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Lets start by looking at what comes in the box. The main part of this system is a two slot cooler that is quite large. A high quality copper waterblock is also included. There is a great length of tubing and a lot of wiring. A premixed bottle of coolant for filling the system and topping it off is also in the box. It has parts for the various mounting solutions and the pci slot controller. I almost forgot to say that there are several mounting systems for the waterblock, and that is because none of them work for the mac (no surprise there). I will show how to fix that of course!
The case which holds all of the major components is impressive to look at. Its all high quality materials here. Everything is aluminum and I mean everything. This is a budget system this lets you know you got your moneys worth. Let us take a peek inside to see what is in there.
Inside we find the cooling fan, the pump, temperature gauge lcd (which is removable), radiator, and a pcb. Inside we find that most of the parts of made of, guess what, aluminum! The only plastic to be found is the pump and fan. The fan is not quite lined up with the radiator, which may or may not lower its ability to cool. The rear has holes covering the majority of its surface area for exhaust. The rear also has power and water line connections. The connectors are quick release and keep the coolant in if you need to relocate it. The resevior is of efficient size and has a temperature probe and easily removable aluminum cap.
The waterblock is is made of highly polished copper and acrylic. It is similar in design to much of what we see in the market. The barbs and couplers are metal which should make for a sturdy and long lasting seal. They included thermal paste too, although in testing I used Arctic Silver 5 as I always do.
Including so much tubing brings extra points to Cooler Master. Lets face it, we all make miscalculations in measurement and change things in our systems pretty regularly (at least I do). The extra tubing also lets you locate the system outside of your Mac's case if it is too small (probably) or if you feel more comfortable keeping the water away from your valuable components.
This system is full of installation options. As I said previously, you can locate outside of the Mac's case, but you can also stow it in 2 bays in the 5.25 section of the front or install it in the power supply's usual home. The latter has you relocate the power supply, but in many Atx cases that is pretty easy and just gives a modder more potential for a good system layout. The temperature lcd can also be relocated to a 5.25 bay and if you want to get creative, there is plenty of wiring length to help you do that. Although the pci slot pcb is in fact designed to go in one of those slots, it does not interface with the mother board that way. That gives you plenty of installation options too.
Now that I have talked so much about the installation options, lets get to work. CoolerMaster includes instructions which you can follow most of the way through. I am starting with the waterblock because it is the biggest roadblock here. If you are using this in a zif based mac (G3 or limited G4 PowerMacs), you are in luck. A little tweaking of the Athlon spring clamp (which is much like the one Apple uses) and you are golden. By tweaking I mean it needs to be carefully bent. Don't get too rough as snapping it is going to cause you problems. It took me some time to get it just right with a super tight fit. Take your time and it will work well for you. Installing on other cpus is more involved as the included systems do not work. My advice is to get some strong yet thin steel. Cutting some new spring attachments like what Apple uses is pretty easy. Although I have not done this myself, I am about to and will fill you in on the process in a couple of weeks. You could also fabricate a pressure mount of steel or plexiglass which could be bolted into the cpu's retention screws.
When I installed this system in an PC Atx case, it was very easy as water cooling systems go. I chose to put it in the front two 5.25 bays. Since most atx cases have more slots than Macs do, you can use a slot that is in one of the extra, unused slots (as far as the motherboard is concerned) to mount the controller pcb. I mounted it on the side which is unseen and that kept it looking clean and out of the way. Creativity counts in modding! The hoses were a piece of cake to cut with a razor. Putting them on the barbed connectors is not, but that will keep it from leaking. Make sure you install them on the waterblock while its not mounted on the cpu! That will stress the board and could cause damage! As creativity is at a high when building "cool" mods, I chose to mount the LCD display and fan control inside the case as it adds a flair to the internals and although I am not the set it and forget it kinda guy, this was used in a file server, hence the fact that adjustments were not necessary.
This system connects to a wall or power supply intlet. This is great for those older macs which have low output psus. I really liked that fact, but some folks won't as you are putting some serious electricity next to water. You can wipe your nervous brow as the coolant is distilled and is not very conductive! That may be true, but when you are installing it, be smart and safe as always. I admit it can make you a little sweaty at first, but so does soldering on a 3,000 dollar Mac.
After running wiring and temp sensors (follow the included instructions to the letter!), it was time to test this bad boy. Before I get into details, CoolerMaster says that this system is capable of cooling cpus UP TO 89w. This should be no problem for most G4s and all G3s. Now that is out of the way, I will flick the switch. Bingo! We are up and running without any leaks. I do see some air bubbles though. No biggie, just shut down, remove the main section, power back up and rotate it from side to side while adding water. I know that sounds conveluted, but its actually pretty easy.
Lets take a quick look at the test system. A FastMac G4 450-500, four hardrives, B/W G3 motherboard, 450w atx psu, four stick of cooled ram, and two video cards and two pci cards. Now this is really pushing the limit on upgradability and it makes a great heat producer. I am going to ramp up the cpu as far as possible as we go on here.
Okay, after a restart up, everything is running good and temps look good. Testing temps is difficult on an older systems because there is limited effective software solutions. I used software from Powerlgoix, the included temp sensor and another from my fan controller/temperature bay reader. At low settings, the fan is quiet, but at settings 2 and 3 its just plain loud! You may want to take that fact into consideration. Replacing the fan is easy and there are many quiet, high performance fans on the market (Panaflo!). Lets set it on 3 and see if it can cool as we overclock. 500mhz was a piece of cake. 550, no problem. At 600mhz, the temperatures were fine, but the cpu did not like the clock speed. Darn it! Well, if you use another cpu, you should be fine if it can handle the higher speeds. This one can go farther with a voltage jump, but that is a different area that I will not get into in this review. I backed it back down to 500mhz (which the standard heatsink CAN handle, but don't I trust that, not at all). The puny G3 heatsink works fine, but if you want to go above and beyond or flog it for hours, I do not suggest using it. That doesn't mean you need watercooling, but why not, its super cool!
This work was actually done over a month ago, so lets check out the update. I run this sever 18 hours a day with daily back ups, iTunes be served up as well as photos and file use. It serves up just as it should. Temperatures sit in the high 20s C and get up to the low 30s occasionally. The server sits in a nice cool basement room, which helps, but believe me when I say this system works great. Does it compare to the more expensive systems with large radiators and separate parts? Well, that depends on what you use it for, but I would say no. This system is a great way to get into the world of water cooling and will not let you down with its quality parts and tight seals.
Until next week, this is MacModder Maestro keeping it cool!
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The Good: I like Aquagate because it is a quality product. The main system, the waterblock, the amount of hose and the included controls are all of excellent build. That says a lot because as far as watercooling kits go, this one is a steal for the price.
The Bad: Although its simple to install and has all of those great qualities, it is still large, and because of that fact, it won't fit in most PowerMac cases.
The Skinny: For someone looking to try watercooling for the first time, this may very well be "the" kit to buy.
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