D-TEK Spiral Waterblock

Waterblock Test – Joe

SUMMARY: OK choice for CPU cooling with moderate power waterpumps, although this design is showing signs of age.

My pal Brian had a D-TEK Spiral waterblock floating around and was nice enough to send it to me for a test.

The Spiral features

• ½” hose barbs
• Copper base
• Anodized aluminum top, O-ring sealed

You will notice below that the Spiral’s pressure drop is fairly low – this is due to its interior design:

Even though it’s a spiral design, the channels are very wide; note also that the side of the channels are grooved:

The base shows some minor signs of wear:

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

Test Results indicate that the Spiral’s pressure drop (or head loss) across the waterblock is relatively low; flow resistance such as this means that D-TEK’s Spiral should function very well without using a large waterpump, although anything less than 300 gph might compromise results, depending upon how restrictive other components are in system.

I found that reducing flow to 0.5 gpm resulted in a performance decrease of about 1.6ºC and increasing flow to 1.5 gpm resulted in a gain of about 0.9ºC.

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

D-TEK’s Spiral Waterblock is an OK choice for CPU cooling, although it is an older design compared to newer waterblocks on the market. Flow resistance is fairly low; the Spiral will perform very well with moderate power waterpumps (300 gph), as long as other components do not unduly restrict waterflow.

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