Print this article

Reactor Waterblock


Date
: 05/1/01 – 03:16:21 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Manufacturer: Overclockers Hideout
Price: $89.99 (without fans)

Introduction

Only a few weeks ago, I posted our review of the Overclockers Hideout Blizzard watercooler which showed to be a real champ in removing the heat from a highly overclocked cpu like my TBird @ 1.45GHz. Although the Blizzard acted great in our tests, the engineers at OCH felt there were some bugs in the cpu block itself that needed to be removed! And that’s why they designed the ‘Reactor’, OCH’s latest and greatest cpu block. We @ Overclockers Online were among the lucky peeps to receive a review sample of this new mastodont and after two weeks of testing and using the Reactor 24/7, I present you my vision on this beauty.

A closer look @ the Reactor

Lets talk about the specs for a while shall we? The Reactor is not a wheeny cpu block like the Senfu crap we all know … no sir it isn’t! The Reactor weighs around 900gr (almost 2 pounds!), is fitted with two 3/8′ hose connectors, features dual water channels to increase heat transfer and is equiped with a unique mounting system.

The Center of the ‘Reactor’ waterblock is made out of 100% copper which ensures that the heat is sucked away from the cpu core as fast as possible. On each side of the waterblock are two independent water channels giving it twice the water holding capacity of other products on the market. Bolted to the sides are heatsinks ‘Anodized Black’ for a non coroding surface that is contact with the copper heat exchanger which will also ‘help’ in pulling heat away from the block. The beauty of the Reactor is the fact that it is possible to install 50mm fans onto these heatsinks, so cooling is even better.

The main reason why Overclockers Hideout has installed the heatsinks with the fans is to prevent your cpu from frying in case the pump ever fails … That way the fans will keep the cpu block cool enough to make sure you will not experience a core meltdown.

Scot, the guy who designs all the OCH products, says that the fans may not be possible to keep the system stable (depending on how high you clocked it) but they will make sure the temperature can not get too high and burn up your prized CPU.

As you may or may not remember, the Blizzard in the past used a clip with a bolt to secure the cpu block onto the cpu. This system works well, but it is a very dangerous way of mounting a waterblock because if you put to much force on the bolt, it is very likely that you will destroy the ‘feet’ on the cpu socket that are designed to hold the heatsink onto the cpu.

The new mounting system, which is also used on the Core – OCH’s very powerful aircooled heatsink – is much safer and just as easy to use. Instead of only using one of the three available feet on each side of the socket, the new setup uses all three feet (total of six feet) to make sure the Reactor isn’t going anywhere soon. Did I mention it is made entirely from CNC punched stainless steel.

Overclockers Hideout sells the Reactor in three versions: without the optional fans, with 2 50mm fans that spin at 5600rpm or for the hardcore users out there, with two 50mm fans with a rotation speed of 5800rpm!! Our sample was equiped with the most powerful setup available: two 5800rpm fans.

Let’s make a quick summary of all the features:

- 65mmx50mmx55mm (LxBxH) without fans installed
- 65mmx70mmx55mm (LxBxH) with fans installed
- 3/8′ water hose connectors (works with the Blizzard setup)
- Dual water channels to increase heat transfer
- Unique mounting system that uses all 6 feet on the cpu socket
- The Reactor weighs 900gr / almost 2 pounds
- Constructed with stainless steel that won’t rust, corrode, break, …
- CNC machined, USA built – lifetime guarantee on parts

Now that you know all the specifications on the unit, let’s see how easy it is to install and more important how it performs.

Setting it up …

Since the Reactor is 100% backward compatible with the Blizzard watercooler from Overclockers Hideout (and with every other setup that uses 3/8′ fittings), the only thing I had to do was remove the all-copper waterblock I used (the one I got with the Blizzard) and install the Reactor in place.

The mounting system works like a charm: push the levers down until they hook up with the feet on the cpu socket and let go. The springs will automaticallygenerate downforce so the Reacor is evenly installed onto the cpu :). I do advise you to use some sort of shim (as reviewed here) to make sure the core will not break (especially with AMD cpu’s).

As you can see, I bolted the radiator to the blowhole in the case

That’s it, the unit is installed and ready for a test round …

Taking a testdrive with the Reactor

So now we know how easy it is to install, what the specs are of the Reactor, but the part that will interest most of you is: is the Reactor capable of giving me more cooling power than I already get from my current water block?

Here is the config in which I installed it:

- EPoX 8KTA3+
- AMD 1.33GHz Athlon CPU @ 1.45GHz / 1.85v
- 256MB PC166 OCZ RAM
- Western Digital 20G hdd
- Visiontek GeForce 3
- OCH Reactor Waterblock
- Windows 2000 + SP1 + VIA 4.29 + Detonator 11.01
- Blizzard Case from Frozen CPU

At first I was a bit sceptical about the Reactor … I could not see how adding two 50mm fans would drop the temperature since we all know that water cools a lot better than air. To my amazement, the Reactor beats its smaller brother by several degrees! The downside of that achievement is the added noise of course … but if you want optimal performance, you should definately check out the statistics below …

Now the drop of temperature did not allow me overclock my cpu more. In order to do that I think we need a powerful peltier or something similar like a VapoChill unit (getting one soon ;)). Nevertheless, every drop of temperature we can get is worth it because remember guys, the lower the better.

Conclusion

Overclockers Hideout has done it again. These guys are becoming the place 2 be if you need watercooling or other extreme cooling options. The Reactor is their latest invention, and thanks to the added fans, not only do we see a temperature drop, the chance of getting a dead cpu when the pump fails is close to non-existant. Is the Reactor perfect? Unfortunately not … There are three weaknesses in my opinion: 1) the price is on the high side, 2) the Reactor ‘with 20mm X 40mm’ fans may not fit all motherboards and 3) the base of the Reactor is slightley smaller than a 50mm peltier which means you could have a hard time using it with these peltiers. If you don’t care about peltiers/TEC’s and $$$ is no biggie for you, than the Reactor is the best waterblock available today!

Good

- Very good performance
- Good mounting system
- Fans ensure that cpu won’t get fried in case the pump goes dead (optional)
- Compatible with your current setup
- Did I mention it looks good?

Bad

- $89.99 is a lot of money
- Might not be able to use with fans installed (like the Abit KT7A)
- The base is not quite big enough to cover a 50mm peltier although there is no performance drop.