Evercool WC-201 Water Cooling Kit

Provided by: Evercool
Retail: $135.00
Review Date: April 1st, 2004
Written By: James S.

With the advent of computers and technology a problem was created. This problem is the dissipating heat. From the early chips to now, heat has always been a consideration. Nowadays, processors and graphics cards have gotten so fast that heat has become a bigger issue than before. The limits of air cooling are coming closer and closer to the cooling ceiling. With monster dissipation of the new Prescott's and extreme edition chips, air is not an option if you want to have good temperatures and any overclocking headroom.

Instead of going to an extreme cooling method like Prometia or a Vapochill there is a solution that is more economical and more practical. That solution is water cooling. Taking your system from air to water has many benefits other than more heat dissipation. Instead of many fans spinning and creating noise, you have one or two and a radiator. Because of the increase in heat dissipation you can take your CPU and GPU to higher overclocks than before.

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Why would one not want to use water? Anyone not wanting to would be making a big mistake right? Wrong. Water cooling shouldn't be done by someone who does not understand how it works or by someone who doesn't understand the implications of what a leak could cause to your system. Since I've started reviewing I've done one water cooling kit review, the Silent Stream. I was pleased that it was a kit made specifically for the water cooling inept. Today, I look at Evercool's WC-201 water cooling kit, which believe me, is a more complicated system.

Packaging:

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The components of Evercool's WC-201 water cooling kit are neatly packaged in a thick cardboard box. Each component sits within a designated plastic holding area. These areas surround the components and secure them during shipping.

Features:

Manufacturer rated features for the Evercool WC-201 direct from their web site are listed below.

• 1 year warranty
• Super silent model
• Works with AMD and Intel processors
• Works with NVidia and ATI GPUs

Contents:

• Main cooling unit (radiator, display, fan controller)
• CPU block
• GPU block
• Radiator w/ 80mm fan
• Mounts for Intel P4, AMD K7 and AMD K8
• GPU mounts
• 4 silicon tubes w/ brass connectors
• Bottle of antifreeze
• Thermal Paste
• Screws
• Tools
• Adhesive pad
• Thermal sensor
  

Description:

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The reservoir, fan, and radiator are contained within one unit. This unit can slide into any 5 1/4 inch bay. One the front of the bay unit is a display and a knob to control the fan's speed.

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Open the unit and you will find a little reservoir This reservoir might be a little small for great performance. A 12 volt pump moves the water through the hoses and into the radiators.

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Another radiator and fan exists to add even more cooling performance. This unit is normally setup in the middle of the chain. It is made of aluminum and contains a 80mm cooling fan. This additional radiator ensures that the water is cooled when traveling from the CPU to the GPU cooler.

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As far as hookups and little pieces go, this package has more than enough to fit any computer system from Intel to AMD. The GPU connectors include two different retention systems, one for ATI and one for NVidia based cards. As far as easiness of the installation, it is pretty straightforward.

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Inside the box are the hoses and other attachments need to hook the reservoir to the blocks. Also inside is the GPU and CPU blocks. The bottom of these blocks are copper and lapped nicely. The blocks are made with quality that is sure to show in cooling results.

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