Best Core i7 1366 Waterblock

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L33t Masta

Gawd
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Jan 1, 2008
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I'm looking to set up a new watercooling loop for my Core i7 920 and was just wondering what the best waterblock is.I looked at the sticky but He said it might be out of date so I thought I would ask. I'm looking for something that will keep my CPU cool when I decide to overclock it to 4.2 or 4.6 GHz. I prefer something with 1/2 inch barbs.
 
EK Supreme HF. Its always in the top 3 or even on the top for cooling performance and it is not restrictive like some other blocks. (Apogee XT extreme, w.e its called, is really restrictive).

XSPC makes a good block too, I think its called the Rasa. Its about only about 3-4 degrees worse than the EK. But, the if you want the best of the best, the EK is the way to go.
 
L33t Masta said:
There's so many choices...nickel and acetel+nickel, copper...which should I choose?
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They are mainly for looks, the acetal, plexi. I prefer Nickel, its performance isn't much better if at all than copper, but it also looks better and won't oxidize.
 
Nickel it is. Thanks! Do you think it will make a big difference if I go full nickel or the nickel and plexi model?
 
Absolute best block is the Kryos XT .925 Silver.

Aside from that the top blocks are the EK Supreme HF, XSPC Rasa, and Koolance CPU-370 in no particular order. They're all within 2-3C of each other (probably closer).
 
FaRKle0079 said:
Absolute best block is the Kryos XT .925 Silver.

Aside from that the top blocks are the EK Supreme HF, XSPC Rasa, and Koolance CPU-370 in no particular order. They're all within 2-3C of each other (probably closer).
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Haha holy shit! A CPU waterblock with the bottom made of silver? That's fucking amazing.
 
Well yes, the Kryos Silver is probably the best performing block, but it's highly restrictive (just like the Copper version, which is also at the top of the performance charts). I'm also not sure I'd want to deal with their mounting system.

The Koolance CPU-370 block flows and performs about as well as the EK HF, but the mounting system is superior.

The CPU-370 has been undergoing revisions. It seems they have decided upon a 1.5mm injection plate (had shipped 1.3mm and 1.6mm for testing... trending showed best performance was likely somewhere in-between, hence 1.5mm). There's also some speculation that the CPU-360's base may work better than the CPU-370 base (the tops are interchangeable)).

In the initial review, Skinnee's testing showed the 1.3mm and 1.6mm options on the CPU-370 just slightly outperforming the EK Supreme HF.

Here is his final review with the 1.5mm design: http://skinneelabs.com/cpu-370-review/10/ , but he hasn't run a comparison yet, and I'm not sure he has tested with the CPU-360 base (haven't read through the review yet).

Swiftech has released the Apogee XT rev.2, which is a high-flow revision. The original XT was already nearing the performance of the EK-HF, but it was more restrictive. They've done the same with their universal GPU-block in releasing the MCW-82 (vs the original MCW-80). They claim that only the flow-rate has changed, but I'm guessing there is some performance difference as well.

If I had to choose right now, I'd go with the CPU-370 simply due to the refinement of its mounting system and the available test data (I own an EK Supreme-HF Gold (Gold, Nickel, and Cu are all still "full-copper.")).

Edit: The XSPC Rasa is a restrictive design (according to some tests, but not others... makes very little sense unless XSPC made a design change... it showed up as about as restrictive as the XT in one test, and then flowing as well as the HF in another. Both testers had a history of putting out reliable test data), but its performance is still nearly at the top tier level.
 
EK has a new mounting mechanism. It can do 30kg of pressure which is supposodley the best. My rig will be done soon with this so I can post my results then.
 
Yes, if you buy a new EK Supreme HF, you'll get their newest mounting mechanism. It'll probably ensure better mounting consistency, but it won't change the peak potential performance of the block.

In the review of the CPU-370 I posted above, the authors still preferred the Koolance mount. I don't think the little bit of extra mounting pressure will make a difference.

Still - all of these blocks are solid choices. If I could change my EK-HF out for a similar product, it'd be the CPU-370 (but I'd probably wait until Skinneelabs has posted up more thorough comparisons for 2011, including an XT rev2 test, EK-HF rev3 mount, and a test of the CPU-360 alternate baseplate).

Depending upon the results of those tests, I may request the new EK mount, or simply switch to Koolance the next time I disassemble my rig... which will be at least another few months.
 
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