Titan Datacooler DWC-A1 - Budget water cooling tested

Cooling/Water Cooling by DUR0N @ 2003-09-22

DUR0N takes a look at the TITAN DATACOOLER DWC-A1 budget water cooling setup, made to fit in one 5.25" bay. Comparing in to an updated version of the Coolermaster Aero 7 (the Aero 7+) to see just how good and silent water cooling can be!

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Titan Datacooler DWC-A1

Titan Datacooler DWC-A1

Yes, again budget watercooling. I should consider changing my name :)

This Datacooler kit is the first complete kit which fits into one 5,25" bay. Pump, reservoir, radiator, fans and display for temperatures: it's all in it. I bet they spend many stressful nights trying to figure it out.

Anyway, the kit comes in a nice box. For some reason they made a box with a handle, which is quite stupid if you ask me: the box isn’t big or heavy. Everything in the box is surrounded tightly with foam. What were they thinking; nobody is going to throw with it all the time. Just give me the stuff that's in it!

Madshrimps (c)


Inside I actually found only one big part: the water cooling. It's pre-attached to the heatsink/water block and everything is already connected. Hell, you even get a full reservoir of Chinese water with it. :) Other than that there is a Chinese manual -useless, even for beginners- and some screws, and a tube of thermal goop. Nifty accessories make things look cool.

Madshrimps (c)


Installing it is nothing special. Cram the thing in an empty 5,25" bay (preferably the lowest possible), place the heatsink on your cpu with some ASIII between the core and the sink and connect the Molexes.

Now lets take a closer look at the 5,25" drive. You'll see that the front is a control panel for the water cooling. The three temp-sensors (reservoir, heatsink, loose diode) are displayed on a small display and you can switch trough them by a switch. Just wait a moment, because the right temperature doesn't show up instantly.
Also, you can adjust the fan on the heatsink/water block and on the radiator with switches. High-Med-Low, so far for the options. Rpm's of the fan on the heatsink vary form 2800 over 4200 to 5200, depending of the switch.

Madshrimps (c)


Most water cooling setups have a reservoir. It allows warm water to mix with colder water, houses the pump and it keeps condensation an unimportant factor (where did that water go?). Off course this kit is no exception, it has a small reservoir which you can see on the front panel. Checking your water level was never so easy.
It's refillable with a syringe which is included, so you can always add some water wetter or other additives to improve the temperatures a bit.

Madshrimps (c)


Madshrimps (c)


You got a reservoir, a pump, tubes, water, radiator...err...missing a water block. Right! A water block (not to be mistaken for a writers block *kuch*) Well, this one is something special. Most water blocks are not more than a piece of aluminum/copper with a channel drilled into it. But what would happen if you put fins and a fan on it? Probably it will improve your temperature, as you cool everything down at the source. Datacooler used this and I think they succeeded in it. Adding a controllable fan leaves you the choice to make your system silent (Would you buy cheap water cooling if it wasn't silent?) or more performing.

Madshrimps (c)

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