Enermax Liqtech 120X and 240 review

Posted on: 06/11/2014 10:54 AM

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Thanks for the review, Hilbert.

It's just sad to see liquid cooling kit blown away by a "standard air cooler". I know it's not exactly fair to compare Noctua NH-D14/15 with this, especially as in-case tests will favor solutions with heatsinks mounted to the case, minimizing air reuse, but well... Noctua DH14 costs more or less the same and offers way better temperatures at lower noise.

I think that you can go with budget cooler, or something high-end as Noctua, and if that's not enough, then to look for AiO liquid, but something reasonable like the linked CM Nepton 280L, or go with expensive custom setup.

Unfortunately, I can hardly find a reason to buy any of these Enermax kits.

Posted on: 06/11/2014 02:38 PM

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Were the fans on the 240 actually mounted in a pull configuration?

I take ti the instructions say to pull cool air in from the outside of the case.

This is absolutely the dumbest thing to do as all it does is heat soak everything else inside the case.. and pretty much all AIO water cooler instructions say to do this.

It is much more effective to have good enough airflow through the case so that you can have the fans exhausting air.

Another thing is that from what I have seen, the blades on pretty much all fans are designed more to push more than to pull. That right there should drop a couple degrees.

I was actually kind of surprised to see that cooler get stomped by air coolers.

Posted on: 06/11/2014 05:51 PM

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A lot of these AiO's confuse me. Honestly, at more than $50USD, I couldn't justify buying either of these. I consider 80C to be unacceptable for a "watercooling solution".....especially when the same results can be achieved using cheaper (and quieter) forced air cooler....

Posted on: 06/11/2014 06:29 PM

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While these liquid cooling solutions don't interest me. I am aiming for an h110 due to the fact that I want a non intrusive cooler that does not cover any DIMM or RAM slots.

@cyclone3d

I was looking through the users guide for the h110 and Corsair says to have the fans set to intake or pull rather than push or exhaust mode for best performance. I agree with you heat rises so it makes sense for to exhaust it out.