Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 Review

1. Introduction2. Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 Liquid Cooler3. Installing the Antec KÜHLER H₂O 9204. ChillControl V Software5. Performance Testing6. Acoustics Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

Today we are using the latest Intel Core i7 990x Extreme Edition processor which we reviewed a short while ago. This is the current mainstream flagship processor from Intel.

While we could use an open test bench, we like to try and mirror more ‘realistic’ conditions, so we have built the system inside an Antec Twelve Hundred chassis. Room ambient temperatures are maintained at a steady 20c throughout testing. We use diodes to measure core temperatures.

Intel System:
Processor: Intel Core i7 980x
Motherboard: Gigabyte X58 Assassin
Thermal Paste: Noctua NT H1
Power Supply: Corsair TX850W
Chassis: Antec Twelve Hundred
Memory: GSkill RipJaws DDR3 2000mhz 6GB 7-8-7
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate Edition

Comparison coolers:
Antec KÜHLER H₂O 620
Corsair H50
Corsair H70
Coolit ECO A.L.C.
Coolit Vantage A.L.C.
Noctua NH D14

All other coolers were set to their default fan speeds for this section of the review. We used Noctua NT H1 thermal material on all coolers, as it is higher quality than any of the supplied paste. We used a custom setting on the 920 with the system kicking into high performance when liquid temperatures reached 45c.

Testing these coolers at reference voltage and speeds does not highlight the ultimate performance, but it gives us a good reference point to start from.

We are overclocking the Intel 990x to 5ghz on this board with the core voltage set to 1.5, extremely high levels and a quick way to judge ultimate overclocked cooling performance.

The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 manages to outperform the H70 at high settings by almost a full degree. Very close indeed, and still around a single degree behind the Noctua NH D14 cooler.

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