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Cool-Computers Radiator
Review by James "Agg" Rolfe

Available from: www.cool-computers.com (USA)
Price: Sold as part of various kits.

This small unit from www.cool-computers.com is normally sold as part of their kits but was sent to me as a stand-alone unit with fan. It looks to me like a motorcycle oil cooler or something similar which cool-computers have adapted for use in water-cooling. There's no obvious way to mount the radiator into a case, or even to mount the supplied Sunon 120mm fan onto the radiator. It shouldn't be too hard though, a few cable-ties will sort it out in no time and cool-computers provide some for this purpose. I imagine cool-computers could be pursuaded to sell this radiator individually if you were interested in adding it to your own setup.

The unit is thin which is good for in-case placement, but this means it doesn't have as much internal length as, say, the more bulky Senfu units. The finned section is almost exactly the same size as a 120mm fan. The copper tubing (sprayed silver) is quite rigid and overall the unit is not flimsy - but the aluminium fins are fragile, as is typical for automotive radiators. They can be crushed or dented fairly easily if you aren't careful with the unit. You can fit it in the front of many cases, behind an intake fan. It fit without modification in my HX08 fulltower and Macase K10 midtower. The thin size makes it easier to clean than the Senfu unit - these things DO get covered in dust eventually.

Another way that this unit scores highly over the Senfu is in it's use of 10mm internal-diameter tubing. This size tubing is favoured by aquarium shops and there are a range of pumps available to fit it. The Senfu's thin tubing is more commonly used for air-pumps in fishtanks and it can be tricky to get pumps and water-jackets that fit from anyone other than Senfu. Almost all water-jackets being made by the various companies now making them are designed for use with the larger tubing. In fact, I had to attack the Senfu single-fan unit (reviewed here) with a Dremel to incorporate it into my existing rig. This unit plugged straight in with no modification required.

To give you an idea of the difference in flow rate that the larger tubing provides, check out these pictures of the water returning to the reservoir:


Senfu kit. Different pump to the other two shots, but comparably rated.


My own rig with the cool-computers radiator. Note Senfu tubing for scale.


My rig with the modified Senfu radiator I normally use. Same pump as above pic.

It's pretty clear there's a large difference in the amount of water flowing through the various systems. Bear in mind that the Senfu kit uses the dual-fan radiator which makes the system considerably longer. For more info on the Senfu kit read my full review here. The trade-off that the cool-computers unit makes against both Senfu units is that it's much shorter internally, so there is less water in contact with the cooling surface inside the radiator. Does the higher flow rate outweigh this disadvantage? Let's see..

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