D-Tek Core, aquastealth dual, or aquacoil?

[mkosem]

what shoule I get for my new case out of the following: D-Tek Core, aquastealth dual, or aquacoil? I am concerned with keeping the CPU the coolest and can mount any of these in my Antec SX1240 case.

--Matt

[mkosem]

I read the radiator roundup and still don't know what to get, I wish this dual fan rad was on there. But I cannot afford blackice. Anyways, D-Tek is supposed to be the same as bigmama with the exception of having larger barbs on it. Any more ideas on rads in the <$50 range?

--Matt

[mkosem]

*bump

[Joe]

the Dtek is also painted, which will lower its overall effectiveness compared to the Big Momma

[LiquidCool]

Are just the tanks painted? or are the fins also painted? if he just paints the whole thing he's st00pid...

[Joe]

From the pics I saw it was the entire deal

[mkosem]

allegedly it doesn't negate perfromance to a noticable level. Joe, what do you suggest? I'd really like to get the dual fan rady because of the cost but I'm not keen as to how they perform.

--Matt

[Mumrik]

Joe, is the Dtek Core going to be tested by you guys in the near future?

[Joe]

I don't know. I had'n planned on it as its just a Big Momma rip off ( it would be like test driving a Dodge NEON and a Plymouth NEON... same car, different name.)

Their naming scheme for thair kits is just weak IMHO... I am waiting for theit Borla,APEXi N1, and Hooker cooling systems... since they named these after a exhaust system. But besides that it looks like just another watercooling kit company.

Not to knock Dtek, but they just havent impressed me with anything too innovative, They are just doing the same thing as everyone else. ( the painted radiator is the main issue I saw. The reason I am big on this is : When you get a radiator thats painted from a factory and you cant do anything about it, thats one thing. But I know for a fact these Big Momma knock off's come bare and are painted by the seller or Distro. Coatings and paint used by factories to resist corrosion is normally applied extremely thin and is made of materials that wont insulate well.
Painting radiators on your own, you are using Krylon, or Rustoleum or something, which are heavy, thick enamels. )

If you are going to spend that kind of money on a radiator they should atleast offer the bare one also for the people who don't want that drop in cooling.

I am going to review many more radiators, and maybe they will be in it, and maybe they won't. They havent contacted me about it so I don't know. And just FYI these are just my oppinions. I have not got one of these radiators in my hands or tested so the effects of Pain COULD be small. But there will be an effect on cooling at some point.

[nportelli]

How objective. Makes me have faith that your reviews will be non biased. Especially if they put a sticker where you don't like it or something.

[Joe]

Hey... I dont have a right to my own Oppinions?. If you look, my reviews are data, not opinions.

My Opinions are just what I think, not what I test. In testing I am fully objective, but when I am not testing, I am looking at all the companies from a practical point of view.

and NO this is not about a sticker, but about taking a product that does work WELL, and lowering its performance. I just think Dtek should offer both, if they did then I would be happy.( I still think the names are goofy.. but .. well no more goofy than the big momma name hehehehe)

I guess yes, if a company puts a BIG ole sticker on the middle of a radiator, yes it would give me a bad impression that the person who makes or sells that doesnt know what they are doing.

Just cause I run a site, doesn't mean I can't have my own opinions on products outside of the reviews. If I didn't I would not be able to look at these products from a consumers POV. Tell me, how am I NOT objective. I am looking at it from a PURELY technical view when I talk about how the paint on the raidator is a BAD IDEA. To say they haven't impressed me is cause I just havent seen anything from them to show me they are any different from the 25 watercooling companies out there already.

Also from what I understand the fittings for their radaitor are epoxied in, not soldered like the Big momma. Epoxy doesn't like shear forces much at all, and heating and cooling cycles CAN crak it ( I have seen JB weld, and a few other epoxies do this already in similar uses. ) You can take what I am saing as being "Biased" or you can take it as being constructive critisism of a product. I am not saying its BAD, just saying it could be done better. It's my hobby to find flaws in gear... thats why I run a website.

I do personally think you can go straight to hell if you think that because I form my own free thoughts, it means I am biased. Shit, Look at Danger Den, they ARE a sponsor, and all that jazz, and I can find a good handful of things to ripp on that radiator about. I can find stuff on the Big Momma, I can find stuff on the Black Ice... They ALL HAVE FLAWS. WHY NOT TALK ABOUT THEM?! Would you rather ignore the issues for the sake of seeming "unbiased"?

I have put 2 years into this site, it is one of the most credible data sources on the web currently.

[Joe]

I guess back onto the topic of the post. Between the Aquastealth Dual, or AquaCoil or the Dtek. If I hat to pic from just those 3... I would have to pic the Dtek

The Dual and the AquaCoil Tube/fin design just cant move heat as effectively as the Channel lauout on the Dtek radaitor.

[mkosem]

thank you joe!! perhaps I will get bigmama anyways! Since you have brought up some very good points on the efficiency of it. Thank you very much joe!! Anyone else care to second that?

--Matt

[GuyBFF]

I was told you could also get the DTek units unpainted or with just tanks painted. Although in another thread someone ordered it unpainted and got the painted version anyways. Didn't know they where epoxied though! Seems weird they would choose this method rather than a simple sweat fitting... oh well... I just made my own heater core / radiator anyways.

[Joe]

I sent an email to them asking them for info and if I can get one to test.

[mkosem]

well, I just ordered a big mama, now.....mounting ideas!! I gotta figure out how to fit this in my summabitch(prolly on top above the psu looks good!

--Matt

[Joe]

Zip Ties are your friend

[mkosem]

hmm, good idea, so is duct tape!! can tip ties go through pigmama @ all? I'm plannin on ducting to one of the blowholes on the top of the case. I will mount it above the psu with a fan on it then have the exhaust up top. Unless that sounds like a bad idea...

--Matt

[Joe]

Yeh they go through the bitch with ease

[mkosem]

yeehaa!! And is the flow through it prety good? I have only an eheim 1048. Too bad it'll be a week till I get it!

--Matt

[redleader]

Actually painting is an option. When you order you specify if you want paint or not. I posted all about this a while ago when I ordered mine (HINT: use the search!).

Anyway its a 1/2inch BigMama and its great.

[redleader]

Ok heres a link about my use of the DTek core.

My project

I know its on Ars, but I was saving the "Hey look at how cool my compueter is" thread on Procooling until I got my new GPU waterblock to add.

[Mumrik]

Thanks for the info Joe, I hope Dtek gives you a unit for testing... Could you convince them to let you test Fixittt's Spir@l Block too? He's a [H]ardforum regular and his copper block looks really good...

[twocpu]

Originally posted by Matt:
well, I just ordered a big mama, now.....mounting ideas!! I gotta figure out how to fit this in my summabitch(prolly on top above the psu looks good!

--Matt

6-32 threaded rod will easily screw through the Big Mama beween the fins. 4-40 rod will slip straight on through. Add a few fender washers & nuts & you're on your way

[Joe]

OK guy's this is from Dtek themself, it seems I was wrong on some of the info I had about their raidaitor:

"As for the radiator, The barbs are soldered in,definitely not epoxied. The paint used is a metal flake metalic car style paint. I use a pretty thin coat.I DO NOT paint the fins at all, even though the picture on the web sight shows different, which I need to change it. The first few I did, I lightly sprayed the core, and people didn't like the idea so much. So I just paint the tanks and the sides (the ugly parts) to make it look a little more like a radiator than a heatercore."

I will freely admidt when I was wrong and this was one of those times. From the rest of his email it sounds like hes changed and refined his production a big since the first round of radiators. So at one point my info was correct, but it seems like he resolved that for the current gen of radaitors.