in narrow spaces.

Caveats on the bet - they have to be tested using exactly the same equipment following the same steps, we only look at the last 15 minutes of a 30 minute run, and we're comparing core temps - ambient temps deltas.

a year ago most of our coolers looked like the ones tested

the new coolers really kicked the old ones

www.cooling-solutions.de

they produce the k 4.1

http://www.cooling-solutions.de/shop/images/k41_3_t.gif

but it is currently out of stock maybe the resellers have some left


www.aqua-computer.de

this is the home of the cuplex

http://www.aqua-computer.de/images/l-wk-cuplex.jpg


www.watercool.de

heatkiller 1.6

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


i got the heatkiller 1.5

http://www.low-noise.de/images/cpu_t...ev15_1_200.jpg


http://www.low-noise.de/images/cpu_t...ev15_2_200.jpg



it weighs 14 ounzes 400 gramm

so don't worry if your pump break down
the cpu will stay cool ;)



www.low-noise.de is a big reseller

and

www.pc-cooling.de


feel free to check out our cooling scene :)

Humidity was controled. it was around 40 - 50 % for all the tests. It was a factor I considered.

a 90% humdity level is pointless, unless you run your PC in the jungle you wont have that atmosphere all the time around your radiator.

Joe

Wow! those German blocks look great! Defininately get them in your roundup Joe!

Germany not only produces nice cars :D

Here's a pic of the K4.1 with the new mounting:

http://ger.homeip.net/elemental/misc..._halterung.jpg

And a pic of my case (sorry for the poor image quality):

http://217.68.170.211/elemental/mysys/window_big.jpg


cu
Elemental

I notice in pics the Z3 looks as if it has restrictive 1/8 bsp threaded barbs now?. I have one of these that was bought long before they came up with the "Z3" name and it had 1/4 bsp threaded nylon barbs. I replaced these with 1/2 brass barbs, (1/4 Bsp threaded), that I reamed out so the ID was as wide as the channeling, (9.5mm), and smoothed them to the flow. I also had the base milled from 4.6mm to 1mm and it has given much improved flow and 4°C to 5°C lower max temps in my set-up.
Nice to see the Z3 doing well anyhow considering it tends to get overlooked.

http://vzone.virgin.net/jonathan.spencer/Z3modsmall.jpg http://vzone.virgin.net/jonathan.spe...3mod2small.jpg