Global WIN Silent Stream Review
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Once the realm of PC enthusiasts, water cooling solutions are on the verge of making themselves known in mainstream markets. Although you’re not likely to see Dell or Compaq offer a water cooling solution any time in the near future, companies like GlobalWIN are paving the way for more extreme cooling solutions to enter today’s general PC user market. Today, Dev Hardware’s KaoMAN is taking a look at GlobalWIN’s Silent Stream, a one piece water cooling solution aimed at those who want to start reaping the benefits of water cooling.
Water cooling is not a new phenomenon, as it has been around for years. The process in which heat is drawn away from the CPU is a necessity to varying degree depending on the CPU and its application. Nowadays, most PCs require some form of active cooling if not utilizing an extensive passive cooling system. Whether its water or air, active cooling requires a fluid medium in which heat can be transferred from a source to the medium and the medium to be constantly flowing and being replenished by "fresh" medium. It is no wonder then that we've seen heat sinks and fans widely used to cool microprocessors, air being a very easily accessible medium. But it is also not a surprise that water is used as an alternative.
The major difficulty with water cooling in the large scale perspective is consistency which is why we don't see OEMs selling water cooled PCs. Enthusiasts on the other hand, have welcomed water cooling in their boxes after examination of the tremendous cooling benefits of using water versus air. Still, while microprocessors can live off air, and until the process of water cooling is refined to the ease and simplicity of a 80mm fan clipped onto an inexpensive aluminum extrusion, we will not be seeing water cooling from Dell.
CoolerMaster. Swiftech. Thermalright. These are some big name cooling manufacturers that enthusiasts today have become accustomed to hearing about. And GlobalWIN? GlobalWIN was a big name in the industry back in the Pentium 3 age (both slot and socket). It's unfortunate to say however, their socket 478 and 462 air coolers have generated little noise (figuratively speaking), not because their products are bad, but because there is an insane amount of competition. But with the Silent Stream water cooling kit, GlobalWIN has entered a fairly young market with great potential for success. Why? Their latest cooling entry embodies a large step towards reaching that "consistency" I spoke of, a level of ease with which water cooling can be installed and maintained, and depended upon as a reliable source of CPU cooling. Today, we will examine the unique one piece water cooling kit from GlobalWIN, the Silent Stream.
Next: Silent Stream Package and Contents >>
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