Custom PC - UK (2019-12)

I

f RGBlightingisn’tquiteenoughexcessivebling

foryourmemory,thenthere’sonemorestepyou

cantaketomakeyourRAMstandoutfromthe

crowd,whichis addingwatertotheequation.Water-cooled

memoryisn’ta newidea,ofcourse,ascompaniessuchas

OCZweredippingtheirtoesintothepoolovera decadeago.

However,Thermaltakehasn’tjustaddedRGBlightingtoits

memorywaterblock;itsWaterRAMkitsincludememory

modulesanddigitaladdressableRGBcontrollerstoo,giving

youallthegearyouneedtospiceupthoseboringDIMMslots.

Severalkitsareavailable,startingat£228incVATfora

dual-channel16GBkitratedat3200MHz,andgoingallthe

wayuptoa 32GB,3600MHzquad-channelkitforaneye-

watering£500incVAT.ComparedwithyourtypicalCorsair

VengeanceRGBProkits,you’relookingata price

premiumofaround£230forthesamecapacity,

frequencyandsimilartimingsforthe32GBkit,and

roughly£130extraforthedual-channelkit.

Thermaltake’sWaterRAMisn’ta cheaproute

tofillingyourDIMMslots,then,butyou dogeta

water-cooledRAMset.Ofcourse,coolingprowess

isn’ttheonlyreasonpeoplebuywater-cooling

geareither.Aestheticsplaya hugepartinmany

people’sdecisiontopaylargesumsofmoneyfor

theirexoticcoolingsystems,andThermaltake’s

WaterRAMdoesadmittedly

lookfantastic.

Thelargeacrylictopis

embeddedwithRGBLEDs,

whichcanbecontrolled

usingyourmotherboard,or

byanincludedUSB-

poweredcontrollerplus

Thermaltake’sTTRGBPlus

software,withtheformer

synchronisingfinewith

ourMSItest

motherboard’sown

RGBlightingsystem.

TheLEDsarebright

andvibrant,and

theydiffuse

attractively

throughtheslightly

opaquetop.

Yourcoolantcan

beseenpassing

throughthemiddleoftheblocktoo,and with the various

lightingmodes,individualLEDsofferswirling effects around

theacrylictop.ThetopsportsG1/4ininlets and outlets, so it’s

simpletoplumbtheblockintoyourown liquid-cooling

system.Underneaththetopis a largecold plate that sits on

topofthememorymoduleheatsinks,and makes contact

usinga thermalpad.

Youneedtoscrewtheformertothelatter using included

screws,whichlooksa littleclunkycompared with modern

water-coolinghardware,butThermaltake includes all the

gearyouneed.Thecontactsurfacearea isn’t particularly

large,butit wasenoughtoknock6°Coff the temperature of

thememorymodulesaftera ten-minute Prime95 largefft

stresstest.Themoduleswerehappyto overclock up to

3866MHztoo,although4000MHzproved too much.

Conclusion

Evenif youoverclockyourmemorybya notch or two on the

divider,suchasboosting3200MHzto3466MHz, and input a

higherDDRvoltage,thereisn’treallya need to water-cool

yourmemory.It getswarm,butnottoa point where a well-

ventilatedcasecouldn’thandleit. Thedifference here,

though,is theRGBlightingandthepure wow factor of having

water-cooledmemory.

Thermaltake’sWaterRAMlooksfantastic, it does actually

workandit’seasytoinstall,taking us less under ten

minutestohookit uptoour water-cooling

loop.Sadly,atthese kinds of prices, it’s

prohibitivelyexpensive. Given that

therewardsfor water-cooling your

memoryarefar smaller than for

water-cooling

yourCPUor

graphicscard,

theWaterRAMis

onlyforthefew

peoplewhowant

theultimateRGB

hardwareandhavea

suitablylargewallet.

ANTONYLEATHER

REVIEWS / MEMORY

VERDICT

Awesome-lookingwater-cooled

memory,butit’shugely expensive

andcoolinggainsare limited.

OVERALLSCORE

79

PERFORMANCE

28 / 30

DESIGN

22 / 25

VALUE

29 / 45

SPEC

Frequency

3200MHz / 3600MHz

Timings

16-18-18-38 / 18-19-19-39

Voltage

1.35V

Height (from base)

54mm

Lighting

Yes (RGB)

WAT E R
DRAGON

• 
  

  Good overclocking
  headroom

  
  


• 
  

  Fantastic RGB
  lighting

  
  


• 
  

  Lower memory
  temperatures

  
  

WAT E R
BOATMAN

• Very expensive


• Limited speeds
  and capacities
  available


• No performance
  gains

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk

THERMALTAKE WATERRAM

/£228 inc VAT £500 inc VAT

DDR4 MEMORY KITS

(16GB, 3200MHz, dual-channel) (32GB, 3600MHz, quad-channel)

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