| Coolit Vantage A.L.C. CPU Cooler |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cooling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by David Ramsey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 27 February 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Page 5 of 6
Testing and ResultsFor this test, I used the following heat sinks in addition to the Coolit Vantage A.L.C.:
For heat sinks without a stock fan, I used a Thermalright TR-FDB-12-1600 fan, which puts out 63.7CFM at 28dBa according to Thermalright. This mid-range fan provides good air flow and reasonable noise levels. For "apples to apples" testing, where each heat sink is tested with the same fan, I used a Delta AFC1212D. This high-performance PWM fan is rated at 113CFM at a claimed 46.5dBa at full speed...which means that while it moves quite a bit of air, it's very loud. The Intel Core i7-950 I used in this test runs much hotter than the Core i7-920 I'd used previously. At 1.35 volts, with a BCLK of 175Mhz, the 4,025Mhz CPU pumped out enough heat to stress the very best heat sinks. AIDA64 would report throttling once any single core reached 100 degrees Celsius; any throttling resulted in cancelling the test and recording a "FAIL". Although this overclocked and overvolted Core i7-950 represents an extreme, these are expensive, high-end heat sinks. The chart below summarizes the results with the stock fans (hotter temperatures towards the top of the chart, and cooler temperatures towards the bottom). The twin-fan Cooler Master V6 GT and Corsair H70 have a real advantage here, since their dual fans move more air than the stock single fan of any of the other units. The first thing we see is that the Vantage's "Silent" setting is not appropriate for the volcanic heat put out by the overclocked Core i7-950 processor, since CPU temperature soared past 100 degrees Celsius and throttling occurred. Stock Fan Tests
Set to "Extreme" mode, the Vantage A.L.C. was able to better the performance of the ECO A.L.C. and (just barely) Corsair's H50. That's about it for the good news, though, as it was soundly beaten by every other cooler in this test. The large gap between it and the Corsair H70 (fans on low) divides the chart into "lower performance" and "higher performance" coolers. With its dual, high performance fans (aggregate airflow of over 180CFM) the Cooler Master V6 GT takes the lead here, keeping the blistering hot Core i7-950 almost 12 degrees Celsius cooler than the Vantage A.L.C. Delta High Speed Fan Tests
With the Delta high-speed fan, our lineup changes. Showing what a difference a change of fan can make, the Coolit ECO A.L.C. moves from the bottom to the chart to mid-pack, improving by almost 11 degrees. The Antec Kühler improves by 7.2 degrees, putting it- amazingly- between the mighty Prolimatech Super Mega and the Thermalright Venomous X. The Vantage A.L.C.'s performance improves by over 5 degrees, but it's not enough to help its overall standing, and (oddly) even the ECO A.L.C. manages to beat it by 3.5 degrees. And remember that you'd never run the Vantage A.L.C. with a separately-powered fan in the real world, because the continuous beeping of the fan speed alarm would become annoying. Vantage Fan and Power NotesAfter this test, I tried connecting the Delta fan (which has a 4-pin PWM connector) directly to the Vantage. That didn't work: about half the time, the fan wouldn't start, indicating that the Vantage couldn't supply the startup current needed. The Delta AFC 1212D fan draws 0.80 amps at 12 volts, which is much more than most fans do (the Thermalright fan used for "stock fan" tests only draws 0.20 amps). The stock fan is (as usual) unlabeled, so its current requirements and the limits of what the Vantage can supply are unknown, but if you plan to replace the fan for this unit, I'd suggest a PWM fan that draws 0.40 amps or less. The Vantage needs a fair amount of power to run its pump and the fan; if the motherboard header you use can't supply enough power, the fan will run at full speed (yes, I know that's odd, but that's what happens). On an ASUS Crosshair IV motherboard, it took me a while to figure out why the Vantage's fan always ran at full speed; connecting the pump's power connector directly to the power supply fixed that problem.
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Comments
In your own test, as well as by the conclusions I've drawn based on more reviews, the Antec cooler is better.
The main (only?) advantage of the Vantage is that it displays the temperature.
Therefore I think the price tag set the value closer to (and possibly below) an average 5 than it is to an 8.25.
Cheers
Olle
I am looking for a liquid cooling solution for a Sandy Bridge (moderately overclocked 2600k) system. One of my most important factors will be a quiet system. Therefore I am looking at the Antec Kuhler 620 and the Corsair H60. Are you planning to test the Corsair H60 and will you be incorporating some ambient noise readings to help me compare models? Naturally, I would expect the noise to be measured with the stock (OEM) fans. I have read your test article on the Antec 620 and I believe it a quiet system, regardless of fan speed. But it would be nice to see some relative comparison of noise levels amongst these models.
Really appreciate your articles, as it helps all of us make informed purchasing decisions.
Thanks
Ken
Using the stock fans the H60 (blowing heated air into the case) provides slightly more CPU cooling. (At the same time the Antec is quieter.)
Using the same fans on both coolers (2x Scythe Gentle Typhoon) the Antec performs slightly better than H60.
You can see the test results here: ##sweclockers.com/recension/13538-antec-kuhler-h2o-620-och-corsair-h60/5#pagehead
I set my Vantage to quiet but fan still running flat out!
Any ideas ?
Thanks
I did manage to find one and I really dig the display.
Main reason why I chose this one actually ^^
I'm not sure of the spacing, I found one on eBay but I haven't recieved mine yet.
Also just curious, would it be possible to replace the tubing for transparent jobbies? Or would it be too much hassle to be worth it? haha
Replacing the tubing would be almost impossible, since it's a sealed unit with no way to bleed it.
And yeah, I guessed the tubing change would probably not work. Just a thought! ;)
I wrote to CoolIT and they replied with this:
Thank you for contacting Technical Support concerning your wish to add a second fan for your Vantage ALC. I have created an account and opened a support case on your behalf.
I understand your wish to add a second fan to the product to create a Push / Pull for the air flow.
I will caution you that just adding a second fan, using a four pin Y splitter could cause a failure of the control card inside the pump head. This will not be deemed a warranty failure.
The maximum amperage draw through the control card is 1.3 amps. The specs for the Vantage ALC fan is 125 CFM@ 2700 RPM (0.66 amps).
Finding a PWM (four pin) Y splitter is very rare, although they are some available. If you are able to find one, you will need to remove the third TACH wire from one of the fan connectors. Otherwise the Vantage ALC will see both fans, add the two fans' rpm values together and attempt to lower the voltage.
I believe that this should give you some insight.
Thank you for your question,
Andrew Wildgoose
Service and Support Manager
But the bloody beeping below 19.5 degrees celsius is bull#, I live in Norway and the winter temperatures does of course send it below 15 degrees from a startup.
It beeps like a bus backing up, with no means of adjusting this temperature alarm or simply kill it.
It's going out of my computer tomorrow for a traditional fan and cooling. I bought it to get a silent machine, and this thing is about as loud as the back up alarm on my truck - if even for a few minutes, those minutes annoy too much.