Difficult Case Cooling Project

Part Four

Log Date: December 14, 2005

Results

There has been a perception for some time that small bore tubing is a bit of a no no in water cooling here in Australia. Small tubing was perceived to be the same as "poor performance" by many. This situation has changed somewhat as a result of the major companies in the world water cooling scene developing their own small bore water cooling kits. The size of tubing used in these kits has rapidly dropped from the standard 1/2" tubing to the stage where it is not uncommon for 1/4" tubing to be used.

The unfortunate spin off from the commercial development of water cooling kits has been the emergence of water cooling kits with very poor durability. Pumps seem to be the major issue in these kits failures although poor choice of secondary materials for reservoirs and CPU block tops have contributed to the small bore kits developing a "poor end of town" or entry level imagery.

Certainly the reverse philosophy regarding small bore water cooling applies in Europe. Europeans appear to favor the smaller tubing sizes. Companies who manufacture components in Europe do not seem to have taken the "cheap is better mentality" of some of the world based players. Rather these companies have developed very well engineered products which are gradually gaining a groundswell following here in Australia and for that matter throughout the world.

There is no doubt that the future of water cooling will be based on the application of small bore tubing in water cooling if only to get the fit ability in smaller cases packed with more components. Imagine the nightmare of attempting to fit up water cooling into a quad CPU M2 based systems. Card risers and all the water cooling systems that are to come will have to be severely limited in size if not miniaturized and still be able to handle the heat being generated . Certainly the engineers attached to both Intel and AMD will alter CPU substrata and reduce voltages but the heat battle will go on at the CPU and perhaps more importantly at the GPU level. The Evolution Two Kit represents such a move towards the miniaturization of system components.

The Evolution Two Extreme kit we are going to discuss here is a kit based on the European model of introducing better quality parts into a smaller tubing based kit packages. Starting with the CPU block and finishing with the tubing used the attention to durability has been a major consideration. Wherever possible components have been made of brass and copper. The exception to this is the pump and reservoir where heavy gauge Acrylic has been substituted for light gauge material.

Obviously this kit by its name is an evolution towards a final distant point. As with all our other kits this kit is in transit all the time as we find other parts which will adapt it to more platforms, simplify the fitting of the kit or increase its performance. Be prepared for the changes that take place with this kit as it travels along this evolutionary line.

Evolution Process so far

We have now added the Maze 4 GPU block to the kit and will have the results of our testing of the Sli version shortly. We will be testing a dual hard drive cooler for the kit in the next few weeks. Having already established the performance using our single and dual radiators it is our intention to see what results can be obtained from our triple radiator. We hope that this will make the Evolution Two Kit one of the most complete kits available on the water cooling market today.

The Test System

We have chosen an ambient day temperature of 28 degrees to present our evaluation of this kit. Little point in testing at 18 degrees is there.

The system is comprised of an Abit IG-80 motherboard with an Intel 3Ghz LGA 775 Prescott CPU over clocked to 3.9Ghz. We have fitted a Maze 4 GPU block to the ATI card on the motherboard to add more heat ballast. Water temperatures are being recorded using the Web Temp program. Secondary water temps are taken at the pump housing using an RTD and reader these temperatures are provided for additional comparison.

First results are for the system at idle.

Results Summary

CPU at Idle 3.9Ghz

Ambient Temperature; 28 degrees

CPU Temperature; 34 degrees

PWM temperature; 37 degrees

Water Reservoir Temperature; 29.20 degrees

Delta ambient to water temperature; 1.20 degrees

Then at full load

CPU at Load 3.9Ghz......Folding@Home

Ambient Temperature; 28 degrees

CPU Temperature; 43 degrees

PWM Temperature; 48 degrees

Water Reservoir Temperature; 31.6 degrees

Delta ambient to water temperature; 3.6 degrees

Conclusions and Impressions

What is very apparent from the results shown here is that rather than falling over when under pressure the Evolution Two kit performs very well indeed. Remembering that this kit has a GPU block fitted and that it is possibly introducing an additional 30 plus watts of heat load. With the Preshott CPU (Spelling is noted) at about 115 plus watts we have a major heat load going into the system. The results here really speak for themselves and put the "poor end of town" analogy to rest I think.

Certainly this kit is easier to fit than its larger 1/2" based brothers. The addition of a PCI pass through plate and the bugs legs to mount the radiator greatly simplify the process and no holes need to be cut into your valuable case. The small diameter tubing is very flexible and can radius a 1 and 3/4" turn without collapse. With this in mind separating out flow pathways for two GPU Sli blocks and a chipset block should be a dream in comparison to the battle with larger tubing. The compression fittings make for foolproof tubing fitting and add a very finished professional affect to the completed project. The smaller tubing also means that adaption down to 1/4" tubing should not be an issue for multiple parts cooling.

In summary I am very happy with the performance of this kit and look forward to adding the hard drive cooler to the line up in future testing.