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Xirex 4mm Thick Water Block Tested for Geforce 8800 GT

Cooling/Water Cooling by geoffrey @ 2008-08-14

NVIDIA had quite a success with their 8800 video card series; especially their 8800 GT based on the G92 core made its way into many PC configurations. Sadly the single slot reference cooler was not very quiet under load and high temperatures prevent any overclocking fun. Xirex launched their Stealth Full Cover water block which aims to bring excellent performance even with low noise water cooling configurations, let´s put it to the test!

Specifications and closed-up details

Specifications

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Dimensions: 115x161x4.2mm

Materials: Full electrolitic copper

Sealing means; high quality metal soldering

Installation method: installation screws + nuts + washers + springs

Connectors: 2x G1/4" threaded (fittings not included)

Compatibility: Nvidia GeForce 8800GT/GTS G92 Reference Design

Closed-up details

The Xirex Stealth water block is a full cover heat exchanger designed for the NVIDIA 8800 GT and 8800 GTS video cards which have the NV G92 GPU. Its large size covers the GPU, DDR3 memory modules and the power converting circuitry of the video card. The block itself exists out of pure copper which have been treated to overcome reactions with free electrons which roam around in the water loop. The bottom plate design is nothing too complex and will surely cut milling costs, though the rounded edges gives the block a rather high-end appeal.

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The Stealth water block is equipped with connectors which are G1/4" threaded. Unfortunately Xirex did not add compatible fittings; this is definitely holding back some users since they may not know too well which parts they have to order when they want to add the Xirex water block to their water-cooling loop. The inlet/outlet can be configured to your own likings: the user has the option to have the fittings either on the front or the back side of their video card. This is a very useful feature when using multiple cards in SLI.

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The block is very flat in design. First time I saw it I was rather surprised, how could this block offer decent performance when there is nearly no room for water passing through it. Xirex's secret: micro channels. In the picture below you may notice three different layers, the top layer can be spotted the easiest and is in fact nothing more then the aluminium mesh which has been added to make the block look fancier. This layer is glued onto the copper block: not ready for heavy duty usage, look at the space in between the mesh and the copper cooling block. The two remaining layers represent the actual heat exchanger, two copper layers which have been soldered onto each other and somewhere in the center area some super small water channels. Actual thickness of the heat exchanger is less then 5mm!

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Since this block is soldered together we had no sight on how the internals look like. We kindly asked Xirex to release more info but more then some "micro-channels" talk we couldn't get. But let's head on to the testing then shall we ->

Comment from geoffrey @ 2008/08/15

I received a response from one of our readers stating:

Quote:

In the article "Xirex 4mm Thick Water Block Tested for Geforce 8800 GT" you compared the water block against a Zalman VF-850 cooler. I can find no information on the web, or from Zalman about this video cooler.

With that in mind I can only assume this cooler does not exist and the performance data provided in this review is fictitious.

Just to make sure I don't get multiple request I will answer the question here in public.

The Zalman VF-850 is an OEM heatsink. You're correct, you won't find this unit on Zalman's site, however the VF-850 heatsink is the successor of the Zalman VF-830 which you can find on Zalman's site, have a look: http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/...ad.asp?idx=303

I have no detailed sight on what the exact differences are between the 830 and 850, just in case I've already provided links to the article in which we tested the Leadtek card which is from the manufactory out provided with this heatsink. There you can see to what heatsink we're comparing in this article.

I hope this may be of any help to any of you.

Comment from jmke @ 2008/08/15

what a ridiculous claim made by the author of that email, it just proves he didn't thoroughly read your review since he skipped the part where you linked to the Leadtek 8800 GT product review...

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