Water Cooling by stefan @ 2010-10-19
The CoolIT Vantage A.L.C. is a no-maintenance and easy to install CPU cooler, which comes with a LCD display and the backlight can display multiple colors. In the performed tests, it will go against two high-end CPU coolers, the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 and the NH-D14 monster and we'll see how it will perform.
The CoolIT Vantage A.L.C. is a no-maintenance and easy to install CPU cooler, which comes with a LCD display and the backlight can display multiple colors. In the performed tests, it will go against two high-end CPU coolers, the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 and the NH-D14 monster and we'll see how it will perform.
At first I would like to thank CoolIT Systems for offering me a Vantage A.L.C. CPU Cooler sample for review.
“For years, CoolIT has been working with leaders in the computer industry to research, design, and provide an affordable new cooling product that provides a comprehensive solution for end users while exceeding high OEM standards. This carefully designed and patented technology unleashes the full potential of a PC, providing superior cooling performance while reducing system level noise and improving reliability of vital components. This small, but potent, pre-assembled product can also be easily installed inside any standard chassis. The CoolIT MTEC Technology can be found in the top names in performance computing like Dell, Alienware, Velocity Micro, MAINGEAR, Hypersonic, Biohazard, Ultra, Ultraforce, Systemax, BFG, Commodore Gaming, War Machine and Shuttle.
Aside from the current product offering, there are several additional products poised for release in the coming months to service the demanding cooling requirements of high performance video cards, multi-processor computers, and servers.
Leveraging the technology
CoolIT Systems is a world leader in supplying electronics cooling products, with an excellent reputation in the design, development, and manufacturing of liquid cooling systems using our patented MTEC™ based technology. Our innovative products exceed strenuous performance requirements and provide solid value to our customers. To provide our customers with world-class products, our highly experienced engineering team offers complete lab and testing facilities including the latest design and analysis software and hardware.”
The Vantage A.L.C. CPU Cooler from CoolIT comes in a relatively small box, with a main blue theme and on the frontal part we can see a photo of the actual product, some of the product features and the company/name logos in the corners:
Also on the frontal part we can see that this product has won a prize in 2010:
On the back, we can see a graph (Fan RPM vs Temperature), but also a photo of the product installed inside a system:
Here is a more clear view on the graph; as we can see on it, the fan RPM will auto-tune itself intelligently depending on the detected temperature on the CPU:
On the outside box, we can also get some more information regarding the product features and its specifications, along with a product schematic:
When we get the inside contents out, we can see the manual, along with the product held in a protective box, along with its bundle:
Besides the manual, in the box we can find backplates, the retention mechanism for AMD sockets, some screws to fix the radiator and fan onto the case and, of course, the Vantage A.L.C.:
From left to right, we can see the LGA1366, LGA1156 and LGA775 backplates, each with sticky tapes on them, to keep the backplates fixed in the back of the motherboards till we get to install the Vantage:
The Pump/CPU Cooling unit of the Vantage looks very interesting and we can see on the front the LCD display, two buttons which help navigating through the menu. In the corners, there are the thumbscrews that help mounting the system onto the latest Intel Sockets:
The wires that come out of the unit are to be connected to the CPU Fan header on the motherboard and one at the included fan, already mounted on the radiator:
On the bottom, we can see the copper plate with the thermal compound pre-applied, a plastic cap to prevent dust or other impurities getting into the paste and the adjustable mounting mechanism:
The mechanism can be adjusted easy for the socket of our choice by simply lifting the little the plastic parts in each corner:
On one of the sides, we can see the tubes which are filled with a proprietary coolant:
The radiator has on one side a preinstalled 120mm fan with a black shield on top; on one of its sides, we can see the tubes going in and out of the radiator:
The opposite side of the radiator has a spacer in which we will mount the screws in the back of our case; this one can be also be removed and we can mount in its place another 120mm fan, for even more cooling power, in a push-pull configuration:
Because this system involves mounting a backplate, in most of the cases we will have to take the motherboard out of the case:
The plastic backplate was not designed to get around the LGA1156 motherboard backplate screws, so it stays on these protrusions, unfortunately:
After the radiator is fixed properly onto the back of the case, we can fix the Pump/CPU Cooling unit, with the provided thumbscrews:
The display is very nice illuminated and when the system is operating we can get information regarding coolant temperature, fan speed, pump speed and the selected profile:
If we do not want the information to be displayed real-time, we can choose for the display to show the CoolIT Systems logo:
After pressing a button, we can discover the unit has a brain of itself, and are presented with the main menu; here we can go into the settings, display, about menus or just can exit it:
In the Settings menu, we can modify how the temperature is displayed, in Celsius or Fahrenheit, can select the mode which can be Quiet, Performance or Extreme, or we can load the factory defaults:
In the Display menu, we can set the backlight color, the light pulse effect or the angle at which the menu is displayed:
The About menu shows us additional information about the device:
The colors of the backlight are multiple; we can even turn off the backlight completely if we want to:
The testbench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I7 Retail @ 3.2GHz & 4.0GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-EVO Preliminary
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
Video: ATI RADEON 4890 1GB with ThermalRight Custom Cooling
Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W non-modular
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
The testing procedure was the following:
the system was left in IDLE for 30 minutes after the system booted up
OCCT 3.1.0 was started with the following settings:
CPU:OCCT
Test Type: Custom -> 30 minutes
Test Mode: Small Data Set
Priority: Normal
after the test was complete, the system was left again alone for 30 minutes, for the temperatures to stabilize.
All the tests were performed inside a closed case, the Cooler Master ATCS 840 with all stock fans installed.
The CoolIT Vantage A.L.C. CPU cooler is a very interesting piece of hardware that does not need any type of maintenance (well, except from cleaning dust off the radiator from time to time).
The product has a brain and a very nice LCD display that can be rotated at an angle of our choice (depending on how we have installed it on the motherboard). Navigating through the profiles is easy, the colored backlight adds a very nice touch, but the problem is that every time we want to navigate the menu, we have to open up one side of the case and press the buttons.
Modifying the settings will be much easier in the future, thanks to the CoolIT Maestro (a hardware/software combo solution). Maestro is a software program that interfaces with the selected devices through a USB wireless dongle; with its help, we will be able to do all the modifications we can now by pressing the buttons (and more, like selecting a custom RGB color for the backlight), without opening up the case.
Regarding its performances, I can say it performed very well for a no-maintenance liquid cooling system, and the temperatures were similar with the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 (which comes from the factory with fans for a push-pull configuration), when the CPU was clocked at 4.0GHz.
A nice addition would have been the ability to set the fan speed manually, in small steps, through an option inside the LCD menu.
The Vantage A.L.C. can be found for about €90 in stores.
I would like to thank again to CoolIT for allowing us to test the Vantage CPU cooling unit.