Test Setup - Pentium 4 2.4C
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe: Pentium 4 2.4C, 2 x 512MB Corsair TWINX PC4000 Ram, ATI AIW Radeon 9600 Pro, 120GB SATA Seagate, Windows XP SP1, ATI Catalyst 3.8.
Going up against the Asetek WaterChill for our Pentium 4 tests will be the Swiftech MCW5000, and the Swiftech MCX4000 air cooler. The MCX4000 has been paired up with an 80mm Delta SHE 68CFM fan. Both water blocks were tested using the WaterChill kit's Hydor L20 pump and radiator. Nanotherm Ice II is the thermal compound used for all the coolers.
To load up the system, we run Prime95 run for 20 minutes, with Folding @ Home running in the background. Ambient room temperature is maintained at ~23C/74F.
The Pentium 4 2.4C tests were done at clock speeds of 12x250: 3.0GHz, and 12x270: 3.24GHz. Only the water blocks were capable of the 3.24GHz OC. The MCX4000 did make it, but kept locking up during Prime95, so we dropped those results.
We removed the chipset and GPU coolers to factor them out of the equation. Though we'll be displaying 7v and 12v performance, the MCX4000's fan will be running at full speed (12v).
Temperature in °C - Idle @ 3.0GHz
Temperature in °C - Load @ 3.0GHz
At 3.0GHz, both water blocks do a pretty good job of keeping things around the 50°C mark. The MCX4000 is struggling a bit, but it keeps the CPU under 60°C.
Temperature in °C - Load @ 3.24GHz
Pushing the FSB to 270 though was too much for air cooling here. I think it's pretty safe to say that although the Swiftech MCW5000 took most of the tests, performance was pretty close between the WaterChill and the MCW5000.
Final Words
Although the Swiftech solution won the majority of the benchmarks, it is really a toss-up when you look closely at the numbers. I've read other reviews where the gap was much wider, and considering that this revision of the WaterChill is the latest, Asetek did an admirable job of closing the gap.
Performance-wise, there isn't much to complain about. The WaterChill performed within 1 - 2% on average when compared to the MCW5000, which is within our margin of error. Now, we compared water blocks, but it's actually more tricky when you look at the companies respective kits as a whole...
Using an Athlon 2500+ @ 2173MHz, we pitted the WaterChill against the Swiftech H20-8500 (both kits we used only the CPU water block, sold with each companies respective kits), using stock pumps and radiators with each kit. The WaterChill scored 47.5°C (7v), whereas the H20-8500 scored 49.5°C. At the 7v setting, the WaterChill was actually quieter than our Swiftech, which uses two 80mm fans.
Using the same setup, except with the larger radiator (from our MCW5000 review), the performance tipped in Swiftech's favor... scoring 43.5°C. The noise was more noticable on the Swiftech, which had two 120mm fans blowing, but the fans and larger radiator were the deciding factors.
Speaking of noise, at 7v, the WaterChill is very quiet. In fact, the whirring of our hard drive was more audible than the Sunon fan and Hydor pump. At 12v, an average of 3°C was knocked off, but the noise levels were near (but not quite up to) the Delta 68cfm levels.
The quality of the kit was excellent, from the individual components, to the manual. A lot of the problems and complaints directed to the earlier revisions of the WaterChill seemed to have been corrected. With the exception of their default tubing, which is far to stiff in our opinion if you have a small case, we had no problems putting the WaterChill together. I would like to see a better solution for P4 boards though, as the zip ties just don't do it for me.
The one issue that some of you may have is that the kit will be tough to install in smaller cases. We managed to fit the WaterChill into the Lanboy, but depending on your case design, some modding will likely be needed for the radiator. Also, the reservoir and pump is going to be tricky to fit if there isn't enough room in the bottom area of your case. We were somewhat lucky with our minimalist interior setup, but if you have a Lanboy for example, and are using two optical drives, and 2 PCI cards, you better keep that Dremal nearby.
Price-wise, the WaterChill is competitive to other quality water cooling kits. It's a tough call to say what watercooling kit in the 200$ - 250$ range is the best choice, but I will say the greatest strengths of the WaterChill is the ease of installation (no case modding should be needed), the SafeStart box, low noise levels at 7v (without sacrificing too much performance), and a great instruction manual.
Editor's Note: I just got wind of a new WaterChill series called the , which offers discounts of up to 50%. This isn't a stripped down version of the kit either, as all the parts reviewed today can be purchased separately. To my surprise, I was able to assemble this kit, including all the blocks for about 220$. That's the same price as their CPU cooling kit, which includes only one block. That, in my opinion, is a great deal.
Pros: Great performance, excellent quality, SafeStart technology, very quiet at 7v.
Cons: Not suitable for tight cases in general, stock tubing is too stiff.
Bottom Line: Asetek has a great product in their hands with the WaterChill. Performance was very good, and considering that they haven't been in the watercooling market as long as some others, they have a product that is sure to be noticed. If you got any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.
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