Swiftech H2O-120 Compact and Corsair Nautilus 500: Is Water Better?
by Wesley Fink on September 17, 2007 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
New CPU Cooling Test Configuration
Cooling tests were first run on our existing test bed, which is the EVGA NVIDIA 680i SLI motherboard. Temperatures were measured using the NVIDIA Monitor temperature measurement utility, which is part of the nTune program.
All Cooling tests were then repeated on the new cooling test bed, which is a Rosewill R604-P-SL case sold without a power supply. The Rosewill is a www.Newegg.com brand typical of a moderately priced mid-tower case our readers might own. It was chosen because it is a Newegg top seller and includes a variable front intake louver and a quiet 120mm exhaust fan at the rear of the case. The case is also screw-less with components held in place by plastic holders instead of metal to metal connections. This appears to reduce case vibration and noise.
The new power supply is the Corsair HX620W, which has earned our respect as an exceptionally quiet PSU with a variable speed exhaust fan and a down facing intake fan mounted just above the CPU space in the case. To eliminate the video card as a source of noise we have moved to a fanless video card, currently a GeForce 7600 GS. Plans are to move to fanless DirectX 10 capable card in this test bed in the near future.
The new motherboard is the ASUS P5K Deluxe. This P35 chipset motherboard has exhibited outstanding overclocking capabilities in our testing, and it can also mount the newest 1333FSB Intel Core processors and can handle our existing high-speed DDR2 memory. The P5K3 uses heatsinks and heatpipes to cool board components so all motherboard cooling is passive.
Other components in the cooling test bed are generally the same as those used in our previous motherboard and memory test bed. We will feature the new test bed and its noise metrics in an upcoming cooling system review. The goal was to remove fans that might produce noise wherever possible, improve internal airflow, reduce the power supply noise floor, and eliminate the video card as a noise source. While we did add a 120mm exhaust fan to improve case airflow, the chosen exhaust fan is very low noise and will be replaced by the lowest noise 120mm fan when the 120mm fan roundup is completed.
All cooling tests are run with the components mounted in a standard mid-tower case. The idle and stress temperature tests are run with the case closed and standing as it would in most home setups. We do not use auxiliary fans in the test cooling case, except for the Northbridge fan attached to the 680i for overclocking. Room temperature is measured before beginning the cooler tests and is maintained in the 20 to 22C (68 to 72F) range for all testing.
Both Swiftech and Corsair provided a small tube of Arctic Silver Ceramic premium thermal grease with their water cooling kits. However, for consistency of test results we tested with our standard premium silver-colored thermal compound. In our experience the thermal compound used makes little to no difference in cooling test results. This is particularly true now that processors ship with a large manufacturer-installed heatspreader. Our current test procedure uses this standard high-quality silver-colored thermal paste for all cooler reviews.
We first test the stock Intel air cooler at standard X6800 speed, measuring the CPU temperature at idle. The CPU is then stressed by running continuous loops of the Far Cry River demo. The same tests are repeated at the highest stable overclock we can achieve with the stock cooler. Stable in this case means the ability to handle our Far Cry looping for at least 30 minutes.
The same benchmarks are then run on the coolers under test at stock, highest stock cooler OC speed (3.73GHz), and the highest OC that can be achieved in the same setup with the cooler being tested. This allows measurement of the cooling efficiency of the test unit compared to stock and the improvement in overclocking capabilities, if any, from using the test cooler.
The cooling test results of both water cooling kits are compared to a representative sample of air cooling results with the NVIDIA Monitor program on the EVGA 680i. This is done for a consistent comparison of water cooler test results to earlier air cooler results. We then repeated testing on the new test bed measuring results with both Intel TAT (Thermal Analysis Tool) and CoreTemp, a well-known and widely used shareware program for core temperature measurement. Both results are reported in additional test results so they can be compared and contrasted to each other and to NVIDIA Monitor results.
Noise Levels
In addition to cooling efficiency and overclocking abilities, users shopping for CPU cooling solutions may also be interested in the noise levels of the cooling devices they are considering. Noise levels are measured with the case on its side using a C.E.M. DT-8850 Sound Level meter. This meter allows accurate sound level measurements from 35bdB to 130dB with a resolution of 0.1dB and an accuracy of 1.5dB. This is sufficient for our needs in these tests, as measurement starts at the level of a relatively quiet room. Our own test room, with all computers and fans turned off, has a room noise level of 36.4dB. Procedures for measuring cooling system noise are described on page seven which reports measured noise results comparing the stock Intel cooler and recently tested CPU coolers to the Swiftech H2O-120 Compact and Corsair Nautilus 500 water cooling kits.
Cooling tests were first run on our existing test bed, which is the EVGA NVIDIA 680i SLI motherboard. Temperatures were measured using the NVIDIA Monitor temperature measurement utility, which is part of the nTune program.
All Cooling tests were then repeated on the new cooling test bed, which is a Rosewill R604-P-SL case sold without a power supply. The Rosewill is a www.Newegg.com brand typical of a moderately priced mid-tower case our readers might own. It was chosen because it is a Newegg top seller and includes a variable front intake louver and a quiet 120mm exhaust fan at the rear of the case. The case is also screw-less with components held in place by plastic holders instead of metal to metal connections. This appears to reduce case vibration and noise.
The new power supply is the Corsair HX620W, which has earned our respect as an exceptionally quiet PSU with a variable speed exhaust fan and a down facing intake fan mounted just above the CPU space in the case. To eliminate the video card as a source of noise we have moved to a fanless video card, currently a GeForce 7600 GS. Plans are to move to fanless DirectX 10 capable card in this test bed in the near future.
The new motherboard is the ASUS P5K Deluxe. This P35 chipset motherboard has exhibited outstanding overclocking capabilities in our testing, and it can also mount the newest 1333FSB Intel Core processors and can handle our existing high-speed DDR2 memory. The P5K3 uses heatsinks and heatpipes to cool board components so all motherboard cooling is passive.
Other components in the cooling test bed are generally the same as those used in our previous motherboard and memory test bed. We will feature the new test bed and its noise metrics in an upcoming cooling system review. The goal was to remove fans that might produce noise wherever possible, improve internal airflow, reduce the power supply noise floor, and eliminate the video card as a noise source. While we did add a 120mm exhaust fan to improve case airflow, the chosen exhaust fan is very low noise and will be replaced by the lowest noise 120mm fan when the 120mm fan roundup is completed.
| Cooling Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 (Dual-core, 2.93GHz, 4MB Unified Cache) |
| RAM | 2x1GB Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 (DDR2-1111) |
| Hard Drive(s) | Hitachi 250GB SATA2 enabled (16MB Buffer) |
| Video Card | NVIDIA 7600GS (fanless) - All Standard Tests |
| Platform Drivers | NVIDIA 9.53 |
| NVIDIA nTune Intel TAT CoreTemp |
5.05.22.00 (1/16/2007) Version 2.05.2006.0427 Version 0.95 |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA 93.71 |
| CPU Cooling | Swiftech H2O-120 Compact Corsair Nautilus 500 Thermalright Ultima-90 ZEROtherm BTF90 Xigmatek AIO (AIO-S800P) Evercool Silver Knight Enzotech Ultra-X 3RSystem iCEAGE Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX Thermaltake MaxOrb Scythe Andy Samurai Master Cooler Master Gemini II Noctua NH-U12F Asus Silent Square Pro Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B OCZ Vindicator Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme Thermalright Ultra-120 Scythe Infinity Zalman CNS9700 Zalman CNS9500 Cooler Master Hyper 6+ Vigor Monsoon II Lite Thermalright MST-9775 Scythe Katana Tuniq Tower 120 Intel Stock HSF for X6800 |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX620W OCZ PowerStream 520W |
| Motherboards | Asus P5K Deluxe (Intel P35) EVGA nForce 680i SLI (NVIDIA 680i) |
| Operating System(s) | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| BIOS | EVGA Award P26 (1/12/2007) Asus AMI 0501 (06/26/2007) |
All cooling tests are run with the components mounted in a standard mid-tower case. The idle and stress temperature tests are run with the case closed and standing as it would in most home setups. We do not use auxiliary fans in the test cooling case, except for the Northbridge fan attached to the 680i for overclocking. Room temperature is measured before beginning the cooler tests and is maintained in the 20 to 22C (68 to 72F) range for all testing.
Both Swiftech and Corsair provided a small tube of Arctic Silver Ceramic premium thermal grease with their water cooling kits. However, for consistency of test results we tested with our standard premium silver-colored thermal compound. In our experience the thermal compound used makes little to no difference in cooling test results. This is particularly true now that processors ship with a large manufacturer-installed heatspreader. Our current test procedure uses this standard high-quality silver-colored thermal paste for all cooler reviews.
We first test the stock Intel air cooler at standard X6800 speed, measuring the CPU temperature at idle. The CPU is then stressed by running continuous loops of the Far Cry River demo. The same tests are repeated at the highest stable overclock we can achieve with the stock cooler. Stable in this case means the ability to handle our Far Cry looping for at least 30 minutes.
The same benchmarks are then run on the coolers under test at stock, highest stock cooler OC speed (3.73GHz), and the highest OC that can be achieved in the same setup with the cooler being tested. This allows measurement of the cooling efficiency of the test unit compared to stock and the improvement in overclocking capabilities, if any, from using the test cooler.
The cooling test results of both water cooling kits are compared to a representative sample of air cooling results with the NVIDIA Monitor program on the EVGA 680i. This is done for a consistent comparison of water cooler test results to earlier air cooler results. We then repeated testing on the new test bed measuring results with both Intel TAT (Thermal Analysis Tool) and CoreTemp, a well-known and widely used shareware program for core temperature measurement. Both results are reported in additional test results so they can be compared and contrasted to each other and to NVIDIA Monitor results.
Noise Levels
In addition to cooling efficiency and overclocking abilities, users shopping for CPU cooling solutions may also be interested in the noise levels of the cooling devices they are considering. Noise levels are measured with the case on its side using a C.E.M. DT-8850 Sound Level meter. This meter allows accurate sound level measurements from 35bdB to 130dB with a resolution of 0.1dB and an accuracy of 1.5dB. This is sufficient for our needs in these tests, as measurement starts at the level of a relatively quiet room. Our own test room, with all computers and fans turned off, has a room noise level of 36.4dB. Procedures for measuring cooling system noise are described on page seven which reports measured noise results comparing the stock Intel cooler and recently tested CPU coolers to the Swiftech H2O-120 Compact and Corsair Nautilus 500 water cooling kits.
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rallycobra - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
I'm building a new quad system, and I was going to go with the swiftech kit, and upgrade to a 120x3 radiator in the future. For now, I'm going to stick to air.Can you run the test again with a quad? Another site says that the swiftech outperforms all air solutions, but I trust your methodology a lot more.
Watercooling is elegant if you have the radiator outside the case, and you can cool the cpu, chipset and vga. It keeps the inside cool, and gets all of the heat out.
aigomorla - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
Your upgrading to 3x the cooling power this article previewed.So if there saying a 120x1 will match a ultra120extreme, your saying 3x that cooling power isnt worth the migration.
*scratches my head*
This is what i mean about this article screwing people up in water migration.
poisondeathray - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
Thanks for the interesting review.Given the increasing prevalence of quad-cores, it might be interesting to repeat the tests with an overclocked quad core configuration.
Although the testbed was different, at least 1 other hardware site got better results with similar watercooling vs. Tuniq.
gingerstewart55 - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
I wonder what was wrong with your setups and your pumps. Having had the Corsair Nautilus 500 unit, and the pump the Swiftech kit is based upon, something is/was seriously wrong with your setup or pumps.The Corsair unit's fan, at least in the one I used, drowned out the pump completely.
The Laing pump in the Swiftech kit, the same pump in the Corsair kit by the way, is sitting in my computer and is utterly silent....completely drowned out by any of the four fans in the case....three Scythe S-Flex "E" fans, at 22 dBA on full speed, and an Antec SpotCooler on lowest speed (the Antec is the loudest fan in the case, btw.)
I'd almost hazard a guess that both kits, after being set up, still had a bubble/pocket of air in the pump. The Laing pump can get quite noisy if no completely bled of air.
Otherwise, there was a mechanical fault in both your kits' pumps as the Laing is almost completely silent when working as attested to by the hundreds of people using those pumps and hearing absolutely nothing from them when being used.
Nickel020 - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
You need at mod top for the Laing pump, it's unbearable without one, but if decoupled almost unhearable with a good top.Wesley Fink - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
We tested both systems as provided by Swiftech and Corsair. Both units are provided as complete kits and both manufacturers are familiar with our cooler test methods.Modding everything we test defeats the purpose of our comparative testing.
We are not finished with water cooling reviews, and we will be reviewing more water cooling systems in the future.
Nickel020 - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
That's not hwo I meant it, of course you shouldn't mod the kits for testing. I was just saying that the Laing is not a bad pump for custom setups, in fact, it's pretty much the best pump for most setups if you use a mod top, which makes a big difference. I don't think I've ever seen a pic om someone using it without a mod top, but dozens with all kinds of mod tops.Wesley Fink - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
I first thought there was a pump defect as well. So I acquired FIVE Apogee drive blocks from different sources and all measured similar dbA noise levels. There was also the 6th pump in the Corsair Nautilus 500.Subjectively the pumps were relatively quiet because the noise frequencies appear to fall in a freqency range that is not particularly annoying. However, our standard sound meter said measured noise was pretty high. We stated this in the review and also commented the pump noise was not annoying to our ears, but it may be to others. Measure the noise of your system and let us know what you find.
psychotix11 - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
These two set-ups do not represent the top end of water cooling. It's long been past the point where a single 120mm rad is enough for a CPU.Toss these out and replace them with a custom set up with a dtek fuzion CPU block, 2x 120mm fan rad, ddc pump with petras top, and 1/2 id tubing and then see where it gets you.
Also liquid cool the chipset and then see if stock air can keep up (after), it won't.
You're taking two premade kits made for the user that has never water cooled before. It's simply not in the same category as the higher end custom kits.
Wesley Fink - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
We did not state water cooling was always inferior to the top air coolers. We said, based on these test results and others we have run recently, that you would need to spend more than $300 on a water cooling system that might outperform the best air coolers.At more than 4 to 6 times the price of a top air cooler most readers would not conseder that good value.
I actually agree with your comments, but please tell us the total cost of the water cooling setup you say is needed to beat the best air coolers.