Thermaltake BigWater SE + Volcano 4005
Examination:
Starting with the Thermaltake BigWater SE and specifically its included water block, it uses a copper base with acrylic cover. Attached to the acrylic cover on the top is a single blue LED. The blue LED is designed to accent the appearance of the water block (the pump also has a single LED), and is powered by a 3-pin fan header. The block measures in at 60 x 78 x 23.5 mm and weighs in at 453 grams. The included hardware is capable of having the water block mount against Intel Socket 478 and LGA-775 processors as well as AMD Socket A/754/939/940 CPUs. Examining the base of the heatsink, its finish certainly was not the best we have come across considering there were a few evident scratches and other areas that could have been flatter and ultimately shinier.
Moving onto the Thermaltake radiator, it uses aluminum construction with copper tubing and comes with a 120mm fan attached. This fan has a rated speed of 1300 ~ 2400RPM and can be controlled by the VR fan controller at the expansion slot area. Protruding from the fan is a white sleeved cable with 4-pin molex power connection and splits into a single 3-pin header with RPM monitoring. The radiator measures in at 122 x 35 x 166 mm, and while it is not as large as some dual or even triple 120mm radiators we have tried in the past, it should hopefully be able to effectively do its job of lowering the water temperature. At the rear of the radiator are also holes for mounting a second fan to achieve yet more efficient cooling.
Turning now to the water pump, its size is incredibly compact at 66 x 61.5 x 36 mm. When we were initially looking over this pump, we were almost in disbelief due to the small size; however, with the smaller tubing it should not present much of a problem, hopefully. This pump runs off a 4-pin molex connector with the +12V rail and requires 0.4A for operation. When running, the water pump churns 18 dBA and pumps 90 L/hour. Like the CPU water block, the radiator contains a single blue LED for aesthetics purposes.