After delving into the world of water cooling with our previous Corsair HydroCool200 review, I firsthand witnessed the superior cooling efficiency of liquid as compared to traditional forced-air heatsink coolers.  However, I noticed some limitations after becoming better acquainted to the HydroCool over the months, like having to modify a new case each time I upgrade systems or the cutting the hoses when changing the mounting brackets for different processor sockets. In hopes of improving my water cooling experience, I set out to design and implement my own customized water cooler. 

Parts and Specifications

With all my parts laid out, I thought long and hard how and where my cooling setup would be situated. Learning from the HydroCool, I did not want to restrict myself to a certain socket format without cutting the hoses for the clamp. I decided on the new Koolance water block, paired with the Asetek water reservoir. The Asetek model is not much larger than a two ounce bottle of Hydrx. To provide the actual cooling, I utilized an inexpensive generic radiator outfitted with two 120mm fans.

The Koolance water block arrived will all the necessary parts and mounting brackets for both Pentium 4 and Athlon XP processors. If you opt to use the Koolance 300 series in conjunction with the Athlon 64, then you must also purchase the proper A64 mounting brackets which are not included in the retail package. It is also important to note Koolance provides a protective film to cover the nearly perfect mirror finish of the water block base.

Cooler Assembly

With fingers aching from the assembly of the half-inch tubing and fittings, I decided a better way must exist. I found dipping the loose ends of the tubing into boiling water for a few seconds worked much better than brute force.

I situated the reservoir to hold the water before entering the pump because it is imperative the pump never runs dry. As I was filling the reservoir with distilled water, I made sure water entered the pump before I applied power to prime the system. I made sure there were no leaks at any joints - as I had to tighten the fittings at the reservoir with pliers. When there were no leaks, I moved the entire setup into a bucket and placed the kit next to my main rig with the pump plugged in for an additional eight hours to ensure there were absolutely no leaks.

After the leak test I opened the top of the reservoir and removed enough water to accommodate two ounces of HydrX additive. The water became the pale green once the HydrX circulated throughout the cooling system. Even though my homebrew kit does not have a flow meter - which Corsair implemented into the HydroCool - an easy look at the reservoir for a ripple effect can tell me if the pump is properly circulating the coolant.

An important aspect to mention is the difficulty of applying the hoses on the radiator as well as the pump. Of my entire setup, the easiest piece to hook the hoses up to was the reservoir because of the push-lock fittings. If you intend to follow the same route that I took, consider a pump upgrade, such as recently released Swiftech MCP650.

Case Modification

Much to my surprise, I found my Antec case could not fully situate the entirety of my water cooling system. I had friends at J&L Construction in New Jersey to cut the case top panel to better accommodate the radiator unit. I spent another few hours sanding the cut edges smooth with a grinding stone fitted into a Dremel rotary tool.

System Assembly

After cleaning the case of metal bits, I slipped in the water cooler and fired up the system. Airflow inside the case is somewhat restricted, but since the majority of heat is generated by the processor, airflow should be of little concern.

Performance Testing

System loading was accomplished with the Find-a-Drug distributed computing client running simultaneously with 3DMark 2001 set in loop mode.

System at Idle