Overclock.net banner

Antec Kühler H20 920 Liquid CPU Cooling System

1K views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  Overclock Reviews 
#1 ·
Antec Kühler H20 920 Liquid CPU Cooling System

Description:
Since all retail CPUs are boxed with perfectly good coolers (which are pretty quiet), the main reason to buy an aftermarket cooler is its performance when your processor is overclocked. (There might be some who buy coolers based on the aesthetics of their appearance through a windowed CPU case, but we'll assume they're in the minority.) But while performance is certainly the main criterion, other factors must be taken into consideration as well, such as noise, size, other features, and price. The ideal cooler keeps your processor at or near ambient temperature, is silent, free, and unfortunately doesn't exist. Manufacturers vary the performance, noise, size, features, and cost factors of their products to address different segments of the market.

Details:
DetailValue
BindingElectronics
BrandAntec
EAN0761345770866
FeatureCustomizable RGB LED creates brilliant illumination
Height5.94 inches
Length1.93 inches
Weight2.43 pounds
Width4.72 inches
LabelAntec
List Price$119.95
ManufacturerAntec
ModelKUHLER H2O 920
MPNKUHLER H2O 920
Package Quantity1
Product GroupPersonal Computer
Product Type NameRAM_MEMORY
PublisherAntec
SKUm10478781
StudioAntec
TitleAntec Kühler H20 920 Liquid CPU Cooling System
UPC761345770866
 

Attachments

See less See more
3
#2 ·
Kuhler 920 Beats The Competition

review by shtkck

Antec's all in one CPU water cooling solution blows the competition out of the water. I did a lot of comparing and researching when it came down to which solution I was going to go with, and it boiled down between the H80, the H100 and Antec's 920.

The bottom line came down to quality. Antec contracted out an actual water-cooling company to fabricate and produce this for them, and Corsair did not. The result? A more effective and more reliable higher quality solution.

The radiator puts the corsair one to shame, and the tubing is of much higher quality. It's comparable to what you would see in an actual water cooled rig. I've over clocked my 2600K all the way to 4.8 Ghz and under load it's still under 70C.

When comparing them, you'll see the reviews that not the temperature but the reliability beats Corsair's counterpart and I can back those up. I highly suggest you try this product.

Oh and it's got a LED where you can change it's color and a neat UI for your OS.

ProsCons
Quality, Rugged, Effective, Cheap

Ratings
Overall5
 
#7 ·
Really good product

review by legendmask

overall Im really happy I purchased this cooler since Im beginner and it indeed helped to reduce the temperature on my CPU, some things I noticed though is that the difference between Idle and on load temperature are not very big, on idle I can get around 32C and on load 42C.

the idle temperature is always or mostly gonna be on its best the same temperature as your room.

ProsCons
works really good and keeps sound level on the down side untill it starts working %100once the fan hits %100 the neighbors would think you are vacuming your home!!

Ratings
Overall4
 
#8 ·
Can't find a flaw!!

review by oldcompgeek

Well, after looking for a flaw, I have given up and just am completely impressed with it. I was against water cooling of any type for a long time and finally started to look into them. This one to me is for sure one of the best. I didn't want a 240 rad cluttering up my system and this double thick 120 was perfect for me. I only had one place in mind to mount this and that is right under my dvd burner because it is well out of the way and gives my front fan (lepa casino 1c) good show-through the front of the case to match the preinstalled 140mm fan. This unit is also very short so it doesn't clutter up my cpu area at all and the flexible lines are much nicer than the corsair and some asatek units. I've heard how weak the h50 pumps are and with this one coming with software to control the cooling and monitoring, as well as the controlable LED on the pump itself it was a no-brainer to buy. My n520 had actually BENT my previous motherboard after a yaer, and it wasn't a cheapie mobo either and that is what pushed me to go h2o. I would definetly reccomend this to anyone that isn't expecting it to be a refrigerator, but wants realistic cooling and nice asthetics.I am actually going to add an Asatek dual (gpu and cpu) cooler to this one and those two blocks will go to the video card and vrm's after I make a copper plate for the vrm's that is. After watching a dye test I know that this pump has the pressure to power a longer loop, but with 3 pumps/blocks in the loop, I can add larger clear tubing and a nice DNA res with an additional 25mm rad at the rear to help cool everything. Antec 920 is a great system for 70 bucks let me tell you!!

ProsCons
Antec quality, no stress on motherboard, cooler temps, easy installationThe dang plastic backplate (why don't they reinforce these)

Ratings
Overall5
 
#9 ·
#10 ·
Kühler for cool - pretty much!

review by totally dubbed

The 920 was bought due to me wanting liquid cooling over the conventional fan cooling.

I also went for this over the Corsair H series, due to it having non-ribbed pipes.
I also have the I7 3770K and was thinking of OC'ing it, so I needed something to cool down that dreaded Ivy Bridge processor. This does the job.

Pros:
-Software is easy to use, and very simple and intuitive

-Lighting the Antec is pretty cool, especially seeing as you can modify the colour of it

-Setting your own fan profile is very easy, and truly recommended to do, to match your rig.

-The cooler does its job, and at max load, under p95 for over 20hrs, keeps my CPU at around 75-85c - I'm currently OC'ed at 4.5ghz with 1.265v on my I7 3770K

Cons:
-The instructions provided, are outdated. I'm not the only one to be completely lost when trying to assemble the cooler (especially if it is, like for me, your first ever liquid cooler) - Even all the reviewers have reviewed this over a year ago, but despite that, there's no recently dated review and guide for it. I'll get around to make one.

-At 2600 RPM (max speed), the stock Antec fans will sound like an aeroplane trying to take off. They also don;t seem to provide that much air flow. I have thus replaced the Antec fans by the Corsair SP120 quiet editions, and they run at only 1500 RPM, but yet cool as good as the Antecs did at around 2000 RPM. More so the Corsairs are quiet.

-Light doesn't go off, after the PC is switched off - however you can disable lighting if you don't want it, but this will mean no pretty light in your case.

Overall, great liquid cooler, and truly recommended for cooling your processor!

Here's my unboxing of them:

UPDATE:
Dropped the rating from 5/5 to 3.5/5 - reasons:
-Antec thermal paste wasn't very good at all
-Scratch found on my CPU after removing the Antec920 from my system
-Instructions really let down the product

ProsCons
Great pump speed, cools like a bossInstruction are outdated, Antec fans are noisy, light stays on, stock thermal paste has got little to be desired

Ratings
Overall4
 
#11 ·
Decent Cooler with high Price Tag

review by 8bitg33k

Testing equipment used:

Antec 920 Kuehler, closed loop watercooler
Coolermaster 212+, Aircooler (for comparison)
Xigmatek SD1283, Aircooler (for comparison)

2x Antec stock fans (the ones supplied with the 920 unit)
2x Corsair SP120 (High Performance)
1x Coolermaster R4 Blademaster

System specs: i7-3770k @ 4.5GHz, GA-Z77X-UD3H, 2x4GB Samsung Miracle RAM, GPU Sapphire 7950 Dual-X, PSU CP-850, Case Antec 182

All tests were run under the same conditions using the same equipment: Room temp ~66.5, i7-3770k @ 4.5GHz, vcore 1.275v.

General notes regarding setup and airflow:

The PSU and the hard drives sit in their own compartment at the bottom isolated from the rest of the case. The case has two 120mm intake fans both located at the front of the case. 2 x 120mm exhaust (top and rear). The 920 Kuhler was mounted in the place of the rear exhaust fan, exhausting air out of the case as recommended by Antec. I ran multiple tests with different sets of fans, 2x stock Antec fans and 2x Corsair SP120 HP in a push/ pull config. When using the aircoolers, both were mounted with a single Coolermaster R4 Blademaster in push config. I did not run any tests non-overclocked as people who are willing to spend $100 USD + on a cooler are most likely overclockers themselves.

Test Configurations and Results:

Antec 920 Kuhler: ...........p95 max CPU temp 89c (2x fans controlled using Chill Control*) (both the stock Antecs and the SP120's)
Antetec 920 Kuhler/ ........p95 max CPU temo 84 (2x fans controlled by motherboard**) (only the SP120's were used in this test)
Coolermaster 212+: ......p95 max CPU temp 93c (1X Coolermaster R4 fan controlled by motherboard)
Xigmatek DK SD1283: .....p95 max CPU temp 94c (1X Coolermaster R4 fan controlled by motherboard)

*in this test I let Antec Chill Control control the fan speed ("Custom Setting"); I did two tests each using two different custom settings in Chill Control,1. Fan Ramp Start Temp 30/ Full Speed Fan Temp 35 and 2. Fan Ramp Start Temp 40/ Full Speed Fan Temp 50 (which is the default setting). The temperature hit 89c using either setting. Setting the Fan Ramp Start Temp to anything lower than 30, resulted in loud fan noise during idle.

**in this test I let the motherboard control the fan speed; Hooking up the fans to the motherboard requires a Y-cable splitter which needs to be purchased separately. Since there had been no temp difference in any of the other tests with either the stock Antec or the SP120's, I performed this last test using only the SP120's

Using Chill Control to control the fans allowing it to ramp the fans up and down depending on the liquid temp, resulted in a max temp of 89.

Using Chill control "Extreme" preset, resulted in a max temp of 84. With both the SP120's and the stock Antec's this resulted in very high noise levels even when idle though, I doubt anyone will be willing to put up with.

Using my motherboard to control the fan speed resulted in less noise when idle and load temps were 84.

A word on Chill Control:

The Antec Chill Control software has 3 settings, Extreme, Silent and Custom. Extreme keeps the fans running at full speed at all times, Silent keeps the fan noise at non-audible noise levels, and Custom allows the user to control the fans to ramp up or down depending on the temperature of the water contained inside the unit.
The software does not monitor CPU temperature but monitors the temperature of the water inside the unit. This causes a delay for the fans to speed up to provide more cooling for the CPU. From the time the CPU temperature rises, for the water inside the 920 to be warmed and then finally for the Antec Chill Control software to react and ramp up the fan speed. In a nutshell, if a CPU exhibits temperature spikes that last only for a very short duration (like several seconds), the software will not be able to compensate in time as the liquid will not be heated up fast enough for Chill Control to ramp up the fans potentially even causing damage to the CPU.

Conclusion:

The 920 is a good product in it's own category. It does what it is supposed to do and it does so adequately, and it does it even better after a bit of tweaking. Namely, not using Chill Control and exchanging the loud stock Antec Fans. However, for the same price tag of $80- $90 (at the time of review), better performing coolers can be had for the same price like the Noctua NH-D14. The big drawback of the 920 is that Chill Control operates off the liquid temperature, in my tests this results in higher temperatures. If you decide to purchase this unit, I highly recommend getting a Y-Cable splitter and allowing your motherboard to control the fans rather than letting Chill Control do the job. You will get much better results this way with both temperatures and noise levels.

The 920 performs adequately and slightly better than the two aircoolers I used for comparison but comes at a much higher price tag. The higher price accounts for the parts involved in the 920, ie pump, radiator, fans, etc and as such is a much more complex system than a traditional aircooled heatsink. When comparing the 920 directly to the Coolermaster 212+ and the Xigmatek DK SD1283, the 920 cooled better by up to 5c- 9c than a $30 USD cooler, at optimal configuration and settings.

ProsCons
Light weight waterblock, Low profile, Decent cooling performanceHigh price, Badly written installation manual, Software is flawed

Ratings
Overall4
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top