|
RBMODS REVIEWS |
Date 2005-03-17
Provider: Thermaltake
Author: GooGeL
Editor: Princess Ammie
Thermaltake T-type, Aquarius II VGA Waterblock, Water Level Indicator & Flow Indicator
Specifications - Aquarius II VGA Waterblock/CL-W0038:
Compatibility: Universal clips for ATi and nVIDIA VGA cards
Material: Copper & Acrylic
Dimension: 57 x 46 x 41mm (Length x Width x Height)
Weight: 151 grams
The product:
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
The VGA block comes in a similar package as the other Thermaltake product we just looked at. The block is right in the middle, the included extra barbs right below it and all the other stuff, tubing etc is hidden between the sheet. Specifications and features are printed on the back.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
You will receive about 37cm(38cm in my case) 1/4" UV tubing, the Aquarius II VGA block, a pair of 3/8", 1/2" and 1/4"(which is already installed on the block) quick connector barbs, installation guide, all the necessery screws and clip etc for the installation, and some thermal paste.
As I said the 1/4" barbs is already installed on the block. They work fine with the included tubing but it was a bit tricky to use those kind of barbs with silicon tubing, since silicon tubing is a bit thicker. Anyway, the top of the block is made of acrylic and there's a "Tt" logo on it, which can be a bit hard to see from this angle though.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
The base is kinda smooth but it could have been better. My little friend "buddha" would like to see some of himself when seeing into it, it's way to blurry now. So, what we find under the hood is not a so complicated design. The channels are about 8mm wide and 5mm deep (the block itself is 7mm thick), if someone wonders!
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
What I found when flipping over the acrylic top was a bit sad, I mean if your using 1/2" in your H2O system and the inlet/outlet to the block is ONLY 5mm, that's going to almost kill the flow in the entire system! You can't go from a huge highway (with hundred of other peeps around you) to a small road in middle of nowhere and then back to highway again after 10 meter. Most of us would know what would cause!
Well, it shouldn't be a bigger problem thought, if your using 1/4" tubing in the whole system...
Anyway, the quick connector barbs are very easy to change if you would like to. Get that old big wrench and screw of the old ones and screw the new ones back on. Don't use too much force though becuase that could crack the top.
 
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
My last four pic's is how it could look like when the Aquarius block is installed on a PowerColor X800XL with some blue aluminum Zalman heatsinks. One more thing though, I'm a bit disappointed with this installation method. I don't like at all this kind of design, I am missing a pair of springs between the clip and the screws. They helps alot to get the pressure from the block even over the whole core, and therfore
it's also a little safety function against a core crush. This type of installation isn't a "newbie" friendly one, in my opinion. Instead of small nuts they could have send with some small thumb screws too.
Testing:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ "Winchester" at 9*250FSB/2250MHz
DFi Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D
1GB OCZ EL DDR PC3200 Platinum rev 2
PowerColor X800XL 256MB GDDR clocked at 405/986MHz
Artic Silver Lumieré
The "WC" kit I'm using in the test contains a D-tek Pro-core radiator, Evercool aluminum 120mm fan at 12V, a bucket with 15 liter of water, Eheim 1048, Tt T-type temperature indicator, both 1/2" and 3/8" silicon tubing.
I'm using the Polarflo TT GPU block (with 3/8" barbs) as reference today. The water temperature was around 26C when testing the blocks. The 1/2" barbs was installed on the Aquarius II block, since it worked better with my 3/8" silicon tubing. All temperatures are taken from Rivatuner, and I'm stressing the card in the "rthdribl" v1.2 program once again.
The result:
I'm a bit surprised that the different wasn't bigger than ~2 small degrees. I don't know if there's anything else to say. Hmmm, nope! Let's move on.
Conclusion:
It's a nice little cheap GPU water block which only falls behind a high perfomence GPU block with only 2C at full load. There isn't soo much to complain about, except on some minor issues that should be solved for the next version of the Aquarius block. That is above all the acrylic top which needs bigger inlet and outlet holes and I would like to see some springs for the installation on the video card.
It wouldn't hurt either if they could make the block a bit higher, since my big copper BGA heatsinks won't fit with the current design. :\ Well, after playing around with this block, I found out that with some small modifications you can fit the block on the nF4 chipset on the DFi Lanparty UT Ultra-D motherboard. I would gladly waste that 324356 billion RPM fan on the chipset. Well, I'll maybe post a little guide in the forum later on.
Pros:
+ Slim design
+ Performs good
+ Cheap
+ Included 3/8" and 1/2" barbs
+ Kinda easy to install
+ Will work on the DFi LP nF4 Ultra chipset with some small modfications ;)
Cons:
- Where are my springs!?
- Needs a better finish on the bottom
Red&Blackness gives it 4 out of 5 dots
Next, The Water Level Indicator >>>>> Page 3
Thank you Thermaltake for making this review possible
Thermaltake
|
| |
|
|
|
|
RSS
