ThermalRight XP-90

bratch · Post by **bratch** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:18 pm

I noticed this started off about the Thermalright XP-90, but I stumbled into this thread while searching with Google for information about the Kingwin AWC-1 and the Thermalright XP-120. Since I have used both, I should share some information here.

The stock hsf with the P4 2.8E performed well, just that at high cpu/temp it winds up to 5000rpm and is noisy, and you probably can't oc it much on this stock hsf. The stock hsf on the Radeon 9800 Pro just seemed weak, so I wanted to replace that too.

The AWC-1 worked fine, and I tested it in two different cases, but concluded that for just a small decrease in temps, it wasn't worth having water in the case and the place smelling like a radiator. In some cases there will not be room for the secondary radiator on the back, you might be able to fit it in the front, underneath the hard drives. The 5.25 bay doesn't fit well in many cases and seemed to be just slightly too big when placed next to one of the optical drives. The thin fan in this is also a bit noisy at the high speed setting, and the temp monitor that you can set with buttons does not remember the last setting when you turn it off. Having both the cpu and gpu in the loop will of course decrease cpu cooling ability if you wanted it just for that. And if you have a door on the front of your case, forget it, the thing protrudes too much, unless you want to modify the door.

The XP-120 is working well so far, keeping things lower than they were with the AWC-1, but I also added a VM-101 to the gpu for cooling, and have these in a Raidmax Scorpio case with very good air flow from front to back. The AWC-1 and a setup of XP-120 / 120mm fan / VM-101 both cost about the same price, or maybe you already have good gpu cooling and just want a heatpipe cooler on the cpu. The XP-120 was much easier to install than the AWC-1 was, and the XP-120 is lighter than the copper hsf, which is something to consider if your mobo is mounted in a vertical case (horizontal cases are so 90's). If you don't have a mobo that the XP-120 will fit on (I use it on an ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe) then the XP-90 would be a good second choice.

I think that if you are going to go water, do it right and spend the money for it. If you want to stay with air, or on a budget as mentioned, and have a case with good air flow, then stick with the heatpipes. If your case doesn't have good air flow, and you can't replace it, then think about modifying it so that it does have better air flow.

The only thing I was unhappy about was that my XP-120 seemed to have been used before because there was some thermal paste residue on the bottom of it, along with some other minor markings, which cleaned up fine. I'm not sure if the store or Thermalright repackaged it like this, but so far think it was probably the store.

--Bratch

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:39 pm

Bratch,
Welcome to the forums and thanks for sharing your experience and opinions. I personally think the XP-120 is the best air cooled solution available, with the XP-90 a close second. you are very right as to the water cooling, spend the money and get a quality setup with good components.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:19 am

Yeah man welcome and thanks for the really good info. What you have just said is what i try to tell people all the time, if you want water then spend the $$ you really get what you pay for when it comes to water cooling, the same is true of air as well. I always recomend Thermalright, not to say that other HSF MFG's dont make decent heatsinks, they do, but Thermalright has always made the best heatsinks IMO.

-mogwai · Post by **-mogwai** » Sat May 14, 2005 6:41 am

say i had $250-300 to spend... could you guys tell me what parts i should get for a diy watercooling kit?

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Sat May 14, 2005 11:50 am

the great thing about DIY is you get to chose if its a performance system or a quiet system.. let us know which you would perfer so we can help find parts that folow along with thoes goals.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Sat May 14, 2005 4:43 pm

Danger Den and Polar Flo both put our some excellent components. If you want to build your own kit, I highly recommend either of those companies.
If you want simple, yet good performance, go with the Corsair Kit. It is a very good performer that you can add blocks to.

-mogwai · Post by **-mogwai** » Sat May 14, 2005 5:23 pm

i'm looking for something that will be quiet, but powerful enough to push my 3.0c as close to 4.0 as possible (while being quiet). if it means i cant have something whisper quiet, that's fine... just as long as it's quieter than fans and not entirely noticible.

deadly-app · Post by **deadly-app** » Sat May 14, 2005 5:25 pm

My hydor l30 is quieter then my fans, and my 120mm evercools are quite silent, and can be turned down with a fan controller at will.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Sat May 14, 2005 9:19 pm

Lots of radiator serface area and low speed fans will cool just about anything you need in almost total silence. You just need a lot of room to for the radiators...................

My system is a bit extreme, you can get good cooling with less if you do it your self. This system is still under construction, but you can get the idea.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Sat May 14, 2005 11:38 pm

its going to take a pretty good pump to push water through that loop.
Just the amount of surface area with those rads will help you cooling but I'm guessing you are going to need a 350GPH or more pump with an enormous amount of head pressure.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Sun May 15, 2005 12:08 am

Just using 2 Laing D4's, one is really more than enough, but better safe than sorry. And I have the pumps already, so I might as well put them to good use...............................

The heater cores are special modded high flow versions from a friend of mine up in Canada, they have 5/8 high flow inlet and outlets with almost no head and flow loss. I still need to measure the flow through these 2 new ones yet as they are his newest version. The last set I had didn't have any really noticeable loss and I was using them in a external system.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Sun May 15, 2005 12:31 am

Great to have you back Bio

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Sun May 15, 2005 9:16 am

Thanks, nice to be back at making the rounds of all the old forums again. I think I'm back to posting in around 20 different forums again. Now only if I can keep those crappy health problems beat, I'll be good to go............................

Back to the pumps, I've been hearing of a modded/new version of the Laing D4/Swiftech MCP650 pumps that supposed to be stronger and near silent. It has a build in speed controler on the back of the motor and the best thing is that there's not supposed to be anymore whine.
I've seen then advertized at only one retail site, but I haven't seen any offical word about them from any of the main distributors.

Anyone have any more insite.

-mogwai · Post by **-mogwai** » Wed May 18, 2005 4:05 pm

so which components should i get? danger den blocks or polarflo tt? which pumps/hoses/reservoirs/etc should i get?

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Wed May 18, 2005 4:20 pm

I like the Polar Flo blocks, just personal preference. Little River just started producing blocks again, so you may want to check them out as well.
As far as the pump, go with a 12V, makes things so much nicer to wire a nice, small, quiet pump into your system. If you are going to mount your kit internally, get a heater core or dual heater core, definite performance boost over the typical 120mm rad. when it comes to resevoirs, they are starting to produce some that do more than just hold water, they actually cool the water as well, acting as a second rad.