Exos Koolance Review
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As some of you that have been around the overclocking or performance hardware forums for awhile may know that water-cooling has come a long way. A couple years ago I remember buying a Tom Leufken water-cooling kit that was a major hassle to setup. The radiators were poorly designed or simply heater cores from cars. Trying to make room for and mount one of these things in your case was tedious. The radiator on the specific kit I was using had magnets attached to it so you could "easily mount the radiator anywhere." The big problem with this is the magnets weren't strong enough to support the weight of the radiator when it was full of water! Not to mention they used, by today's standards, inferior parts, such as using a large rubber O-ring as a water block retention mechanism or you could opt to use a metal one that the edges were so sharp they sheared off more than their fair share of mounting nubs on your sockets. And the Leufken's kit was regarded as one of the better kits for its day!
Koolance Exos External Liquid Cooling System and CPU-200S Waterblock
INTRODUCTION:
As some of you that have been around the overclocking or performance hardware forums for awhile may know that water-cooling has come a long way. A couple years ago I remember buying a Tom Leufken water-cooling kit that was a major hassle to setup. The radiators were poorly designed or simply heater cores from cars. Trying to make room for and mount one of these things in your case was tedious. The radiator on the specific kit I was using had magnets attached to it so you could "easily mount the radiator anywhere." The big problem with this is the magnets weren't strong enough to support the weight of the radiator when it was full of water! Not to mention they used, by today's standards, inferior parts, such as using a large rubber O-ring as a water block retention mechanism or you could opt to use a metal one that the edges were so sharp they sheared off more than their fair share of mounting nubs on your sockets. And the Leufken's kit was regarded as one of the better kits for its day!
Well that's enough of my ranting about the "good ole days." Time to talk about where we are now. Thanks to companies such as Koolance and Swiftech, water-cooling kits have become easier and easier to use. Both companies have offered OEM style water-cooling kits that have virtually everything pre-installed in the cases for people who don't want to spend a week or so designing and installing water-cooling. Not a bad idea but what about us that already have cases we like and spent a shiny penny or two on? Well Koolance is first out of the gate to address this market with the Koolance Exos External Liquid Cooling System. To quote from Koolance's website, "Bring powerful liquid cooling technology to an existing computer!" Their site goes on to explain that this cooling is system is self contained and will work with any existing case that has a spare PCI/ISA/AGP slot. Sounds like a good idea. But can it really be that easy to install, is it safe, and how good could the performance be?
SPECIFICATIONS:
Product Dimensions (WxHxD): 7.25" 3.75" 18.5" (18.4cm x 9.5cm x 47cm)
Product Weight (Dry): 7.3 pounds (3.3kg)
Quick-connect rear valves for easy transport or disassembly
Adapted power connection - does not require an AC power outlet
Optional attachment strap for systems that are "on the go"
Next: What's In the Box page 2 >>
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