Asetek Low-Cost Liquid Cooling systems gets tested, reviewed

If you're making wagers with your SO that Asetek's Low-Cost Liquid Cooling system has graced your memory bank before, kudos to you. Although this innovative (and simplistic) cooling solution has been kicking around in laboratories and a few OEM pieces for awhile, it's remained largely in the shadows until recently. Now that liquid cooling has risen (somewhat) to the mainstream, the LCLC -- which was featured in HP's Blackbird 002 gaming rig -- is finally moving to retail chains. That being the case, the kind folks over at Hot Hardware decided to put the heat on the firm's liquid cooling system and see if it lived up to the hoopla. All in all, reviewers felt that the LCLC went a long way in overcoming the typical limitations present in water cooling setups, and thankfully, the price / performance were both very impressive indeed. We can't cover six pages worth of in-depth analysis in this space, but all the gory details are just one click away.

[Via Slashdot]

[Will @ Apr 13th 2008 10:58AM]

I bet Apple sold more PowerMac G5s than HP sold Blackbird 002s, so if those were an indication of mainstreamness, it happened a while ago.

[Will @ Apr 13th 2008 11:03AM]

For those who aren't aware, it was introduced in the dual 2.5 GHz G5, launched in June 2004.

[DefPo3t @ Apr 13th 2008 11:30AM]

Just incase you forgot your basic mathmatics apple's 7%marketshare does not equal mainstream. In fact apple could include water coolingwith every desktop they sell and it still couldn't be considered "mainstream"

Although if apple decides to install a phasechange cooling system in a mac pro. Let me know it'll spare me the trouble of having to install one. : ^ )

[Dave @ Apr 13th 2008 12:27PM]

Hey it's pretty sweet you were able to find a way to get Apple into this article, nice job. Also, enjoy upgrading your vid card on your power mac http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/18/geforce-8800-gt-upgrade-causes-headaches-for-some-mac-pro-users/2

[Will @ Apr 13th 2008 1:12PM]

Dave: My CAD/gaming rig (which I built myself) runs on an 8600 GT, and will be upgraded to a 9800 over the summer or next fall. My Mac is a laptop, which I use for more casual purposes, and I happen to like it more, thank you very much.

But it's pretty sweet that you were able to find a way to cast me as a clueless Mac fanboy and tie this into an entirely unrelated article, nice job. Also, enjoy continuing to stereotype people based on comments they make on one article. We all wish we were as cool as you.

[TubeTop100.com @ Apr 15th 2008 7:37PM]

'Just incase you forgot your basic mathmatics apple's 7%marketshare does not equal mainstream. In fact apple could include water coolingwith every desktop they sell and it still couldn't be considered "mainstream"

7% market share is a top 3 spot, so sure, that's probably not mainstream. Just as Britney Spears isn't mainstream because she doesn't have a 7% market share in the cd market.

There are only few things in life that are more mainstream than Apple. Too bad all their customers still think they're so unique and 'totally not mainstream'. It's like listening to MTV2 'alternative' music and bashing on other mainstream music.

[DefPo3t @ Apr 13th 2008 4:03PM]

@tubetop100

comparing Britany spears market share of cd sales to apples market share of the OS world is kinda dumb and instead of posting a long list trying to prove my point i'll just post one thing.
1. Having a market share of 7% when there are only 3 competitors is NOT main stream (and unlike what some other people would post 7% is not pitiful, 7%is just about where Steve wants it, not to big not to small, and just right to keep everything running/looking/functioning the way a mac should), Now as to your 7% of the cd market comment Who the heck has even .5% of the cd sales market, DO you know how many artist/groups/bands release a cd a year, its near impossible to have even near 1% point for total number of cd's sold in a year

and just so you can experinxce first had wiether pc or mac is mainstream try this littel expirtment:
walk outside and and knock on every house with in a square mile ask rather they have a mac or a pc and tally up the results.. in the end you will find that although the ipod is mainstream the mac is not yet

[eggothewaffle @ Apr 13th 2008 9:32PM]

Will, it's funny that you talk about how you aren't a clueless fanboy right after you try to compare an 8600GT to an 8800GT :-\

[Will @ Apr 14th 2008 6:21PM]

eggothewaffle: Read my post again. I didn't compare the 8600 to an 8800. I said I have an 8600, and I will be upgrading to a 9800. The article (linked in Dave's post) that was referenced is about the inability of G5 users to upgrade to 8800s, so the comparison I made is between the 9800 and the older 8800. It is perfectly valid.

[MaxRC @ Apr 13th 2008 11:10AM]

All-in-one units like these have been available for several years now, I don't see what the big deal about this one is. They all have the fatal flaw that they just don't cool that well compared to a half-way-decent fan. So you end up having water cooling just so you can say "I have water cooling", without any actual cooling benefits over and above a potentially much cheaper heatsink+fan solution.

The problem with these kits are four folds:

1) They have low water capacity, and water capacity determines how stable the system will be to absorb spikes in CPU temperature. Just imagine, it takes more energy to heat up a tablespoon of water by 1 degree than for a teaspoon of water. Full-on water cooling systems usually have a water reservoir for this exact reason.

2) These simple kits have "built-in" pumps that are just too weak. Higher flow rate leads to better cooling. You can have a gallon of water in your system and it wouldn't help on bit if the pump couldn't flow it fast enough.

3) These kits typically come with low-cost water blocks that are not as advanced in design as stand-alone water blocks - some of which costs as much as one of these all-in-one kits.

To summarize, water cooling is great because it gets you superior cooling, not because it lets you pipe water through your computer. Without superior cooling, a water cooling system in a computer is expensive, pointless, and ultimately stupid.

[computer.dude.28 @ Apr 13th 2008 12:08PM]

Will you write my english essay for me? :D

[steve @ Apr 13th 2008 12:59PM]

MaxRC - Read the article (or at least look at the tests below) Its cooler than air, (stock cooler and another cooler at idle and load.)

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Asetek_Low_Cost_Liquid_Cooling_LCLC_System/?page=5

[murray @ Apr 13th 2008 1:17PM]

According to the hothardware.com review, the Asetek "kept pace with a high-end, heat-pipe equipped air cooler with an extremely powerful (and loud) fan".

If you haven't specifically tested this product, maybe you should be careful about lumping it in with your sweeping generalizations.

Even if it didn't keep pace with the best noisy air coolers, there is an attraction for a turnkey water cooler that outperforms stock air cooling, which is that it's a lot quieter.

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 13th 2008 11:12AM]

"If you're making wagers with your SO that ASUSTeK's Low-Cost Liquid Cooling system has graced your memory bank before, kudos to you."

Thanks. Thanks a lot :)

Actually I lie. I can't remember this at all, but I wanted to feel special.

On a serious note, this looks pretty good. Things can only improve from now on and this development looks like a positive step.

It sure as hell beats topping up my pc innards with ice cubes. Everytime I do, I have to buy a new pc. This has been a very expensive year....

[Conor Maher @ Apr 13th 2008 11:33AM]

LOL @ 2 CPUs and 2 Graphics cards on a 240mm rad :D

[Lattyware @ Apr 13th 2008 1:30PM]

'LOL @ 2 CPUs and 2 Graphics cards on a 240mm rad :D'

I thought the exact same thing. I have a PA120.3 for one CPU and a low-end GPU.

These kits are useless. If you are going to go water, build your own. Normally these pre-built kits are actually worse than the best air coolers - there is no point.

Never, EVER buy pre-built water cooling gear. It just is not good enough.

[SA @ Apr 13th 2008 12:02PM]

This website is now impossible to read on Firefox. The font is too small, and too thin.
Quit dicking around with it!

You people always complain about stupid, impractical designs... well apply it to your own website!

[computer.dude.28 @ Apr 13th 2008 12:11PM]

It looks fine to me in Firefox..

[Les @ Apr 13th 2008 12:18PM]

yeah, it looks fine in firefox.

[x20mar @ Apr 13th 2008 12:29PM]

What on earth are you talking about? I just compared what the site looks like in Firefox, IE7 and Safari. The only one that looks slightly different is Safari (the text stands out more)

[dave @ Apr 13th 2008 12:33PM]

seems to work a charm for me. perhaps you have made your text too small by scrolling with control down or something? or you have a tiny screen with a high res

[k4m1k4z3 @ Apr 13th 2008 2:19PM]

looks fine on firefox...

try holding down Ctrl key and use your scroll wheel.... it will adjust the size

perhaps your the one that was screwing with it

[jimmy @ Apr 13th 2008 3:39PM]

or press ctrl-0 to reset to 100% zoom

[scagnetti @ Apr 13th 2008 12:05PM]

I cant wait for the new EVGAKoolancE liquid cooling system review!!!

[Lattyware @ Apr 13th 2008 1:31PM]

I forgot to mention, water cooling is becoming redundant these days. Look at the 45NM CPUs, they don't output enough heat for Water to be worthwhile. Even when you are overclocking, you will hit a ceiling with the voltage you can put in without killing the chip before you ever reach the ceiling of temperatures.

Water cooling is on it's way out, in fact, passive heatsinks will be the next big thing, I believe. People not going to need powerful cooling, so instead they will want silence.

[Ruben @ Apr 13th 2008 2:27PM]

It is true that you can get a good air cooler that compares to a low end water cooling setup, but you can never match water cooling in a performance/noise ratio. My next PC will house a water cooling system because of that very reason.

[jimmy @ Apr 13th 2008 3:40PM]

what kind of video card are you running were heat is not an issue?

[Abuzar @ Apr 13th 2008 12:42PM]

That's a pretty bad-ass motherboard.

[Znarfaggle @ Apr 13th 2008 3:46PM]

That's a pretty bad ass-motherboard.

[Decoy @ Apr 13th 2008 4:11PM]

(it's only a model)

Shhhh

[Abuzar @ Apr 13th 2008 4:14PM]

Dude you're lying.


LOOK AT IT. It's sure don't look like a model. I bet with the awesome design like that it doesn't even need cooling to stay at -36 Celsius!

[computer.dude.28 @ Apr 13th 2008 8:08PM]

is it me, or does that have TWELVE SATA ports? What kind of power supply has even 12 SATA connections?!? Mine has 2!

[computer.dude.28 @ Apr 13th 2008 8:11PM]

Sorry, Abuzar, but it is a model.
"3D model of an Asetek LCLC system configured for dual CPU and dual GPU coolers"
Captioned @ the original site.

[Abuzar @ Apr 13th 2008 9:11PM]

Looks like someone needs a new sarcasm detector :)

[computer.dude.28 @ Apr 13th 2008 11:06PM]

I hear newegg has parts for em.. should go check it out.

[digitallysick @ Apr 13th 2008 12:44PM]

Still bet my swiftech kit will beat it

[AlphaTeam @ Apr 13th 2008 12:54PM]

I would definitely consider one of these if the assembly costs less than $50 for the CPU and GPU assembly. At least it would meet the Low Cost moniker and of course give me better cooling then the current Zalman CPU fans, which is very good.

[James Cameron @ Apr 13th 2008 1:45PM]

Wow, that is one ugly POS water cooling system and I don't care that it's cheap. My Thermalright air cooling does a much better job than this. I laugh at that image because there's no way that puny radiator can cool both the old 8800 and a processor. It might work decent while on idle but on full load, that thing will almost be a worst as a stock heatsinks. That thing is only good for either just one CPU or your GPU. What a bull of crap advertising a puny thing like that can cool 4 components.

[Chris @ Apr 13th 2008 1:49PM]

Edited in the time it took me to post that. Oops.

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 13th 2008 2:20PM]

I don't get it.

Are you called Jim Stuart?

[Yevon @ Apr 13th 2008 4:10PM]

Did anyone else notice the 12 SATA ports on the rendered motherboard? That would make for some interesting RAID 0.

[Frankenstein Black @ Apr 13th 2008 5:04PM]

What is this Liquid Cooling you speak of?
http://www.eternal-champions.com/images/ldm_master_builder!.jpg

-------
FB a.k.a LDM
Water-bending Master!

[Eh @ Apr 13th 2008 5:37PM]

$70 to cool my cpu does not fit my definition of "low cost" in any way shape or form.

[edward @ Apr 15th 2008 10:46AM]

I would like to see the test results for the GPU cooler alone... I would also like to see a full height GPU cooler instead of a double one.

[pgpprotector @ Apr 13th 2008 8:52PM]

One question.
Why do they still have fans of the GFX Cards if there water cooled ?

[Abuzar @ Apr 14th 2008 12:40AM]

It's probably a hybrid water cooling air cooled system. Kind of like the Thermaltake tidewater.

[yoshi @ Apr 14th 2008 12:06AM]

How desperate am I that I'm half-way considering trying to modify one or two of these into a cooling platform for my Macbook Pro? Dang thing gets HOT when the graphics get going....

[Abuzar @ Apr 14th 2008 12:39AM]

Isn't that a laptop?

Why would you need water cooling for a laptop.

If you just wanted to write Mac Pro(the desktop), well I'm not sure if they work with macs or not(the hardware SHOULD be the same inside) you should consider getting a Thermalright 120 Extreme with a good 120mm fan. That thing cools much better than MOST water rigs and costs a LOT less.

[yoshi @ Apr 14th 2008 1:16AM]

No, I mean Macbook Pro. The laptop. It's not that I need water cooling for it, I need COOLING for it. All of the off-the-shelf cooling stands are trash. The bottom of that thing gets very very very hot. And when that happens, the graphics get very very very jumpy. The performance hit is very noticeable. I need something cool pulling heat away from the bottom. A bag of frozen vegies works, but doesn't last long.

[A.C.E.R. @ Apr 14th 2008 4:39AM]

I like how they compare it to a worthless air cooler. Xigmatek HDT-S1283 or Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is probably 2x better than this water cooler.