XSPC Water Cooling Gear Review

Cooling/Water Cooling by KeithSuppe @ 2006-10-16

XSPC is a suprising water cooling company with some innovative products. After reviewing their X20 watercooling kit I was impressed by its performance although the kit was rather compact. The heart of that kit was the X20 CPU water block which has been re-designed. Today we test their new X20 and a few other products from the XSPC inventory and compare them to other high end water cooling components.

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XSPC

XSPC Watercooling

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X20 Xtreme water block, based on the original X20. The Xtreme version has been thoughtfully re-engineered transforming it into a completely different animal.

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Specifications:
- Greatly improved performance
- G1/4" Thread
- Copper Base
- Chrome Plated Brass Top
- Universal Mounting Plate
- Supports Sockets A/462, 478
754/939/940, AM2 and LGA775


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The differences from the original X20 to the Xtreme version include relocating the inlet to the center of the block and the replacement of "micro-channel" (thumbnails above left) impingement to an extruded pin design (thumbnails above right and photo below from XSPC site). Placing the water inlet directly above the center of the block in theory isolates the impingement zone above the CPU-core. This might be problematic in today's dual core designs and something I wouldn't be surprised to see re-worked splitting the stream to each respective core.

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An entire paper can be written on impingement. Suffice to say XSPC's changes may require this block be mated with a more powerful pump to take full advantage of the design. To test this theory we'll use a combination of Alphacool's AP1510 centrifugal pump (made by OASE seen below) with a 12V ~ 24V range and their DC-Voltage Converter which steps DC-voltage 12V ~ 24V thereby adjusting flow-rate and pressure to a maximum 1500l/h @ 24V (thumbnails below).

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Passive Reservoir is a product practically unique to XSPC. The reservoir "tube" is constructed of aluminum, with rows of cooling fins providing substantial surface area for heat to dissipate. The reservoir is offered in several lengths and anodized colors. We chose 250mm length in black.

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Specifications:
- 250mm Anodized Aluminum Tube
- 260ml Capacity
- Acrylic top and base
- 2x Chromed mounting brackets
- Removable Blue LED (4pin Molex)
- G1/4" Thread
- Weight 700g
- Dimensions: 280x70x70mm


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Looking into the reservoir this is not a plexi-glass tube "wrapped" in aluminum, it's made from solid aluminum with lucite end-caps. The fill cap is wide and makes filling the reservoir very easy. A reservoir acts as fill/bleed point for most H20 systems, its capacity often determines how tedious filling ones system will be. Larger capacity reservoirs such as this 25cm (length) model eliminate constantly filling the reservoir, priming the pump and repeating these steps until the system is topped off. Placing the Rservoir in front of the triple radiator cooling fans as they are mounted in a "pull" configuration drops water-temps substantially. This is also due to the amount of liquid held in what amounts to be an aluminum finned tube.

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R 120-T Crossflow Radiator is one of an entire series, this particular version accommodating three (or six in push/pull) 120mm fans and features "cross flow" design placing inlet/outlets at opposite ends of the radiator. While there have not been any stated benefits for a design where water enters one end of the radiator and exits the opposite end, the implications seem prime facie.

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Specifications:
- 2 rows of 12 tubes
- 1/4" Thread
- Chromed shroud for 3x 120mm fans
- Copper and Brass construction
- Dimensions: 420x139x45mm


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The R 120-T is constructed of brass and copper with 2 rows of 12 tubes. The chromed shroud and rubber gaskets provided insulate the fans from vibration and aid in creating an "air-tight" seal. For this review three Xinruilian RDH1225S were fans sent to us by XSPC. The fans draw 12V displacing 98CFM at 40dB(A).

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Onto test methods and specs...

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