Battle of the Water Cooling Kits
Conclusion
Published: 19th June 2006 | Source: Alphacool | Price: |
All kits have their strengths and weaknesses making them more appealing to different audiences. For example, if you want a high performance kit with a low price tag and don't mind a little bit of noise, the XSPC kit is a clear winner. However, if you are looking for the best performance kit money can buy, then Alphacool is the one to go for. Swiftech have also put together a great performance kit that can be run silently and will fit almost any case.
With very similar results between most of the kits, its been very hard choosing the awards and score that each kit should receive. In the end, the only factors that I could take into consideration to separate these kits was price, features and noise.
The prices at time of review, and retailers selling these kits can be seen in the table below.
| Kit | Price (GBP) | Purchase At |
| Alphacool Xtreme Pro 240 | £135.95 | Specialtech |
| Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra | £151.58 | Tekheads |
| Thermaltake Big Water 745 | £74.27 | Specialtech |
| XSPC X20 Dual Xtreme | £114.99 | WaterCoolingShop |
Alphacool Xtreme Pro 240
Being the 2nd most expensive kit in our tests, the Alphacool Xtreme did not disappoint. Coming complete with some of the most highly regarded water cooling components available, the Xtreme Pro 240 managed come out top in both our idle and load temperature tests. In addition to this, the Xtreme Pro 240 is a good choice for people who enjoy silence. The High CFM/Low dBA fans are a great match for the radiator, and can be run at any speed by plugging them directly into your motherboards fan headers.
The only thing that prevented me from giving the Xtreme Pro 240 'Editors Choice' award, is that the mounting hardware included with the Alphacool kit would require most users to perform modifications on their cases to fit the radiator internally. Had Alphacool have included similar mounting hardware to that of Swiftech or XSPC the Xtreme Pro 240 kit would have undoubtedly received 10/10.
Pro's
+ Highly polished water block
+ High performance, good looking pump
+ Quiet pump & fans
+ Well packaged
+ Compact radiator
+ Coolant for filling entire system provided
Con's
- Limited mounting options
- Pump not pre-assembled
- Ugly water block mounting hardware
Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra
Managing to keep up with the Alphacool Xtreme kit when placed under load, the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra kit is a great choice for those of us with limited radiator install options. Coming with everything required to install the radiator over a 120mm fan hole on the outside of your case, Swiftech have ensured that all of the components included in the kit are easy to install in mid sized cases.
Including components such as the D5 pump, Delta fans and Apogee water block have bumped up the price of this kit, making it the most expensive in our tests. However, despite the small size of the package, Swiftech have managed to cram in a good range of accessories which make it worth the money.
Pro's
+ High performance pump
+ Well respected water block
+ Cables for stepping down fan voltage
+ Radiator mounting kit
+ Compact reservoir
Con's
- Fans noisy when run at 12v
- Most expensive in tests
- Manual quality could be improved
Thermaltake Big Water 745
Coming in at £74, the Big Water 745 is the cheapest kit in our tests by a good margin. I was surprised by the features that Thermaltake managed to include for this budget price, but was unfortunately disappointed with the overall build quality.
The kit could not compete with the rest of the kits in this review, but this was somewhat expected as many of the other kits used top end water-cooling components.
The Big Water certainly would have produced better results if the additional 120mm radiator had been included, which is definitely something to take into consideration before dismissing this kit as a possible purchase.
Personally I was quite worried about the lack of fixings between the pump and reservoir, which during transit of your PC could easily come apart and spill water into your case.
Pro's
+ UV Tubing
+ 2 Radiators
+ Well packaged
+ Coolant for filling entire system
+ Fan speed controller PCI bracket
+ Stand for mounting dual 120mm radiator
Con's
- Base of water block dull and scratched
- Potential leakage issue between pump and reservoir
- Radiator barb kinked
- Pump noisy compared to others
XSPC X20 Dual Xtreme
Being one of the cheaper kits in our review I was expecting the XSPC Dual Xtreme kit to have somewhat mediocre performance. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the kit exceeded my expectations and managed to keep up with the more expensive offerings from Alphacool and Swiftech. Beaten out by only 1°c in testing, I believe that the XSPC X20 could have closed this gap had the passive reservoir been used.
It is also worth noting that a Dual Xtreme kit without the passive reservoir will soon be available for a bargain £90.
Pro's
+ Excellent performance
+ External mounting hardware for radiator
+ Mounting hardware for reservoir
+ Quiet pump
+ Well packaged
+ Full colour manual
+ Silicone fan gaskets for vibration dampening
Con's
- Fans slightly noisy
- Radiator largest in tests
- Pump not the best looking
- Fans would be better as 3-pin (for use with fan controllers)
A big thanks to Alphacool, Swiftech, Thermaltake & XSPC for providing their kits for review.
Feel free to discuss this review in our forums.
Most Recent Comments
Welcome aboard bud...
I am going to be hacking lumps out of my eclipse 62 shortly....will post up some pics for you to digest to help you make the decision re. rad install. Personally for cleanest look I'm going for an internal fitting (in top of case)..will be using a PA120.2....and the thermochill grill will be used as a cutting template....
I am going to be hacking lumps out of my eclipse 62 shortly....will post up some pics for you to digest to help you make the decision re. rad install. Personally for cleanest look I'm going for an internal fitting (in top of case)..will be using a PA120.2....and the thermochill grill will be used as a cutting template....
Thx - that'd be excellent.
You think it's possible to get it all under the top, with just grills on the top, whilst leaving room for PSU (presume you'd have to forget the 1st 5.25 bay). Was thinking it would have to go half/half, with the rad under the case level, and the fans above... not a great explanation, but you get what I mean :)
Love the case, there's so much room for keeping all the cables tidy, and I'm sure i can get the pump etc tucked at the bottom to the right of the case.
My Mrs just said "whats the point in having it inside - dont you want the radiator outside to cool down the water".. maybe I should just get her to put it together for me :D
You think it's possible to get it all under the top, with just grills on the top, whilst leaving room for PSU (presume you'd have to forget the 1st 5.25 bay). Was thinking it would have to go half/half, with the rad under the case level, and the fans above... not a great explanation, but you get what I mean :)
Love the case, there's so much room for keeping all the cables tidy, and I'm sure i can get the pump etc tucked at the bottom to the right of the case.
My Mrs just said "whats the point in having it inside - dont you want the radiator outside to cool down the water".. maybe I should just get her to put it together for me :D
[quote=PapaLaz]
Not sure if I fancy mounting it at the back of the case, on the 120mm mount, due to the jungle of cables that reside there, but I quite like the sound of having it external on the top. Wasn't aware the kit came with fixings for that - how does it mount exactly, you mentioned brackets, does it clamp across the top or something ?
..
Haven't been able to find any review of the XSPC VGA block, but it was stated for the x1800/1900 so should be fine. If I start enjoying the wc lark I might get one of the complete gpu/mem blocks, but thought i'd start out gradually :)
Thanks again for all the help/advice !![/quote]
The radiator actually comes with 4 polished steel brackets. Normally these would be used for fitting the radiator over an 80mm fan hole, but i found them equally as effective for mounting the radiator on top of a case. They give the radiator around 5cm space from the case, so airflow is not a problem.
You'll see what i mean when you get the kit tomorrow ;)
Not sure if I fancy mounting it at the back of the case, on the 120mm mount, due to the jungle of cables that reside there, but I quite like the sound of having it external on the top. Wasn't aware the kit came with fixings for that - how does it mount exactly, you mentioned brackets, does it clamp across the top or something ?
..
Haven't been able to find any review of the XSPC VGA block, but it was stated for the x1800/1900 so should be fine. If I start enjoying the wc lark I might get one of the complete gpu/mem blocks, but thought i'd start out gradually :)
Thanks again for all the help/advice !![/quote]
The radiator actually comes with 4 polished steel brackets. Normally these would be used for fitting the radiator over an 80mm fan hole, but i found them equally as effective for mounting the radiator on top of a case. They give the radiator around 5cm space from the case, so airflow is not a problem.
You'll see what i mean when you get the kit tomorrow ;)
Not sure what the thickness is on your rad but I know I will lose the use of 2.5 drive bays. The PA120.2 is 64mm thick...but pretty much pwns on the cooling front!! The thermochill grill provides a good template for cutting and looks nice too!!
http://www.thermochill.com/
http://www.thermochill.com/
Well the kit arrived, and I'm one very unhappy bunny !!!
Everything inside was perfect, except this forgot to ship one vital ingredient - no tubing. I've sent a couple of emails through the contact page at watercoolingshop and also fired one off to Paul at XSPC (his addy was on the back of the manual)... sent them about 4.40pm, hoping someone would sort it out and get tubing in the post to me... still no replies.
More annoyed as I'd taken tomorrow off work to get it all built, after intending to assemble and leak test tonight. Shocking - how can you miss out such a vital piece.... No contact numbers for the store or XSPC so all I can do is send them mails.
Sorry, just venting, obviously I'm pretty gutted. :(
Also, FYI, the retail pack is shipping in the same brown box you recieved, and the manual is still based on the single 120mm rad.
Update - as I write this Paul has just emailed me to apologise, and he's gonna try and get some tubing in the post for me tonight. Fingers crossed.
Having now had a good look at the rad, I'm probably gonna mount it on the back 120mm for now - mounts look pretty sturdy. Will go inside eventually but think I'll leave the hacking to the pro's ;)
Everything inside was perfect, except this forgot to ship one vital ingredient - no tubing. I've sent a couple of emails through the contact page at watercoolingshop and also fired one off to Paul at XSPC (his addy was on the back of the manual)... sent them about 4.40pm, hoping someone would sort it out and get tubing in the post to me... still no replies.
More annoyed as I'd taken tomorrow off work to get it all built, after intending to assemble and leak test tonight. Shocking - how can you miss out such a vital piece.... No contact numbers for the store or XSPC so all I can do is send them mails.
Sorry, just venting, obviously I'm pretty gutted. :(
Also, FYI, the retail pack is shipping in the same brown box you recieved, and the manual is still based on the single 120mm rad.
Update - as I write this Paul has just emailed me to apologise, and he's gonna try and get some tubing in the post for me tonight. Fingers crossed.
Having now had a good look at the rad, I'm probably gonna mount it on the back 120mm for now - mounts look pretty sturdy. Will go inside eventually but think I'll leave the hacking to the pro's ;)
Hi Papalaz,
Thats a bit of a bummer. Paul is normally really quick at replying to e-mails. I imagine he was probably just rushed off his feet at the time.
It's a shame they havn't got the manual and packaging sorted yet, but if you need any help - just ask :)
Fingers crossed for the arrival of your tubing tomorrow :cool:
Thats a bit of a bummer. Paul is normally really quick at replying to e-mails. I imagine he was probably just rushed off his feet at the time.
It's a shame they havn't got the manual and packaging sorted yet, but if you need any help - just ask :)
Fingers crossed for the arrival of your tubing tomorrow :cool:
I think to be fair to Paul, he said he'd just got home, so was probably travelling around 4.45 when I sent the mail. He's since mailed me back to say he had some tubing at home which he's got out in the last post for me, and will send the original stuff tomorrow. Fair play to him, that's a decent enough response - was just gutted when I got home "ready for work" :)
Not too bothered about the manual and packaging, looks simple enough to install. Only thing which will take some working out is the VGA block (I got the XSPC one to match the rest). Bundle of strange tiny washers to clamp in onto the supplied backplate... sure it'll all make sense once I whip the VF900 off, and if not I can polly use the nipples/clamps from the 900.
Overall though the kit looks awesome, really is a nice rad. Also the fans are now supplied with 3-pin connectors which is a real result - they're nice long cables too to get inside the PC (and can then go on my akasa fan controller).
Lol - last thing to slow me down will be the filler cap on the pump/res, think it was put on by Superman !!
Thanks again for the advice and offers of help... will probably make some posts late on tomorrow.
Oh, one last thing... as I'm putting the rad on the back, I was gonna build it all up, then leave it outside the case to leak test. Think I'll have to put long tubing on the rads, as that'll have to stay near the case, with the tubing going through the pci backplate. Yeah, only way to do it... sorry, thinking out loud :)
Not too bothered about the manual and packaging, looks simple enough to install. Only thing which will take some working out is the VGA block (I got the XSPC one to match the rest). Bundle of strange tiny washers to clamp in onto the supplied backplate... sure it'll all make sense once I whip the VF900 off, and if not I can polly use the nipples/clamps from the 900.
Overall though the kit looks awesome, really is a nice rad. Also the fans are now supplied with 3-pin connectors which is a real result - they're nice long cables too to get inside the PC (and can then go on my akasa fan controller).
Lol - last thing to slow me down will be the filler cap on the pump/res, think it was put on by Superman !!
Thanks again for the advice and offers of help... will probably make some posts late on tomorrow.
Oh, one last thing... as I'm putting the rad on the back, I was gonna build it all up, then leave it outside the case to leak test. Think I'll have to put long tubing on the rads, as that'll have to stay near the case, with the tubing going through the pci backplate. Yeah, only way to do it... sorry, thinking out loud :)
[QUOTE=PapaLaz]Well the kit arrived, and I'm one very unhappy bunny !!!
Everything inside was perfect, except this forgot to ship one vital ingredient - no tubing. I've sent a couple of emails through the contact page at watercoolingshop and also fired one off to Paul at XSPC (his addy was on the back of the manual)... sent them about 4.40pm, hoping someone would sort it out and get tubing in the post to me... still no replies.
More annoyed as I'd taken tomorrow off work to get it all built, after intending to assemble and leak test tonight. Shocking - how can you miss out such a vital piece.... No contact numbers for the store or XSPC so all I can do is send them mails.
Sorry, just venting, obviously I'm pretty gutted. :(
Also, FYI, the retail pack is shipping in the same brown box you recieved, and the manual is still based on the single 120mm rad.
Update - as I write this Paul has just emailed me to apologise, and he's gonna try and get some tubing in the post for me tonight. Fingers crossed.
Having now had a good look at the rad, I'm probably gonna mount it on the back 120mm for now - mounts look pretty sturdy. Will go inside eventually but think I'll leave the hacking to the pro's ;)[/QUOTE]
Aye....my EK blocks arrived without barbs!! Not so worried tho...not Paul's fault....a balls up at EK's end of things...he has already responded and 6 shiny barbs are making their way to me.
PapaLaz.....what rad did u go for in the end? Here's a pic of another install done by someone I know on an eclipse 62 using the PA120.2
[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/Dazbo110903/P7300004copyLarge.jpg[/IMG]
Measurements are included......
Looks very nice IMO
Everything inside was perfect, except this forgot to ship one vital ingredient - no tubing. I've sent a couple of emails through the contact page at watercoolingshop and also fired one off to Paul at XSPC (his addy was on the back of the manual)... sent them about 4.40pm, hoping someone would sort it out and get tubing in the post to me... still no replies.
More annoyed as I'd taken tomorrow off work to get it all built, after intending to assemble and leak test tonight. Shocking - how can you miss out such a vital piece.... No contact numbers for the store or XSPC so all I can do is send them mails.
Sorry, just venting, obviously I'm pretty gutted. :(
Also, FYI, the retail pack is shipping in the same brown box you recieved, and the manual is still based on the single 120mm rad.
Update - as I write this Paul has just emailed me to apologise, and he's gonna try and get some tubing in the post for me tonight. Fingers crossed.
Having now had a good look at the rad, I'm probably gonna mount it on the back 120mm for now - mounts look pretty sturdy. Will go inside eventually but think I'll leave the hacking to the pro's ;)[/QUOTE]
Aye....my EK blocks arrived without barbs!! Not so worried tho...not Paul's fault....a balls up at EK's end of things...he has already responded and 6 shiny barbs are making their way to me.
PapaLaz.....what rad did u go for in the end? Here's a pic of another install done by someone I know on an eclipse 62 using the PA120.2
[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/Dazbo110903/P7300004copyLarge.jpg[/IMG]
Measurements are included......
Looks very nice IMO
Just about to dabble inwot watercooling and a change of case. Been looking at the Antec P182 and the H20-220 Apex Ultra. Just been asking in another thread if they will fit together.
As this review is quite old, are there any newer kits out there that will out perform the Swiftech kit for around the same price?
Looking for performance/silence really but not at an silly price!
As this review is quite old, are there any newer kits out there that will out perform the Swiftech kit for around the same price?
Looking for performance/silence really but not at an silly price!
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Long term I think I'll look at getting the holes cut into the top (and possibly get Kustom to do it - thx). All the kits arriving tomorrow, and as I'm sooo impatient I'll be setting it up right away.
Not sure if I fancy mounting it at the back of the case, on the 120mm mount, due to the jungle of cables that reside there, but I quite like the sound of having it external on the top. Wasn't aware the kit came with fixings for that - how does it mount exactly, you mentioned brackets, does it clamp across the top or something ?
The main reason I've decided to go water was for temps. My system is very quiet on air atm (120mm front & back, Scythe Ninja + 120mm, Zalman VF900 on the gfx), but I'd like the temps more stable. With the E6600 @ 3GHz-ish it idles@39-40 and loads@60-65. I can get the E6600 stable @ 3.6GHz, but I have to pump around 1.6v into it, and that gets me idle@48-50 load@65-75... waaay too warm.
Haven't been able to find any review of the XSPC VGA block, but it was stated for the x1800/1900 so should be fine. If I start enjoying the wc lark I might get one of the complete gpu/mem blocks, but thought i'd start out gradually :)
Thanks again for all the help/advice !!