Stren's 2012 CPU Water Block Roundup

[stren]

Hi everyone and welcome to my 2012 CPU Waterblock Roundup. First off let's thank the sponsors who made this happen, if you like reviews like this please support those who sponsor the tests:

Performance PC's were generous enough to sponsor six blocks - so big love to them:



Thanks to my other sponsors (in alphabetical order):

DT Waterblocks for sponsoring the 5Noz and Sniper blocks



Danger Den for sponsoring the M6 Block



EK Waterblocks for sponsoring the Supremacy Block



Indigo Xtreme for sponsoring the TIM



Koolance for sponsoring the CPU-370 Block



MIPS for sponsoring the IceForce HF Block (and Frozen/Aquatuning for getting me it)



Sidewinder Computers for sponsoring the Bitspower Summit HF



Spotswood Computer Cases for sponsoring the tech station



Swiftech for sponsoring the Apogee HD Block and a MCP35X2 pump to enable the measurements vs flow rate!




Blocks tested:

Alphacool NexXxos XP3 Light - Acetal Edition
Bitspower Summit HF - Acetal/Nickel
Danger Den M6 (aka CPU600)
DT 5Noz
DT Sniper
DT Direct
EK Supreme HF Rev 4 (Full Nickel)
EK Supremacy (Nicekl/Plexi)
Koolance CPU-370 Rev 1.1
Koolance CPU-380
MIPS IceForce HF
Swiftech Apogee HD
Phobya UC1-LT
Watercool Heatkiller 3.0
XSPC Rasa
XSPC Raystorm
XSPC Raystorm Full Copper

Test Setup:

Rampage IV Extreme + i7-3930K @ 4.8GHz, 1.45VCore
Pump: MCP35X2 - PWM controlled by CF-635
Reservoir: - EK 400 Basic
Radiator: XSPC EX 560 with Push/Pull 2150rpm Gentle Typhoons using Bgears 120->140mm adapters
Quick Disconnects: Koolance VL4N series
Temperature Probes: Dallas DS18B20 fitted into a bitspower brass barb
Flow Meter: King Instruments 7520 series 10" 0-3.5gpm scale
Data logging and PWM control: CrystalFontz CF-635 with SCAB module

You can see more details here: http://extremerigs.net/2012/07/build...e-sensors.html

Results

In brief on XS here

In full on my website here

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Alphacool NexXxos XP3 Light - Acetal Edition



For full photos click here

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Bitspower Summit EF



For full photos click here!

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Danger Den M6



For full photos click here!

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DT 5Noz



For full photos click here!

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DT Sniper



For full photos click here!

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EK Supreme HF Rev 4



For full photos click here!

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EK Supremacy



For full photos click here!

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Koolance CPU-370 Rev 1.1



For full photos click here!

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Koolance CPU-380



For full photos click here!

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MIPS IceForce HF



For full photos click here!

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Phobya UC1-LT



For full photos click here!

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Swiftech Apogee HD



For full photos click here!

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Watercool Heatkiller 3.0



For full photos click here!

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XSPC Rasa



For full photos click here!

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XSPC Raystorm



For full photos click here!

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XSPC Raystorm Full Copper



For full photos click here!

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For the full results write up click here!

First off another big thanks to the sponsors because without them this never would have happened. If you like reviews like this make sure to support them so that they will support future reviews!

Performance PC's were generous enough to sponsor six blocks!

Results in Brief - far more info can be found on my website:

Average of all 5 MX-2 mounts

This data assumes all mounts are equally valid and that the average of all 5 is a good choice for performance metric:



Flow



Performance vs Pump Setting with Indigo Xtreme



Mount "goodness" (Delta between MX-2 and IX)



All Results at one pump speed:



Gold Award

The Koolance CPU-380 performed exceptionally besting every block on MX2 (nearly all of them by 1+C) while still being at the top of the heap with Indigo Xtreme. The quality and feel of the block is up to scratch too. Mount variability is good and the flow is decent too and I would heartily recommend it.

Silver Awards

The following blocks also performed very well and have their own niche uses:
- the Phobya UC1 performs very well and is also priced very well
– Swiftech Apogee HD because it performs very well and has a very nice mounting system
- MIPS IceForce performed very well and has very high flow
- the XSPC raystorm performs well and wins the value for money award!
- the Watercool Heatkiller performed very well with IX

Until Alphacool has fixed the single port threading issue I can not recommend the block!

[stren]

Reserved 3

[stren]

Reserved for DT Direct

[Zeus]

Subscribed.

[Church]

stren: how about adding inside pics for all the blocks disassembled?

[st0ned]

Eventhough this is on 2011 I doubt that any block will match supremacy performance.

[stren]

stren: how about adding inside pics for all the blocks disassembled?

Those will come This is very much a work in progress When possible I like to test the blocks before I disassemble to reduce the chance of me affecting the results. The only exception to this are blocks where I have to change jetplates before testing.

[stren]

Eventhough this is on 2011 I doubt that any block will match supremacy performance.

Could be but there's a lot of new blocks here that haven't been tested before. I'm keeping my mouth shut til I have all the results in