GlobalWin Silent Stream Water Cooling Kit

Provided by: GlobalWin
Retail: $79.00
Review Date: December 5th, 2003
Written By: James S.

Paper or plastic? A choice that is synonymous with grocery shopping. Air or water? A choice that is highly debated in the computer world. In the day and age of super fast computers and lighting quick processors, the method of cooling is as important as any for system building. Some say power supply and some will say RAM. When it comes down to it nothing will work correctly or survive for any kind of a life cycle without the correct amount of cooling.

I can tell you when I heard about doing this review, I was excited to try water for the first time. At the same time, I was greatly reserved about wanting to take the leap after hearing some stories from friends. Air to me was the most practical and cost effective solution for a computer's cooling needs. Just couple of problems with it though: too noisy for you need a lot of fans in an overclocking situation and the inside becomes cluttered with too many fans and wires going everywhere.

On the other hand, with water there is the possibility of leaks. Leaks are trouble enough but I have also heard about the pump stopping right in the middle of operation or the water lines clogging. Combine these problems with the fact that the inexpensive water kits are said to cool as good as air cooling, and you ask yourself why spend more and take the extra risk just to get same results? This review will hopefully answer for some people as well as help me get a better understanding of water cooling and the way it works in a system.

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Today we will be looking at a basic water cooling kit, GlobalWin's Silent Stream. GlobalWin has been around forever in the business of overclocking cooling. Other companies have gained more name recognition since GlobalWin's earlier days but GlobalWin is fighting back stronger than ever by entering the water cooling market with their Silent Stream.

The Silent Stream is water cooling for the processor only. The water cooling kit is made for the unmod like crowd for it allows even the basic inept computer person to understand how to accomplish one of, and sometimes the most difficult way to cool a computer. The Silent Stream kit comes in a box with all the parts for water cooling your processor.

Packaging:

The package is pretty comprehensive in it’s assortment of tools and hook-ups that it provides for your system. The standard cardboard box protects the well packed pieces during shipping.

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One thing not included in the package was a manual, which for a system made for beginners, is a must to me. However, a quick hop over to their web site and I was able to find a downloadable one that went into great length about how to do it all. For those that have bought this product or are thinking about buying it, grab the manual from http://www.globalwinusa.com/products/water/silent.html.

For all of you who are worried about leaks, as I was, a warranty is stated on the package to provide against leaks as long as you don’t mess with the warranty labels located in three spots.

Specifications:

Manufacturer rated specs for the Super Silent as listed on GlobalWin's web site www.globalwin.com.tw/.

• No. 1 Mini Size Best Buy Water Cooling Kit
• Universal model for Intel P4-478, AMD K7
• Super Silent
• Easy Installation
• Excellent Performance
• The whole unit is shipped in one piece, no water leakage problem
• Always keep case inner fresh and cool Radiator Spec.
• Dimension (with housing) 95*85*29mm
• Material Copper (Heatsink and Pipe)
• Fan Dimension 80*80*25mm
• Bearing System One Ball One Sleeve Bearing
• Fan Speed 3000+/-15%RPM
• Air Delivery 38.88+/-15%CFM
• Noise Level 32+/-2dBA
• Rated Voltage DC 12V

Features:

The implications of using the water cooling system are not limited to lower temperatures alone. A great feature of water cooling is silence. Instead of using multiple fans to move air around the case, you use one fan to cool the radiator for the water. Personally, my system was cluttered with massive amounts of fans.

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Water cooling provides lower temperatures and a more quiet system, as well as cleaning out the rats nest of cables and cords. This provides a more efficient space to work in; thus, allowing you the ability to change out parts and check your system easier. More space also means more airflow for the fans you do have.

As noted in the specifications, the heatsink is made of copper. The copper is very reflective. A smooth surface allows less air in between the heatsink and the thermal paste, improving cooling performance. The shinny surface also shows a commitment to quality. All the pieces in this system look and feel like they were built with quality in mind. This is probably why they give a warranty on their product.

There are two bags containing parts inside the box. One bag is called Quick and the other is called Pro. The quick is the easy way to hook it into your system and the pro bag is for the advanced user who has hooked up water-cooling before and wishes for better cooling results.

GlobalWin informed me that Pro will provide a gain over Quick. However, the review is done by myself, who hardly possesses water cooling experience and is intended to show how easy water-cooling can be. Therefore, I will hook up the water cooler using the Quick method.

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