bit-tech News: Watercooling Radiator shootout

[news 28]

Hi all,

 

We have just published our first *Watercooling Radiator shootout*, in

which we look at the HWLabs Black Ice GTX and TFC X-Changer series' of

radiators - if you could post a link on your site that would be very

much appreciated.

 

*Link:*

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2008/05/23/radiator-shootout-1/1

 

 

*Picture:*

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/05/radiator-shootout-1/fp_img.jpg

 

 

*Quote:

*/"Both the Black Ice GTX and the TFC X-Changer series of radiators are

well designed, but it's clear that there's definitely a difference in

performance for the price increase. Feser's performance starts off with

a nice and cool two degree difference at idle on the 120mm radiator, and

though the idle difference shrinks as the sizes increase as we'd expect,

the temperature differences at load continues to increase.

 

Looking at either extreme, we have cost vs. performance issues. The TFC

X-Changer is almost 50 percent more expensive than the Black Ice at the

120mm level, but we / /start out two degrees cooler at idle. Granted,

most people should not attempt to cool an 8800GTX //and a Q66600 CPU on

just a 120mm radiator, but it quickly sorts the wheat from the chaff -

the TFC X-Changer wins hands down. At the moment it looks like you'll be

paying quite heavily for that privilege - however, if you're looking at

cooling a lot in a small space and you've already bought into

watercooling, it'll be worth the investment without question.

 

The 360mm group shows much less differentiation for the same nearly 50

percent price increase, and my best guess for the performance is above

in the results section. In order to get the most out of this type of

setup with either instance, you're really going to need to look at /

/why you need it - If you're not looking at 8800GTX SLI setups //with a

fairly well overclocked processor all in the same loop (in which case I

ask, "Why?"), I doubt you'll be able to justify the price. The Feser

240mm cools almost as well as the Black Ice 360mm for less space and the

same cost, and the Feser 360mm price is really hard to swallow without

an incredibly good reason. Odds are that if you have a system to require

this, you won't think twice about an additional $60 USD on your radiator

cost anyhow.

 

It seems that the sweet spot for both radiators sits at the 240mm mark

for price, where you seem to get the most bang for your cooling buck. In

this, Feser clearly trumps the Black Ice by three solid degrees at load,

which could be improved with a shroud or better fans. At this point,

we're looking at a 35 percent price increase over the same sized Black

Ice GTX ($134.99 vs. $99.99), but the difference at this point the

narrowest margin while offering a better temperature spread versus the

competition than the 360mm radiator.

 

I'm not entirely sure that price should be as much of an issue as I'm

weighing it, as watercooling is not cheap by its very definition.

However, I can't help but look forward to the TFC X-Changer getting a

bit larger distribution volume so that the price comes down a / /hair

relatively - the difference between $135 USD and $120 USD would be a

tremendous increase in perceived value. At $135 it's a great performer

at a "bleeding-edge" price, but $120 would make it pretty much

impossible not to recommend."

/*

*Cheers guys!

 

Tim Smalley

www.bit-tech.net