Date: February 3rd, 2005
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product Submitted by: Asetek

ASETEK CORPORATE PROFILE

Asetek Inc., Denmark, is a world leading manufacturer of vapor phase and water based cooling solutions for personal computer systems. Both product lines [VapoChill® & WaterChill™] are designed for PC enthusiasts, gamers and professional users who demand exceptional performance, maximum stability and low noise levels. The products are sold through a global network of authorized distributors and resellers. Asetek works actively with world leading companies within the hardware and software industries to ensure maximum reliability, compatibility, and performance for its products.

PRODUCT INTRODUCTION

When it comes to computer and processor cooling, you have five choices:

- Air Cooling
- Water Cooling
- Peltier Thermo-Electric Cooling
- Vapor Phase Refrigeration Cooling
- Liquid Nitrogen Cooling

As you are going down the list there is one thing that is common as you progress to each step. One is that they get more expensive and the other is that they cool the component to a lower temperature. Air and Water cooling make up more than like 95-99% of the computer cooling market due to their lower cost to performance ratio and are generally widely available. What most people might not know is that computing as we see it today is slowly but surely getting hot enough that air cooling is soon going to not be enough even to cool your standard everyday computer. Confirmed rumors floating around the computer industry are saying that major OEM manufacturers have been testing water cooling systems for their line of computer coming out within the next 3-5 years as components get hot enough that air cooling just won't do the job resulting in increased failures and warranty work.

Now coming back to today's market, anyone wanting a quiet and very cool running system always install a water based cooling solution. Not only do noise levels drop considerably, cooling efficiency and product lifetime and failure rate on a stock or even overclocked water cooled system do get considerably better if the system is installed properly. Most water cooling problems are error based and are not the fault of the cooling system itself.

But why is that? Some people see water cooling as the miracle solution to reduce their CPU temperatures and cool their components to new record lows. But what people should know is that the premise behind water cooling is not all about cooling the components themselves, but is to transfer the heat created by a operating computer components out of the component environment altogether and out of the case. Heat saturation of the component environment is what causes an overclock to not go as well as you wish and also causes 99% of hardware failure in today's computers. But remember, water cooling will NEVER drop component temperatures below room temperature.

When you remove the heat and transfer it out of the system, temperatures will drop, and system stability will never be an issue whether stock or overclocked.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS & COMPOSITION

First off I will introduce you to the components in the kit I personally tested for this review. Go to the Asetek product page here where you can pick out pre-configured kits or make a system up yourself.