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MCT Cooling Solution


Date
: 06/13/05 – 08:44:26 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer:
Midwest Cooling Technologies
(Distributed by Danger Den)
Price: $21

Most anyone that has researched anything related to watercooling has come across Danger Den. Danger Den manufactures waterblocks, reservoirs, and many other parts related to water cooling, as well as re-selling just about everything you need for a custom built water cooling system.

Danger Den has had a recent addition to their product lineup, a non-conductive water replacement from Midwest Cooling Technologies, Inc..

We'll be taking the MCT water replacement through a series of tests, and comparing it to FluidXP+ which earned our Overclockers Online Editor's choice award… how will it stand up against such a great product? Let's find out…

Page 2 : Product’s Claims

* Non-Conductive – Conductivity tested at 4e10 Ohms/meter
* Freezing point is -5 Degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Degrees Celsius)
* Prevents algae growth
* Pre-mixed and ready to use
* Low cost
* Contains lubricating properties helping pump life
* Prevents galvanic corrosion
* Safe on plastic, rubber, seals copper, brass, aluminum, steel, and gaskets
* Contains enhanced visual tanzinite properties with background lighting
* Incorporates anti-foaming properties
* Will not separate due to mechanical shearing

The informational brochure that came with MCT says:

Now this sounds very interesting, and much like our other coolant replacement FluidXP. If you recall, FluidXP+ had these properties. One of the properties of FluidXP is that it is non-toxic. MCT is obviously toxic, as it says if swallowed…

If in contact with eyes:

Micromedex is a supplier of Toxicology, Drug, and other informational tools.

If MCT comes in contact with skin:

If MCT is inhaled:

So my first impression is that this stuff seems pretty mean. Let's take a closer look at it.

Page 3 : Closer Look and Testing

I poured some of the MCT solution into a bowl, the same type of bowl used in the FluidXP's testing.

MCT has a very distinct aroma, almost identical to that of antifreeze coolant used in cars. Not only do they have similar smells but they also resemble each other very closely as far as looks; that very distinct green color.

Compare to Antifreeze's cautions:

MCT exhibits similar properties, both visual and aroma, to that of anti-freeze, however the additional ingredients are what make the difference here.

I do not have any anti-freeze available to compare directly to MCT, but it would be very interesting to compare their resistances and some of their other properties.

So now that we've taken a closer look at the MCT cooling solution, let's take it for a test run.

Page 4 : Testing

For the test, we will be using the following system:

AMD Athlon 2500+ Mobile @ 2.4ghz (1.7vcore)
Abit NF7-S
Corsair 512mb Value Select PC3200
DangerDen TDX Waterblock
Hydor L30 Pump
DangerDen 120mm BlackIce Radiator

Room temperatures for this test were slightly warmer than the previous FluidXP test coming in at 74F or 23.3C. This could cause the liquid to be physically warmer which would also impact the cooling of the overall system.

The system immediately booted and I bumped it up to 2.2ghz from the stock 1.8ghz. I checked the temperatures and brought the system up to 2.4ghz, and everything is still rock stable. But for some reason, I could not get it to go back up to 2.5ghz as with the solutions we're going to compare it to were running.

For comparison, we'll use the exact same system, except running at 2.5ghz and the same vcore, running both Distilled Water and FluidXP non conductive solution.

If you recall from the Fluid XP, it rang in with decent temps identical to distilled water. So let's take a look at how MCT performed.

Page 5 : Conclusion

The MCT-5 solution as shown by the resistance tests had an excellent resistance rating, much higher than that of both distilled water and our previous FluidXP+ review.

As for the temperatures, even though the room temperature was slightly warmer than the comparable test temperatures, the processor was also running at a lower speed. We can take that into consideration and also note that the two tests were running at the same vcore. Between the two of these , we can predict the temperatures to be very close to that of the cooling power of pure distilled water.

These two combinations, plus the affordable price of just $20, this is definitely something you should look for adding to your watercooling system.

Advantages:
- Decent cooling
- Great resistance ratings
- Anti-corrosive, prevents algae growth, and lubricates

Disadvantages:
- Pretty dangerous to ingest/inhale too much of

Overclockers Online would like to thank Danger Den for providing the MCT samples.