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Electric Iceberg Watercooling Kit
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Posted: June 3, 2002
Written by: Davey McWatters
Electric Iceberg Watercooling Kit
Introduction:
The Card Cooler has been selling cooling parts for PC’s for a very long time. Previously they have sold all kinds of different types of coolers like their original Card Cooler and they also sell coolers for chipsets and CPU’s designed by companies like ThermalTake and Vantec. Now, they have entered a new realm of high-performance system cooling. This time they design parts to their specifications and include them in a kit called the Electric Iceberg. We will be taking a look at the kit today to see how much of a cooling gain we can achieve over one of the top air coolers on the market.
The Electric Iceberg
They block used in the kit is made out of a solid block of copper. Our block did come with a few very faint scratches on the bottom of the block. If you are a perfectionist you may want to lap that down a little bit, or in my case just use Arctic Silver for what it’s designed for. The block also comes with quick connectors for the tubing to attach to. We will discuss those more in depth in the conclusion section of the article.
Here is an internal picture of the water block, image courtesy of The Card Cooler. It has a rather unique design compared to other blocks on the market. Soon we will find out if that is for the better or for worse. Nevertheless, it is a very interesting design. Each block takes them approximately two hours to completely mill out.
The radiator is large, as many radiators are because of the massive lengths of tubing required to cool the water. Like the block and reservoir it also contains the quick connect tube fittings. The only problem I have with the reservoir is the Molex it uses to power the fan. There is no way you will ever be able to fit this reservoir inside of a mid tower size case. You probably won’t even be able to fit it in most full towers on the market. I had to make my own Molex extension and run it out the back of my case to power the fan, which isn’t very hard, it’s just awkward.
The Card Cooler has included a very sharp looking reservoir with the kit. Not only does it look cool, but it also feels like it has been thoroughly constructed using top quality materials. It contains a submerged pump attached to the lid and is powered via and AC plug also attached to the lid of the reservoir. It contains two quick connect tube connectors to hold the tubing in place.
Above is a picture of the lid and pump from the reservoir. As you can see, the pump is small and looks cool as well. The water is sucked up through the tube, then moves throughout the system, and finally falls back into the reservoir through a hold in the lid. It is a very nice design.
The Card Cooler includes a nice amount of tubing to use with your kit. I received a little bit over eight feet of tubing with my kit. I would like to see some perfectly clear tubing instead of the clear/white color they include, that way if you decide to use a water dye in your water, you will be able to see it better through the tubing. However, that is just a personal preference and will have no affect on the kit whatsoever.
The Card Cooler was also kind enough to include a CPU shim with their kit. I highly recommend you use this shim to lessen the risk of CPU damage, unless of course your block leaks, then nothing will save you. The shim fits perfectly over your Athlon(XP) CPU and protect your core very nicely.
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