Titan's Robela water-cooled case was set loose on the general public approximately one year ago and has gained favorable reviews since. Robela wasn't designed haphazardly as an ordinary steel case with a compact water-cooling system shoved inside. Titan built the Robela from the ground-up intending this to be a synergistic water-cooling case solution. Robela isn't overly ostentatious and its streamlined design disguises the water-cooling hardware housed entirely in the side-panel. The radiator only protrudes a few centimeters from the side-panel and if it weren't for the illuminated fill port, those not familiar with H20-cooling may not recognize this as a water-cooled case.



Insofar as press on Robela what seems to be a re-occurring theme among Reviewers are references made about the weight of the case and the inability to drag the case to LAN Parties. At 570 x 204 x 455mm Robela is clearly a Tower Case and at approximately 20-kilograms fully loaded, it's obviously not intended as a LAN solution. Criticizing the Roberla for its weight is analogous to criticizing your double-door refrigerator/freezer because you can't bring it along to your friend’s house packed with Beer. Titan addressed the weight issue by including sturdy highly polished steel carrying handles. If you’re truly concerned about LAN Parties, host one, you won't have to move your refrigerator either.





From the front the Robela (TWC-A88/AB) features a fairly thick aluminum faceplate in which the LED-display is housed. The LED displays:

Fluid-level (Low/High)

Noise-level (Low/High)

Fan speeds (Fan 1/ Fan 2)

CPU-temp (Low/High)

Pump status.

The panel also allows adjustments for several of the alarm sensors including; CPU-temp and fan speeds. Automated alarms include; pump failure and fluid-level. I'll delve into the automated alarm sensors and their locations later in the review.







Robela was intended to cool processors built on the Socket 939/940/754 or Pentium 775/478 Sockets and "most VGA cards from ATI and NVIDIA." While this might seem like a logistics’ nightmare, I must applaud Titan for including and organizing every piece of required installation hardware into numbered bags. The instruction manual is a clear step-by-step guide which definitely qualifies Robela as the ideal choice for first time H20 users.



The case is designed for tool-less installation although the argument could be made tensioned-locking slide rails designed to mount Optical and HDD's which use pins instead of screws will allow vibration. The pins did fit snuggly and hopefully won't allow too much play.



Fortunately PCI slot locking mechanisms are a bit more stalwart; of course graphic cards aren't built around motor driven disc drives. There are going to be trade-offs wherever tool-less systems are used until a better mousetrap has been built. Those concerns addressed, Titan's solution looks to be an improvement over other efforts I've seen and gave me no problem.



Unfortunately the primary HDD rack at the very bottom, which accommodates tool-less HDD locking rails, faces outward toward the side-panel. This effectively leaves very little room for plugging in the power and SATAN cables. The absence of room encroaches on the cables so their kinked at a 90-degree angle which is problematic in itself, but for those whom are learning the SATA cable's Achilles’ Heel are its loose connectors, this becomes a nightmare. For the longest time I thought my HDD was failing when it was the SATA cables which would dislodge or simply shift from the slightest movement, yet appear to be fine.



Located just to the left of the tool-less HDD rack Titan has placed a small PCB panel from which power and sensor connections are routed to the LED at the front of the case and the water-cooling system on the side-panel. Included on the PCB is a small SPL sensor which give a "Noise" level reading on the display. Removing the side-panel you have to be careful not to damage the wiring which is on a "short leash."



Once the system is installed including water-cooling hoses, removing the side-panel becomes even more difficult. Accessing hardware must be done very carefully; I almost pulled the GPU cooler and the card right along with it by forgetting about the hose length several times. This is the view looking down into the case once the panel is opened.



Finally we see there's adequate room within the case once the heart of the system is installed. Titan's location of the water-cooling hardware on the side-panel is what originally piqued my interest for this case. This is a true water-cooling case, not a hodge-podge of systems.

Robela H20-system



Opening up the case and reversing the side-panel exposes the true extent of the water-cooling apparatus. Along with the CPU and VGA water-blocks Titan also included memory heatsinks compatible with any number of graphic-cards. The aluminum memory heatsinks have a double sided adhesive thermal backing.



Case/Radiator Fan specifics


Below we see the radiator itself is quite large which is promising, the pump, reservoir and related electronics are housed in the molded plastic "box" bearing the Titan name which is partially obscured in this photo. In the thumbnails below are close-ups of the water flow-gauge and a close-up of twin-120mm radiator fans. The spec chart above gives the performance details on the 120mm fans and the thumbnail below gives a close-up of the radiator fans.





Looking at the water-cooling panel from another perspective we see the molded pump/reservoir/electronics enclosure. The thumbnails below this photo give a closer view of the flow gauge and inlet/outlets. Titan arranged the cooling system so water returning from the VGA-block outlet passes through the radiator where heat is removed after which it's drawn into the reservoir. At this point it's pumped back to the CPU-block inlet. I prefer the radiator placed just before the water blocks especially in a system where the pump is submersed in the reservoir thereby adding additional heat.





Titan engineers simplified the fill/bleed process by placing the reservoir and pump at the highest point on the side-panel (highest point in the H20-system). While this might seem a prima facie method, something as simple as gravity tends to ellude some designers. Titan obviously intended this system to be very simple to set-up and maintain. Personally I think the fill/bleed process can be most frustrating. I found myself raising a new radiator over my head while trying to rotate it at every possible angle in an attempt to dislodge trapped air all while simultanesouly balancing a reservoir on my knee, waterblock on the foot and keep the pump on the table plugged in to its molex, without jeapordizing connections. I like Titan's approach much better, there's no balancing act.



Removing four screws from the side-panel releases the metal-grill exposing the aluminum finned/copper tube radiator. Exposing the fill port and water-level indicator also exposes the reservoir. The radiator is large enough to allow four 120mm fans to be mounted with room to spare. If you look closely you can make out the radiator fans which are stacked on the far left. Obviously Titan felt two fans would suffice perhaps making this the first passive/active hybrid radiator.



Pump specs


Removing the plastic enclosure reveals a plethora of electronics which is where I became concerned. Monitoring is one thing; however, automation can be both a blessing and a curse. If done properly such systems can give the end-user extensive tune-ability. If there's a failure or error then the end-user is stuck with a useless system until the entire case can be shipped back to the manufacturer. Most of the devices responsible for the Robela's H20 system are housed behind the enclosure removed in the photos below.





Unfortunately some of the electronics which supply power, aid in monitoring and regulating the H20-system, are located on the PCB panel at the base of the case. As discussed earlier any malfunction of this panel, or any panel would force the end-user to RMA the entire case.





Hopefully Titan has installed electronics meant to last, while an experienced DIY user may be able to circumvent a possible malfunction the Robela may not be the first choice for the experienced Water-cooling enthusiast.

Titan's H20 blocks are sealed and removing the "outer shell" only revealed a copper cover soldered to a copper base. As I indicated in previous sections it seems the radiator tubing are also made of copper thereby minimizing the possibility of dissimilar metal corrosion, the nemesis of every water-cooling system.



The only problem I can foresee here is the inability to break down the water blocks and clean any foreign objects which tend to lodge themselves in the water-block channels and/or pins and obstruct flow which eventually degrades performance. Of course ensuring your fluid isn't contaminated is the best defense. Below we see both water-blocks along with the aluminum heatsinks provided by Titan.



Next we have the Sapphire X800XT laid out with the GPU block and included aluminum memory-sinks. The installation hardware shown will accommodate just about all ATI designs. Just a few pieces of the included installation hardware are shown here.



Below wee see both blocks after the leak test process and the ATI GPU water block installed on our card. The installation was made easy with numbered parts and an instruction manual. The leak-test process was uneventful, one criticism would be he use of spring-loaded plastic spread pins. These eventually wear and cannot be repeatedly re-installed on numerous blocks.



Titan did a great job at predicting the required hose lengths; I was impressed with high-quality tubing used by Titan which was extremely flexible. Below the CPU water-block has been mounted on the DFI Socket-939. The CPU block was an all copper affair with an excellent finish.



Taking a closer look at the Robela VGA bock installed on the Sapphire X800XT (R423 Core). The spring-loaded plastic spreader pins aren't my favorite since they eventually wear after repeated installations and with enough pressure on the mounting hardware I've seen some dislodge. Most people don't really complain though.



Installation was simple, for AMD Socket-939 Titan supplied a Lever-tensioned cross brace which uses the same tabs as a stock AMD cooler and the mounting hardware for the VGA block is either spring-loaded push pins or through-mount bracket depending on the card model/make. Below we see a perspective looking down into the case and cooling system.



Of course the question we need to answer is how well the Robela's diminutive pump, yet massive radiator will work together in a multi-block H20 cooling system?

Test Methodology

Robela's H20 performance was measured on the Opteron 148/DFI LAN Party UT running the system under full LOAD using S&M CPU/Memory stress tester, specifically S&M v.1.7.6 (160) . The CPU tests were run at default (11x200FSB) and overclocked (10x250FSB) both at default Vcore. I repeated these tests with VGA water-block removed from the loop, this is the last temp included on that chart. The Ambient temp outside the case fluctuated between 18-21°C during tests.

To test Robela's VGA cooler in particular I ran ATI Tool 0.25 Beta 14, "Scan Artifact" utility. As I did with the CPU test I removed the CPU Cooler from the loop, replacing it with a stock cooler to test Robela's cooling potential running the VGA cooler alone.

AMD Test System
CPU	Opteron 148 (CABE2) Socket-939 Retail
Mainboard	DFI LAN party UT nF4 Ultra-D
Memory	Corsair XMS-Pro TwinX2048-4400PRO
Graphics	Sapphire Radeon X800XT
Power Supply	In-Win IP480Q3-2 480W
Cooling	AMD Stock Retail cooler for Opteron Thermaltake RX-K8 Silent Boost Alphacool CPU-waterblockNexXxos XP nickel plated. Alphacool pump AP1510 Centrifugal w/Voltage regulator. Alphacool CAPE Cora 642 passive radiators Titan Robela
Operating System	Windows XP

As indicated above using the stress test utility S&M, Robela's included water-blocks were mounted on the Opteron 148 and X800XT GPU. Tests were performed at 2.2GHz and 2.5GHz. For comparison both AMD stock air-cooler and Thermaltake's RX-K8 comprised two more tests while concurrently running the Sapphire X800XT with its stock air-cooler. For an H20 comparison I installed the Alphacool NexXxos XP CPU-waterblock mated with the Alphacool CORA passive radiator.



Testing Robela's VGA block simply involved running Artifact Scan on the ATI Tool panel. Where both blocks were installed and VGA core temps were increased using ATI Tool I did notice the CPU temp rose along with the GPU temp, unfortunately this is indicative of over-taxing Robela's H20-cooling system.



Sound Testing:

This is one area where Robela out-performed every other system I've ever owned or tested to-date. Similar to what has occurred while operating Alphacool's passive system, I actually had to check to ensure the pump and radiator fans were working. Titan allows for a 60m front intake fan, although that fan was not included with the kit. This leaves us with 2 x 120MM intake radiator fans and a 90m rear exhaust fan.



Conclusion:

The Robela water-cooling case is most definitely an enigma in design execution. Many of the attributes which piqued my interest in this case became the source of problems during testing.

The primary means of measuring/monitoring CPU-temps is through a supplied thermistor. Instructions are specific; the thermistor is to be placed on the CPU-water block inlay. A thermistor may have been acceptable a few years ago when CPU temps were measured via Socket thermistor; however, today CPU's with internal thermal diodes are much more accurate then any thermistor. At the very least they’re more consistent in their inaccuracy compared to thousands of end-user's placing a thermistor even with the most precise instructions.

In fact due to my concern for this I decided to try installing the thermistor between the CPU IHS and water block base, albeit at the edge so as not to disturb contact between the two. In some respects I didn't disturb the contact between the two, because there was barely any contact at all, seen below.



The photo above is one reason I reject spreading as opposed to placing a dollop of thermal paste on a CPU IHS and allow mounting pressure to compress the paste, forcing air out. It would be much more difficult to determine how little contact had occurred between these two surfaces had the paste been spread. Very few base plate/CPU surfaces are truly "flat" and are usually replete with micro-striations and micro-pores. Once a dollop of paste is paced in the center of the IHS, mounting compresses the paste so that it seeks its own natural “footprint”.

TIM install methods aside the only perceivable difference between mounting the thermistor incorrectly and re-mounting the block were lower temps. It’s difficult to determine what effect this had on the cooling system because moving the thermistor may have dropped the temp measured, but the CPU temp also changed as temps decreased from a more effective mount.

With a few more improvements such as a more powerful pump and two more 120mm fans I believe Robela would give the competition a spanking. If it were my choice I'd eschew any self-automating system and simply place a rheostat so the end-user can adjust fan speeds, possibly adjusting pump voltage as well, but why even mess with it. Automation can be your best friend or your worst enemy, unfortunately with the Robela it is the latter.

PRO
All in one solution
Able to accommodate just about any motherboard/CPU video card combo.
Perfect solution for first time H20-enthusiasts
Quiet!

CON
Robela's large and potentially high-performance radiator which could accommodate four 120mm fans with room to spare, only uses two.
USB/Firewire front connectors cumbersome to hook up
The front intake fan at 60mm would be inadequate for any case, and offer a poor performance/noise ratio.
Robela's water-pump is woefully underpowered.
While Titan made a valiant effort to automate their case, the complex series of temp and water-level sensors may actually place restrictions on the end-user as well as potentially limiting performance. If any aspect of this system were to fail the solution would involve shipping the entire case since the sensors and monitoring hardware are located in three different areas.

At approximately 300USD the case isn't prohibitively costly nor is it a bargain, not in its current configuration. There's room for improvement and with that improvement Robela would be an extraordinary case, at this juncture I'd still say it's one of the best solutions out there for first time H20-users.

Questions/Comments: forum thread