2 Cool Computer Water Block

2Cool Computer is a new face on the scene manufacturing CPU water blocks. Mike Eggert runs the show and was kind enough to send me a sample of his work. As you can see from the pic below, it is a very nicely finished water block sporting 3/8″ tubing.

2Cool Water Block

The clip is also well done and easy to use – very large openings for the socket’s lugs and wingnuts to fasten. I still prefer my epoxied bolts method, but this fastener is quite nice. As usual, be careful not to over-tighten as you will snap off a lug.

I tested this water block against a unit from CoolChip – this is an older version and as such does not represent what’s currently available. The CoolChip uses plastic angled tubes while 2 Cool uses straight brass. Also note the CoolChip unit is bigger overall.

2Cool and CoolChip

The two units use different tubing – the CoolChip unit uses 1/4″ while the 2Cool Computer has 3/8″ tubing. The pic below shows the difference and, based on the different water flow rates, you would expect to see some performance difference.

Inlets

I tested each unit using a double peltier rig – one peltier on top of another to give me about 100 watts output. I used the same radiator, fan and pump for each unit. I ran this setup until temps stabilized, then ran the test a second time reversing the testing order – both runs gave the same results, shown below:

2 Cool: -21.4 C
CoolChip: -19.8 C

I would have expected a priori that the 2 Cool unit would perform better and it did, but not by much. However it does attest to the performance advantages of larger diameter tubing; I think you will see more water blocks using 3/8″ tubing as it is more consistent with available water pumps used for CPU Cooling.

Overall, the 2 Cool water block is superbly finished and about as smooth as you could expect – I don’t think lapping it will improve performance. The smaller size is an advantage as it will fit in more situations than a larger unit. A nice unit for serious cooling.

Thanks again to 2Cool Computer for sending the samples.


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