MaximumPC 2005 10

68 MA XIMUMPC OCTOBER 2005

reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

T

he Aquian is a revelation in that it’s an

internal water-cooling kit that offers the

same level of performance as an external

unit without having a big-honkin’ radiator

and fan outside your case. And unlike the

other internal kit we tested—Cooler Master’s

Aquagate Mini (May 2005)—you can add more

water blocks to this kit at some future date.

We dare say, the Aquian is the answer to our

water-cooling prayers.

The Aquian is a self-contained kit that

mounts to a 12cm fan mount (your case

must have a 12cm mount; an 8cm or 10cm

won’t fit). The enclosure contains a 5x10-

inch radiator, dual submersible pumps (one

pushes water to the CPU block while the

other sucks it through the radiator, providing

a failsafe in case one pump fails), a blue LED-

lit reservoir, and power connections for the

kit. Its angular design allows you to mount it

inside most cases

without touching any

components. It can

even be adjusted

up and down an

inch and a half

to accommodate

different cases and

mobos. We didn’t

experience any

blockage issues

with either our AMD

or Intel test rigs,

though the case interior was very cramped in

both setups.

Two 1/4-inch tubes go from the pumps

to the CPU water block, which is included

and fits all late-model CPUs (Xeons require

an additional adapter). Though water-cooling

aficionados may scoff at such a skinny

tubing diameter (1/2-inch and 3/8-inch are

the norm), it’s necessary because the entire

apparatus swings out 90 degrees from the

case to allow you to fill the reservoir and

work in your system. The swing-out design

requires a lot of slack in the lines and larger

tubing would kink where the skinnier, more

flexible tubing doesn’t. Cooling performance

suffers a tad because of the thin tubes, but

temperatures and overclocking performance

are still excellent.

Once the CPU water block is attached—

an easy affair, although it does require

motherboard removal on LGA775 rigs—a

3.5-inch LCD system monitor mounts in a

free bay and displays the temp reading from

the water block (Koolance recommends you

use a third-party software utility to monitor

your CPU temperature). Unfortunately, the

probe is too far from the core of the water

block to give an accurate reading. Fan speed

is controlled by the LCD unit, which you

can set to Auto or Manual. In auto mode,

fan speed varies incrementally depending

on the temps reported by the probe. In

manual mode you control fan speed with a

couple buttons on the panel. We prefer the

auto mode; it worked perfectly in our tests,

ratcheting fan speed up as the temperature

increased. The system also has a built-in

alarm that sounds at 55 C and cranks the

fan to 100 percent. If temps increase another

3 C it shuts off the whole system. You

can manually adjust alarm and shutdown

temperatures.

The Aquian isn’t a perfect 10—its cooling

performance isn’t as good as other units

we’ve tested. And it can make your case

interior very cramped, especially in a mid-

tower full of hardware. Still, it’s unbelievably

quiet and performs very well—almost as well

as the Koolance Exos 2, which costs twice as

much and requires a huge external radiator!

—JOSH NOREM

The Aquian swings out 90 degrees from the case for maintenance

or to allow you to fiddle with your system’s innards.

Fan speed can be changed manually

or set to Auto via this 3.5-inch LCD

display. It includes a preset alarm and

allows you to adjust system shutdown

temps (in case of pump or fan failure).

The Aquian

fit just fine

in our test

case, but

be sure

to check

Koolance’s

website

for a list of

compatible

cases prior

to purchase.

KOOLANCE AQUIAN STOCK COOLER

Best scores are bolded. All temperatures were measured from the onboard

sensors using the utilities provided by the motherboard manufacturer. Idle

temperatures were measured after 30 minutes of inactivity and full-load

temps were achieved by running CPU Burn-in for one hour.

BENCHMARKS

Koolance Aquian

ICM-505

A superb way to add water to your rig

$220, http://www.koolance.com

KOOLANCE AQUIAN ICM-505

INTERNAL KIT

Easy to install, maintains

chilly temps, and can be

expanded to suit your PC’s

evolving needs.

INTERNAL BLEEDING

9

Can make a mid-tower very

cramped. MA XIM

UMPC

KICKASS

AMD FX-55

IDLE

FAN LOW 36 C N/A

FAN HIGH 34 C 40 C

100% LOAD

FAN LOW 46 C N/A

FAN HIGH 43 C 54 C

OVERCLOCKED TO: 2.9GHZ 2.7GHZ

INTEL LGA775

3.6GHZ

IDLE

FAN LOW 42 C N/A

FAN HIGH 37 C 44 C

100% LOAD

FAN LOW 57 C N/A

FAN HIGH 55 C 63 C

OVERCLOCKED TO: 4.18GHZ 4.0GHZ