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The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 is shipped in an attractively designed box which follows the Antec company colour scheme, with a nicely presented image of the cooler on the front.
Inside, the cooler is shipped in a protective box, neatly separated. There is a pump and radiator assembly. two 120mm fans, installation manual and mounting brackets and screws.
The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 is supplied with both mounting brackets for AMD and Intel platforms, as well as colour coded front mounted retention holders. The manual is a little hard to follow, especially as it is printed in black and white and makes no mention of colour. AMD are green, and Intel are blue, just to clarify.
The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 looks very like the 620 version we reviewed before, but the radiator section is much thicker.
Above left, the 620, with 120mm fan mounted is about the same width as the 920 radiator without fans. Above right, both 620 with single fan, and 920 with dual fans, attached.
There are two power cables coming from the 920, which support both 120mm fans (supplied). Above right, both fans hooked into the 920. A single 3 pin header connects to the motherboard to control the fans. Although the 920 also is supplied with a USB cable – this is needed for the interface control via the proprietary Windows software.
The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 mounting system is an Asetek standard design. There is a thin metal retaining ring with notches which is attached to a back plate by four screws. The pump has notches on the edges and after this is locked into position, underneath the retaining bracket, the screws are tightened to hold it in place. This is an identical mounting system to the 620. Both are interchangeable. We will delve into this in more detail shortly.
The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 hoses connecting the pump to the radiator are thicker, soft rubber hoses rather than the smaller, stiff hoses normally associated with other coolers in this class. The finish and build quality is excellent and the shipping gives a high level of protection for the radiator which was perfect when we took it out of the box. Often we get little ‘nicks’ and bends in the radiator array due to rough shipping and inadequate protection.
The hoses are soft and flexible and are about 13 inches long, making them about 2 inches longer than other coolers with a similar design. They are really easy to work with and the hoses are thicker than previous H70 hoses, expanded in size from 8.7mm to 10.8mm, meaning more liquid can flow through them.
The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 920 head is branded with the company and product name, and the contact head ships with a layer of quality thermal material preapplied. The pump has an extra three pin connector to control the coolers fan, and the swivel mounts and hoses are larger than others we have seen on Asetek sourced coolers. The cooler head has thermal material pre applied.
Many would expect Antec to be using a standard four pin connector for PWM control but Antec are using a simple 3 pin head which we would assume contains wires for power and grounding.
Spot the difference: The Antec KÜHLER H₂O 620 and 920 side by side.
