Space2000 WaterCooling Kit

Very good performance — Joe

SUMMARY: An effective watercooling solution, with some caveats.

Cooling Flow was nice enough to send over a sample of their
Space2000 WaterCooling Kit. It includes:

• Space2000 SE+ Waterblock
• IceBall Water Reservoir
• 120mm Radiator
• Hardware for PIV/Socket A Installation
• Tubing, cutter and Quick Connect 90 degree fittings

The waterblock is milled from a solid piece of copper:

It consists of two pieces – the bottom and a top which is screwed onto the base. The base

is nicely finished, although not to a high polish – I could not feel any polishing marks. When I received the waterblock, it had a small leak on one side. Cooling Flow sent a tube of the sealer used to mate the top to the bottom, Loctite Gasket Eliminator 518.

After unscrewing the four screws that holds the top to the base, the top came off easily and I found this:

The design uses a maze; setting it up, cool water comes in the center and exits at the side. Inspecting the top,

I found that there were discernible polishing marks on the underside. The Loctite can be used to seal these grooves and make the assembly watertight. I applied a layer of Loctite to the base where it contacts the top, screwed it back on and let it sit overnight. After testing for three hours, there were no leaks, so I then proceeded to test.

The waterpump (rated @ 600 l/hr) sits on four rubber pads in a plastic reservoir (“IceBall”):

There are two plugs – a 120v to power the pump (a little on the short side) and a 12v to power the pump relay and lights. The relay allows you to plug it in to a 120v line and the pump powers up only when you power up the PC. There are two small blue lights embedded in the plastic:

In a dark room, it’s actually kind of soothing.

The reservoir does not feature a watertight top – it leaks if you tip it. In addition, the exit hole for the power cord is not sealed either. Both of these could be sealed with silicone, if desired.

Unfortunately, there is no fill hole, so I added water through the intake nipple. Once I got to the point where I couldn’t add water without leaking, I dribbled it into the reservoir using a tube. All told, it would be better if there was a fill port in the top.

The pump is very quiet – mounting the reservoir on a foam pad should isolate any stray vibrations from the case.
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The radiator

features the quick connect fittings and is about the size of a 120mm fan. The fan is an 120 x 38mm ADDA, model #AD1212LX-F51, rated 1950rpm, 72cfm, 33 dBA. I found it to be fairly quiet – I measured its noise at 55 dBA with a Radio Shack sound meter 8″ from the fan’s intake, substantially less than a Delta 38 (about 69 dBA).

The parts shipped with the kit

include hardware for Socket A, PIV 423 and 462. In addition, there is tubing, a tube cutter and 90 degree fittings:

The PIV brackets use the spider leg looking hold downs that ship with the retail heatsink:

The brackets also include small blue lights:

Another nice touch for cases with windows.

mounting is very easy, although you must remove the motherboard for Socket A mounting. The following diagram is from Cooling Flow’s Waterblock Installation Guide:

There is also a system Installation Guide which nicely shows the how the total system interconnects.
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The Space2000 Kit was first tested on the CPU Die Simulator which gives results that are unaffected by motherboard influences. I then tested it on an Iwill KK266+, modified to read AMD’s on-die diode, as an example of what users might see on their systems.

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.

Die Simulator results place the Space2000 in the top rank of cooling solutions (Heatsink Ranking) and mid-pack for watercooling solutions.

I think the Space2000 Watercooling Kit has some rough edges that can be fixed fairly easily, either by the manufacturer or users. The lights are a nice addition, particularly if you have a window in your case. In addition, because it’s adaptable for either AMD or Intel motherboards, you can go either way.

All told, at the right price, this can be an effective way to go.

Thanks again to Cooling Flow for sending this our way. They are looking for distribution, so if you’re interested, drop Y Choi a line.

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