|
First Looks
Click to Enlarge
The kit arrived in a rather large plain brown box, and inside that are smaller brown boxes containing the individual components. Each of these boxes is packed very well with a combination of polystyrene and bubble wrap to ensure that everything arrives in perfect condition. Looking at the parts you can instantly see the care and thought that has gone into the aesthetics of the kit with everything being either solid black, polished or anodized blue aluminium. It really does look very good indeed and begs to be shown off. Let's take a closer look at the main components.
The Radiator
The Radiator is black and very lightweight aluminium construction. The "fins" of the radiator cover an entire 120mmx120mm. You can see the polished aluminium fittings for the inlet and outlet on top of the rad but more on them later. The Rad I received was one already used but it still gave off an instant appearance of quality (quick note, the unit supplied here for review is black, but the one in the kits you buy are blue, apart from the colour they are identical).
  
Click to Enlarge
On each corner of the rad are the screw fittings to attach a fan or to attach the rad itself to a case. The threaded studs extend through each corner of the rad casing and out the other side, being longer on one side than the other. The fan used here was attached with wing nuts to the longest side studs and also included a grill, which with a fan of this size is great because it really could do some damage to a kitten or something (not that I tested that &&. honest :p). The fan in question here is a YS-Tech unit, pushing 125CFM a minute at 42.5 dB. The pipework in the radiator goes through a total of 7 u-bends before reaching an outlet which should give the water ample time to be cooled via the rad's fine fin structure and fan.
Reservoir
The top and bottom of the reservoir is made of solid anodized blue aluminium with the exterior made from Plexiglas in a cylindrical shape. On top of the reservoir are 4 outlets/inlets. The first is for the power lead for the pump, the second is the filler hole (complete with filler cap to help prevent evaporation) with the other 2 for the inlet and outlets pipes. The inlet pipe descends down into the reservoir from the push fit connector beside the pump, and the pumps outlet extends up and out of the reservoir into another push fit connector.
  
Click to Enlarge
The MaxiJet 1200 pump is rated at 1110 litres an hour (295 gallons) with a maximum pumping height of 69 inches. The specs of the pump make this a very versatile unit for placement, as the reservoir could easily be left standing on the floor and have more than enough power to keep the flow rate high to the system on a desk. The pump uses a standard UK 3 prong plug, and with no on/off switch simply starts up once plugged in. I'm also pleased to say it doesn't vibrate; the pump makes no noise at all.
Previous Page - Introduction
Next Page - The Waterblock and Fittings
|
Wet and Chilly Chips "AMD-XP" WATER-COOLING SYSTEM: The water-cooling scene is getting as crowded as the air-cooling market, and it's getting tougher to make a decision. We take a look at a new company that may be worth looking into if you're shopping for a WC setup.
