Difference between Black Ice Pro and Xtreme?

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:13 pm

Can anyone tell me the difference between the Black Ice Pro and the new Black Ice Xtreme?

I read something somewhere that the new Black Ice Xtreme's need high airflow. Is this true, and can anyone elaborate?

I want to have at least a CPU and VGA block, with a potential NorthBridge block depending on mounting.

What size radiator should I use? Single, dual, or triple? I want to try to stay away from triple if I can... but if I need it, so be it.

Thank you.

HaloJones · Post by **HaloJones** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:57 am

Xtreme dissipates much greater heat with a given air-flow but because it is much thicker than the pro, to get the extra dissipation requires a more powerful fan (static pressure not airflow). Depending on the fan, the Xtreme can be more or less efficient.

Reviews:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1140/
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1158/

Strange reviews considering the use of Deltas for the fans but whatever. The point is that a weak fan may result in better cooling with the Pro than with the Xtreme but a more powerful fan will work better with the Xtreme. Whether the Pro with a weak fan can dissipate your heatload only you can say. The designs are quire old and have been surpassed with the Thermochill PA range so a PA120 would be better than either. If you want future-proofing you would do well to get a 120.2 rad rather than a 120.1. This would also allow slower, quieter fans.

FWIW, I use a single Xtreme with a Titan/Evercool 120mm with a gutted 120mm fan for a shroud (pic) and it does me very well. The two 80mm front fans are Silent YS-Tech 80mm, the rear is another YS-Tech while the PSU is an X-Pro 460W. The block is a BeCooling SlitEdge. The pump is a MaxiJet1200 submersed in the black res. The 120mm fan is at 12v so roughly 30dba but being inside the case rather than on the front or back, I don't really notice it. I won't bother you with temperatures since they're meaningless anyway but it's permitting a 64% overclock. Which is nice.

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:11 pm

Thank you very much for your help. I will look into the Thermochill products as well.

I was at first considering an Asetek 120.2 kit, but I think it might be better to mix and match my components.

I was going for a very quiet system, and I was going to pop on two Nexus or equivilent fans to the radiator.

I also want to incorporate the VGA and northbridge at some point as my case will eventually have very little airflow when I get this set up.

As for your overclock, can you tell me which motherboard and CPU you are using? A 64% overclock is rather amazing! Must say that is impressive!

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:27 pm

Also, can you tell me how their PA160 compares to their PA120 series? I tried the link on the website and it didn't work for me... I am finding a rather steep price of over 100 for the PA120.2, but the PA160 is around 90. These prices coming from Danger-Den. I will shop around, but if it's not that much difference in performance for 10 I will use that 10 for shipping!

Thank you very much.

HaloJones · Post by **HaloJones** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:15 am

thetoad30 wrote:Thank you very much for your help. I will look into the Thermochill products as well.

I was at first considering an Asetek 120.2 kit, but I think it might be better to mix and match my components.

I was going for a very quiet system, and I was going to pop on two Nexus or equivilent fans to the radiator.

I also want to incorporate the VGA and northbridge at some point as my case will eventually have very little airflow when I get this set up.

As for your overclock, can you tell me which motherboard and CPU you are using? A 64% overclock is rather amazing! Must say that is impressive!

Not a big fan of Asetek Waterchill stuff but others have said it's OK.

As for my 64% overclock, it's a T-Bred XP1700 (stock 1466) at 2406 on an Epox 8RDA+ so quite old school.

HaloJones · Post by **HaloJones** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:18 am

thetoad30 wrote:Also, can you tell me how their PA160 compares to their PA120 series? I tried the link on the website and it didn't work for me... I am finding a rather steep price of over 100 for the PA120.2, but the PA160 is around 90. These prices coming from Danger-Den. I will shop around, but if it's not that much difference in performance for 10 I will use that 10 for shipping!

Thank you very much.

Your best bet is to get a response on here from Marci who is the owner of Thermochill. For waht it's worth, I would prefer to have a single squarish rad than a great long rad like the 120.2. Easier to mount in my opinion. Couple the PA160 with a 140mm fan and you could make a very quiet system.

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:46 am

Thank you both for your responses... I guess I should pm Marci huh?

Marci · Post by **Marci** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:30 am

Technical Manager - not owner...

PA160 falls just behind / practically alongside performance levels of other brand dual 120mm rads... can kind of roughly equate it to 1 n' 3/4 of a single 120mm rad.

On my TEC rig, with just over half a kilowatt of heatload (226w TEC, 172w TEC, GPU Load, CPU Load, Pump Heat Dump - v.roughly 520w heatload - more heat than dual 7800GTX SLI and x2 5000+ puts out) , the following rads perform as follows:

PA160 with 1x Panaflo M1A @ 7v: CPU - 21 GPU - 22
HE120.3 with 3x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 18 GPU - 19
PA120.2 with 2x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 17.7 GPU - 18
2x PA160 with 1x ^^ on each ^ : CPU - 15.8 GPU - 15.1
PA120.3 with 3x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 15 GPU - 15

With a lower heatload, the differences between each rad will be smaller...

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:12 pm

Will the shroud for the PA160 be strong enough to support the rad? In other words, can I mount the fan to the case, mount the fan to the shroud, and then mount the shroud to the rad?

Marci · Post by **Marci** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:56 am

Yep - shroud is made from sheet steel... it can take the weight no probs...

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:33 pm

Ok, been looking at this rad, I'm curious, how do you connect hoses to this thing? I see nothing to connect to, and I'm not sure how to get the connections on... go easy on me I have never done WC before!

Also, what are the diameters for this rad? I have read that 1/2" ID is best, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

Marci · Post by **Marci** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:11 am

You attach barbs to the fittings that you screw into the threaded holes present on the radiator. Therefore, it's hose diameter is that of whatever fittings you purchase.

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:05 pm

Ok. Thank you very much. I have posted another thread to get some ideas for a new watercooling setup.