Thermaltake
Tide Water All in One VGA Liquid Cooling Module Review
Page 3 of 6
Review By Clay Angelly - March 21, 2006
CLOSER LOOK
This is one of the neatest pieces of hardware I
have ever reviewed. The way Thermaltake achieved total self-containment is
pretty impressive. In this first photo below, you can see the small pump in the
upper right corner just above the coolant reservoir.
Thermaltake Tide Water - Pump Location
Thermaltake Tide Water - Heat Sink, Fan,
Reservoir
Thermaltake came up with a clever way to divert air away from the intake tube. It's difficult to capture in a photo but once mounted, the air bubble
naturally travels up and away from the intake area due to the design of the
reservoir itself.
Thermaltake Tide Water - Reservoir Air
Bubble Trap
All of the photos above are of the Tide Water's underside (once mounted in your case). The shot below is of the topside.
Thermaltake Tide Water - Top Side
Thermaltake Tide Water - Exhaust Side Panel
Below you see the switch controlling the fan's high and low speed settings. The high speed setting was noticeably louder than the stock 7800GTX fan and even louder than my PSU. The low speed setting was considerably quieter and basically sounded just like my system did before installation.
The placement of this switch is questionable. You have to open your case in
order to access it. The high speed setting really didn't drop the temps much
more than the low speed setting. So, most people will probably be fine
with leaving it set to low anyway. Still, it would be nice if Thermaltake had
placed the switch on the back panel itself or on an extension mount of some
sort.
