3R System Poseidon WCL-02

September 6, 2004 admin Uncategorized 0

Kit test – Joe

SUMMARY: Entry level kits with moderate performance.

System

The good guys at 3R System Co. were nice enough to send samples of the Poseidon WCL-02 watercooling kit. There are two versions of this kit – the difference between them is the radiator:

Rads

Which one is larger?? See below.

The WCL-90 features a 92mm fan and the WCL-120 a 120mm fan. The 92 mm fan is rated at 78 cfm, 4000 rpm and the 120 at 116 cfm, 3000 rpm. Noise at these speeds was moderate.

Key Features:

  • 12 volt waterpump
  • GPU and northbridge waterblocks
  • Pump Head: 650 mm (about 2.1 feet)
  • Pump Flow Rate: 1.2 lpm (about 19 gal/hr)
  • Aluminum Radiator
  • Silicone tubing

Tubing is attached using plastic adapters which securely fasten the tubes using screw fittings.

CPU WB

The waterblock’s base is not well finished:

Base

I could feel polishing ridges very distinctly with my fingernail.

Mounts (Intel CPU – Prescott, P4, P3, Xeon; AMD CPU – Barton, Duron, Athlon) that ship with the kit are quite good:

Mounts

They distribute pressure over the CPU core, where it should be. I would not use a screwdriver to tighten – finger pressure is adequate to the task.

The radiator features a plenum on both sides

Rad

and tubes between.

The parts that ship with the kit

Parts

include GPU and northbridge waterblocks, assorted fittings, fluid and a rheostat for fan control. The waterblocks for the GPU and northbridge have aluminum bases compared to copper for the CPU waterblock:

WBs

The Test

The WCLs were tested using the CPU Die Simulator. The tests were run using the same components each time – the only difference was changing radiators; the waterblock was not dismounted from the die simulator during testing.

Kit

Die Temp

Ambient Temp

Delta

C/W

WCL-90, 3376 rpm

53.7

27.3

26.4

0.37

WCL-120, 2633 rpm

55.0

27.5

27.5

0.38

Delta = CPU temp – Ambient Temp
C/W = Delta / CPU Watts

Interpreting C/W: For every watt (CPUw) that the CPU
consumes, the HSF will limit the CPU’s temperature rise to (C/W x CPUw)
plus the temperature at the HSF’s fan inlet. For example, at an ambient temp of 25 C, a C/W of 0.25 with a CPU radiating 50 watts means that CPU temp will increase 50 x 0.25 = 12.5 C over ambient temp, or 37.5 C. The lower the C/W, the better.

What I found interesting is the relatively small difference between the 90 and 120 mm fan results – I would have expected the 120 to be marginally better. I measured the radiators and found that, to my surprise, the face areas are the same – the 90 measures 3 ½” x 4¼” and the 120 4¼” x 3 ½” – both equal at 14.9 square inches (visually the 120 looks bigger). These results were confirmed in multiple tests¹ over three days – no fluke.

Die Simulator results place the Poseidon WCL-02s in the lower rank of watercooling kits tested to date (Heatsink Ranking).

CONCLUSIONS

The WCL-02 kits tested about where I thought they would – OK for an entry level kit and OK for non-aggressive cooling. I would recommend the 120 over the 90 as fan noise is somewhat lower.

Thanks again to 3R System Co. for sending these our way to check out.

Email Joe