Ok, anyone who knows anything about computers will know that more speed usually means more heat and more noise from the cooling. Various alternatives to standard Heatsink and Fan cooling setups can be used to help improve the efficiency, one of the better ones being Watercooling. Much like the cooling system found in cars, water is used to transfer heat and keep the components cool. Since the heat is being transferred to the water loop, the water itself needs to be cooled at some point in that loop. Generally speaking this is done by the use of a radiator and fan assembly in cars, and PC watercooling often uses the same idea. Now while you can buy some very good kits for watercooling your PC, many folks like to buy separate components, which is where comes in. Right now, being a new company their line-up is small, but this will be extended in time to include other components besides radiators. Anyway, enough waffling on, let’s get a good look at their .
Specifications
High performance dual fan copper radiator designed for PC water cooling.
- - 2 rows of 12 tubes
- - 1/4" Thread
- - Chromed shroud
- - Copper and Brass construction
- - Dimensions: 316x139x45mm
XSPC sent the R120-D Dual Fan radiator in a white box, packed inside with bubble wrap and the radiator itself in another box. Inside this second box the radiator was again wrapped in bubble wrap and this ensured safe shipping.
The XSPC R120-D can take two 120mm fans (not supplied) and comes with 8 long length and 8 short length screws to mount them (good for 25mm depth fans). XSPC also supplied me with a selection of possible fittings for the ¼” thread inlet and outlets found on the one end. These include 10mm OD pushfittings, ¼” barbs, 10mm compression fittings and XSPC supplied me with 10mm (3/8”) barbs to fit with my existing WACC system as well.
The main unit itself is made from copper with a black coating and feels very solidly constructed. Running along the length of the sides are polished, chromed brass panels which in conjunction with some hard foam strips aid in creating a plenum style shroud above the fins as well as give the unit a little 'bling'. These side panels are attached simply with three screws each and are removable, so should you wish to mount the radiator in a different fashion, you can. The shroud panels are obviously susceptible to fingerprints but a little after installation cleaning is nothing to cry about. The black and chrome appearance fits in well my Antec P160 case too, which is nice.
The chrome shroud has the mounting holes for the fans on both sides, allowing you to orientate the inlet and outlet ports as needed as well as of course being able to use 4 fans in a push-pull configuration.
The radiator tubing and fins arrangement is very much akin to a car radiator and provides plenty of surface area for cooling. The inlet and outlet ports offer 1/4" Thread for the various fittings and are perpendicular to the radiator rather than running horizontally with the tubing.
Each end of the radiator is protected by these black end covers that are affixed and intergrated very naturally looking.
Overall visual inspection reveals a solidly constructed radiator that appears to be designed well for both performance and good looks. With 2 rows of 12 tubes, twice the length of a single fan radiator and the shear amount of fins, this should provide a very large surface area for cooling and some good numbers.
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