Water Cooling by stefan @ 2010-11-02
The OMNI A.L.C. is an interesting no-maintenance GPU cooling solution from CoolIT; it features an interposer, which can be changed depending on the video card we are using, without the need to replace the whole product.
At first I would like to thank CoolIT Systems for allowing us to test the OMNI A.L.C..
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.
OMNI ALC offers the end user a function set never before present in a retail product. A fully upgradeable, factory sealed, liquid cooled video card solution is an industry first. No longer do we need to purchase an entirely new cooling solution for each generation of video card, only the video card specific interposer plate must be changed. By ensuring that the liquid loop becomes a part of the cooling system that survives beyond one generation of VGA technology, the long term costs of owning liquid cooled graphics are dramatically reduced. This keeps total cost of the ownership as low as possible and enables one of the most environmentally friendly products in the marketplace.
The OMNI ALC revolutionizes the video card cooling industry by providing an upgradable, high performance and cost effective universal liquid cooling solution that does away with the traditional design approach.
OMNI Compatibility List as of September 2010:
Additional interposers for the current generation products may be released. CoolIT Systems intends to provide product support for all enthusiast class next generation ATI and nVidia video cards.
CoolIT Universal Liquid Plate
The universal liquid plate utilizes high density micro-channels and directional flow to ensure aggressive heat transfer from the GPU and other card components.
Interposer Plates
Currently available for AMD HD5970 and NVIDIA GTX480
additional types coming soon
CoolIT Pump
Quiet, compact, long life Ceramic bearing CFF1 pump
Life Cycle: 50,000 Hours MTTF
CoolIT Coolant
CoolIT Systems low toxicity with anticorrosion/anti fungal additives
CoolIT Radiator
Custom engineered for low noise high heat dissipation
CoolIT Fans
High reliability, Quiet 12V
Speed: 1100 - 2,500 RPM (low to high regulation)
CoolIT CPU Thermal Grease
CoolIT Systems Pro A.T.C. (Advanced Thermal Compound)
CoolIT 2 Year Manufacturer Warranty
The OMNI A.L.C. is also a liquid cooling no-maintenance product from CoolIT like the Vantage. The received sample was shipped in a large cardboard box. The inside contents are covered with protective foam and on the top we can find the installation manual:
After we get out the first protection layer, we can see the main product located in the middle of the box, and farther from the box edges, to avoid damages to the radiator, tubing or the plate:
The radiator, pump and the universal liquid plate are linked together:
The universal liquid plate helps eliminate heat from the replaceable interposers, utilizes high density micro-channels and directional flow; it is fixed by the interposer with screws:
On the back, we can see the actual interposer, in this case for GTX 470 video cards; we can easily observe the places where thermal pads are already mounted, with different colors (red for the memory chips and blue for the VRM components):
In the center, we can find the copper plate that makes direct contact with the GPU; it has thermal compound pre-applied and it is covered with a transparent plastic cap, which has to be removed prior to installation:
One of the universal liquid plate sides holds the tubing meant to recirculate the CoolIT coolant, which has low toxicity and also has anti-corrosion/anti-fungal additives:
On one side of the radiator we can locate the pump, which is fixed on a plastic frame; the CoolIT logo can be also found in the middle:
On the same side as the pump we can also see the tubes going in and out of the radiator, for coolant circulation:
The other side holds a CoolIT 120mm fan, which pulls air through the radiator and out of the case:
The wiring is done in such a way, so both the pump and 120mm fan are powered from the same 3-pin connector, which can be connected to a fan header on the motherboard. Before connecting the OMNI, make sure that any fan control features like “Smart Fan” in the motherboard BIOS are disabled; if the pump does not receive enough voltage, it will not start, but the fan will rotate:
On the radiator we can find another sticker with the CoolIT logo, a serial number and the name of the product:
To test out the OMNI A.L.C. we will mount it on a Sparkle GTX 470 video card, which already has custom air cooling from the factory and was reviewed previously here. This particular cooling does not use the standard screws and the only ones we can see are the 4 used to fix the heatsink on the GPU. Before ordering the product, make sure that you also have these screws available, because the OMNI only has screws to fix the radiator in the back of the case:
After the original heatsink removal, make sure that there are no residues left from the old thermal compound:
Right before mounting the plate, we have to remove the protective plastic from the thermal pads, but also the transparent plastic cap from the GPU copper plate:
After we have aligned the holes, we can start inserting the screws and tighten them one by one (a total of 12):
When the installation is completed, we can see that the interposer plate was designed carefully so the parts that feature solid capacitors are exposed, to allow more ventilation:
The radiator, with the pump on one side and the fan on the other side, can be mounted easily in the back of the case:
With the help of the OMNI A.L.C., the 2-slot original cooling was converted into a single slot, which is a very good thing because this way we can have more space to install other expansion cards and, why not, for more ventilation:
The testbench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I7 Retail @ stock
Motherboard: Foxconn BloodRage with G42 BIOS
RAM: 3x2GB Patriot PVT36G1600LLK 1600MHz
Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.
Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11
Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling
First, the GTX 470 was tested with its original air cooling in the Armor+ LCS case:
The side panel was also closed during the tests, with the 230mm stock fan on:
The system was left in IDLE before the tests, for the temperatures to stabilize, and the ambient temperature was kept at a steady 20.2 degrees Celsius.
To heat up the video card, I have used the Furmark v1.8.2 application, with the Xtreme Burning Mode activated, which ran 10 minutes for each cooling solution.
Same test conditions were kept for both cooling systems, so here are the results:
IDLE
STOCK vs OMNI ALC
Full Load
STOCK vs OMNI ALC
The new GPU cooling solution from CoolIT named OMNI A.L.C. is very easy to install, requires no maintenance (Much like their CPU coolers series) and brings an unique feature: the interchangeable interposers. When we get a new video card, we just have to check out on the CoolIT website to see if interposers are available for that specific card and we can order only those, without the need to replace the kit.
OMNI also features ESP wireless technology, which means that it is possible to control it with the CoolIT Maestro - a hardware/software combo solution. Maestro is a software program that interfaces with the selected devices through a USB wireless dongle and we can modify the fan speeds in different preset zones.
The OMNI A.L.C. performance is really impressive and we have temperature differences of 17°C for the GPU and 14°C for the PCB compared with the custom Sparkle 5-pipe single fan cooling solution the Sparkle GTX 470 video card had, and which is already an aftermarket product!
Please note: to use and install the OMNI, you need to make sure you have the Nvidia/ATI stock heatsink screws handy available, because the CoolIT product does not come with those. The Sparkle GTX 470 I have performed the tests on had only 4 screws from the heatpipe cooling solution and they did not fit the interposer. To be able to do the tests, I have collected the screws from a stock RADEON HD 4890 heatsink, and the remaining two from a RADEON HD 4870x2 heatsink.
Another important think is to be sure to supply full power to the 3-pin connector, otherwise the video card will overheat, even if the fan that cools the radiator will spin (because there won't be any coolant recirculation).
The price of the product varies depending what interposer we will order it with; the tested solution can be found on the CoolIT website for about $215.
I would like to thank again to CoolIT for allowing us to test their latest products!