Pro/Forums - View Single Post - "Mass-market budget water-cooling" - Is it driving users away from water-cooling?

Cathar · 07-12-2004, 08:56 AM

Well I guess that this is the kit that BillA was talking about. US$100 or so - reviewed here:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1062/

Seems impressive enough in relation to the other kits assembled there, but...just thinking on JoeC's CPU simulator. Going by the noise of the fan and the radiator, we're probably looking at around 0.07C/W or so for the radiator setup on the CoolWave Storm III, which places the CPU block performance at ~0.20C/W or so? :shrug:

I was just thinking about the kit results and thinking about JoeC's tests. Assuming we threw a highish-end kit on there, consisting of a largish dual-fan radiator, a pair of 30dBA fans offering a C/W of around the 0.035 mark, a good pump, and say one of the higher-performing blocks run at 1.5gpm (based on JoeC's own waterblock results on his simulator), would we not be looking at such a kit's performance down around the 0.15 mark (after factoring in pump heat) for JoeC's testbed? With a true "enthusiast" kit, we could probably be getting down to the 0.13C/W mark for JoeC's testbed. With specialised blocks, maybe even down to 0.11C/W.

I mean that we can see a direct correlation between the Asetek crescent block (~0.205 C/W), and the performance of the kit (~0.30C/W) with a restrictive so-so radiator that would also be having issues dealing with pump heat, and likely not pumping more than 1.0gpm through the setup.

If that's true (rough ballpark sense), doesn't that then cast a whole different complexion on the relative performance of the CoolWave, and indeed any of the other kits on that page?

I really want to see a true "enthusiasts" kit assembled and ranked on JoeC's simulator, just so we can get a clear picture of the relative scale of the results. I personally believe that it would not be wholly out of the question to assemble a kit by someone who knew what they were doing, to achieve at least a 0.12C/W on his testbed. Only by doing that will we really be clearing the air with respect to just what is being offered by these kits in relation to an enthusiast DIY setup, and perhaps then explore the gulf between kits that disillusion people in comparison to air-cooling, and a serious enthusiast setup.

07-12-2004, 08:56 AM	#86
Cathar Thermophile Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,538	Well I guess that this is the kit that BillA was talking about. US$100 or so - reviewed here: http://www.overclockers.com/articles1062/ Seems impressive enough in relation to the other kits assembled there, but...just thinking on JoeC's CPU simulator. Going by the noise of the fan and the radiator, we're probably looking at around 0.07C/W or so for the radiator setup on the CoolWave Storm III, which places the CPU block performance at ~0.20C/W or so? :shrug: I was just thinking about the kit results and thinking about JoeC's tests. Assuming we threw a highish-end kit on there, consisting of a largish dual-fan radiator, a pair of 30dBA fans offering a C/W of around the 0.035 mark, a good pump, and say one of the higher-performing blocks run at 1.5gpm (based on JoeC's own waterblock results on his simulator), would we not be looking at such a kit's performance down around the 0.15 mark (after factoring in pump heat) for JoeC's testbed? With a true "enthusiast" kit, we could probably be getting down to the 0.13C/W mark for JoeC's testbed. With specialised blocks, maybe even down to 0.11C/W. I mean that we can see a direct correlation between the Asetek crescent block (~0.205 C/W), and the performance of the kit (~0.30C/W) with a restrictive so-so radiator that would also be having issues dealing with pump heat, and likely not pumping more than 1.0gpm through the setup. If that's true (rough ballpark sense), doesn't that then cast a whole different complexion on the relative performance of the CoolWave, and indeed any of the other kits on that page? I really want to see a true "enthusiasts" kit assembled and ranked on JoeC's simulator, just so we can get a clear picture of the relative scale of the results. I personally believe that it would not be wholly out of the question to assemble a kit by someone who knew what they were doing, to achieve at least a 0.12C/W on his testbed. Only by doing that will we really be clearing the air with respect to just what is being offered by these kits in relation to an enthusiast DIY setup, and perhaps then explore the gulf between kits that disillusion people in comparison to air-cooling, and a serious enthusiast setup. Last edited by Cathar; 07-12-2004 at 09:04 AM.