CoolingKing

Very good watercooling kit – Joe

SUMMARY: When you do your homework, the results show – a very good kit.

The good guys at CoolingKing were nice enough to send me a sample of their watercooling kit, model # CCPS301 to test. This kit is not yet available and they are looking for distribution.

Upon opening the kit and examining the contents, a couple of things struck me right away:

• Tubing: No skinny stuff here – 9mm ID (~3/8″) silicone
• Pump: An Eheim 1048 waterpump – first rate
• Waterblock: Copper with large inlet/outlet nipples
• Radiator: Large with 120mm fan

Clearly some thought has gone into this to maximize flow rates. Looking at the radiator

shows that this thing is BIG – the radiator’s footprint is 5″ x 5″ x 8″. It si conceivable that you could hang using the 120mm fan mounts, but you need a fair amount of room inside the case to clear the radiator’s body. What’s also interesting is the manner in which the tubing flows into the radiator:

Note that the inlets straddle each row of radiator tubing – something I have not seen before. This arrangement should cut down system resistance somewhat, although there’s a lot of copper tubing in it.

The pump is a good one:

an Eheim 1048. The kit comes with a small reservoir and a rubber coupling to attach the reservoir to the pump. Once assembled, it’s a nice, compact unit:

The half-sphere at the upper left on the reservoir unscrews – use this to fill the system with fluid. The tubing is silicone – very flexible:

What you will NOT find in this kit are tube clamps. I assembled and ran the system without clamps and can attest that the likelihood of a tube ever coming off is about nil. Even so, just for peace of mind, I’d use clamps – very cheap insurance.
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Email Joe

The clips include two sets – one for P4 and one for Socket A:

Note that there are three clips for Socket A – one for each lug. You’ll also see that each clip is marked for CPU loading:

The recommended approach for Socket A is to mount the center clip first, at 12 pounds, then mount two more at 4 pounds each. This gives a total clip force of 20 pounds – within AMD’s spec. The problem I had was that I could not get the 4 pound clips into the appropriate recess – I gave up and used the 12 pound setting for all three (I think you’ll get better performance anyway).

The waterblock is all copper and features large diameter nipples:

There are indents in the top into which the clips rest – this ensures proper pressure over the CPU core.

The interior features a patented design using a “pin and wall” pattern:

The pins have serrated edges, most likely to increase surface area and turbulence. There are two kinds of pins in the block:

The larger pins are used in the center of the block (not pictured here – the larger pins are a newer version which I tested). The base

showed no polishing marks (some discoloration) – I could not feel any marks. Looks like a good job.

Finally, I should mention that the kit contains four LEDs for those who wish to add lighting effects.

Overall, at first blush, the CoolingKing looks promising!{mospagebreak}

Email Joe

I assembled the kit for Socket A use to mount on the CPU Die Simulator. I only used the silicone tubing – I did not use any 90 degree bends nor the short length “spring” tubing included with it.