Danger Den P4 RBX Power kit Review
Water Cooling by jmke @ 2004-05-25
We install Danger Den?s high end water cooling kit, powered by the ever popular RBX water block and Danger Den?s own 12v pump, on our P4 test setup to see how it performs.
Review
Introduction
Introduction:
The process of using water to cool down your PC has come a long way; many plug and play solutions have found their way onto the retail market. The first water cooling setups took up a whole desk, with a large radiator, goofy looking water blocks and large aquarium pumps. If you wanted to buy off-the-shelve water cooling gear there were not too many manufactures around who could help you, but those who you could turn to provided high quality material at a rather exclusive price.
When we saw the popularity grow, more people joined the water cooling madness and soon we had 1001 different companies providing us the all material one could ask for. Some even went one step further and combined easy installation with a competitive price, making water cooling easily accessible for the general public.
Danger Den has been around since the beginning providing the enthusiasts with high quality water cooling components. To stay with the times they are now offering beginners friendly all-in-one kits who offer best of both worlds, easy installation with high performance. Dan sent us the RBX-Power kit for testing, and we have evaluated it for the past month, checking both on performance, maintenance and installation. Does Danger Den still hold an advantage over all the retail kits? Let's find out
RBX Power kit
The RBX Power Kit is build around their top of the line water block, the other components in this kit will have a hard to live up to the high standards set by this good looking and performing water-block.
Danger Den send us their recommended RBX kit configuration:
RBX 478 – Lucite Top ½” Chrome Fittings
Black Ice Xtreme "Black"
12v Laing Pump (DD12V-D4)
Typhoon Quad Reservoir
Evercool 120mm Fan
4oz Zerex Water Coolant
7 Feet 1/2" Clearflex Tubing
Arctic Silver Ceramique or Arctic Silver 5
12 1/2" Hose Clamps
But they allow you a free choice of all components so you can mix and match to make the kit exactly what you need.
We installed the system and penned down our experiences during a 3 week period, before we come to the performance part, a look at the individual components -->
The process of using water to cool down your PC has come a long way; many plug and play solutions have found their way onto the retail market. The first water cooling setups took up a whole desk, with a large radiator, goofy looking water blocks and large aquarium pumps. If you wanted to buy off-the-shelve water cooling gear there were not too many manufactures around who could help you, but those who you could turn to provided high quality material at a rather exclusive price.
When we saw the popularity grow, more people joined the water cooling madness and soon we had 1001 different companies providing us the all material one could ask for. Some even went one step further and combined easy installation with a competitive price, making water cooling easily accessible for the general public.
Danger Den has been around since the beginning providing the enthusiasts with high quality water cooling components. To stay with the times they are now offering beginners friendly all-in-one kits who offer best of both worlds, easy installation with high performance. Dan sent us the RBX-Power kit for testing, and we have evaluated it for the past month, checking both on performance, maintenance and installation. Does Danger Den still hold an advantage over all the retail kits? Let's find out
RBX Power kit
The RBX Power Kit is build around their top of the line water block, the other components in this kit will have a hard to live up to the high standards set by this good looking and performing water-block.
Danger Den send us their recommended RBX kit configuration:
But they allow you a free choice of all components so you can mix and match to make the kit exactly what you need.
We installed the system and penned down our experiences during a 3 week period, before we come to the performance part, a look at the individual components -->
RBX Water Block
RBX Water block
The CPU water block is the heart of any water cooling system; it has to be strong and can only work properly if all the other parts play along nicely with it. Danger Den’s RBX has nothing to do with Snoop Doggy Dogg but it did build a reputation of being one of the “bad boys” in the water cooling scene.
the finishing on this block is simply amazing, a real work of art, it looks perfect
the base is very smooth and has been machine lapped up to 1200 grit
For starters, it has 3 instead of 2 fittings which you commonly see, with the use of an Y-splitter you can hook it up quite easily. The water enters in the middle and leaves on both sides, below the center fitting you will find a nozzle which directs the water at the center of the copper block thereby increasing the overall heat transfer rate between the hot copper and the cool water.
To further enhance your experience one can order the optional Nozzle kit, which includes 5 accelerator inserts, each sporting a different pattern. There are stickers on the RBX warning you that removing them will void warranty, however, the stickers only indicate that these blocks have been lead tested at the Danger Den labs, when opening up the block to install other nozzles your warranty still covers manufacturing defects.
Don’t let the stickers scare you, it’s DD way of indicating that this block has been pressure tested by them!
The 5 different nozzles in the optional kit
The more restrictive the nozzle, the higher the performance, if the block is used with a high output pump. The nozzle #5 proved to be the best performer in Liquid3D’s tests here and we used it for our first install, after running 3 weeks the system started experiencing decreased performance, nothing earth shocking but worth checking out.
We found that the nozzle #5 clogged easily when there is small residue somewhere in the water loop. A very small amount of Teflon ended up in the water (we did not see anything fall into the water during installation). This is what the nozzle looked like:
After cleaning it out we continued on and ran our final performance tests.
Recents tests of the TDX (the RBX smaller brother), comparing the nozzle #4 and #5 show that the difference between those 2 is quite small. Since #4 will not clog up any time soon and is less restrictive it makes it suitable for a wider range of pumps while keeping performance above the level of the standard accelerator nozzle.
Let’s take a look at DD’s 12v pump ->
The CPU water block is the heart of any water cooling system; it has to be strong and can only work properly if all the other parts play along nicely with it. Danger Den’s RBX has nothing to do with Snoop Doggy Dogg but it did build a reputation of being one of the “bad boys” in the water cooling scene.
the finishing on this block is simply amazing, a real work of art, it looks perfect
the base is very smooth and has been machine lapped up to 1200 grit
For starters, it has 3 instead of 2 fittings which you commonly see, with the use of an Y-splitter you can hook it up quite easily. The water enters in the middle and leaves on both sides, below the center fitting you will find a nozzle which directs the water at the center of the copper block thereby increasing the overall heat transfer rate between the hot copper and the cool water.
To further enhance your experience one can order the optional Nozzle kit, which includes 5 accelerator inserts, each sporting a different pattern. There are stickers on the RBX warning you that removing them will void warranty, however, the stickers only indicate that these blocks have been lead tested at the Danger Den labs, when opening up the block to install other nozzles your warranty still covers manufacturing defects.
Don’t let the stickers scare you, it’s DD way of indicating that this block has been pressure tested by them!
The 5 different nozzles in the optional kit
The more restrictive the nozzle, the higher the performance, if the block is used with a high output pump. The nozzle #5 proved to be the best performer in Liquid3D’s tests here and we used it for our first install, after running 3 weeks the system started experiencing decreased performance, nothing earth shocking but worth checking out.
We found that the nozzle #5 clogged easily when there is small residue somewhere in the water loop. A very small amount of Teflon ended up in the water (we did not see anything fall into the water during installation). This is what the nozzle looked like:
After cleaning it out we continued on and ran our final performance tests.
Recents tests of the TDX (the RBX smaller brother), comparing the nozzle #4 and #5 show that the difference between those 2 is quite small. Since #4 will not clog up any time soon and is less restrictive it makes it suitable for a wider range of pumps while keeping performance above the level of the standard accelerator nozzle.
Let’s take a look at DD’s 12v pump ->
12V Pump
DD12V-D4 – 12v Pump
The pump included with the DD kit is small and powerful and easy in use, no need to wire through to the mains as it will gladly take a 12v line from your PSU. This means less wiring and you can easily hook it up to a rheobus to regulate its speed.
The rheobus must be able to provide 18W per channel and to get the motor running it needs 6v according to its specs sheet, in practice it actually needs almost the full 12 to get started. We used a very simple yet effective rheobus from Sunbeam which allows you to go from 0->12v in very small steps. The only downside of using this rheobus is the inability to start the pump when the voltage is set to less then 6v. The more expensive rheobus models like the Cooler Master Aerogate can overcome this issue since they provide 12v at start-up and then drop back to the preconfigured setting.
Noise wise this pump scores quite high when running at full voltage, dropping it to 7v makes it a lot more bearable and when screwed tight into your case the sound is like a silent humming. When looking at the specs of this pump compared to the Hydor L30 it seems this pump out performs it slightly when running at 12v, not bad at all!
DD12V D4 vs Hydor L30
Future in-house testing will prove how much difference there is between this DD pump and other known ones from Eheim and Hydor.
The only minus point I found was the lack of a preinstalled power connector for the pump, since this pump can be plugged straight into your PSU’s 12V connector I found it strange that DD did not provide this out-of-the box.
The pump included with the DD kit is small and powerful and easy in use, no need to wire through to the mains as it will gladly take a 12v line from your PSU. This means less wiring and you can easily hook it up to a rheobus to regulate its speed.
The rheobus must be able to provide 18W per channel and to get the motor running it needs 6v according to its specs sheet, in practice it actually needs almost the full 12 to get started. We used a very simple yet effective rheobus from Sunbeam which allows you to go from 0->12v in very small steps. The only downside of using this rheobus is the inability to start the pump when the voltage is set to less then 6v. The more expensive rheobus models like the Cooler Master Aerogate can overcome this issue since they provide 12v at start-up and then drop back to the preconfigured setting.
Noise wise this pump scores quite high when running at full voltage, dropping it to 7v makes it a lot more bearable and when screwed tight into your case the sound is like a silent humming. When looking at the specs of this pump compared to the Hydor L30 it seems this pump out performs it slightly when running at 12v, not bad at all!
Future in-house testing will prove how much difference there is between this DD pump and other known ones from Eheim and Hydor.
The only minus point I found was the lack of a preinstalled power connector for the pump, since this pump can be plugged straight into your PSU’s 12V connector I found it strange that DD did not provide this out-of-the box.
Radiator, Fan and Reservoir
Black Ice Xtreme Radiator
A very compact and high performance radiator able to remove heat from the water with ease, it has mounting holes for a 120mm fan and overall dimensions will make it fit into any mid-size tower case.
After seeing the high quality fittings on the RBX I was kind of disappointed to see plastic fittings on this radiator. The plastic fittings come separately and their threads have Teflon on them. Just screw them in and you’re done.
BI Xtreme + 120mm Evercool fan
There was no fan mounting hardware included in the sample kit we received, but a quick e-mail to DD support sorted this out really quick!
Although we handled the radiator we great care we saw some off at one side, nothing too challenging to fix up for any modder/HW enthusiast
Overall finishing of the BI Xtreme is good, but the paint could use a 2nd layer
Evercool Chrome 120mm fan
The included 120mm fan is a real eye-catcher, Evercool’s fan puts out 80cfm at ~30 decibel, not too bad and it’s a nice addition to the kit. Although at 12v it will be too loud for a silent setup. At 7v the ratio noise/performance is good enough to keep the radiator cool.
Reservoir
You won’t lose much room when placing this reservoir in your case; it fits nicely in a 5”25 bay and is quite easy to fill up.
A very compact and high performance radiator able to remove heat from the water with ease, it has mounting holes for a 120mm fan and overall dimensions will make it fit into any mid-size tower case.
After seeing the high quality fittings on the RBX I was kind of disappointed to see plastic fittings on this radiator. The plastic fittings come separately and their threads have Teflon on them. Just screw them in and you’re done.
BI Xtreme + 120mm Evercool fan
There was no fan mounting hardware included in the sample kit we received, but a quick e-mail to DD support sorted this out really quick!
Although we handled the radiator we great care we saw some off at one side, nothing too challenging to fix up for any modder/HW enthusiast
Overall finishing of the BI Xtreme is good, but the paint could use a 2nd layer
Evercool Chrome 120mm fan
The included 120mm fan is a real eye-catcher, Evercool’s fan puts out 80cfm at ~30 decibel, not too bad and it’s a nice addition to the kit. Although at 12v it will be too loud for a silent setup. At 7v the ratio noise/performance is good enough to keep the radiator cool.
Reservoir
You won’t lose much room when placing this reservoir in your case; it fits nicely in a 5”25 bay and is quite easy to fill up.
Installation & Testing
Installation
The installation guide is located at Danger Den’s website, a no nonsense descriptive step by step guide on how to get the water block installed. If you need an explanation on how to cut tubing and attach them to the fittings... you might not be making the best decision in the world by going into water-cooling.
A bit of screwing around (literally) with the included bolts and nuts and our P4 test motherboard is ready for installation.
After cutting the included tubing to lengths which were needed you slide them over the fittings and secure them with plastic clamps. Closing the clamps is quite easy, but removing them requires a bit more effort.
All hooked up
4 springs at each side divide the pressure on the CPU evenly; handy thumbscrews make tighten them down, Childs play!
We remounted the block several times and checked for changes in temperatures, there were all within a 1°C range.
everything installed, ready for testing
Before we hooked up the whole system we let it run overnight to check for leaks; none were found and we started up our tests rig.
Test results
Using K7 burn the CPU was put under load for minimum duration of 30 minutes after which the maximum temperature was noted down. MBM5 was used for reading the P4 temp diode. Room temperature was kept stable at 21°C during all tests.
We used different setting to balance between performance and silence; using a volt meter we set the output of the rheobus at 0-7-12v for the Evercool fan and 5-7-12v for the pump. By using the rheobus the actual voltage at maximum setting dropped to 11.2v instead of 12v.
In the graph below we have the different pump voltages in the 1st column and fan voltages in the 2nd.
The first thing which strikes as surprising is the lack of difference in load temperatures when changing the voltage of the pump. This is mainly due to the way our test system is set up. If you install the pump at the bottom of your maxi/midi case then you will notice a difference in temperatures when changing the speed of the pump.
The noise increase between running the fan at 12v versus 7v is not worth the rather small decrease in load temps. Completely disabling the fan makes the system run rather hot but nowhere near critical levels. The sweet spot for this setup seems to be 5v @ pump with 7v @ fan. Very low noise and excellent performance!
The installation guide is located at Danger Den’s website, a no nonsense descriptive step by step guide on how to get the water block installed. If you need an explanation on how to cut tubing and attach them to the fittings... you might not be making the best decision in the world by going into water-cooling.
A bit of screwing around (literally) with the included bolts and nuts and our P4 test motherboard is ready for installation.
After cutting the included tubing to lengths which were needed you slide them over the fittings and secure them with plastic clamps. Closing the clamps is quite easy, but removing them requires a bit more effort.
All hooked up
4 springs at each side divide the pressure on the CPU evenly; handy thumbscrews make tighten them down, Childs play!
We remounted the block several times and checked for changes in temperatures, there were all within a 1°C range.
everything installed, ready for testing
Before we hooked up the whole system we let it run overnight to check for leaks; none were found and we started up our tests rig.
Test results
JMke's Test Setup | |
| CPU | Intel P4 2.53 "B" @ 2750 Mhz – 1.66v vcore (~100 Watt) |
| Mainboard | Asus P4PE |
| Cooling | * DD RBX Power Kit |
| Memory | 1 * 512Mb PC3200 TwinMOS |
| Video | Matrox Millenium PCI |
Using K7 burn the CPU was put under load for minimum duration of 30 minutes after which the maximum temperature was noted down. MBM5 was used for reading the P4 temp diode. Room temperature was kept stable at 21°C during all tests.
We used different setting to balance between performance and silence; using a volt meter we set the output of the rheobus at 0-7-12v for the Evercool fan and 5-7-12v for the pump. By using the rheobus the actual voltage at maximum setting dropped to 11.2v instead of 12v.
In the graph below we have the different pump voltages in the 1st column and fan voltages in the 2nd.
The first thing which strikes as surprising is the lack of difference in load temperatures when changing the voltage of the pump. This is mainly due to the way our test system is set up. If you install the pump at the bottom of your maxi/midi case then you will notice a difference in temperatures when changing the speed of the pump.
The noise increase between running the fan at 12v versus 7v is not worth the rather small decrease in load temps. Completely disabling the fan makes the system run rather hot but nowhere near critical levels. The sweet spot for this setup seems to be 5v @ pump with 7v @ fan. Very low noise and excellent performance!
Conclusion + Usefull Links
Conclusion
Danger Den’s RBX Power kit does exactly what it promises, it gives the end-user the Power to cool his system with the best water cooling gear out there, all components are of high quality and the performance is high even when running the pump and fan at lower voltages.
With the optional accelerator nozzle kit they add another level of customisation to the water-cooling scene, offering you the possibility to change the characteristics of the water-block to fit the user's needs. Using the default nozzle kit will give you good performance with a wide range of pumps, while putting in the #5 nozzle in combo with a high output pump will boost the performance even further.
One of the most useful features of Danger Den’s Power kit however is the ability to completely customise each and every component, a larger radiator or smaller reservoir, you name it , they got it!
Price wise you won’t need to take out a mortgage on your house, the kit tested here can be yours for ~$250.
We would like to thank Dan from DD for his patience and support.
Questions/Comments: forum thread
Addendum
You might be wondering why we didn’t use the Y-splitter in our test setup, this is the reason:
Measuring the lenghts of the tubing to make sure it will all fit nicely
To make the whole kit fit into an Antec LanBoy it needs to be as compact as possible, the Y-splitter takes up a lot of room and we chose to make good use of the extra connections the bay reservoir offers.
Details on how we try to fit a high performance kit into a small case like this will be for an upcoming article in the near future, keep your eyes open!
Usefull Links
Basic Guide to Watercooling @ Spode's Abode
Watercooling - Experiences and Tips @ Overclockers
Watercooling - An In-Depth Look @ Overclockers
Liquid Jet Array Cooling in detail (.pdf)
RBX Nozzle comparison #1 vs #5 @ Madshrimps
Danger Den’s RBX Power kit does exactly what it promises, it gives the end-user the Power to cool his system with the best water cooling gear out there, all components are of high quality and the performance is high even when running the pump and fan at lower voltages.
With the optional accelerator nozzle kit they add another level of customisation to the water-cooling scene, offering you the possibility to change the characteristics of the water-block to fit the user's needs. Using the default nozzle kit will give you good performance with a wide range of pumps, while putting in the #5 nozzle in combo with a high output pump will boost the performance even further.
One of the most useful features of Danger Den’s Power kit however is the ability to completely customise each and every component, a larger radiator or smaller reservoir, you name it , they got it!
Price wise you won’t need to take out a mortgage on your house, the kit tested here can be yours for ~$250.
We would like to thank Dan from DD for his patience and support.
Questions/Comments: forum thread
Addendum
You might be wondering why we didn’t use the Y-splitter in our test setup, this is the reason:
Measuring the lenghts of the tubing to make sure it will all fit nicely
To make the whole kit fit into an Antec LanBoy it needs to be as compact as possible, the Y-splitter takes up a lot of room and we chose to make good use of the extra connections the bay reservoir offers.
Details on how we try to fit a high performance kit into a small case like this will be for an upcoming article in the near future, keep your eyes open!
Usefull Links