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Application:

Water Cooling

Provided by:

PolarFLO

Available at:

PolarFLO

MSRP:

$59.99

Availability:

Now

Review by:

Matt

Edited by:

Scott

Review date:

September 11th, 2004
   
 

 
PolarFLO TT Waterblock

     Water-cooling is such a normal thing now. It seems that with the consistent product development, with assorted manufacturers, we now have quite an assortment to choose from. However, there still remains the line between the serious and casual water-cooling enthusiast. There are your serious products from the likes of Danger Den, Swiftech, and a few others, whilst the casual market consistently gets bigger as time goes by. I can say it is certainly nice to see a new contender in the serious category, that being PolarFLO. Much like a few others that have come and gone, the PolarFLO TT CPU block has literally stunned the big guns like the DD TDX and Swiftech MCW6000 blocks. Every review I have seen so far has the PolarFLO TT kicking some serious butt, but at ClubOC we only believe others until we've done our own research, so lets go about doing it, and check out the PolarFLO TT....

 

 

 

Specifications

 

     "The PolarFLO TT CPU is the latest in pc water cooling technology.  We bring you the best performance at much lower flow rates and at high flow rates.  The new design is fully comprehensive and future proof.  We decided to take a more feature-rich and performance approach with the TT Series.  The features this series offers is unprecedented.  The PolarFLO TT Series CPU block is a simple two part design.  If you can change the batteries in a flashlight, you can service a PolarFLO TT CPU.  The main body of the block rotates to relieve stress and deflection on hoses.  All the components are available individually.  You can take apart the new PolarFLO TT CPU to clean, modify or interchange parts.  The PolarFLO TT CPU uses the PolarFLO TT Series Posi-Seal Barbs and Plugs.  These Posi-Seal barbs and plugs are easy to interchange.  You can get the PolarFLO TT CPU in a 2 port or 3 port configuration.  The low profile design will fit into the smallest cases and with the low flow performance, you don't have to worry about your pump-life.  The new PolarFLO TT Series CPU water block is the first in the series, which will be the most professional, high-quality, and top performance series available."

 

Design and Features

  • 2 part design for easy assembly and disassembly

  • Designed for processors with Heat Spreaders (Semi-Super Finished to lower cost)

  • High performance heat transfer geometry (diamond machined flat to 0.0003" - 0.0005" with a 0.000009" surface finish)

  • Low flow resistance

  • Easy cleaning and resealing

  • Low profile (great for ever-shrinking PC systems)

  • Universal mounting plate fits AMD socket 754, 939, 940 and Intel socket 478, 603 and 604. (Not for use on AMD socket 462)

  • Universal mounting plate has intrinsic spring force for uniform mounting

  • Future proof (when a new enhanced performance copper base is released you may purchase only the base)

  • 100% Interchangeable parts (available separately)

  • Unique mounting system allows 360 degrees of rotation to relieve hose stress (kinking)

  • 2 port or 3 port configuration

  • Threaded copper base for uniform assembly force (assembly does not distort base flatness)

  • Uses Posi-Seal barbs and plugs (ensures positive sealing every time)

  • 3 two tone colors (red, blue and black)

  • Chrome plating available

  • Made in the USA!

Package Includes:

  • Mounting hardware
    • (4) 6-32 x 2" Screws
    • (8) Nylon Thumbnuts
    • (8) Nylon washers
  • Instructions
  • Y-splitter (only included with 3 port configuration)
  • (2) Hose clamps ( 5 hose clamps included with 3 port configuration)

Features

The TT is a stunner in the looks category, and looks very intimidating compared to the flagship blocks offered from others...

Using a triple inlet configuration, the PolarFLO will depend on an excellent high GpH pump for good temperatures.

The surface of the TT is flawless to say the least... notice the universal application for any processor, so long as you have holes in your board.

     The only thing that I want to nitpick about is the lack of extra pieces of tubing that you'll have to clip off your existing arrangement. Nevertheless, installing the PolarFLO was relatively easy for those of you with any experience with Danger Den or Swiftech blocks. PolarFLO includes everything you need (except for extra tubing) to install your block onto your AXP, A64, P4 processor...

Performance

For our testing we used the following configuration:

 - Intel Pentium 4 Prescott
 - Asus P4C-800E
 - Crucial Ballistix PC-4000
 - Visiontek x800 Pro
 - DangerDen D-4 Pump, MicroBIX Radiator, Maze 4 GPU Block, Z-Block Chipset, Tygon 1/2" Tubing
 - Thermaltake Butterfly 480W PSU
 - Lian Li PC V-2000 Case

     Much like our Danger Den TDX review we used a lot of Danger Den stuff which in our opinion is really excellent stuff. Danger Den has helped us an immense amount and we credit a lot of water-cooling testing and research to them. Just to stir up the pot a bit we used our Danger Den configuration to test the PolarFLO TT block and compare it to our TDX block. We use 2x80mm Sunon medium RPM fans on our Micro BIX radiator and we tested at full load and idle using several different configurations to place load and to unload the Prescott processor which we ran at its default 3Ghz until summer breaks off its torturous 90F+ Idaho heat. At the same room temperature that we tested the TDX at the Prescott's default 3.0Ghz, we proceeded to get some numbers from the PolarFLO after the 48Hr curing period needed for our Artic Silver 5 paste.

     So there you have it, much like every site we've seen thus far the PolarFLO beats the TDX by only a small but to some a significant margin. Due to our processor's 250fsb max we found that it still had that max even though the PolarFLO cools a bit better than the TDX. Oh well, you can't win every time...

     The PolarFLO is a very nice water block more than worthy of your existing configuration, although one of the things that we didn't do nor have I seen anyone else do is to try the TT on a configuration with a not so worthy pump that flows less than what is needed. Not to say that the TDX may actually be more efficient in that kind of arrangement, but with the double inlets on the PolarFLO it could present a problem in flow, and therefore, overall temperatures. For now the TDX is going on a F/S forum, the TT is staying on our test bench, so yeah, its ClubOC recommended...

Club Overclocker Rating

Innovation:

9.0 out of 10

Performance:

10.0 out of 10

Quality:

10.0 out of 10

Stability:

10.0 out of 10

Compatibility:

10.0 out of 10

Overclocking:

10.0 out of 10

Software Pack:

N/A

Value:

9.0 out of 10

Overall Rating 9.5

   

Skill Level

Project Skill Level
(10 being hardest)

5 out of 10