As you can see from the image, the Thermaltake Pacific RL240 Water Cooling Kit comes with some assembly required, it is not an AiO cooler. Since it is a full kit it will cost you much more than a self contained cooling apparatus, at $284 on both Amazon and Newegg many users will not be interested in installing this cooler. For those that are still curious, one of the benefits of the kit is that it contains everything you need, including the waterblock, reservoir and pump as well as the radiator and even coolant. Unfortunately [H]ard|OCP's testing revealed the performance to be moderate at best, so the price premium is hard to justify, as you can see in the full review.
"In a world now filled with All-In-One CPU coolers, Thermaltake takes it old school with a water cooling kit that has everything you need from A to Z. If cutting your hose to length and perfecting the layout and presentation of your cooling loop appeals to you, Thermaltake makes it easy with a one stop shop."
Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
- Gelid Antarctica Ultra-Quiet Tower @ eTeknix
- Rosewill B2 Spirit HPTX Full-Tower @ eTeknix
- Cooltek Jonsbo RM1 ATX Mini Tower Review @ NikKTech
- Noctua NH-D15S @ techPowerUp
STOP BEING SO FUCKING POOR
STOP BEING SO FUCKING POOR YOU FILTHY FUCKING PEASANT!
Then adopt me like Little
Then adopt me like Little Orphan Annie and give me a shit tonne of money Mr. Warbucks.
I agree, stop poo pooin water
I agree, stop poo pooin water cooling. It was a lot of fun and I think worth it.
Only downside is I’m not over the fear of a leak yet. I keep thinking a pipe is going to burst and soak my other American Express owned computer equipment. Then I’ll only be left with my Delta points.
I take it you didn’t bother
I take it you didn't bother read the review of this mildly disappointing product from Thermaltake and just invented a world where I think that all watercooling is not worth it? The kit doesn't get a recommendation because it is just average compared to the competition.
The question in the title alludes to the AiO coolers which currently dominate the market, not that all DIY watercooling is a waste of time/effort/braincells/whatever.
I did, I understand they felt
I did, I understand they felt they needed to test the kit as is but the point of water cooling kit is that you can customize it by adding multiple components and radiators ect. I take it back though it’s usually Ryan that is always knocking custom water cooling, not you.
Yeah this is a product for
Yeah this is a product for idiots who like to buy shitty stuff and try to make it decent instead of buying something good.
Peasants who like to buy nice stuff just dont get it.
I admit I am new to custom
I admit I am new to custom water cooling, but what makes this “shitty”?
Everything felt like high quality (I know that is subjective). Things fit together pretty nicely. Only thing I wondered about was the CPU block.
Before I purchased it, I did read a lot of people complaining about the coolant but other than that I found the typical back and forth opinions.
Thermalfake has a reputation
Thermalfake has a reputation for being overpriced and garbage quality.
The only reason I would do a
The only reason I would do a custom loop is to put the gpus on it. This doesn’t seem to easily provide for that.
I got the kit and purchased
I got the kit and purchased an extra radiator a few connectors and there was enough tubing included in the kit to water cool my CPU, Graphics, and motherboard voltage regulators. Really a nice kit. My only complaint is that the coolant faded very fast. Take your “selfies” as soon as the build is finished.
My next fluid change I’m going to try the “vivid” color series.
(I know, it’s expensive water, leave me alone!)
I think the pump is a Liang
I think the pump is a Liang D5, which is plenty powerful enough for additional components. As the review stated, changing the pump speed had little effect on temperatures, so the system is not currently very limited by pump capacity.
At that point you might as
At that point you might as well just go the full 9 yards and just set up a custom loop
But as it is right now I’m perfectly content with my Swiftech H320 X2 so long as Polaris doesn’t mandate liquid cooling for good overclocks.
Give me a break. This POS
Give me a break. This POS shouldn’t be even listed on PCPer website.
For the price if anyone want to spend 300$ on a DIY kit then for less you get one of excellent Alphacool 240 kits which will outperform RL by miles, heck 360 D5/UT kit cost only (at PPCs) 315$. No-brainer!
And most funny thing about HOCP review is conclusion that RL240 is good in stock form. WTH puts liquid cooled loop to leave everything at stock? That’s not even oxymoron, that’s anathema.
To answer question on top: yes there is still place for DIY kits, just not garbage as RL240 or anything ThermalFake copied.
This person gets it.
This person gets it.
I wouldn’t buy any
I wouldn’t buy any Thermaltake product before last year’s Thermalfake scandal because, on the whole their, stuff is junk. Now I just won’t buy any of their stuff on principle.
In watercooling circles, Thermaltake’s products are derided. If you want a watercooling kit, buy almost any other companies’ kit. EKWB’s kits are the bomb.
Thermaltake can shove their c**p where the sun don’t shine.
yeah I have to agree with you
yeah I have to agree with you here, the last place you would go looking for liquid cooling gear is TT, well unless you want something that breaks down quickly.
Please, from this point on,
Please, from this point on, spell it right: Thermalfake, not “Thermaltake”. This is the only correct way from now on, and to the all eternity.
Good God that’s a ridiculous
Good God that’s a ridiculous price. The purpose of a bundle is to save you money and make your life convenient. You might as well just DIY at that point.
I think this article totally
I think this article totally missed the point of diy kits. First to really show the difference, you need a real overclock, atleast 4.8ghz. There is still alot of thermal dissipation headroom, notice how the temperature difference between low and high fan speed is 0.7 . Second water cooling is meant to be silent, not sacrifice loudness for performance.
On another note: “the reviewer probably used the auto tuning function of his motherboard because 70c on a 3770k@4.4ghz is atleast 20c to high”
Its hard to explain but the
Its hard to explain but the radiator act like a buffer for the heat. Once you get over the buffer capacity and you increase the heat produced, the temperature will raise much faster. But while you buffer still have spaceand you increase the heat produced, your teperature will only creep up slowly.
There is OBVIOUSLY a market
There is OBVIOUSLY a market for DIY water cooling. Just not for the Thermalfake’s trash.
Once you go Full Water, you
Once you go Full Water, you don’t go back
Not really. Modern AIOs
Not really. Modern AIOs really don’t lose to full-blown FCWCL setups all that much. Sure, quality and performance is NOT universally better yet, but they’re getting there little by little. I’d give it two to four more years for them to get there and I personally believe that AIOs will be roughly on absolute par with FCWCLs by that time. Quite frankly, some of the modern AIO offerings ALREADY begin to overshadow FCWCL by both the pricing AND reliability factors. Swiftech introduced such offerings not so late ago, actually.
I love you guys, but
I love you guys, but sometimes your articles and Podcast commentary show how out-of-touch you’re becoming over the years. Especially with cases and cooling.
I personally prefer beefy heatsinks (which you also mock), but custom loops are more prevalent now than ever. Companies like EK and Alphacool are doing more business than they ever have. All major case manufacturers now compete for the best custom loop compatibility, and anything that lacks it is kicked to the curb by any reviewer.
I’m not trying to belittle your work, because what you guys excel at are the real numbers behind performance and architectures, and that’s the reason you’re my favorite outlet. But if you’re going to editorialize on things like this, at least try to remain connected to the DIY PC scene by subscribing to other YouTube channels, subreddits, anything.
There’s a whole world of people who are still enthusiasts behind that red blanket, Jeremy. And there’s more of them than there ever have been.
You are missing the point and
You are missing the point and seem to be inventing things wholesale. It ain't an editorial, it is a summary and link to a review of a watercooling kit in which I do not express any opinion about Thermaltake or watercooling in general or the RL240 in specific. The commentors certainly express their opinions about the RL240 but I did not do so. I am also baffled as to what you mean when you say that I mock heatsinks? Perhaps you refer to our ribbing Morry about his preference for sticking giant heatsinks on mATX boards, which does not in any way imply that we do not consider them effective.
I chose this review because [H]'s tests showed it to be more expensive and less effective than the competition, which I mention at the end. If someone recognized the brandname and chose this for their first full watercooling kit they would be disappointed and might never chose watercooling again; or at least only the simple AiO kits which I hint at in the title.
Thanks for supporting us but please, try to pay attention to what we actually say or write, there is a phrase about assumptions which you should be familiar with by this point in your life.
My entire post was directed
My entire post was directed towards the title of this article alone, with absolutely nothing to do with your summary or the linked review. If it weren’t for Sebastian, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine press releases or reviews for cases titled “The Antec 300 was released nearly a decade ago, Phanteks releases a new enclosure for some reason”
Morry uses the NH-D15 for compatibility testing because it is one of, if not the, most popular high-end air-cooler on the market, as well as one of the biggest.
“Is there still a market for DIY watercooling kits?” Yes. More than there has ever been. There is nothing to assume about that simple question, because if I honestly asked if the sky was still blue, you would know I hadn’t seen it in quite some time. Because I asked. (Unfortunately, as a housewife, it wouldn’t be far from the truth but the analogy works)
It’s actually pretty grey
It's actually pretty grey here in Vancouver, though occasionally there are times when it does turn an odd colour which might indeed be blue with some sort of strange circular perpetual thermonuclear explosion observable.
I might have to steal that title at some point, especially if I can link to one of Sebastian's reviews in the post. These types of headlines are great for driving discussion in the comments which is what I craft them for (and the awful puns). A question was asked and many have answered quite strongly in the comments sections; I jsut ask that you please don't assume I am taking a stance opposite to yours … unless of course there is evidence that I am in the actual post.
Again, thanks for the views.
As someone who started water
As someone who started water cooling back when your only options were a black ice 120mm radiator or a chevette radiator core, I can say that the full water cooling market is ridiculously robust. There are so many vendors and choices to make a really nice water cooling system. I think I used tygon back in the old days which had kinking and clouding issues, and now I can import Mayhem’s plasticizer free tubing for like $10 from the UK. Everyone had to use clamps in the old days, now there’s hundreds of types of compression fittings. We used to have to use pond pumps that only ran on AC, now we have multiple choices of DC pumps.
The list goes on and on but all I can say is that “real” water cooling is not going anywhere.
Sorry, re-read the title and
Sorry, re-read the title and saw it said DIY watercooling “kits”. I initially read it as “DIY Watercooling”.
You can basically ignore my rant above 😛
Naw, it’s good to hear old
Naw, it's good to hear old war stories. That's why I put the question in the title and it seems to have worked better than I hoped.
Still find it strange that so many assume I would answer the question in the negative simply because it was there though.