Installation
The basic installation of the Exos-2 liquid cooling system involves:
- Positioning the Exos-2 cooling unit on top of the PC
- Installing the PCI Slot Adapter
- Connecting the temperature probes and internal wiring to the Slot Adapter
- Mounting the waterblock cooler(s)
- Attaching the hoses and External Power Cable
- Filling and testing the system
Koolance provides a detailed, nicely illustrated, 26-page Exos-2 User’s Manual, which I found to be clearly written and easy to follow.
As with any PC water-cooling system, I highly recommend leak testing the assembled system before powering up the computer. Koolance includes a jumper wire (with instructions on how to use it) to jumper the PC’s power supply ATX connector (Pwr-On to Gnd) for testing.
The overall installation was straightforward and relatively easy. Using multiple waterblocks adds a little complexity but the manual provides good advice about how to connect them and in what order. I used two different configurations during testing.
Single CPU waterblock only (CPU-300-V10)
(Source: Exos-2 Manual)
Series/Parallel CPU and GPU waterblocks (CPU-300-V10 and GPU-180-L06)
(Source: Exos-2 Manual)
Notice that the GPU cooler is connected in series with the CPU waterblock. There is an additional leg in parallel with the GPU block to help maximize flow thru the CPU block. I used two Koolance flow splitters to make the transition from 3/8′ ID to 1/4″ ID tubing and to create the two parallel flow paths.
For this review I will be using an Athlon 64 CPU so I used the optional Athlon 64 mounting hardware that attaches to a standard Athlon 64 steel backing plate. After the CPU IHS and waterblock base are cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, apply a little Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease and position the waterblock and mounting bracket on top of the CPU. Carefully tighten the two mounting screws to secure the bracket to the mobo and then tighten the knob on top to securely clamp the CPU-300 cooler in place.
The video card in my test system is a Radeon 9800 Pro fitted with an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3. It was removed and the GPU-180-L06 was installed after the GPU and waterblock base were cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and a little Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal compound was applied.
Once the main cooling unit and waterblocks are in place, the tubing pieces can be cut and installed to complete the installation. Make sure all the wires and tubes are neatly routed and don’t interfere with other components inside the PC.
Koolance supplies a 700ml bag of pre-mixed coolant with the Exos-2 for filling the system. I added the coolant into the reservoir fill port and found my particular setup used a little over ¾ of the bag to eventually fill the system. Once the reservoir is filled, power can be applied to the Exos-2, which will start the pumps and induce water flow. You will need to stop the pumps and top off the reservoir as the system becomes completely filled and all the air is removed from the lines.
