| Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid Cooling System |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cooling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by David Ramsey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 10 February 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Antec Kühler H2O 620 Liquid Cooler Review
Manufacturer: Antec, Inc. Full Disclosure:The product sample used in this article has been provided by Antec. Since Corsair popularized their version of Asetek's "LCLC" (low cost liquid cooling) system back in 2009, it seems that every time you look, another variation on the theme appears. All-in-one CPU water coolers have become popular and even mainstream, and for good reason: they're much cheaper than traditional liquid cooling systems, and offer a combination of good performance and generally low noise that makes them attractive alternatives to higher-end air coolers. The first generation of these coolers were virtually clones, with manufacturers doing little other than labeling Asetek's design, but we're starting to see some innovation in the area, and Antec's Kühler H20 620 steps into the market with its own unique take on the concept. Since all retail CPUs are boxed with perfectly good coolers (which are pretty quiet), the main reason to buy an aftermarket cooler is its performance when your processor is overclocked. (There might be some who buy coolers based on the aesthetics of their appearance through a windowed CPU case, but we'll assume they're in the minority.) But while performance is certainly the main criterion, other factors must be taken into consideration as well, such as noise, size, and price. The ideal cooler keeps your processor at or near ambient temperature, is silent, free, and unfortunately doesn't exist. Manufacturers vary the performance, noise, size, and cost factors of their products to address different segments of the market.
Antec is best known for their line of computer cases, which have been enthusiast favorites for years. They've only recently branched out into the cooling market, and the Kühler H20 620 is their first liquid cooler. Kühler H2O 620 Specifications
Closer Look: Antec Kühler H2OThe Antec Kühler H2O 620 box tells you everything you need to know: it's a CPU cooler, it uses liquid cooling, and it fits these sockets. This seems basic information, but you'd be amazed how often companies make you hunt for this information.
Inside the box are the neatly arranged components...
...which are the pump and radiator assembly, a 120x25mm fan, an installation manual, and mounting brackets and screws. The Kühler H2o 620 comes with everything you'll need for Intel Socket 775, 1155/1156, 1366, and AMD sockets AM2/AM2+/AM3. The accessories include four screws for mounting the pump retaining ring to the baseplate, four long screws for mounting the radiator/fan assembly to the back of the case, and four small machine screws whose purpose isn't obvious and which aren't mentioned in the manual.
If you're familiar with other Asetek-sourced liquid coolers, you'll notice two things different about the Antec Kühler: first, there are two connectors wired to the pump, and second, the hoses connecting the pump to the radiator are thicker, soft rubber hoses rather than the smaller, stiffer hoses used on other coolers.
The Kühler mounting system is Asetek-OEM standard, though: a thin metal retaining ring with interior notches is secured to a back plate by four screws. The pump has notched edges; after mounting the bracket and installing the screws part-way, you insert the pump from the top and rotate it a few degrees so that the notches on the edge of the pump slide under the notches on the inside of the retaining ring. Tightening the screws will clamp the retaining ring against the pump and press it firmly against the processor. You'll actually have to assemble a bespoke bracket from the components included: four metal screw inserts must be positioned in the correct 4 (out of 12) possible places in the Intel back plate, and the retaining ring requires that 4 screws be inserted into the proper plastic offsets, which are then snapped into the retaining ring. All told, 14 different pieces comprise a complete mounting system, and paying attention and assembling the right parts correctly for your application will pay off. A slight difference here is that Antec has molded the screw holders for the Intel bracket in bright blue plastic, while the screw holders for the AMD bracket are molded in green plastic.
The original Asetek water coolers used a much more robust mounting system. Compare the older mounting system on the left, which uses a 1/8" steel base plate and a thick plastic retaining ring secured by compression screws, with the current mounting system that uses a plastic base plate and thin sheet metal retaining ring, the "springiness" of which provides the clamping pressure. Clamping pressure is an important part of overall heat sink performance, and the best performing air coolers like the Prolimatech Megahalems and Thermalright Venomous X have very substantial mounting systems. 
I suspect the older mechanism provides higher clamping pressure that might improve performance, but the side-mounted swivel hose fittings on the Kühler's pump mean that a little Dremel work would be required to find out. Given the results of my testing, though, the heavier-duty bracket might not make any difference...
Antec Kühler Detailed FeaturesThe Antec Kühler H2O 620's pump is the standard Asetek design: a small, flat pump with notched edges and swivel connectors for the hoses. But there are two differences: the pump has an extra three-pin connector to control the cooler's fan, and the swivel mounts and hoses are significantly larger than the ones used on other Asetek-sourced coolers. This image shows the Antec Kühler pump on the left and the pump used by the Corsair Hydro Series H70 on the right.
The Antec's hoses are soft and flexible, unlike the stiff, springy hoses used on other coolers. At about 13" long, they're also 1"-3" longer than the hoses I've seen on other coolers. The flexibility of the hoses makes installing the cooler easier, but the big news is not their flexibility, it's their size: the outside diameter of the Kühler's hoses is about 10.8mm, as compared to the 8.7mm of the hoses (measured at the narrowest point) on the H70's pump. Larger hoses can flow more water, assuming the pump can handle the extra load. I suspect the hose diameter is really 10.5 or 11mm; it's hard to accurately measure soft rubber items to the fractional millimeter!
The base of the Kühler H2O 620's pump comes with pre-applied thermal compound, but our testing regimen requires that we use the same thermal compound for all heat sinks. The base is a copper plate with a fine "satin" finish, rather than the grained finish seen on similar coolers.
The standard-thickness radiator with its 25mm-thick fan is exactly two inches thick, and will fit easily into any case. Antec recommends that you install the fan between the radiator and the case so that case air is sucked through the radiator and expelled from the rear of the case. Adding another standard 25x120mm fan would increase the thickness to 3", but the added fan would not have the benefit of the pump's speed control.
There are no specifications (air flow or noise) for the included fan, only that it will spin at 1,450 to 2,000 RPM. The fan plugs into a lead from the pump, and its speed is controlled by electronics in the pump. You'd expect an RPM-controlled fan to be a PWM version with a standard four-pin connector, but Antec's fan uses a three-pin connector with only two wires (presumably power and ground). There is no tachometer lead and no PWM lead. Notice that the fan has "tunnels" for the screws (i.e. the screw that passes through the fan to secure it to the radiator is completely covered); this means you can't attach the fan to the pump with machine screws and then attach the assembly to the case with standard fan screws.
Installing the Antec Kühler H2O 620 has the same slightly clumsy aspect of many water coolers: you must thread a long screw through the back of your case, through the fan, and into a hard-to-see hole in the radiator shroud. However, the flexible rubber hoses mean that you can let the lightweight pump dangle (carefully) while you do this, and it's easy to install the pump in the loosened mounting bracket after the radiator/fan assembly is secured. The flexibility of the hoses means you can mount the radiator and pump in any orientation you wish.
Now that the cooler is installed, it's time to start the testing.
Heatsink Test MethodologyBenchmark Reviews is obsessed with testing CPU coolers, as our Cooling Sectionhas demonstrated over the past few years. We've solicited suggestions from the enthusiast community, and received guidance from some of the most technical overclockers on the planet. As a result, our testing methodology has changed with every new edition of our Best CPU Cooler Performance series. Because of this, each article is really its own stand-alone product, and cannot be fairly compared to the others. Benchmark Reviews continues to test CPU coolers using the stock included fan (whenever applicable), and then replace it with a high-output fan for re-testing. Manufacturers are not expected to enjoy this sort of comparison, since we level the playing field for all heat sinks by replacing their included fan with a common unit which is then used for every CPU cooler tested. Many manufacturers include fans with their heat sink products, but many 'stock' fans are high-RPM units that offer great airflow at the expense of obnoxiously loud noise levels, or, conversely, quiet fans that sacrifice performance for low noise. By using the same model of cooling fan throughout our heat sink tests, we can assure our results are comparable across the board. This is one of the more significant changes we have made to our test methodology, since many of the benchmark tests we have conducted in the past have compared the total package. Ultimately we're more interested in the discovering the best possible heat sink, and we believe that you'll feel the same way. For each test, ambient room temperature levels were maintained within one degree of fluctuation, and measured at static points beside the test equipment with a digital thermometer. The Corsair H70 and the comparison coolers used a common Thermal Interface Material of our choosing (listed in the support equipment section below) for consistency. The processor received the same amount of thermal paste in every test, which covered the heat spreader with a thin nearly-transparent layer. The heat sink being tested was then laid down flat onto the CPU, and compressed to the motherboard using the supplied retaining mechanism. If the mounting mechanism used only two points of force, they were tightened in alternation; standard clip-style mounting with four securing points were compressed using the cross-over method. Once installed, the system was tested for a baseline reading prior to testing. At the start of each test, the ambient room temperature was measured to track any fluctuation throughout the testing period. AIDA64 Extreme Edition is utilized to create 100% CPU-core loads and measure each individual processor core temperature. It's important to note that software-based temperature reading reflects the thermal output as reported from the CPU to the BIOS. For this reason, it is critically important (for us) to use the exact same software and BIOS versions throughout the entire test cycle, or the results will be incomparable. All of the units compared in our results were tested on the same motherboard using the same BIOS and software, with only the CPU-cooler product changing in each test. These readings are neither absolute nor calibrated, since every BIOS is programmed differently. Nevertheless, all results are still comparable and relative to each products in our test bed (see The Accuracy Myth section below). Since our test processor reports core temperatures as a whole number and not in fractions, all test results utilize ADIA64 to report averages (within the statistics panel), which gives us more precise readings. The ambient room temperature levels were all recorded and accurate to one-tenth of a degree Celsius at the time of data collection. When each cooler is tested, Benchmark Reviews makes certain to keep the hardware settings identical across the test platform. This enables us to clearly compare the performance of each product under identical conditions. Benchmark Reviews reports the thermal difference; for the purposes of this article, thermal difference (not the same as thermal delta) is calculated by subtracting the ambient room temperature from the recorded CPU temperature. Please keep in mind that that these test results are only valid within the context of this particular test: as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Intel Test System
Support Equipment
All of the tests in this article have been conducted using vertical motherboard orientation, positioned upright in a traditional tower computer case. Air-cooled heat sinks are positioned so that heatpipe rods span horizontally, with the fan blowing air out the top of the chassis. The radiators of water coolers are mounted as per manufacturer instructions. In both cases, fans are connected directly to the power supply (rather than motherboard headers) and run at full speed during the test. At the start of our test period, the test system is powered on and AIDA64 system stability tests are started with Stress CPU and Stress FPU options selected. AIDA64 loads each CPU core to 100% usage, which drives the temperature to its highest point. Finally, once temperatures have sustained a plateau (no observed change in average temperatures for 5 minutes), the ending ambient room temperature and individual CPU core levels are recorded thus completing the first benchmark segment. The time to reach stable temperatures varied between 10 and 20 minutes for the heat sinks in this test; larger heat sinks typically take longer to stabilize. The second test segment involves removing the stock cooling fan and replacing it with a high-output 120 mm Delta AFC1212D cooling fan, then running the same tests again. Note: Both the Antec Kühler H2O 620 and the Coolit Vantage A.L.C. are designed to drive their own RPM-controlled fans directly; in the case of the Vantage, an alarm will sound continuously if there is no fan connected. For these coolers, the fans were left connected as designed during stock fan testing. For high-speed fan testing, the Delta fan was connected directly to the power supply (and the alarm on the Vantage ignored). The Accuracy MythAll modern processors incorporate an internal thermal diode that can be read by the motherboards' BIOS. While this diode and the motherboard are not calibrated and therefore may not display the actual true temperature, the degree of accuracy is constant. This means that if the diode reports 40°C when it's actually 43°C, then it will also report 60°C when it's truly 63°C. Since the design goal of any thermal solution is to keep the CPU core within allowable temperatures, a processor's internal diode is the most valid means of comparison between different heat sinks, or thermal compounds. The diode and motherboard may be incorrect by a small margin in relation to an actual calibrated temperature sensor, but they will be consistent in their margin of error every time.
Testing and ResultsFor this test, I used the following heat sinks in addition to the Thermaltake Jing:
For heat sinks without a stock fan, I used a Thermalright TR-FDB-12-1600 fan, which puts out 63.7CFM at 28dBa according to Thermalright. This mid-range fan provides good air flow and reasonable noise levels. For "apples to apples" testing, where each heat sink is tested with the same fan, I used a Delta AFC1212D. This high-performance PWM fan is rated at 113CFM at a claimed 46.5dBa at full speed...which means that while it moves quite a bit of air, it's very loud. The Intel Core i7-950 I used in this test runs much hotter than the Core i7-920 I'd used previously. At 1.35 volts, with a BCLK of 175Mhz, the 4,025Mhz CPU pumped out enough heat to stress the very best heat sinks. AIDA64 would report throttling once any single core reached 100 degrees Celsius; any throttling resulted in cancelling the test and recording a "FAIL". Although this overclocked and overvolted Core i7-950 represents an extreme, these are expensive, high-end heat sinks. The chart below summarizes the results with the stock fans (hotter temperatures towards the top of the chart, and cooler temperatures towards the bottom). The twin-fan Cooler Master V6 GT and Corsair H70 have a real advantage here, since their dual fans move more air than the stock single fan of any of the other units. The Corsair H70's fans at their default 2,000RPM level move a lot of air together, but also generate a fair amount of noise. At the 1,600RPM level achieved with the in-line resistor cables, the noise level is much reduced, with a relatively minor performance hit. Stock Fan Tests
With its dual, high performance fans (according to Cooler Master, each fan is rated at 93CFM at full speed, for an aggregate airflow of over 180CFM) the Cooler Master V6 GT takes the lead here, keeping the blistering hot Core i7-950 4.7 degrees Celsius cooler than the Kühler. What's amazing here, though, is that the thin-radiator, single-fan Antec Kühler performs within a fraction of a degree of the double-thickness radiator, dual-fanned Corsair H70. There's a 5.3-degree "break" between the Coolit Vantage A.L.C. and the Corsair H70, which neatly separates the coolers into "lower performance" and "higher performance" groups. Delta High Speed Fan Tests
With the Delta high-speed fan, our lineup changes. Showing what a difference a change of fan can make, the Coolit ECO A.L.C. moves from the bottom to the chart to mid-pack, improving by almost 11 degrees. The Antec Kühler improves by 7.2 degrees, putting it— amazingly— between the mighty Prolimatech Super Mega and the Thermalright Venomous X. Note how far ahead of any of the other water coolers in the test this is. I think the Corsair H70's thick radiator puts it at a disadvantage with only one fan, no matter how powerful; a dual-fan solution is probably best for this cooler. In this chart, there's a 4.8-degree "break" between the Coolit ECO A.L.C. and the Cooler Master V6 GT. In this "apples to apples" comparison, the three top-performing air coolers are obviously in a class of their own...along with the Antec Kühler. I have never seen a pre-configured water cooler turn in this kind of performance.
Liquid Cooler Final ThoughtsAfter Corsair's H50 hit the market, its success led to many other companies offering their own variations on the theme, if by "variations" you mean "label". Even Corsair's own H70, with its double-thickness radiator, is simply a version of Asetek's LC570 OEM cooler. Antec's Kühler H2O 620 is (so far) unique: it's not listed as an OEM product by Asetek and Asetek posts no specifications on it, instead merely providing a link to Antec's product page. And as is depressingly standard in this market segment, technical information like pump flow rate and fan airflow are missing, so while I think the thicker hoses mean more water flow, I don't know if that's the case. But what I do know are the performance figures I got in my testing, which place the Kühler solidly in the lead of all other all-in-one water coolers that I've tested. Frankly its performance is almost unbelievably good: its stock-fan performance is 7.2 degrees cooler than Corsair H50, whose radiator appears to be identical. With the high-speed Delta fan on both coolers, the performance gap widens to 9.4 degrees. I can't come up with any explanation other than increased flow rate, but in the end that's really irrelevant, as the performance speaks for itself. Its only competitor in the all-in-one water cooling market is the Corsair H70, which achieves similar stock-fan performance with its thicker radiator and dual fans. However, the H70 is both noisier and significantly more expensive than Antec's Kühler. In previous reviews I've noted how rapidly the CPU cooler market was advancing, with new designs and new performance benchmarks appearing so frequently that it was hard to keep up. We seem to be approaching an asymptote, though: the size of air coolers is reaching the constraints imposed by standard computer cases, and performance is leveling off. Since any retail CPU is shipped with a perfectly good CPU cooler in the box, you might think that the only reason to purchase an aftermarket cooler is performance. While this is certainly the primary consideration, there are others, such as acoustics (how loud the cooler is) and aesthetics (for windowed cases). Also, bear in mind that not every cooler works in every situation: top-performing air coolers tend to be both large and expensive, and are overkill for all but the hottest, most overclocked systems. There's room in the market for many different types of coolers, and the best solution for you is probably not the best solution for me.
Priced to compete with high-end air coolers, the Kühler offers similar performance and a lower noise level. It's the first compact liquid cooler I've tested that can honestly be considered as competition for the likes of the Cooler Master V6 GT, Prolimatech Megahalems, and Thermalright Venomous X. Antec Kühler ConclusionPlease remember that these test results reflect our experience with each cooler on a specific motherboard, with a specific processor, BIOS revision, BCLK and voltage settings, and test programs. The results of this test cannot be directly compared to other tests since many factors will have changed. Installing the Kühler is easier than most other compact liquid coolers due to the flexibility and length of its soft rubber hoses. The "universal" Intel backplate (on AMD systems, the stock motherboard backplate is used) keeps the parts count (and price) down, and while I prefer the more robust mounting system design of Asetek's original systems, the current mounting system certainly doesn't seem to affect the performance. The performance of the Antec Kühler H20 620 was excellent, exceeding that of every other water cooler I've tested and encroaching on the performance range of the very best air coolers. The stock fan is quiet at full speed and very quiet at low speed. I tried replacing it with an 88CFM fan, which generated more perceived air flow and certainly more noise, but actually slightly less performance. It's not clear if just any 3-pin fan will work with Antec's unique fan speed control system, and it would be nice to see some information from Antec on this. The construction quality of the Kühler was similar to that of other Asetek-sourced water coolers, which is to say that everything fit and worked correctly and the swivel mountings for the hoses pivoted freely. Antec silk-screens their logo on the pump housing and puts an "Antec" sticker on the fan's hub, but that's it as far as decoration goes. I'd like to see a little more effort expended on aesthetics. But I'm not going to get hung up on the Kühler's minimalist aesthetic. The Antec Kühler H2O 620 is the best-performing water cooler I've tested, and that's why it gets a Golden Tachometer award. As of March 2011, the Antec Kühler 620 is available at Amazon for $81. Pros:
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Comments
Are they not supposed to be mounted so they are at the bottom of the radiator? The cooler water is at the bottom and having the feed and pickup at the bottom precludes the chance that the pump is pulling against an air bubble at the top.
I have handled one all-in-one system some time back and seen to remember that bottom orientation was specified.
Looks like I'm rubbing the branding off of mine then...
I didn't expect the H20 620 to perform better than the H70. In the future, would it be possible to get a pair of Scythe GT 1850rpm for heatsink and radiator tests?
They're considered the best fans in many extreme forums as they have great pressure even with low CFM.
Take care.
If I was having any problems keeping cool with the cooler that I have now, I'd certainly be interested in this one. If I end up building another system for myself, I'll buy this cooler with better performance and lesser price. Thanks for the review, I love being able to stay on top of news like this without having to go out and buy every new thing, and then test the parts myself.
##asetek.com/blog/204-questions-of-the-month-february-2011.html
cheers
Until now I haven't jumped in to try one of these "faux water cooling setups" as I have called them for several reasons .... 1st the reviews haven't been all that glowing here at BMR, 2nd It looks like a bit of a PITA to inspect the radiator for dust accumulation and 3rd fan and / or pump failure is major surgery.
This unit has my interest but the lack of PWM control is a turn off. It would seem that both the fans a the pump should both be controlled via the MoBo's CPU fan control logic in the BIOS. And without feedback, how would the BIOS know that fan and / or pump isn't spinning ?
I think Antec's methodology of controlling the fan via the pump, based on coolant temps, is the correct one. Water absorbs much more heat than air, and it takes a while for the water temp to rise appreciably even with a very hot processor. If the fan was controlled by the motherboard, it would ramp up unnecessarily soon.
I do agree with you that a standard PWM fan would be better than Antec's use of a non-PWM fan, which makes the fan-replacement issue cloudy.
Is it possible for you have all these types of water coolers gutted? I want to know what they look like inside. Also, my biggest concern weather the pumps are magnetically driven or motor driven.
Then I could take the pumps apart to inspect the design of the water block and pump motor.
Of course, this would destroy the water coolers and preclude their use in any further articles. Also, while you and I might find the results interesting, what most people are interested in is the performance, which we already know.
One thing that might be interesting is an in-depth test of the water coolers, measuring performance in stock and "mild overclock" scenarios. For this round of tests, I pushed the i7-950 about as far as it would go, which is really outside the parameters of what most of these coolers were designed for. A milder overclock test might be a better real-world indicator of their relative performances.
Thanks, and this is a great review! Very informative and thorough... BMR is >famous< for quality reviews in my book! (very, very few PSU reviews though, at least recently). Keep up the great work guys!
My issue is I couldn't "inspect that is "see it" when sandwiched between the fan so as to require disassembly for inspection. That's a bit of a PITA.
This modular approach could be taken further; it would be relatively easy to have a "620D" w/ twin radiator's mounting over the exhaust fan ports on the 1200, DF-85.
Or am I wrong?
I would much rather they did this and have a more efficient system, or, another way of looking at it, the same amount of cooling but the pump running at a slower speed (less wear).
Most computer radiators (including the Kuhler's) are dual-pass: the water goes in, flows through half the radiator tubes, then turns around at the far end of the radiator and flows through the other half of the tubes back to the outlet.
A single-pass radiator benefits from higher flow volume; a dual-pass radiator provides more cooling of the water since it's passing through twice as long a cooling path. You'd normally see single-pass radiators in systems with high-flow-rate pumps (like a Liang D5) combined with dual- or triple-120mm radiators.
While a single-pass design with gravity feed might have slight pumping efficiency benefits, I suspect it wouldn't cool as well as the existing designs.
You seem to be implying, that if something sets off from a set point, stops at 50% of the way, then returns........it is more than going 100% of the way. It?s the same distance!
Just with my system, the pump wouldn't have to work as hard.
Where as I would have all 10 tubes being used for one way only, is that correct?
Generally (and YMMV), a double-pass design is better for small rads with small pumps (like virtually all of the all-in-one water coolers), and a single-pass design is better for larger radiators backed by larger pumps.
So I would say cooling wise we are about equal.
But where my system surpasses yours, is because it is using gravity to flow through the rad where yours is having to use extra pump pressure, to pump the return back, That?s the difference!
Put another way, there is no net work done in a system where the beginning (water at the pump) is the same point as the ending (back at the pump). There will be losses due to internal friction/heat, but not gravity.
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Sadly, this product never made it to market. :(
And when we say "closed system" I take it that means air free?
- 1 top 200mm Big Boy 200? blue LED fan
- 2 rear 120mm TriCool? blue LED fan
- 3 front 120mm blue LED fan
- 1 (optional) side 120mm fan to cool graphics cards
- 1 (optional) middle 120mm fan to cool CPU or graphics cards
Antec doesn't seem to work very hard on integrating its various products. Still use Molex on all their case fans which is quite frustrating when ya have a MoBo w/ 8 fan headers. A fan controller which would control 2 CPU fans (and the pump) as well as their case fans via 3-4 pin fan connectors would be very welcome.
Thanks for the response. I was not aware the integrated controller only had single fan support. That seems like an odd design decision when most enthusiast cpu coolers are running in push/pull configuration. I'm guessing most overclockers will end up using their own controller which only peaks my interest in a comparison between say, the H60 and the 620 off a secondary controller in p/P.
Jack,
Yea, I agree there's no contest between the H50/620 but I think a more appropriate comparison would be between the 620 and H60 since the H50 is quickly becoming legacy. And, as I mentioned to David, I have a hard time crowning a clear winner when most people who spend $70+ on a heatsink are not going to run in a sub-optimal single fan configuration.
I realize this is just speculation but do you think this unit would gain better performance when utilizing an additional fan and instead of exhausting the air out of the case its configured in a push/pull configuration like the H70 where air is moving inside the case from the back?
I ask for a few reasons-this has the block and pump of the H70, with a much thinner rad and bigger rubber tubing for (possibly) better water-flow. A test with a 2nd fan and in a similar configuration as the H70 would be an interesting test.
thanks!
Joe
I am using a push/pull configuration and it seems to work really well!!! I think It would depend on what type of case you are running and where you are putting the rad. I would be willing to send you picks of what I have going on with mine if you like.
Frank
are you running push/pull directing air in from the back or exhausting out? Also what fans are you running? What temps?
Any details I would love :)
thanks
Joe
I am running a dual push system on my antec 1200. I mounted the rad on the back of the top cage. Using the extra fan bracket that came with the tower you will need to modify it for the rad to mount. I am using stock fans that came with the tower and the cooler, the fan that came with the cooler runs faster than the tower one but it still seems to be working great! my cpu temps have dropped 12 degrees. The only thing that took time for me to get used to was not having my dvd drive at the top, it now sits in the middle along with the card reader.Again if you would like to see some pics sends me an email and I will be happy to show you what I have done. fjsketo
Thank you.
Reading the Antec document #blog.antec.com/cooling/asetek-air-flow-matters/ regarding mounting the 620 as Exhaust or Intake seems to be proven to me that intake easily wins a few degress. I'm going to mount my system tomorrow putting on a Cooler Master Elite 430 the 620 on rear top as Intake (with dust filter) and having 2 top 120mm Fans to Exhaust the heat introduced by this.
Does any one have any comments to this?
Here was my train of thought...
In my case, the PSU is at the bottom of the case, drawing air in from within the case and pushing hot air out the back.
The GPU also draws air in from within the case and pushes hot air out the back.
Hot air rises. So.. wouldn't a fan at the top back of the case set as an intake fan pull all the heat that is rising from the exhaust of the PSU and GPU?
I understand the alternative is pulling hot air from inside the case and pushing out the back may not be much different, but if you have a top fan (like i do) you could set that up as intake, which would flow nicely over the board then straight through the radiator(in an exhaust config) and out the back of the case.
thoughts on this?
In the end, Antec stated they will ship me a "Spare Parts Request" shipment of the missing brackets via US Postal ground service which would take 2 weeks to reach me. It has now been 3 weeks and I have not seen it as yet! I have again opened a new c! ase with Antec quoting the original case however its been 4 days and they still have not contacted me nor do I even know where this shipment is. I was not provided any tracking information originally!
I would advise anyone who is interested in purchasing this product to be very cautious especially if you intend to use this on a socket 775 solution. You will be poorly handled by Antec support and you may or may not receive your shipment as promised by this company. They opt to ship you the parts by the cheapest means possible which is disheartening considering the mistake they had made is inconveniencing to we the consumers.
I cannot forgive how I was treated by them. VIP Support at Antec states that Asetek was responsible for designing the updated units and box and thus they feel it is not their responsibility despite their name being on the box! Then commit to a 2 week shipping time and miss that by 7 days (actually more than that now) makes me angry!
Anyway, I'm glad there are other solutions out there. Zalmann makes some pretty sweet coolers that are decent for overclocking! I'm going to explore those.
Sorry for ranting but thanks for commenting! :)