Testing Configuration and Benchmarks Used
To verify that the cooler kit operates up to specs, the Antec Kuhler H2O 1250 liquid cooler was tested with the CPU running in both stock and at a known stable overclocking speed using both Z77-based and Z87-based motherboards, so that comparative results could be provided for both Ivy Bridge and Haswell-based systems. The results are presented for the cooling kit under review as well as the Corsair H100i water cooler, XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 water cooling kit, and the Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E air cooler for performance comparison purposes. The benchmark tests used should give you a good understanding of the cooler's capabilities so that you, the reader, can make a more informed purchasing decision. The comparison coolers were selected based on their superior performance capabilities.
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Test System Setup |
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CPU |
Intel Z77-based system Intel Core i5-3570K Stock – 3.4GHz, 34 x 100MHz Base Clock Overclocked – 4.4GHz, 42 x 105MHz Base Clock Intel Z87-based system Intel Core i7-4770K Stock – 3.5GHz, 35 x 100MHz Base Clock Overclocked – 4.68GHz, 28 x 167MHz Base Clock |
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Motherboard |
MSI Z77 MPOWER MSI Z87 MPOWER |
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Memory |
Intel Z77-based system G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 modules Stock – 1600MHz, 11-11-11-30-1T Overclocked – 1960MHz, 11-11-11-30-1T Intel Z87-based system Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 modules Stock – 1600MHz, 9-10-9-27-1T Overclocked – 1780MHz, 9-10-9-27-1T |
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Hard Drive |
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD Intel 520 240GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HD |
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Sound Card |
On-board sound |
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Video Card |
Intel Z77-based system AMD Radeon HD 5870 1GB Intel Z87-based system NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB |
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CPU Cooling |
Antec Kuhler H2O 1250 CPU cooler Corsair Hydro Series™ H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 water cooling kit Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E CPU Air Cooler |
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Video Drivers |
AMD ATI Catalyst 12.8 NVIDIA 320.18 |
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Power Supply |
Corsair 650 Corsair HX750 |
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Operating System |
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
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Thermal Paste |
MG Chemicals 860-60G Silicone Heat Transfer Compound |
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Coolant |
XSPC kit 1 liter Distilled water 3 capfuls Redline Water Wetter 1 capful Iodine (10% solution) 1 drop PT Nuke |
The 64-bit Windows 7 based test bench used for LGA1155 board testing includes an Intel Core i5-3570K CPU, 8GB of DDR3-2133 memory, an AMD Radeon 5870 1GB video card, and an Intel 520 240GB SSD drive. Using the selected components gives us the ability to demonstrate the cooling system's capabilities rather than that of the system components.
The 64-bit Windows 7 based test bench used for Intel Z87 LGA1150 board testing includes an Intel Core i5-4770K CPU, 16GB of DDR3-1866 memory, an NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB video card, and a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD drive. Using the selected components gives us the ability to demonstrate the cooling system's capabilities rather than that of the system components.
Benchmark Tests used for evaluation:
- LinX Intel Linpack Benchmark v0.6.4 (Intel Z77-based testing)
- AIDA64 Extreme Edition v3.00 (Intel Z87-based testing)
- Geeks3D FurMark v1.10.2
Nice review. Thanks for not
Nice review. Thanks for not caving and giving it an unwarranted award. Now I know I can trust when you, Morry, give an award, it is warranted. Unfortunately, I cannot say that about many reviews on the site, though I generally think the reviews are excellent, nonetheless.
a small mistake on final page
a small mistake on final page of the review. under pricing you guys talk about pricing of silverstone tundra aio rather than the antec unit reviewed here. please correct that. a good thorough review as usual.
Thanks for the feedback, this
Thanks for the feedback, this has been corrected…
When I first saw this design,
When I first saw this design, I thought it was pretty clever. Then later, I’ve been thinking about it and now I’m not so sure. Having the fans locked to the pumps isn’t really an advantage, you can’t regulate the fans alone, you can’t switch fans, really bulky etc. Not having the pump in the CPU block, you actually loose head pressure at the critical part of the system, the CPU block. I think this is the biggest part of it having worse performance compared to the Corsair unit. I haven’t seen the pumps taken apart (hint hint) but I suspect that they have had to take some short-cuts in the design there. For example, are they using a common axle for the pump and fan? Or are they compartmentalized (using permanent magnets) to prevent leaking seals? Pretty big in considering the longevity of the unit.
And the mounting thing is just poorly done on such an expensive unit. Inexcusable.
Have one of these coming in
Have one of these coming in the mail now. Going to replace my push/pull FX cooling. Hoping I get some improvement on my 8120 Black Edition.