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Hey guys, I haven't seen much info on the Watercool MO-RA3 radiator so I figured I'd provide some info about it:
There's several versions of the radiator. A list of them can be found on Watercool's official website:
http://watercool.de/en/mo-ra3
Assembly instructions: http://watercool.de/sites/default/files/downloads/MA_MO-RA3_A5_ENG.pdf
I'll be talking about the 9x140 PRO, the largest of all the models and also the one I own. There's also a 9x140 LT. The LT version looks like it has 36m of copper tubing through 80 channels and 3.0 square meters of fins, vs. the PRO's 28m of copper tubing through 72 channels and 2.5 square meters of fins, but the LT can only mount fans on one side of the radiator. The PRO version costs $35 more than the LT version.
This is is just about the largest radiator you can buy that's designed for water cooling. Only the Koolance 9x120mm radiator is bigger by a slight margin. So are the Alphacool passive radiators, but those are aluminum. Although this radiator is big, it's not as big as you'd expect. Compared to a Define Mini case (micro-ATX), it's about the same length and slightly taller in height, but half the thickness (thickness defined as the width of the front panel). The fins are aluminum, but the tubing is all copper. It's fairly heavy, especially with fans and water in it. I haven't measured the weight, but it's heavier than an aluminum case but lighter than a steel case, assuming both cases are fully loaded with components. There are six G1/4 ports, 3 on top and 3 on bottom. Although there's no pretermined inlet and outlet port, I'd recommend using the top ports as an inlet so that gravity can help the water flow down to the outlet ports. The ports point forward, backward, and out, but not up/down, and they are only on one side of the radiator. This is important to keep in mind when mounting your fans and determining the direction of airflow you want. In my case, the original location I scoped out for the radiator would have caused the fans to blow hot air back towards the case. With both fan grills on, only the out port is usable because the forward and backward port are covered by the fan grill. It takes nine 140mm fans on each side, and unlike the Phobya Supernova radiator that has adapter plates for 220mm fans, there are no adapters so you can only use 140mm fans. The fins feel pretty sturdy and are stacked diagonally (as opposed to straight through) so if you're trying to pass a lot of air through it, fans with large static pressure would do better. If you try to look through the radiator, you won't be able to see through to the other side due to the diagonally-stacked design of the fins. The radiator ships with 4 plugs, enough screws to mount all the fans, and some long spacers so that you can mount it to the side of your case/wall/table with enough room for the fans to suck in air.
As for accessories, you can get fan grills and a stand set for it. The main reason why I bought this radiator was because of these accessories. However, unlike the Phobya radiator stand or the Danger Den rad box, this radiator does not allow you to externally mount any pumps or reservoirs to it. The fan grill comes in two versions, classic and rhombus. I ordered the rhombus fan grill from Performance PCs but I'm pretty sure they sent me the straight version. The rhombus version should look like this:
Notice how the fan grill curves slightly in slightly. Mine are just straight. Note that you only get one fan grill, so if you want to protect both sides of the radiator, you'll need 2 of them. The fan grill mounts to the radiator through the 4 outer-most fan holes, and the screws come with the grill. When mounted, there is almost no room above or below the top and bottom row of fans, but there is some space to the left and right. This means that routing the power cables for the fans will have to be done through the spaces in between the fans, so I recommend picking up fans with unsleeved cables. The sleeving is thick enough that it will be difficult to route sleeved cables through the limited space between each fan. I also recommend picking up a Phobya 3-pin to 9x 3-pin splitter for the fans. The fan grill only exposes a small opening on one side for a fan cable to come out, and it's quite small. I also recommend picking up a Molex PCI bracket to make it easier to provide power to the fans and 'quick disconnect' them without having to open up the case.
The stand set come in two versions, acetal and acrylic. They're not centered on the radiator; one side of the feet is longer than the other, presumably to compensate for the weight of the fans. They don't look like they the PRO version into account, where you can mount fans on both sides of the radiator. Regardless, they do a fantastic job of keeping the radiator stable.
Of course, the cooling performance is incredibly high. This radiator should perform slightly better than three 3x140mm radiators, and should be able to cool 2-3 computers with ease. In my case, I'm running an i7 3770K OC'ed to 4.6 GHz and 2 GTX 670 FTW's OC'ed to +75 core, +650 RAM, all using 1/4" ID tubing. Load temps running Prime95 and Furmark at the same time shows the CPU at ~80 C and and GPU ~50 C, with 9 Noiseblocker PK1 fans running on 5V (in other words, really really slow, probably around 300 RPM). My ambient is around 29 C (85 F). Those are the maximum temps though; in standard usage, I haven't seen the CPU go over 70 C and the GPU hovers around 41 C on load. Since the radiator is so large, you may be wondering if it's possible to use it passively. You certainly can if you're only cooling one component, but two is cutting it close and three will probably cause a slow but steady heat increase. I haven't done any extensive testing of running the radiator passively because the Noiseblocker PK1 fans are inaudible at 5V. The radiator is 3 feet away from me.
All in all, if you don't mind having an external radiator, the MO-RA3 is one of the best, if not the best, external radiators you can get. I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for absolute silence, as it's possible to run the fans at insanely low speeds and still get very good cooling, even when overclocking. Those who don't mind a little noise though can probably save some money and get a smaller radiator.
I'll post up some more pictures later, and feel free to ask any questions!
There's several versions of the radiator. A list of them can be found on Watercool's official website:
http://watercool.de/en/mo-ra3
Assembly instructions: http://watercool.de/sites/default/files/downloads/MA_MO-RA3_A5_ENG.pdf
I'll be talking about the 9x140 PRO, the largest of all the models and also the one I own. There's also a 9x140 LT. The LT version looks like it has 36m of copper tubing through 80 channels and 3.0 square meters of fins, vs. the PRO's 28m of copper tubing through 72 channels and 2.5 square meters of fins, but the LT can only mount fans on one side of the radiator. The PRO version costs $35 more than the LT version.
This is is just about the largest radiator you can buy that's designed for water cooling. Only the Koolance 9x120mm radiator is bigger by a slight margin. So are the Alphacool passive radiators, but those are aluminum. Although this radiator is big, it's not as big as you'd expect. Compared to a Define Mini case (micro-ATX), it's about the same length and slightly taller in height, but half the thickness (thickness defined as the width of the front panel). The fins are aluminum, but the tubing is all copper. It's fairly heavy, especially with fans and water in it. I haven't measured the weight, but it's heavier than an aluminum case but lighter than a steel case, assuming both cases are fully loaded with components. There are six G1/4 ports, 3 on top and 3 on bottom. Although there's no pretermined inlet and outlet port, I'd recommend using the top ports as an inlet so that gravity can help the water flow down to the outlet ports. The ports point forward, backward, and out, but not up/down, and they are only on one side of the radiator. This is important to keep in mind when mounting your fans and determining the direction of airflow you want. In my case, the original location I scoped out for the radiator would have caused the fans to blow hot air back towards the case. With both fan grills on, only the out port is usable because the forward and backward port are covered by the fan grill. It takes nine 140mm fans on each side, and unlike the Phobya Supernova radiator that has adapter plates for 220mm fans, there are no adapters so you can only use 140mm fans. The fins feel pretty sturdy and are stacked diagonally (as opposed to straight through) so if you're trying to pass a lot of air through it, fans with large static pressure would do better. If you try to look through the radiator, you won't be able to see through to the other side due to the diagonally-stacked design of the fins. The radiator ships with 4 plugs, enough screws to mount all the fans, and some long spacers so that you can mount it to the side of your case/wall/table with enough room for the fans to suck in air.
As for accessories, you can get fan grills and a stand set for it. The main reason why I bought this radiator was because of these accessories. However, unlike the Phobya radiator stand or the Danger Den rad box, this radiator does not allow you to externally mount any pumps or reservoirs to it. The fan grill comes in two versions, classic and rhombus. I ordered the rhombus fan grill from Performance PCs but I'm pretty sure they sent me the straight version. The rhombus version should look like this:
Notice how the fan grill curves slightly in slightly. Mine are just straight. Note that you only get one fan grill, so if you want to protect both sides of the radiator, you'll need 2 of them. The fan grill mounts to the radiator through the 4 outer-most fan holes, and the screws come with the grill. When mounted, there is almost no room above or below the top and bottom row of fans, but there is some space to the left and right. This means that routing the power cables for the fans will have to be done through the spaces in between the fans, so I recommend picking up fans with unsleeved cables. The sleeving is thick enough that it will be difficult to route sleeved cables through the limited space between each fan. I also recommend picking up a Phobya 3-pin to 9x 3-pin splitter for the fans. The fan grill only exposes a small opening on one side for a fan cable to come out, and it's quite small. I also recommend picking up a Molex PCI bracket to make it easier to provide power to the fans and 'quick disconnect' them without having to open up the case.
The stand set come in two versions, acetal and acrylic. They're not centered on the radiator; one side of the feet is longer than the other, presumably to compensate for the weight of the fans. They don't look like they the PRO version into account, where you can mount fans on both sides of the radiator. Regardless, they do a fantastic job of keeping the radiator stable.
Of course, the cooling performance is incredibly high. This radiator should perform slightly better than three 3x140mm radiators, and should be able to cool 2-3 computers with ease. In my case, I'm running an i7 3770K OC'ed to 4.6 GHz and 2 GTX 670 FTW's OC'ed to +75 core, +650 RAM, all using 1/4" ID tubing. Load temps running Prime95 and Furmark at the same time shows the CPU at ~80 C and and GPU ~50 C, with 9 Noiseblocker PK1 fans running on 5V (in other words, really really slow, probably around 300 RPM). My ambient is around 29 C (85 F). Those are the maximum temps though; in standard usage, I haven't seen the CPU go over 70 C and the GPU hovers around 41 C on load. Since the radiator is so large, you may be wondering if it's possible to use it passively. You certainly can if you're only cooling one component, but two is cutting it close and three will probably cause a slow but steady heat increase. I haven't done any extensive testing of running the radiator passively because the Noiseblocker PK1 fans are inaudible at 5V. The radiator is 3 feet away from me.
All in all, if you don't mind having an external radiator, the MO-RA3 is one of the best, if not the best, external radiators you can get. I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for absolute silence, as it's possible to run the fans at insanely low speeds and still get very good cooling, even when overclocking. Those who don't mind a little noise though can probably save some money and get a smaller radiator.
I'll post up some more pictures later, and feel free to ask any questions!
Last edited:
Nice.
