Antec Kuhler H2o 650 Review

Antec in the recent past released their H2O 650 and 1250 coolers, which offers a somewhat different pump solution. A solution where the pump is moved from the processor cooling block for fans and radiator. There is a 160mm radiator with a combined pump and fan motor. What it can do, time will tell. So far, I will start by reviewing the product for you.



Features

· Compatible with all common sockets

· Greased with thermal paste

· Pump and fan motor built together

· LED lights in the cold plate

Specifications


Radiator:

· Dimensions: 159 x 120 x 27mm

· Cold Plate height: 25mm

· Hoses: 300mm rubber hose

· Weight: 1 kg

Fan:

· Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25mm

· RPM range: 600 - 2400 PWM

Socket:

· Intel: LGA775, 1366, 1150, 1155, 1156 and 2011

· AMD: AM2 (+), AM3 (+), FM1 and FM2


Preview

​

Description

The front of the box is made in black and blue with a big picture of the cooler with a "frosted" look, if you will call it that. At the bottom of the front there is some specifications on the radiator, and otherwise there is not much to see on the front.


Rear

On the back, radiator parts divided into four themes: cold plate, pump / fan motor, fan and LED light, which is written a little information about each part below each image.


Side

On the side is the aforementioned specifications listed up, so you can read them.


Box set

How is the content packed when the box is opened and the subsequent image is all the content taken from the box and lined up on display.


The cooler

To see H2O, 650 in its simplicity, and it's a very fine closed system with the related 300mm tubes.


Radiator - rear

Here we see the radiator behind. The combined pump and -fan motor seen clearly over the tab, which is the white fan blades, while the rest of the radiator is black. The disadvantage of this system is that it is impossible to replace the tab.


Radiator - Front

The large 160mm radiator viewed from the front. It is, as you can see, equipped with a reasonable space between the fins in the radiator, ensuring a good air flow.


Fan

A close up of multi-tab, which consists of fan motor and pump. In addition to the disadvantage of that, one cannot just replace the tab, so minimizing the number of rotating parts by combining the two, so there's less that can go. In this way, the system is really smart.


Cold Plate LED

Here is cold platen, as well as in this case, not a pump too. The white surface with Antec logo is a LED light that lit up in blue and changes gradually to red after the temperature of the CPU. The underside of the cold plate is in copper and is greased from the factory with thermal paste.


Bundle

Here is the included bundle to 650 cooler. It consists of screws for the different socket types, radiator screws, back plate, mounting brackets for cold plate and spacer for the radiator, if you want to use it.



Now a look at glory when it comes to test results.


Hardware:

Intel Core i7 4770K

ECS Z97 Machine

Gigabyte Hd7970

Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB

Antec H2o 650

Corsair Force 3 60GB


I haven`t used stock thermal paste instead I used Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste as for all other Heatsinks I have to use that for testing. The system kept in idle for 45 minutes before recording minimum temperatures. This done with all power saving options off.

The test is performed in Windows 7 64bit with OCCT to 45-minute stress test of CPU before temperatures measuring temperature.


Temperature

The temperature is measured in delta temperatures and testing done in close case. The temperature recorded 25 degrees (1-2 degree of fluctuation) using a thermometer.


Test results

Considering that this is simply a single 160mm radiator fan here in a closed system, so did really good.







Conclusion

First of all, I just re-evaluate the materials and the quality of this closed cooling system, and here I must say that there definitely was something there. It seemed very solid and the radiator was made with good distance between the fins, so there can flow a lot of air through, and it was done in black painted steel, while the combined fan and pump were made of hard, black plastic of high quality, while the fan blades were made of white plastic of the same quality.


Next, I look at the installation, and it consisted's not many points, and therefore I would say that the vast majority with just the most basic hardware knowledge, would be manageable to install the system. Not least because of the executed and easy to, understand user manual.


The effect is the last item in the conclusion, and I must say that I am happy with this nifty little water cooler, which delivered a pretty good result despite its size. Due to the special pump and -fan system, it is not possible to install it in a push/pull setup that probably could lower RPM little.


Good:

Closed system

Attractive design

Easy to install

Combined fan / pump system

LED lights


Bad:

Built in fan not replaceable



Specially Thanks to Antec for providing Review Sample.