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Fluid XP +


Date
: 02/16/05 – 09:34:20 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Distributed by
: Integrity PC

Price
: $49.99 (32 fl oz)

Prior to this review I have never heard of this company called Integrity PC. They are a California based company that has a very unique product in their stock. This product is known as Fluid XP Plus. Fluid XP Plus is a water alternative, designed especially for water cooling electronics. With a boastful resume of features and properties, it can seem a bit overwhelming without understanding the basics of this innovative product.

Lets take a look at Fluid XPs immense track, and try to make some sense out of it!

Page 2 : Product Claims

According to Fluid XPs website:

Page 3 : Technical Data

We will start right off throwing a lot of numbers around and a lot of technical words. In the next section well try to explain a bit more of what some of this means.

These details are from FluidXPs website per an independent laboratory test:

Page 4 : Technical Data Explained

There is a lot of technical data in those lab results that we arent too concerned with. So lets start with some of the facts that mean the most to us.

Ingredients
:
Propylene Glycol This is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, somewhat oily liquid. Some of its applications include absorbing extra water and maintaining moisture content in medications, cosmetics, or food products.

Deionized Water Water, that has undergone a process of removing ions (such as calcium, sodium, chlorides, etc). Deionized water is used often where pure, clean water is needed for cleaning, rinsing, etc. According to several sources, distilled water and deionized water are very similar. It takes approximately 4 to 6 gallons of tap water to produce one gallon of deionized water.

Xanthan Gum A microbial often used to control viscosity of fluids. Often used in cooking as a thickener, it is made from a powder that comes from milling the dried coat of a micro-organism called Xanthomonas campestris, which is grown in a laboratory. A Google search on this organism will give you additional readings if you are interested.

Lauryl Alcohol An insoluble clear oily liquid, being a fatty alcohol, it was derived from natural fats and oils. Often used as an emulsifier and to assist in preventing moisture loss. The primary use for fatty alcohols is as a raw material for the manufacture of foaming detergents.

Glycerin Not to be confused with Nitroglycerin, plain Glycerin is a sweet-tasting, colorless, thick liquid. Although glycerin is used to make nitroglycerin, it is also used as a preservative for fruit, a base for lotions, prevention of freezing in hydraulics, lubrication of moulds, ingredient in printing inks, ingredient in candies, and as a preservative to scientific specimens.

cetylpyridinium Chloride (bacteriostat) Antiseptic, used in many food and hygiene products including mouth rinses like Scope. Although this is safe by the FDA, in 2002, Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, part 73, the FDA regulated its amount to be used on consumable items.

Now that we have explained some of the main ingredients, they all seem to add up to a decent product. Out of all ingredients, the only ones that dont make sense to me are the thickener ingredients, even though it is claimed to have the viscosity of water. I am not sure as to why Fluid XP would need these ingredients other than a very small amount as a stabilizer.

Some of the other properties of Fluid XP include its low freezing point, a higher boiling point, and some other properties; however a very important property for our purposes its Fluid XPs thermal conductivity. According to the lab results, Fluid XP is said to have a heat capacity of Approx. .94 Btu/lb/F. This means that 0.94 btus will be stored per pound per degree Fahrenheit. The higher this number, the more thermally absorptive the material is. For comparison water is said to have a 1.0 Btu/lb/F. Another important property is the thermal conductivity, which is expressed as Approx. 3.6 Btu-in./Hr-ft²-ºF. Again for comparison, water has a rating of 4.2 Btu-in/hr-ft2-F, which makes plain water a bit more thermally conductive. This would make sense being Fluid XP has a bit more ingredients. So basically to summarize these properties, Fluid XP has slightly poorer heat dissipation than pure water according to numbers and lab results.

Although Fluid XP does not advertise it cools better than water at all, it does advertise perhaps its most important property, which is that it is non-conductive! This means that Fluid XP will not allow a certain amount of electricity to pass through it.

So far what we have is a substance that has heat properties close to that of water, however is non-conductive! A perfect solution for water cooling electronics right? Lets take it into our own test-bed.

Page 5 : Testing

Since Fluid XP Plus claims to be non-conductive, we will test first its resistance. For this testing, I took 1 cup (8fl oz) of distilled water, as well as 1 cup (8fl oz) of Fluid XP and put them into clean (non-conductive) porcelain bowls. I used an auto ranging multimeter to measure the resistance through the liquids at opposite ends of the bowls.

Although these look almost identical, there is definitely a difference in the numbers. The results:

Resistance:

As you can see from our testing, the results of the resistance testing clearly show Fluid XP among the highest resistance. This, by intuition means it has the worst ability to conduct electricity out of these items.

Another test that is quite important to us, is its overall temperature testing.

Processor Temperatures:

Fluid Temperatures:

You can see from the results that the Fluid XP had almost identical cooling abilities as water did. This would make sense as its specific heat and heat conductivity properties were very close to that of water.

Page 6 : Conclusion

As you can see from the results, we have a fluid that acts very similar to that of water. It carries close to the same amount of heat as water does, however it does have a couple very appealing properties for water cooling your rig. One of the main properties is that of very low electrical conductivity. This (as advertised from Fluid XP) is a sense of insurance for your water cooled rig. Knowing that you have a liquid running through your system, if it ever were leaked, will cause no harm to your electrical equipment.

Yet another property, which is hard to test for, is that Fluid XP also provides some lubrication. Meaning that as it is running through your water pump it can also lubricate the parts to help them last longer.

Overall this water replacement seems to be quite impressive. It does much of which water can do, but contains some things that eliminate the worries of water. It seems somewhat pricey; to fill the majority of ½ tubing water cooled systems almost the full 32oz bottle is needed, running about $49.99. But like we said before, $49.99 insurance for saving hundreds of dollars in equipment seems to be well worth it. Overall this is a very impressive product, and to me, well worth the money! This is why we have awarded Fluid XP+ our coveted
OverclockersOnline Editors Choice Award
!

Advantages
- Same cooling properties as water
- Non-conductive
- Lubricates moving parts

Disadvantages
- High upfront costs

OverclockersOnline would like to thank Integrity PC for supplying us with a sample of this amazing product.