Water Cooling by stefan @ 2011-07-04
Antec has brought another compact water cooling system to the market, the Kühler H2O 920, which comes with a bigger radiator, more powerful PWM fans in a push-pull configuration, a multicolored LED and software customization through ChillControl V.
At first I would like to thank Antec for offering me a sample of their Kühler H2O 920 CPU Cooler for review.
"Antec, Inc., is the leading global brand of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in these industries and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of efficient, quiet, and reliable products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators.
Antec’s offering of enclosures includes a large range of cases, such as its technically advanced Performance One Series, cost-effective New Solution Series and server grade cases designed for the needs of all workstation and server markets. Antec’s products also include front line power supplies such as its TruePower Trio series, Quattro series, and EarthWatts, the most environmentally friendly power supplies available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are geared toward the gaming demographic, like the Nine Hundred, the premier gamer enclosure. Antec also offers a computing accessories line comprised of many original products, including its patented LED Fans and Notebook Cooling solutions.
Antec is headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as well as in Germany, China and Taiwan. The company’s products are sold in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Please visit www.antec.com for more information"
Included software provides essential tools to control and monitor the KÜHLER H?O 920
Non-corrugated easy-bend tubes for maximum flexibility in radiator positioning
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) radiator fans generate the quietest high performance cooling
Customizable RGB LED creates brilliant illumination
Cooling Liquid - Safe, environmentally-friendly, anti-corrosive
CPU Socket Compatibility:
- Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366, AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+
Fan Speed: 700 - 2400 RPM (PWM controlled)
Tubing Length: 330 mm /13,0"
Radiator Dimensions:
- 151 mm (H) x 120 mm (W) x 49 mm (D) / 5,6" (H) x 4,7" (W) x 1,9" (D)
Fan Dimensions:
- 120 mm x 25 mm / 4,7" x 1,0"
Air Flow:
- 110,0 CFM
Noise Level:
- 43 dBA
Cold Plate + Pump Height:
- 29 mm / 1,1"
Net weight: 1,1 kg / 2,4 lbs
AQ3 - Antec Quality 3 year limited warranty on parts and labor
The outside packaging of the Kühler H2O 920 CPU Cooler looks very similar to the 620 one; by including a photo of the product on the frontal side, along with the supported sockets:
The full list of specifications and package contents are listed in multiple languages:
On one side of the box, we can find a chart which compares the Kühler H2O 920 performance with the stock Intel air cooler and 1st generation liquid coolers:
On the back of the packaging, we can locate a small product description, along with the main product highlights:
The cooler, accessories and its documentation are placed inside a cardboard tray, with foam material on top:
Here is what we will find inside the box:
- 2x 120mm fans
- installation guide
- mounting mechanisms in a small plastic bag
- a CD with software
- the cooler itself
On the CD we will find the ChillControl V software, used for controlling the fan speeds, pump LED and so on:
Inside the manual, we can see how the installation needs to be performed, step by step:
After opening the plastic bag, we can discover two back plates and two metallic mounting frames (for Intel and AMD), along with the screws needed to mount the fans on the radiator and the necessary components for securing the pump on the CPU (plastic blue/green colored adapters that must be installed on top of the metallic frames, necessary screws and nuts that must be inserted into the plastic black plates and some dual sided adhesive for keeping the back plate fixed on the back of the motherboard):
The fans that come with the Kühler 920 have 9 blades (as opposed to the 7-blade fan that is supplied with the 620 model); these fans do not have any stickers or inscriptions on the frontal side:
On the back of the fans, we can locate the Antec logo:
Both fans that come with the 920 are PWM (four wires); the fan supplied with the 620 model had only two wires:
For additional protection, the pump/block is wrapped inside a small plastic bag:
The top side of the pump/block combo looks similar to the one on the 620 model, but now under the Antec logo we can find a multicolored LED, fully customizable via the supplied application:
The thermal compound comes pre-applied; a plastic cap is used for protection and has to be removed prior to installation, by rotating and lifting it up:
After the installation has been completed, the two PWM fans need to be connected to the respective headers:
The 3-pin connector must be plugged in the CPU Fan header on the motherboard (the software regulation must be disabled on this header from the BIOS/UEFI):
The USB cable is used for being able to communicate with the pump (via the supplied software utility):
While looking at the radiator, we can find the holes needed to mount both fans with the supplied screws; it has a higher depth compared to the 620 radiator (49mm vs 27mm):
The top side holds the product serial number:
The installation procedure is pretty much alike to the one of the 620 model; as the last time, a LGA1156 system will be used; we can first insert the blue plastic pieces into the metallic ring holes:
The same backplate fits multiple Intel sockets, so we have to choose the appropriate hole for inserting the supplied nut:
On the backplates we can also find the places where to install the dual sided adhesives:
With the 4 long special screws, we can place the mounting ring loosely on the motherboard; if the ring is tightly fixed, we won't be able to insert and rotate the pump/block assembly:
If a previous cooling solution was installed on the CPU, the remaining thermal compound must be removed from the surface of the HSF:
By using the supplied screws, we can first fix one of the 120mm fans, along with the pump, on the back of the case; the fan must be placed so it will pull air from the radiator:
I have found that by installing the second fan on the radiator prior to the pump/block assembly would result in not being able to access the mounting ring screws on the left, so I went ahead and installed the pump/block first:
After tightening the screws, installing the second fan in a “push” position and connecting the cables, we can start up the system:
Here are some of the LED light colors we can obtain by operating the ChillControl V software:
The testbench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I5 Retail @ 3.2GHz & 4.0GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-EVO Preliminary
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
Video: Sparkle Calibre X460 1GB GDDR5
Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W non-modular
HDD: Hitachi 5K250 2.5'' HDD
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
The Kuhler 920 CPU cooler comes with the ChillControl V (from Asetek but re-skinned for Antec) application; I have found that installing the latest version first from the Antec website is not a wise choice: I ended up with a device that could not start up (in Device Manager). To solve the problem, I have uninstalled the software completely, and installed the version that came on the CD; the device was detected correctly and the application was working fine; after that I have updated to the latest version by running the downloaded application from the website:
In the Dashboard screen, we can find information about the liquid temperature, sound level produced by the fans, fan speed and pump speed; on the top, we can find a small switch for selecting Extreme cooling mode, Silent or Custom. When Extreme is selected, the fans run at maximum speed for maximum overclocking capability, Silent is a factory preset mode designed to spin fans based on liquid temperature to minimize system noise while keeping liquid temperatures low; Custom is a fully user-customizable fan control curve:
In the Graphs screen, we can find some live drawn graphs showing the liquid temperature, along with the fan speed:
The Fan Control screen lets us customize the fan speeds by modifying the “Fan Ramp Start Temp” and “Full Fan Speed Temp”; here we can also enable some notifications:
Finally, in the Settings screen, we can choose to display the temperatures in Fahrenheit, start the program minimized, run on Windows Start-up or customize the LED light; in case we do not want to use the LED light, we can disable it completely. The application does also come with one more skin:
During testing, the room temperature was kept at a steady 25 degrees Celsius.
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.
For measuring the noise the Kühler 920 produces in operation at different fan speeds, the left side of the case was removed and the sound meter was placed 1m away from the system. For modifying the fan speed, ChillControl V was used.
Antec has brought another compact water cooling system to the market, the Kühler 920, which comes with a bigger radiator, more powerful fans in a push-pull configuration, and software customization through ChillControl V. The installation can be done easy when following the instructions from the manual, and for the pump/plate combo we have the same mounting mechanism as on the 620 model.
In the software application, we can find two predefined profiles (Silent and Extreme), along with a Custom one. When testing the CPU cooler on the Silent setting, we have obtained somewhat high IDLE temperatures compared to the Kühler 620, mostly because the fans were rotating at a very low speed (600RPM). However, in Full Load the situation has changed and it managed to beat the 620 model by a large margin at 4GHz, while keeping the fans at a decent noise level. The high IDLE temperature issue can be solved quickly, by fine tuning the fan speed inside the provided software application.
While using the Extreme preset, the temperature difference was even higher, but the noise was a little too high for a 24/7 operation.
In the Future ChillControl V versions, it would be nice to see some more controls for the fan, for example a slider to set a certain fixed speed. Also, the LED could be controlled in such a way so the color could change with the temperature of the coolant; a small LCD screen which shows the current coolant temperature could also be added. (like the features we have seen on CoolIT Vantage).
The Antec Kühler 920 can be found in stores for prices between 90 and 100 Euros.
I would like to thank again to Antec for making this review possible!