New CPU Waterblock from Aquacomputer

[Shoggy]

I'm curious to know how badly bent pins affect the flow rate, because these pics here are the only ones of 3 different bases I've seen that are straight which means it was either cherry picked for the photo shoot, or someone spent some time straightening them.

There is no real effect on the flow rate. Of course I have picked up a good looking base for the photos but that was pretty easy since the quality of the manufacturing process in the last runs was very high so almost all bases have a clean look. You should also keep in mind that after mounting and using the base some pins will be bent. As some others already mentioned: it has almost no effect on the performance.
I also noticed that the light and angle of view has some influence on the overall look of the base.

shoggy do u guys stock indigo extreme as well??

No, we don't offer it.

That pin matrix looks like Swiftech's XT but prettier (and rectangular vs square). I wonder if the orientation (between the pin and input/output) has any affect on performance and/or flow rate

Yes, it has We tested a lot of different variants.

I'm interested in this as well. However, the pic posted here and the pics posted by others show a very different story on the base. The base here seems perfect, where as other user pics show the pins in worse shape than most Swiftech XT units. For such a premium product this is not very cool.

So what is it? Are the (s)mashed up pins flukes or are they the norm?

As written above, the bases from the last runs look very clean with none or only slightly bent pins.

I have a question, are the blocks tested in an temperature controlled room? Because I can see quite a penalty against this block if it was tested out in the open in the middle of the summer against blocks which were tested in a cooler climate.

Not sure to whom you are talking to. We did all tests in the same environment.

Actually that's the issue as well...there is no full nickel-plated version. They all have exposed copper base, unless you go .925 silver, which is incredibly overpriced. I can get .9999 silver 1oz ingots for ~$20 CAD here and I cannot see machining and all costing approx. €100 (~$150 CAD) extra.

Producing such a block in your mind and in reality is a difference
We pay 65.00 EUR + VAT (19%) for the raw material that is used for milling. Don't expect to get clean silverware in the necessary shape for the typical market price. If you still thing you can do it with ease for under 77.00 EUR: send your offer for a 62x56x4 .925 sterlin silver block to info@aqua-computer.de. That should already make you thinking that there is something wrong with your calculation

Around 65% of the additional charge is for the raw material and 35% for the additional work. When we produce such silver bases all tools are always exchanged with new ones which costs time. These silver bases also need to be handled with kid gloves.

And did I mention the "ooops-factor"?
Ooops, has the machine killed my beloved silver base...?

The only downside i see with the block is its not compression fitting friendly.

You can use compression fittings with the block but not those XXL-fittings.

Maybe the block was designed with their own compression fittings in mind? I think most of those will fit just fine. Still, quite narrow minded if that's the case.

We had no specific fittings in mind. The current distance of 20 mm is used for many of our products.

Those are plug-in fittings, but yes, the block was designed with these in mind. Be happy they didn't use G1/8 threads (they're slowly going away from that, thank God...).

(...)

The fact that they didn't design this with compression fittings in mind annoys me though, 1/2" OD with compression fittings is in fact very common here in Germany, not making sure those fit is just pure stupidity. And they obviously haven't learned anything from the Supreme HF's design or the baseplate thicker and the channels would have been deeper.

As said: no, we had them not in mind.
Slowly going away from G1/8"? - We don't use that anymore since quite some time now for new products.

You can use 1/2" OD compression fittings with this block. I have even used them for the photos on page 1.

We already had a look how the top could be changed to allow the usage of larger compression fittings like BP 16/11 mm. Don't expect a solution within the next few days but I can promise it will be available in the near future

I'm guessing also that part of performance might be influenced by inlet placement in block reading about mentioned tests of many variants of block, so maybe it was choice of AC to choose performance over better CF compatibility, not just to spite us

You are just right. The inlet must be above the center and we can't move it anywhere else.
As said a slightly different variant for larger fittings will follow.

1) Screws barely pass the PCB... so replaced mine with 15mm variants... good solid fix now... (Sven told me it is not necesarry, dunno bout that, I rather have a screw well threaded in then just a mm...)

And I still think using such large screws could get you into new trouble. Make sure that you can screw them completely into the bolts since they do not offer much space for larger screws.

I think the rubber plate is unnecessary on 1366/1156 boards, did you try it without it?

If you use the block without the rubber plate you will lose cooling performance. The rubber plate is necessary to get a proper pre-load.

and we don't have on hand real numbers of their different test block varieties to objectively state something

Hehe, my main Excel sheet for the tests contains more than 2.000 measured values (all entered by hand) for temperatures, flow etc. I'm happy that this testing-horror has come to an end