Asetek Antarctica Waterblock – Retail

Waterblock Test – Joe

SUMMARY: Excellent choice for CPU cooling with moderate-high power waterpumps.

The good guys at Asetek were nice enough to send a Antarctica Retail waterblock to test; I tested an earlier pre-production version and this is now the production version.

The Antarctica features:

• Push-on fittings for ½” OD tubing
• Two exit fittings
• Stream Channels ™ in copper base for increased surface area
• Mounting for Intel 478, AMD Socket A, FX and Athlon64 CPUs

The Antarctica features channels in the copper base to increase surface area over the CPU:

The center hole sits over these channels and the pic above shows the slit which directs water over them.

The base appears well finished:

I did notice some polishing marks, but they were not apparent to the touch – very slight. Overall, Asetek’s Antarctica is well built with lots of flexibility for various CPU mounting schemes.

Parts shipped with the Antarctica for mounting on Intel 478, AMD Socket A, FX and Athlon64 CPUs:

The Antarctica was tested using the CPU Die Simulator and Waterblock Test Rig.

Test Results indicate that the Antarctica’s pressure drop (or head loss) across the waterblock is moderate; resistance such as this means that Antarctica needs a moderate to large waterpump to extract maximum performance, especially if other components in the system are restrictive.

I found that performance degraded by about 1.0ºC with at a flow rate of 0.5 gpm and improved by about 0.9ºC at 1.5 gpm, indicating that using at least a moderate power pump (300 gph, 5′ head) is a good move.

For a comparison of the Antarctica’s performance to other waterblocks tested to date, see Overclockers.com Waterblock Test Results.

Asetek’s Antarctica waterblock is a fine choice for CPU cooling. In addition, with moderate-high flow resistance, the Antarctica will perform very well with moderate/high power waterpumps, as long as other components do not unduly restrict waterflow. As with other restricted-flow waterblocks, pressure drop is above average.

Thanks again to Asetek for sending this our way.

Email Joe