My thoughts on [H]ardocp's latest Water Block Roundup.

I am going to be right up front with this; I am NOT saying that this was done for any nefarious reason, I am NOT accusing anyone of missrepresentation. I am only challenging the proceedure and/or the choices for comparison.

Although I personally like [H] for their excellent web coverage and the many solid reviews that come from their staff. I have a reall problem with this comparison test.

Here is an excerpt from the review:

Quote: We intentionally decided to review just water blocks at this time, leaving the other individual components of a water-cooling set up for a separate review. To level the playing field as much as possible, we used the same pump and radiator set up with all the blocks in this round-up (adapters were used where necessary). We understand that various aspects of a complete system all effect the overall cooling ability of any given water block, but we will not be including data like ”temperature in and out of the radiator” etc., because ultimately what really matters is the final temperatures achieved by each block at the CPU in a controlled environment.

The problem with their testing methodology and therefore the results is stated above, "We understand that various aspects of a complete system all effect the overall cooling ability of any given water block". This is a true statement and because of this exact fact, the results are skewed and inacurate.

When dealing with a system, you can not issolate elements that are designed for different operating parameters and test them as if they are not.

An example is, if you use a setup that is designed for a high volume system with 1/2 tubing and a powerful pump, then only the water blocks designed for high volume setups will perform at their best and all others will be at a disadvantage.

Fortunatly the article does state what other components were used in the cooling setup. The actual level of advantage/disadvantage may have been minimized by the use of "middle of the road" components. But as you can see, an Ehiem 1250 is not middle of the road.

Ehiem 1250 specs:

Pump output 1200 l/h 264 lmp. gal./h. 317 U.S. gal./h.
Delivery head 2,00 m/wat.col. 6 ft. 7 in./wat.col.
Power consumption 28 W
1 Fitting (suction side) is 3/4" - 17mm
1 Fitting (pressure side) is 1/2" - 13mm

Because such a powerfull pump was used, the following water blocks were at a severe disadvantage;

BTMS from Blue Cooling (even worse do to it's poor design and construction)
Koolance (although actual not tested)
3R System's Iceberg
MaxXpert Miro Blocks

These blocks are all designed for 1/4" internal diameter setups and the excess power of the pump will have transfered a significant amount of heat into the water. This is also true for the 3/8" water blocks in the lineup, but not as severe.

Had an Ehiem 1048 been used the results would have been a little more evenly balance. But the real problem is that you when comparing components, you should use similar products and face it, the only thing similar about a Swiftech MCW-462U and a 3R System's Iceberg is that they both have two holes


Ehiem 1048 specs: (Notice the diference in power consumption, output, and delivery head).

Pump output 600 l/h 132 lmp. gal./h. 158 U.S. gal./h.
Delivery head 1,50 m/wat.col. 4 ft. 11 in./wat.col.
Power consumption 10 W
1 Fitting (suction side) is 1/2" - 17mm
1 Fitting (pressure side) is 1/2" - 13mm


Comments?

my only comment is that when I finally balls up and get a water cooled setup, you can damn sure bet i wont go anywhere near an "unbiased review". I will most certainly come to the source.

now then, i had no idea that there were water blocks designed for low and high flow-rates.

what makes one water block better for stronger/weaker pumps?

I would assume (like a n00b) that the more water that flows, the better the cooling, like the huge delta fans, more air, better cooling.....im wrong i suppose, but i dont know why!

lc, you rock....plain and simple.

Thanx BZA, but your not wrong about the blocks. Some were designed for large volumes of water to be pumped through them and others have smaller hose barbs and narrower channels. But high volume is not, by itself, neccessarily better then low volume. But high volume can remove more potential heat then low volume. You just have to remember that your system may not actually generate that much heat.

It's too bad though because I KNOW this guy did a huge amount of work on this. Every block, (some twice with the TECs), disconnecting and reconnecting fittings, reducers, refilling, cleaning, a 3 years supply of AS3, and then concider the risk he put his equipment through. Placeing the thermal probes, gathering the data and the pics. This was a huge job, I really hate to beat up his results. But I did neglect to say one thing, the results for the top rated high volume blocks are going to be pretty reasonable, and if you separate the blocks into clases, (1/4", 3/8", 1/2"), then the results between comparable water blocks in each class can be used as a basis for comparison.

I am bumping this back up because the latest news made it vanish in less time then it took to write it

And because my ego needs more attention, j/k