Koolance PC2-601BLW

[Jassi]

This little case caught my eye. Unfortunately, I know nothing about watercooling but the prospect of less noisy fans is too much to ignore. If anyone knows what quality of case this is, please share.

I am planning to build a OC'ed A64 3000+ (939 pin) over the upcoming winter break.

 

[iamtrout]

My friend has a Koolance and he is up sh!t creek now that he wants to upgrade to some better performing watercooling. Koolance uses all 1/4" ID (Inner Diameter) tubing whereas everyone else including the DIY crowd uses 3/8" and 1/2" exclusively. This means that Koolance is basically in a world of its own and NONE of their parts can be swapped out for another brand because that brand will use different size tubing, so if you want to upgrade a part of your watercooling and don't want to stay with Koolance, you have to change everything.

The case is definitely a quality case albeit very heavy (Antec/Chenming). The watercooling loop (pumps, radiator, reservoir, waterblocks, tubing) has much to be desired though.

 

[acivick]

I have the PC2-650 (which is basically the 601 with the cooler front panel) and I have had great experiences with it so far. As you can tell from my sig, I have my 6800 GT, my CPU and my chipset watercooled. Usually I have it set up for quiet use and the loudest part in my case is one of my older hard drives. Temps stay around 40-45C idle (both the CPU and GPU) and maybe hits 50C system-wide on full load. When I'm playing some of my more hardcore games, I choose to put it on its "performance setting", which is basically having the radiator fans going full blast and the pump working at 100%, and it sounds like an air conditioner. I would do it all again, with the possible exception of foregoing the chipset waterblock, which was largely unnecessary.

I also respectfully disagree with iamtrout. While I would recommend going with Koolance parts just for simplicity's sake, I don't see any difficulty upgrading anything besides the radiator. You could probably even change up the reservoir/pumps to something else if you chose with a little bit of work. There are also hose adaptors you can purchase to convert from any size tubing to any other size, though it is recommended to have everything the same size.

EDIT: There are a few reviews the Koolance standalone EXOS kits on HardOCP, which are very similar to their cases. I thought there was a case review on there too, but I couldn't find it. You can check the EXOS systems out for yourself though.

You can also find a review of my case HERE.

 

[ROJAS]

The purists out there think that the 1/4 inch tubing is way too small for proper cooling. I'm o/c p4-3.2E to a 3.9Ghz with a Koolance P2-601blk case. My temp is always 29-31 degrees celsuis.

I guess if I had the larger tubing it might drop a degree to 28-30 celsuis. 1/4 inch tubing works very good.

I also have a p2-650 which I purchased last year. It is also running very good. Very quiet machines. Pricy but very good.

 

[Tom]

" The purists out there think that the 1/4 inch tubing is way too small for proper cooling. "

These are the same people that put 6 inch diameter tailpipes on Honda Civics.

 

[jdogg707]

I have used Koolance, and have used heavy air cooling, and must say, there isn't much of a difference. If you want to water cool, do it the right way, and build it yourself...you can get parts that are right for you and right for what you want, and also the ability to upgrade over time. If you aren't going to be using insane voltages, I would say a Thermalright XP-120 and a good 120mm fan will give you the same results, if not even better than a Koolance. I have a Winchester 3200+ OC'ed to 2600MHZ at 1.568V, not to mention a pair of 6800GT's, and my XP-120 and Thermaltake 120mm fan keep my processor at around 48C at load.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: ROJAS
The purists out there think that the 1/4 inch tubing is way too small for proper cooling. I'm o/c p4-3.2E to a 3.9Ghz with a Koolance P2-601blk case. My temp is always 29-31 degrees celsuis.

I guess if I had the larger tubing it might drop a degree to 28-30 celsuis. 1/4 inch tubing works very good.

I also have a p2-650 which I purchased last year. It is also running very good. Very quiet machines. Pricy but very good.

The thing that usually isn't considered by purist types is that block design can be adapted to flow metrics. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying great performance with your system and look forward to the day where we can all use what we want without recriminations and choice-justifying propaganda.