Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Review

Testing:

To gauge the performance of the Antec Kuhler 620, I will be making a comparison of the temperatures at idle and under load. Both will be made while the CPU is at the stock voltages and clock speeds, as well as when the CPU is overclocked and 'over-volted'. This will help to show what kind of cooling performance that this all-in-one liquid cooling system has to offer when compared to other socket 1366 compatible high-performance cooling solutions. These heat sinks and liquid cooled solutions will be tested head-to-head as they are delivered from the manufacturer. I could throw in a bunch of testing variables, but it is not what the products are capable of "as delivered". To test the idle temperatures, I will allow the computer to stay idle for 30 minutes and take the idle temperature at this point. For the load testing, I will use Prime95 version 26.5 and choose the blend testing and allow the processor and memory controller to heat up to the maximum temperatures. The time frame is a four-hour run, to allow the temperature to peak - usually in the 14K test. I will use Real temp 3.6 to take the high and low temperatures and average the temperatures generated over the four cores as my reported temperatures.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel Core I7 920 133x20 Stock 166x20 Overclocked
• Cooling: Antec Kuhler 620
• Motherboard: Sapphire Pure Black X58
• Memory: Mushkin 996805 Redline PC312800 6-8-6-24 1600MHz
• Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD5870
• Power Supply: Mushkin 1000 watt Joule Modular power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• Case: Cooler Master HAF 932

Comparison Heat sinks:

Comparison Heat sinks:

• Noctua NH-C14
• Corsair H50
• Corsair H70
• CoolIT Vantage ALC
• Coolink Corator DS
• Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366
• Thermalright TRUE Revision C
• Noctua NH-D14
• Noctua NH-U9B SE
• Coolit ECO ALC
• Noctua NH-C12P SE14
• Thermalright TRUE Copper
• Gelid Tranquillo
• Thermalright TRUE Revision A
• Noctua NH-C12P SE14
• Thermaltake FRIO

The Antec Kuhler H20 620 did not disappoint. It kept pace with Corsair's popular H-70 despite using only one fan and a thinner radiator. The load temperatures between the Kuhler and the H-70 were within 1 degree Celsius of each other throughout the testing. What was even more surprising with the Kuhler was that when the CPU was pushed to the 4.0 GHz mark, the Antec Kuhler H20 620 still stayed within a degree of the H-70's performance. Impressive? I'll say so. At this point the Kuhler H20 620 has bested every self-contained liquid cooling solution I have tested save the H-70. That achievement is most likely only the addition of another fan away.