An easy installation is all good, but if the product does not perform well it really means nothing, Now lets take a look at how the Big Water Kit performs. First, lets look at the system specifications.
Test System Specifications:
Epox 8RDA+ motherboard
2500+Barton core processor @ 2250MHZ
Alpha 8045 with 5200rpm Delta 80x80x38
Power Color 9600 Pro 256MB video card
1gig HyperX PC2700 (2x512) DDR memory
40gig Maxtor 7200rpm, ATA133 hard drive
10gig Maxtor 7200rpm, ATA100 hard drive
16X Lite On DVD
8X NEC DVD Burner
Pinnacle PCTV Tuner Card
USB 2.0 Control Card
Now lets get down to what is really important, how well the Big Water kit actually cools the CPU. These temps were taken with an Enermax front panel temp probe with an ambient room temperature of 78 F and with the CPU under 100% load for a few hours. The fans on both the Alpha and the Big Water were running at full speed, which equates to the Delta fan on the Alpha cooler running at 5300 rpm and very loud, and the Big Water fan running at 2300 rpm and very quiet.
It is obvious that the Big Water Cooling Kit offers a very substantial improvement over what is considered to be decent air cooling in the Alpha 8045 and Delta fan combination. Maybe the biggest benefit about the Big Water Kit is what it is missing, and that would be NOISE! When compared to the system with the big Delta fan on it, this system is now almost silent. In the evening, when the ambient room temperature drops some, I am able to turn the big 120 mm fan down to 1700 rpm and still maintain temperatures well under 40c. At 1700 PRM the Thermaltake fan is nearly silent. This temperature reading was taken with an ambient room temperature of 72F and with CPU under a full load
Conclusion
Thermaltake has really hit the mark with this kit. It has everything you need to easily make the switch from air to liquid cooling for your CPU. Although your case may need some modification to mount the radiator, Thermaltake has made it as easy as possible with several mounting options. The biggest thing of all is that the Big Water Cooling Kit keeps your CPU cool, and does so very quietly.
As you've probably noticed, this kit only provides cooling for your CPU. Your video card and motherboard chipset are not cooled by the kit, and there are no options from Thermaltake to do so. Many other water cooling kits ship complete with a solution for CPU, GPU, and chipset, or at least offer an upgrade to include all three. The Thermaltake setup is at a slight disadvantage here, as creating a completely water cooled system means mixing and matching components from other manufacturers.
The price is quite reasonable when compared to similar kits, starting just under $150 (US) at places such as Xoxide, ZipZoomFly, Frozen CPU, and Newegg.
Final Rating (4.5 out of 5 stars):
Pros:
Reasonable price
Great performance
Quiet operation
Everything necessary is included
Easy installation
Cons:
LED on water block did not work
CPU cooler only, nothing available for video card or motherboard chipset
Case may need some modification
Special thanks to Thermaltake for supplying the Big Water CPU Cooling Kit to BigBruin.Com for review!
