Effectiveness

Of course this is the portion of the review in which I talk about how well this system works. Well more than just the system itself, the rest of your components will dictate how much heat is produced and the limits of your overclocking (because I'm SOOOO sure you're intending to get a kit such as this just to cool your system at stock speeds).

I care about 100% stability, I want to be able to run Prime95 on torture for 6 hours (or even longer, they recommend at least 6) without crashes. I don't want heat spikes, I want rock solid, and that is exactly what I mean.

With this kit I was able to get 2.2Ghz @ 11x200 on the 1700+. This was achieved with 1.850v core and 2.9v ram, with the ram timed at 2-3-3-11. This was an increase in clock speed from 1.833, so about another 400mhz of overhead above my air cooling overclock (of course your mileage will vary). This system was also able to keep my system cooler throughout usage. My temp at load was about 48C (this is with weather in the 90F region and additionally an even hotter room due to two computers and heat build up). Even though I was able to reach higher than I ever did before, I was still disappointed, not in the watercooling system, but rather in the processor. Perhaps if I was able to increase the vcore further to 1.900V, I would have been able to clock the processor higher.

At 2.3Ghz (11.5x200) the machine would crash at windows boot. Much the same, increasing the FSB further didn't allow much overhead. From 10.5x210 to up to 10x215, the machine would rarely get past boot. For some reason, this configuration just happens to like 11x200, and even stood up the torture testing on Prime95.

Load Temperatures (°C)

Cooler	Temperature (°C)
RBX Kit	48
Tt Volcano 11+ Xaser	58

Temperatures at idle were 44-45°C, and under load, 47-48°C. Using air cooling, the load temps were 56-58°C and the idle temps were still in the 51-53°C range. Shaving off a good 10 degrees off the load temperature is pretty significant. Another thing to note, is that the A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard is known to have temperatures higher than most motherboards, which seems to be a bios issue. A different motherboard with a similar setup would more than likely yield better results. On another note I bet that a 2500+ mobile would do amazingly well with this kit, and also moving to a larger fan would help as well. The cooling potential seems to be high, and also it seems that this kit is definitely ready for a TEC.

Conclusion

Water cooling is becoming more accessible every day. Kits like this one make high end watercooling more available to the enthusiast. Although this kit is not as plug in play as a Koolance EXOS-Al, this is just about as easy as it can get for a full internal system, designed for top notch overclocking. For even more intense enjoyment, DangerDen also sells TEC's for those who are REALLY serious about cooling that can be used with this very kit, however that will cost quite a bit extra (for the stand alone PSU and the TEC itself). With that in mind, this kit performed very well. With the exception of having to modify my case to install it, and a few other minor hiccups during the way, this kit was easy to install, especially to those who love to do this sort of work.

The kit performed desirably and there isn't really anything bad that I can say about that. It allowed me to reach clock speeds that simply were not possible for my previous air cooling setup to reach (which wasn't hardcore aircooling, but pretty good aircooling none the less). For those wanting to get into a closed loop setup with good cooling, this is a good kit to get. Installation time was about 2-3 hours or so, but that was with planning (as to measure twice and cut once) and researching a little about the products I was using before installation (IE: looking up the installation instructions). Of course it only has to be done once. Once it is installed (unless you have a leak or messed up somewhere) you don't have to do it again unless you upgrade your processor etc. I found that the fan could have been a bit more powerful like I mentioned earlier. A higher CFM fan would increase performance at the cost of noise, but I really wish it had something in the 120+ CFM range. That would have increased performance further. An even more desirable setup would be a really high CFM fan like 150+, with a potentiometer. Perhaps that is something DangerDen could consider, no?

Another thing you may want to think about is how long are you going to keep your current AMD processor for? Although it hasn't 100% happened yet, AMD is phasing out all of its Socket A processors and is moving to the Athlon64 platform. If you plan on moving to that soon, shelling out money for this system may not be the wisest investment. Of course if you did move to A64 the only piece of hardware you would have to replace is the waterblock itself, but if you are going to upgrade soon anyway, one can save themselves 50 some odd bucks. That said the Barton 2500+ mobiles are hot on the overclocking scene, and although I didn't get one to test here with this kit, I'm sure this kit would give you so much more overhead than virtually any air cooling setup.

Having a watercooling setup gives an enthusiast such as myself a certain feeling of price when I look at my system now. Upgrading in such a way was a really good feeling, and if you can afford $200 dollars for better cooling, and the feeling of higher speeds at better stability than I have no problem recommending upgrading to this kit. DangerDen meticulously tests their blocks for leaks, and has been producing high end kits for years, if you're going to buy a WC kit from someone, then obviously you want to buy something from someone whom you know knows what they are doing. DangerDen is such a company, and they proved that once again with this kit. I am a stickler for name brands, and I do have loyalty (lets face it, we all are bias to some extent with PC hardware, whether it be AMD and Intel, ATI and nVidia, or Corsair ram etc. names mean a lot in this business) and DangerDen is a brand I trust.

Pros:
Fantastic heat dissipation (meaning fantastic waterblock design)
Four hole mounting design
All you need in one kit (just add water)
Good durability
Fantastic barb design (meaning less if not no leaks)
Aesthetically pleasing (especially to us computer geeks)

Cons:
Attaching the tubing to the pump difficult (had to use clamps. Not necessarily a big deal)
I had to modify a washer to mount it on to my board
3 ½" double reservoir only has 3 total entrances and exits.
120mm fan only rated for 90CFM
May require modification of your case to install (may not be a con)
Only seven feet of tubing

Bottom line
If you want to hop in head first into watercooling and you want to know what to buy, and you have no problem with some DIY installing, then this system should be at the top of your list. With The ability to swap in so many parts (other reservoirs bigger radiators etc that DangerDen can provide) there simply isn't a way you can go wrong.

If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.

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