Koolance Exos-Al Review - Performance
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I tested the Koolance Exos-Al in Mode 1 with CPU-300-H06 water block against the Zalman Reserator 1 and Global WIN Silent Stream. The Reserator 1 is an external water cooling kit that also places the reservoir, pump, and radiator in one unit while the Silent Stream looks more like a traditional water cooler but is also in fact just one piece. I chose Mode 1 over Mode 3 because the fans at 45% is very quiet - one of the benefits of water cooling - and comparable to the totally silent Reserator 1 and single 80mm fan Silent Stream. As Koolance says, Mode 3 is "largely unnecessary in operating your Koolance system" and I can't see why anyone would want to use it. In my testing, the Exos temperature probe never reached 36°C, so Mode 2 is no different than Mode 1; the fans operated at 45% power the entire time.
The test system is a P4 2.4GHz @ 3.06GHz, Abit IS7 motherboard, 1GB DDR memory, CoolerMaster Wave Master case, and 350w Enermax PSU. Other heat affecting components are a GeForce 6800, three hard drives, and a blue cold cathode light. Temperatures were read from the IS7's Winbond W83627HF chip for all three coolers and I also recorded the Exos's temperature probe reading for the Exos-Al only. A combination of Prime95 and CPU Burn (burnp6.exe) was used to simulate load. Room temperature was maintained at 23 degrees Celsius.
Cooler | CPU Temp Idle (°C) | CPU Temp Load (°C) |
| Exos-Al | 39.0 | 45.0 |
| Exos-Al (Exos Probe) | 30.0 | 33.0 |
| Reserator 1 | 41.5 | 53.0 |
| Silent Stream | 48.0 | 56.0 |
The Exos-Al with CPU-300-H06 is simply an amazing cooler. While the Exos-Al and Reserator 1 maintain a close idle temperature of around 40°C, as soon as the CPU goes under load, the Exos-Al shows off how well it dissipates heat with a load temperature of just 45°C. The Reserator 1 and Silent Stream provide decent cooling but the Exos-Al whips them by 8°C and greater when the CPU is at full load showing off the true cooling power of water when an actively cooled (and well cooled) radiator (and large radiator) is at work dissipating heat. The Exos probe showed very conservative temperatures because it is sensing heat from the edge of the base of the water block and not really the CPU die or heatspreader.
Next: Conclusion >>
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