AMD ZONE- XP90 better than water?

according to this article they got a better oc on a FX60 with XP90 than a WC setup with a swiftech mc6002. What gives?

AMD ZONE

Well, it was actually an XP-90C and a screaming Tornado vs (what appears to be) a 6000 (3/8" tubing) a single radiator and who knows what fan and there's no mention of the pump. The current H20-120 kit on Swiftech's site is different than the one they tested so I have no idea of what components they're actually using for the test--but it isn't "high-end" water or even mid-range water. And, when a reviewer doesn't specify the components being tested.... I'll let you judge the validity of the "test."

well the say in the article

"Moving to watercooling we chose the Swiftech H20-120. Swiftech is known for making some of the top cooling products around for many years now. The all copper water block and ample radiator meant we had a very quiet running cooling solution in stark contrast to the Thermalright XP-90C and Vantec Tornado pairing."

also worthy of note is their rad is kinda crappy and they are using a kit... also not really the best thing in the world

my guess is that it has something to do with their setup... also unless I am mistaken that kit has the 350 and presumably they did not mod it. It probably would have gotten better results from the mod or the 655

I aslo noticed they didnt run any benchmarks. I hope my FX60 does 3.3 on air

From the fact they are using the 6000 series waterblock I am guessing they were also using one of their single 120 radiators which while decent certainly dont set the world on fire. In other words they used a watercooling kit that by todays standards is middle to low end - after all, the kits based around the 600x blocks are discontinued. I think they did this primarily to simplify their testing procedures in all honesty with no intent of making water seem less capable.

Now I would like to see that test run with one of Swiftnets 220 Apex Ultra kits if a kit was required and if not I would like to see it run with the D5, Storm Rev2, and a PA160 or PA120.2 matched up with 1/2" or 7/16" ID tubing.

Also note that the watercooling setup they tested was extremely quiet. I would have liked to see the testers (just for giggles) toss on a powerful Sanyo Denki or Delta and let the system rip again. While hard on the hearing I have a feeling they may have seen slightly different results

"xp-90 with tornado better than single 120mm rad and old school block"

It shouldn't be hard to figure out that in order to actually benefit from watercooling one must take advantage of a large radiator with multiple fans placed externally to cool ambient air. If they had used identical fans (at least identical performance) the situation would've been different. Had they used a triple radiator with 3 fans, WC could've won, of course.