Thermaltake BigWater SE + Volcano 4005

With multiple manufacturers now providing retail water cooling solutions, it is no longer difficult for even beginning PC users to establish their own high-end cooling solution that can yield quiet computing or alternatively jaw-dropping overclocks. It used to be that if you wanted to experience heightening overclocks it would require constructing custom cooling contraptions when it came to the radiator, water blocks, and reservoirs. While this partially remains the case, retail water cooling solutions have certainly improved recently not only when it comes to the pure cooling performance but also the compatibility, size, aesthetics, and overall features. A few months ago, we had examined the Swiftech H20-220 APEX Ultra, which was a marvelous retail water-cooling kit and yielded exceptional results, but how will it fair against what we have today? In a small overclocking expedition, we have paired the Thermaltake BigWater SE cooling kit with the Thermaltake Volcano 4005 CPU cooling block, and set out to see how such a combination can fair when pushing an Intel Prescott processor to its limits. The BigWater SE CL-W0005-01 consists of a standard CPU copper water block, 12cm radiator, 5.25" bay reservoir, and +12V liquid pump. On the other hand, the Volcano 4005 CL-W0037 water cooler uses a copper liquid loop, 8/9-cm fan support, and a copper base.

Features:

· 12cm Radiator: High performance radiator with 120x120x25 mm VR fan (1300~2400RPM).
· All copper Waterblock:
· (a). Copper waterblock with blue LED acrylic cover illuminates your CPU
· (b). Universal clips for Intel P4 LGA 775, P4 Socket 478, AMD K8, AMD K7.
· All new Liquid Pump: Powerful DC 12V liquid pump with blue LED.
· Quick Install Connector: Save your time for convenient installation.
· Water Tube: Transparent green pipes light up your cool case.
· Coolant: High performance coolant with advantages of anti-freezing, anti-rusting, and reduce evaporation rate.
· Refill Liquid Tank: For easy refilling through 5.25" drive bay.

· Integrated Radiator
· Joins Heat Source Block and Ambient Heat Exchanger to maximize heat transfer efficiently without evaporation.
· Simplifies installation.
· Heat is removed instantly thanks to the Liquid Loop made out of pure copper tubes.
· Copper Tubing minimizes liquid evaporation.
· Brazing Heat Source Block
· Silver, which has higher heat conductivity than copper is used to provide best heat transfer possible.
· Advanced Brazing Technology provides the industrial-grade watertight seal, no leaking and more reliable.
· Versatility
· Either 80mm or 90mm fan can be used on Ambient Heat Exchanger.
· Supports all Thermaltake's liquid cooling accessory such as pump, radiator, VGA water block, etc.
· Y-tube accelerates the transferring frequency of liquid flow.

Contents:

For being a complete water cooling solution, the Thermaltake BigWater SE ships in a moderately sized package compared against other kits we have reviewed in the past. Included with this retail solution is the 12cm radiator with VR fan, copper water block with blue LED acrylic cover, 5.25" drive bay reservoir tank, and +12V DC pump with blue LED. In addition to these major components, there is the UV green tubing and Thermaltake fluid. On top of these contents were the additional accessories such as mounting screws, expansion slot bracket, and fan controller. When it came to the Volcano 4005, the actual cooler was included as well as the various hardware for mounting the device on all major CPU sockets as well as adapting it to existing water cooling kits. Included with both of these Thermaltake products were installation documents -- with detailed information for each of the different CPU sockets.