X-bit labs

Water World from Koolance: Exos-2 LX Liquid Cooling System and Koolance Water-Blocks Review

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 11/30/2007 | 11:02 AM ]

We are offering you our tests of the complete kit for PC liquid cooling from Koolance. It is effective, beautiful, functional and expensive. Read our detailed review of this fantastic system that is absolutely worth the price they ask for it.

Table of contents:

• Liquid Cooling System: Koolance Exos-2 LX (EX2-751BK-LX)
  
• CPU Water-Block: Koolance CPU-330
  
• Chipset Water-Block: Koolance CHC-120
  
• Water-Block for GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra Graphics Cards: Koolance VID-282
  
• HDD Water-Block: Koolance HD-55-L06
  
• Koolance Accessories
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Thermal and Acoustic Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

A high-performance liquid cooling system for the PC cannot be cheap. That’s an axiom (in case you’ve forgotten your school classes, an axiom is a proposition that does not need proving). This point can be argued long and hard, but the person who’s trying to prove the opposite usually runs out of his arguments as soon as he has to face the problem of choosing, ordering, purchasing or assembling a liquid cooling system by himself. Of course, putting forth that axiom I do not count in liquid cooling system assembled out of radiators from old cars or even trucks, hand-made water-blocks and other components. In this case, every such system will have a different cost. So, if you are seriously going to enter the not-yet-wide circle of owners of liquid cooling systems, you must be prepared for a considerable financial investment, about five times the price of the most efficient and expensive air cooler.

You must be aware that the frequency growth of the overclocked CPU (or any other computer component) with a liquid cooling system will not be proportional to the price difference between liquid and air cooling. Then, you may wonder if it wouldn’t be better to buy an off-the-shelf liquid cooling solution? If you do, you don’t have to spend your time searching and ordering individual components and don’t have to wait for them to be delivered and pay for the delivery. You don’t have to invent anything with respect to your system case when you are trying to install your liquid cooling system. An off-the-shelf system is also going to be cheaper than the one bought in parts.

Koolance offers a compromise answer to that question. Besides various water-blocks for all PC components and a lot of accessories, this company supplies several types of liquid cooling units that combine a radiator, fans, pump, expansion tank, and various monitoring and control tools. The user can choose water-blocks to his own taste and preferences. This seems like a good idea to me. And now I’ve got a chance to check out the performance of the most expensive liquid cooling system from Koolance. I’ve got the Koolance Exos-2 LX kit and a set of water-blocks for it.

I will staudy the components in this review and test their performance and noise characteristics. Let’s get started.