OC.com doesn't have any seriously high performing "kits" in it's lineup of kit reviews. All of the kits reviewed are what I'd personally classify as middling to low end performing solutions. The Innovatek kit has a good block, but suffers from a too low-end pump (if the 1046 is used) and a medium to low performing radiator. The Innovatek kit has low-middling performing pump(s), actually a fairly decent radiator, and a low to middling performing water-block.
The issue here is that when looking at the kits reviewed at OC.com, there's no high-end bar being set there with which to measure the various kits performance by.
The difference between a White Water, an Eheim 1048 (or equivalent cheaper pump) and a DTek Pro radiator with 2 fans on it (~$210-250 all up), and say the Innovatek/Koolance kit, will be around 10C lower CPU temps or possibly more, for an overclocked CPU under load. Why? Because the pump is better. The tubing is less restrictive. The block is better. The radiator is better. They are all little things (except for the block
) but it all adds up dramatically in the end. Merely looking at some pre-bundled kits compared to other pre-bundled kits fails to indicate what really is possible.
The other issue with the Koolance/Innovatek kit is that due to the tubing sizes used, they often restrict any form of upgrade path. You can no longer mix'n'match. It's toss the lot out and start again time if you want to improve something.
