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Danger Den TDX 939

     Clawhammer... just the name makes you feel powerful. Of course since the Clawhammer has debuted it's pretty much gained ground as the processor to get acquainted with. It jut so happens that right now for not too much more than a bill you can grab a lower speed one and overclock it. but sometimes overclocking those lower speed processors can give you quite a headache when you're cooling isn't up for the task. Rest assured there are literally tons of different cooling arrangements, but none of it compares to something from the  Danger Den. Whether if its replacing or adding to your existing water cooling arrangement, Danger Den always has an answer for you. Some people think that water cooling can be dangerous, hard to put together, and unreliable, but Danger Den has been active in the water cooled PC market for years, and speaking from personal experience I have yet to experience any kind of failure from a product they have either manufactured or carried over the course of 5 years. Starting from the first design of the Maze waterblock, Danger Den has continuously sought after improving its efficiency year after year, and now has become known as the TDX. Sure a few months back we tested a TDX of the Pentium 4 variety, but we're here today to relive the glory of the TDX on a Socket 939 platform. Lets take a closer look...

Specifications

• RBX performance with just two (2) Barbs!

• Includes - Complete Block Assembled with Top and O-ring, and #1 Accelerator Plate.

• Ships with High Flow 1/2" Fittings and Stainless Steel Hold Down.

• Additional Nozzle Package include #2, 3, 4, 5, and one blank.

• Socket wrench included to remove bolts.

• Brass Top Version ships with (2) springs and (2) spacers to reach the AMD specification of 75lbs of hold down force.

• Machined Lapped and Touched up to 1200 grit.

• Pressure tested before shipment to 85psi.

Features

The Accelerator Nozzle

     The Accelerator Nozzle is a feature that allows you to fine tune your water loop so that you get the optimal benefits of a RBX/TDX waterblock. Accelerator nozzles ranging from #1 to #5 can be purchased separately in order to do this but more important is that the TDX is already configured with nozzle #1. For multiple blocks this nozzle is the best to run, but if you are considering running just a CPU block #3 may be best. The way the nozzle works is a secret but upon a closer look it looks as though the variance between the nozzles lies in the arrangement, depth, and height of the plate that the pumps water flows into the block.

The Accelerator Nozzles pathway of the TDX block.

Another view from inside the block

The TDX

     The TDX is a beautiful piece of work and is a token of how well Danger Den focuses on quality even though their demand is high. Changes to the RBX/TDX blocks are readily apparent. The fittings have received a size adjustment so you can fit your loop inside your case a bit easier from their height decrease. Along with the Nozzle resizing comes the use of O-rings around the nozzles instead of traditional Teflon tape or pipe goo... the interesting aspect of the TDX is how modular it is now to take advantage of the accelerator nozzle change.

     The bottom of the block reveals traditional Danger Den craftsmanship. As stated before in the specifications each block is touched with 1200 grit. As of lately Danger Den has been using a protection tape covering after each block is manufactured, and as you can see the dark line reveals where its split so you can easily remove the covering.

Installation

     We used a Epox 9nda3+ for testing with a 3500. As you can see all you have to do is remove the back plate form the bottom of the motherboard, install the studs, and that's pretty much it. More detailed instructions are downloadable from Danger Dens how to section located here.

     Installed and ready to go. We used Arctic Silver is its a proven thermal solution. Its interesting to see how much room the TDX saves over previous blocks, and without losing any cooling efficiency either. Just a rule of thumb, always cut your hoses to size after your components are in your case. This will alleviate any kind of problem with the hose being too short or long. So long as you take your time and think everything over carefully, anybody can put a Danger Den cooling system together.

     We're pretty much ready to go at this point. Since most of today's games are more video card dependent we went with a dual block arrangement using a Maze 4 GPU block that we reviewed earlier here. Instead of the traditional CPU->chipset->GPU cooling arrangement we followed the advice from Danger Den's Dan Stephens to go from the pump->GPU and then CPU.

     Here you can get a better idea of the change in our testing configuration. Pump->GPU->CPU->Radiator->Reservoir... The yellow hose was a used piece we had used in our UV dye test setup, not too pretty but after a few days with some bleach in the reservoir should make it clear again...

Testing

     For our test setup we had a new sparkly 3500 Winchester core to play with, along with a Epox 9nda3+. We used the x800 Pro, Crucial Ballistix PC-3200 (2x512mb), and our Lian Li PC V2000 case which holds a Danger Den BIX Micro II with twin 80mm Sunon HS fans. So a quick rundown...

Epox 9nda3+ Motherboard
AMD Athlon 3500 Processor
Visiontek Xtasy x800 Pro Videocard
Crucial Ballistix PC-3200 2x512mb Memory in Dual Channel
Lian Li PC-V2000 Case
Fortron Source 500W Power Supply

     For our testing we didn't really have too much around to test against other then the OEM cooler, and if you don't know right now you should, there is no comparison to liquid cooling. With that said we also decided that since we are an overclocking site we best find out the maximum overclock we could get out of this setup with the Danger Den setup. After a power supply change out we were able to finally get our setup stable enough to play a bit in the BIOS. After a couple of resets we reached a fairly good setup seeing as how we were able to get our 3200 memory into 4400 territory even at CAS 2.5 without a vdimm mod to the 9nda3+. Running at a HTT of x4 and the 3500's default multi of 11x, 250fsb was attainable but not as stable as 245. We probably could have pulled of around 248 or so, but 245 is a nice stable setting that will survive under hours of gaming and general use.

CPU-Z

     This is cool, our Crucial RAM is WAYYY over spec, and at its specified 2.75v too!! So how well does a 2.2Ghz 3500 perform at 2.7? Lets check Sandra to find out...

Sandra 2005

Super PI Results

...and again. Wow... 32S beats our existing 4Ghz P4 record by 2 seconds!

Temps?

     A temperature of 37 Celsius is very reasonable considering we are cooling not just the CPU, but the GPU as well, which according to ATI Tool is at 35C.

     The Danger Den TDX block never ceases to amaze us. A completely stable overclock is what a good water cooling system is all about and the TDX delivers. The 3500 is a great CPU which keeps coming down in price and its so nice to see that AMD's socket 939 platform is ever increasingly becoming affordable to us Overclockers. We deserve these price drops, and seeing as how you can literally take a Maze 4 block and bolt on a new top for under $20, I would seriously consider the TDX AN investment into your overclocking future. Water cooling can take on many forms, but it isn't until you see what you get with a Danger Den that you can really see why people get the results they want from water cooling. For the newcomer to water cooling, take note of this, and perhaps hit up the guys at Danger Den to take on your cooling needs, you won't be disappointed... ClubOC HIGHLY recommends the TDX...