Installation

     Installing the kit may or may not be a challenge, depending on your system. For the Pentium 4, you must remove the motherboard to install the mounting hardware. For the AMD, it's as simple as installing a standard heatsink. Even though we had to remove our motherboard to install the kit, this was one of the easiest to install water cooling kits we have ever used. There was no need to cut hoses or mod the computer case. The kit installed like a dream!

     When it comes to priming a water cooling system, it can be very difficult and time consuming. Not with this kit. Once you full the reservoir, you simple tile the unit on it's right side, pinch off the output hose to build pressure and release. The water rips through the tubes and pumps out all the air. You just top off the reservoir and your all set. The entire operation from start to finish took us less than an hour. That even counted the time we took off to cook a few burger on the grill... Kingwin has really taken water cooling to an all new level.

Performance

Our testbed consists of the following specifications:

• Intel Pentium 4 Northwood 2.8C

• DFI 875 Pro LAN Party

• OCZ PC4400EL 2x512mb

• 2x160gb Seagate Barracuda RAID 0 ICH5R

• XG Vigor 500 PSU

     Using our testbed under load and idle conditions resulted in the Kingwin cooling system beating our air-cooled heatsink quite easily. Not only that but there is no noise using the fan control at a 50% setting. Turning the fan control up to 100% resulted in a 3C drop in temperature, but we found it wasn't worth the noise given that we got our CPU to 3.5Ghz quite easily.

     As you can see the Kingwin beat our existing Vantec Aeroflow 2 but with little or no noise. Such is the wonderful aspects of water cooling. As with most quality water cooling kits, you will also notice a huge reduction of internal case temperature. This kit reduced our case temperature anywhere from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, depending on if the system was at idle or under stress from gaming. This not only enhances overall system performance when overclocking, it also helps extend the life of your hardware.

Conclusion

     After playing around with the Kingwin Arctic Liquid Cooler, we would have to say that we are 110% satisfied. Not only with it's performance, but with it's quality, and ease of installation. There are so many things to like about this kit; dual radiators, preformed hoses, all in one base with digitally controlled fan speed and overheat alarm. Sound reduction is also a huge bonus. Under normal operating temperature, the secondary radiator never runs above 50%, but once it approaches a preset temperature the fan kicks into 100%. This means most of the time your newly water cooled computer will be virtually silent.

     The Arctic Liquid Cooler is everything we've been wanting in an all-in-one kit. It's the best thing we've seen since the EXOS, but at half the price! Not to mention more compact, more features, solid metal water blocks, and a more attractive design. This is definitely the perfect water cooling kit to have and a great alternative to air cooling. Kingwin has made it so simple, that even the first timer could install it with ease. Club Overclocker HIGHLY RECOMMENDS this kit to anyone who is interested in water cooling. From the rookie to the most experience hardware guru, this kit will satisfy everyone.