spresv Δημοσιεύτηκε Φεβρουάριος 22, 2006 #1 Κοινοποίηση Δημοσιεύτηκε Φεβρουάριος 22, 2006 Review: Waterblocks Round-Up (Crusader, CycloneSXT, TDX A64,OclabsMonoblockΒ6) Reviewer: spresv Review Editors: stelaras, Hemispasm Provided by: Multirama (CycloneSXT, TDX A64), Eleven (Crusader), Checkmate (OclabsMonoblockΒ6) Waterblock Round-Up Review: Introduction With the progression of time, CPUs became faster and more complex. As a result they produce larger amounts of heat. Common ways of cooling them by using air are reaching their limit, as the produced heat they have to adduct also increases. It’s been a few years therefore that users, having realized the importance of CPU temperature in overclocking, started looking for alternative ways for CPU cooling. Hence, an alternative way of cooling showed up... cooling with water! Nowadays water-cooling is gaining more and more computer users. Few words about Water-Cooling The core of water-cooling is the waterblock. It is the part placed on the CPU, just like a common air-cooler. Its job is to transfer the heat from the CPU onto the water running through them. The continuous water flow is established with the help of a water pump. Next the heat is transferred in the radiator and through it into the air – out of the PC system. The water is doing this circle endlessly. Waterblock, radiator and pump are connected all together using tubes, creating a circuit. WATERBLOCKS In this review you are reading, we will examine 4 waterblocks that one can buy from the local Greek PC market. Our purpose is to see and compare their output, so as to help the user to choose, depending on his needs and taste, the waterblock that suits him best. The waterblocks that we tested are: · Crusader from the Greek Eleven This particular block, was sent to us by Eleven himself. Eleven (Michael his real name) is well known in the local Greek overclockers scene in the last 3 years, having a variety of successful waterblock designs in his portfolio. His blocks can be found at Extremeshop Cyclone SXT of the Australian Silverprop Cyclone was offered for the purpose of this review by Multirama. Multirama is one of the biggest PC multistores in Greece. TDX A64 of TDX reached our hands, also from Multirama. Oclabs Monoblock Β6 Checkmate provided as with the MonoblockB6. Checkmate is a well known company in our country, regarding PC cooling and overclocking. At this point we have to point out the fact that we also asked for a waterblock from our forum member Skinny13, who is developing waterblocks for about 3 years now, in order to have a more complete overview of the product possibilities one has in the Greek market. Our invitation has been rejected, for reasons that lay on the developer’s side. Next we will describe the system and the configuration that we used for our tests... System Configuration & Review Procedure Waterblock Round-Up Review: System Configuration & Review Procedure SYSTEM CONFIGURATION The system that we used for this particular test consists of the following: CASE: Coolermaster Stacker PSU: LC Power Scorpio 480 MΟBΟ: DFI SLI-D CPU: AMD A64 3000+ Venice RΑΜ: 2x512 Mb TwinMos BH-5 HDD: Maxtor 60Gb IDE, WD 80Gb SΑΤΑ, Seagate 120Gb SΑΤΑ VGA: Sapphire X800GTO2@ X850XT WATER-COOLING SYSTEM Our water-cooling configuration consists of the following parts: PUMP Eheim 1250 It is one of the best choices for a water-cooling PC. Very good quality, noiseless and tested by a great number of users. RADIATOR Double cellular Copper radiator with cellular design for better output. TANK DangerDen 5.25” Clear Reservoir Necessary water-cooling part, as it helps us to easily extract all the air bubbles from the water-cooling circuit (vaporization). HOSE ½” Clear Simple hose as the one used by plumbers and garden hosing. PROCEDURE For the waterblock test, we used an Aerocool Aerogate which is equipped with thermistors and can measure temperature with precision. The 1st thermistor measures room temperature. The 2nd thermistor is placed on the CPU's heatspreader (his cap), right on his side. We chose this location, because the heatspreader is in direct contact with the CPU core and as the word describes it actually spreads the heat from the core on its surface. We decided not to take further measurements like water temperature or any measurements on the inlet and outlet of the radiator, because what really matters in a water-cooling is after all the CPU temperature. On our test machine, we installed Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2. For CPU stretching we used S&M V1.7.6 (beta).We chose this program because of its ability to rise the CPU temperature on very high levels. For better testing the waterblocks, we configured our PC with two different settings. Default (200Mhz X 9 , 1.35Vcore) Overclocked (290Mhz X 9 , 1.66Vcore) We measured in total twelve (12) temperatures on the CPU's heatspreader. Α) Three (3) in idle, measured every 10 mins, starting 10 minutes after the computer booted. Β) Three (3) in full load. Temperatures on load are measured after using S&M Longtest, which lasts one hour. These temperatures are measured in 20min intervals, with the last one measured exactly one hour after the 1st one. The same six (6) measurement procedures were used in the overclocked settings. During the test, room temperature – always according to the aerogate thermistor - was stable 21degrees Celsius, by using an air-conditioner. On the next page we will demonstrate the performance of the Crusader waterblock… Crusader by Eleven Waterblock Round-Up Review: Crusader by Eleven The first block of our test was the latest revision of Crusader by Eleven (Michael). The block is totally handmade. As you can see it came in a painted box with Eleven's logo, in contrast with the old plain boxes that he used for packaging some time ago. (slightly hit from the movement) Opening the box we can see the 4 necessary screws, and a piece of plexi glass. With their help we can place and adjust the block on the CPU. The plexi is made in a way that makes it “universal” so it fits all sockets, even in cases that capacitors are really close to the CPU's socket. Removing the 2 protective ricoffons from the packet we revealed the block. It is made of copper, and as you can see it consists of 2 pieces of copper screwed next to each other, so it can be disassembled and cleaned. It is equipped with fitting of 1/2”. As a matter of speech they are not exactly half an inch but just a little bit more so as the hose fit perfectly and no water is dripped. Something that we liked very much on the latest block revisions, is the curved logo “Cooled by Eleven”. The base of the block is perfectly lapped and covered with a protective sheet so as to avoid any scratches till the final use of the product. After you remove the protective sheet we suggest cleaning the block with a small cotton and benzine (or nail polish) to remove any remaining of glue (from the protective sheet). Placing the waterblock on the socket was rather easy, even though one needs to remove the motherboard from the case. As we already said, the block is supported on the motherboard with the screws found in the box. That means you have to remove the default base found on the motherboard. Just place the 2 screws on the motherboard, leaving just the 1st protective “pillow”. Then put the 2nd and you have the screws placed on the motherboard. Next put the block on the CPU so as the plexi's holes fits on the screws we placed before. Then use the remaining rings and nuts to screw the block on the motherboard, with the following order: Plexi – ring – spring – ring – nut The final result is shown on the picture below: On the following table we can see the measurements we took using eleven's block, according to the procedure that we described before. Temperature Table <table width="500" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#666666"><tr><td width="170" height="22" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">CRUSADER</font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 1 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 2 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 3 </font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td><p>CPU Default<br />Idle</p></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,1</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,4</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,0</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Default<br />Full Load </td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,3</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,2</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,2</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Idle</td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,1</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,2</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,5</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Full Load </td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">29,7</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">29,2</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">29,4</font></strong></div></td> </tr></table> And in a graph: Pros · Heat transfer from the CPU · Design Cons · Not very fast shipment from its constructor. Coming up next Cyclone SXT… Cyclone STX by Silverprop Waterblock Round-Up Review: Cyclone STX by Silverprop Our next test waterblock is Cyclone SXT of the Australian Silverprop. The block is packed in a rather small carton box. The sticker informs us that this block can be placed only on sockets 754/939/940. By opening the box we can see only the fittings and a manual. The block is under 2 lays of protective ricoffon. This block is also made of copper, and has ½ inches fittings. The known logo of the company is marked on the copper. The block was quite big and heavy. The holes on the top, right and left of the fittings exist so as the block can use extra cover plate beside the included and fit on different sockets (these plates are sold separately). This block is also divided in two pieces, but the sticker on the side warns us that if we open the block we lose our warranty. The base needs scrapping as it is quite rough. By removing the right part of the box we found a small plastic bag with all the necessary screws, and a cover plate to adjust the block on the socket. Underneath we found a copper plate so as we can use a peltier with our CPU. On the left bag we found screws to attach the plate on the block, with the necessary screw nuts and an alen, just in case you don't have one. On the left we found the screws to attach the block on the motherboard. We must say that these screws are made of plastic and not metal, which we think is unacceptable for a waterblock at this price range. At first we just screw the plate for the support of the block. That is quite easy with the included screws and screw nuts. Just like with our previous block, this one also requires to remove the motherboard and the base of the stock air cooler. After that you just have to put the black plastic screws, without any protective on the back of the motherboard. Next just screw it on the motherboard, putting a ring between the plastic screw nut and the motherboard. Then align the block on the cpu and use the plastic screw nuts to tighten it, which are screwed by hand. The final result is shown on the next picture: On this block you should necessarily use rackor to tighten the hoses or else they will be dripping. Finally I must say that even though I had tighten the plastic screws as much as I could, the block did not attach very firmly on the heatspreader. The temperature readings are summed up in the table below: Temperature Table <table width="500" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#666666"><tr><td width="170" height="22" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">Cyclone STX </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 1 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 2 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 3 </font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td><p>CPU Default<br />Idle</p></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">24,4</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">24,1</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">24,2</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Default<br />Full Load </td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">27,5</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">27,4</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">27,1</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Idle</td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,7</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,4</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,7</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Full Load </td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">31,1</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">33,2</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">34,0</font></strong></div></td> </tr></table> And in a graph: Pros · Good heat transfer out of the CPU · T.E.C. Ready Cons · Attach system of the block on the motherboard Next to follow TDXA64… TDX A64 by DangerDen Waterblock Round-Up Review: TDX A64 by DangerDen The next block we’re testing is the TDXA64 from DangerDen. It comes inside a white carton box. The sticker on the front side informs us that all screws are included and that the block has ½'' fittings. Opening the box, we can see the block on a piece of carton. The block comes with the necessary screws, rings and screw nuts, that are needed for installation. The block itself has a copper base and a large piece of plexi as a cap. On the cap we found the fittings. To place the block we need to unscrew the base of the motherboard. At first we place the screws on the bottom of the motherboard and then and then use the screw nuts to place the motherboard’s backplate. We should point out that it does not screw completely, but it does leave some space. Next we place the block and screw it just like in the photo. Here is a final photo: Here is the detailed table of the measurements for Dangerden's waterblock: Temperature Table <table width="500" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#666666"><tr><td width="170" height="22" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TDX A64 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 1 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 2 </font></strong></div></td> <td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 3 </font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td><p>CPU Default<br />Idle</p></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,1</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,4</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,0</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Default<br />Full Load </td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,3</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,2</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,2</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Idle</td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">24,7</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,7</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,2</font></strong></div></td> </tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Full Load </td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">30,2</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">30,3</font></strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">30,4</font></strong></div></td> </tr></table> In a graph: Pros · Design · Ability to extract heat Cons · Not very good system for placement on the motherboard · No manual Next to follow MonoblockMB-06 by OCLabs… Next to follow MonoblockMB-06 by OCLabs Waterblock Round-Up Review: Monoblock MB-06 by OCLabs Last but of course not least comes the Monoblock MB-06 by OCLabs. In a carton box, but this time, for an unknown reason, the support system wasn't inside the box, but in an extra bag that was given to us. As you may have already noticed, this block uses the base found on all current motherboards, so one doesn't need to remove the motherboard for installation. Opening the box we found that the block was very well packed, almost to an annoying extend. After unwrapping the bubble-wrap we revealed the block. It is made out of copper with 1/2" fittings. Its base, even though without any scratches is not as smooth as it should be. We don't think that the installation needs lots of instructions. You just have to place the block on the CPU and screw it with the included bracket, which fits on the motherboard’s base. The result is shown on the picture below: A detailed table with the measurements for Oclabs waterblock: Temperature Table <table width="500" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#666666"><tr><td width="170" height="22" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">Monoblock MB-06</font></strong></div></td><td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 1 </font></strong></div></td><td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 2 </font></strong></div></td><td width="110" bgcolor="#000099"><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FFFF66">TEMP 3 </font></strong></div></td></tr><tr><td><p>CPU Default<br />Idle</p></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,3</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,5</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,1</font></strong></div></td></tr><tr><td>CPU Default<br />Full Load </td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">26,6</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">27,3</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">27,6</font></strong></div></td></tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Idle</td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,7</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,4</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">25,9</font></strong></div></td></tr><tr><td>CPU Overclocked<br />Full Load </td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">30,1</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">30,5</font></strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong><font color="#FF0000">30,6</font></strong></div></td></tr></table> And in a graph: Pros Good ability to extract heat The fixing on the motherboard, is not very good Κατά No manual Conclusion Waterblock Round-Up Review: Conclusion Before concluding on the 4 waterblocks’ performance, we think it is necessary to state the goal of this review. Cooling our CPUs with water, some time ago, would probably have been thought of as a very extreme option by many, needed only by overclocking enthusiasts that would want to strain every possible Hz out of their CPUs. We think that this is something that is not quite true any more. Today, beside the hardcore users, people that just want to avoid the noise generated by classic air-coolers might just go for water-cooling instead. This is the target audience of this review, Hence our choice for the review configuration. So, this review can't be complete without a second part targeted to overclocking enthusiasts that will follow in a few days. In this part, the test machine will be equipped with an AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor. The challenge for the same waterblocks will be to cool down a much “warmer” CPU that will be pushed to its limits. For the average user, though, that just wants to pass from air-cooling to water-cooling and gain a “colder” and quieter system, all the blocks included in this review will be satisfactory. The small differences amongst them can't be considered important. The final choice for such a user are subjective and will be based on minor details. In mere temperature numbers, some blocks might seem better than others. But the use of a much more demanding system will and should be the final judge. We can only wait for the results of the second part of our review before making any final conclusions regarding the waterbolcks’ perfomance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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