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Which Antec cooler do you own?

  • Antec Kühler H2O 620

    Votes: 133 97.1%
  • Antec Kühler H2O 920

    Votes: 4 2.9%

[Official] Antec Kühler H2O 620 & 920 Owners Club

815K views 6K replies 695 participants last post by  ciarlatano 
#1 ·
A warm welcome to everyone to the official Antec Kühler H2O club!

I would firstly like to thank grassh0ppa for initially opening this thread, and handing down the responsibility to me in January 2013.

If you have either the 620, 920, or thinking of buying one of the Antec's, then you've found yourself in the right place!
At OCN we plan to help out and input as much as we can.

If there is a question that's troubling you, please don't hesitate to ask - there is no question too dumb (don't let anyone tell you otherwise), and there is also no "constraints" in posting helpful or intriguying things.
I would however like to ask for a two simple things:
-No disrespecting of other members
-Please try and stay as ON topic as you can

Introduction:

The Antec Kühler series is known to be a good liquid cooler, that provides good temperatures to its users. Asetek is the company behind the components of the Antecs, and thus provides users with a reliable and well built cooler.

Antec has two liquid solutions:
-The Antec Kühler H2O 620



-The Antec Kühler H2O 920



Both come at a reasonable price and one that is competitive to the Corsair counterparts.

Here's a demonstrating from Asetek on how their coolers work:


Finally, here's an insight of the internal components of the Antec 920

Installation Guides:

My written guide (this guide applies to both 920 and 620, however I own the 920 myself)

Update: My brand new video guide:
Here's another video guide, however for the 620 (same principle applies):


-SinatraFan's AMD installation guide

Video Section:

Antec 620 section
Official Videos

Unofficial Videos



Antec 920 section
Official Videos

Unofficial Videos






Review Section:
Antec 620:
Benchmark Reviews
Legit Reviews
Hardware Secrets
[H]ard|OCP
KitGuru
Overclockers Club
Tweak News

Other:
M3TAl's fan comparison with the stock Antec 620 fan

Antec 920:
Legit Reviews
Tweak News
Benchmark Reviews
Kit Guru
Hardware Secrets
XSreviews

Troubleshooting of the Antec systems:

The most common problem people face is the pump noise being very loud - almost like a motor sounding stuck/dry.
The way to naturally fix this is to allow the pump to run for around 5-10 minutes. Do monitor your CPU temps, just in case there's no cooling occurring. The reason behind this, is due to the fact that there are air bubbles stuck in the pump. Just like a watercooling system, where it needs to run for a little while in order to become fully efficient, the liquid coolers are no different.

There are a few people however that still despite leaving it on for a little while have reported problems. A possible fix for this is to shake, move the pump around.

Here's a video from Asetek showing us that:


If you still face problems with your unit, please don't hesitate to contact Antec or your reseller.

Here's some questions and answers to the Antec units, by Asetek:

Note: All these questions and answers were taken from this thread.
How do the Antec units differ from the Corsair units?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12783500
Same rad, but other improvements make this an upgrade over previous generation Asetek products. Our tweaks to both the cold plate and the tubes have yielded us better performance at a lower cost which is what engineering is all about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12513905
Btw this differs from the H50 on several major points.
- Asetek's Generation 3 coldplate
- more flexible tubing
- low profile pump compared with H50s high profile pump. Its more compact and quieter.
Is the mounting hardware identical to the hardware used in the H50 and H70? Could I remove my H50, put the Kuhler in it's place, and simply tighten the screws?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12514448
The mounting hardware is indeed identical on this product and you will be able to do exactly as you described.
In the description for installing the Kuhler, I noted that it said the fan should draw air in from the case and exhaust it out the back...this is different then the H50 and the H70, which had you get air from outside the case, and push it into the case. For me, I need to know, as my case (an ATCS 840) is fairly well setup for the pull air from the outside of the case and exhaust it from with the case style of fan orientation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12514448
So Airflow is actually something I am going to write about on our blog. The fact is that the cooler the air is entering the rad, the better the cooler will perform. It is of course personal preference on how you setup up your chassis. Ultimately, you can mount it anyway you want, but the liquid cooler will perform better when cooler air is moving through the hex.
Is the inner diameter of the tubing greater then that of the H50 and/or H70?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12514448
The ID of the tubing is, in fact, smaller. However, the flow rate is equivalent. The corrugation of the old tubes creates miniature back currents in the tube vs. the new tube has a smooth inner path. Thus, despite a slightly smaller ID, the flow rate remains the same The tricky thing about flow rates is that higher isn't always better. It lives on a logarithmic curve. Too fast and the liquid spends too little time on the coldplate and the hex, too slow and the liquid spends too much time in those areas. Thus, there is an ideal range that we have observed and optimized our systems for. We heard the cries that the old tubes were a pain in the ass and this was our answer =)
It's mentioned that the fan RPM is controlled by the liquid temperature inside the pump...is there a way to connect that to the motherboard, or other monitoring accessory? That's information I'm sure people would like to know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12514448
The fan is only controlled by the liquid temp when the fan is plugged into the provided fan header that comes from the pump. Feel free to plug your fans into the motherboard, another fan control system, or anything else.
What are the amperage limits of the built in fan controller?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asetek_Stu;12510450
The official word from engineering:
Quote:
The maximum fan current is 800 mA, the limit is determine by the switch transistor internal on the PCB.
But the overall current consumption, the Motherboard spec has to been taken in to account.
From plugging in as many fans as I could I got a max draw of about 400mA
What thermal paste has been pre-applied to the 620 and 920 units?
Quote:
ShinEtsu X23-7868-2D

Useful info from Antec, directly - regarding some questions I had: Stefan @ Antec answers' will be in BOLD:
Closed loop, maintenance free water cooling kits like the Antec/Corsair/Thermaltake/Zalman
etc. ones have their limitations. The temps you can achieve with these depend
highly on how you configure the fans on the radiator as well as the case
temperature that additionally will heat up the radiator and cause higher temps
in the long run.


Let me try to answer your questions:

1. Why is the backplate provided a plastic one? As it seems hardly stable enough
to hold the bolts in place (in fact mine have started rounding the backplate,
after a few mounts) - which also leads me unto another question regarding the
backplate: Do I need to use the adhesive strips to fasten it in-place? As now I
have no adhesive strips (as I had to remove it).


Metal would certainly be nicer for durability, but most people do not unmount
their cooler several times within a build. Overtightening the screws can lead to
what you experienced. Judging by the numbers of coolers sold and people
complaining about this problem only a very small number of customers seem to
experience these issues. If you need a new backplate and adhesive strips, we can
send you some. Just forward me your invoice to sgeler@antec.com together with
your shipping address.


2. I couldn't make use of the metal washers provided, simply because when I
added them, they wouldn't fit the rad/motherboard properly. Where are they
supposed to be fitted?


The metal washers are to be used with the radiator only. Some enclosures have
special mounting holes for fans, and the screws would simply slide through.


3. Why are the instructions, provided in the Antec 920 out-dated by a year? As
you can see I created an instruction guide, simply because the one provided was
out-dated and was no longer applicable to the installation (mainly the plastic
ring and the twisting motion)


Some boxes had older manuals included while including newer parts already. This
was a mistake, and customers asking about it received the newer manual along
with an extra sheet that includes info on the plastic ring.


4. Why did I find a scratch on my Antec 920 copper plate, after removing the
stock paste?


Honestly, no clue. All coolers I have handled so far had a blemish free base.

5. Could you also let me know what paste is actually used for the Antec cooling
systems? As you will be able to see from that thread, the Antec paste seemed to
have had completely evaporated.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1350571/antec-k-hler-h2o-920-stock-paste-removal-and-replacement-an-interesting-discovery


I have no specific details on the paste at the moment, but asked the engineers
for details. The evaporation is weird though. I haven't experienced this first
hand, and I have mounted quite a few already. I will ask and get back to you
about this asap.


Me asking about temperatures:

"Let's talk about the temps first. Seeing a max temperature of 70°C at 100% load
is not unusual on an i7 3770K with these compact liquid coolers. Did you use the
stock fans while testing this, or the Corsair ones from your installation guide?
A method to reach better temps is to switch around the fans directions so cool
air is sucked into the radiator from the back into the case. Your top mounted
fans will handle the exhaust function just fine, and the positive side effect is
that the cooling performance will become better. Please give it a shot when you
have the chance."

The differences between the V1 and V4 versions of the Antec 620

Antec's take on the differences between the V1 and V4 models on the Antec 920:
Thank you for contacting Antec Inc. In regards to your question, there is not much of a difference between the Version 1 Kuhler 920 to the Version 4 Kuhler 920. The difference between them is the Version 1 has the kits for the LGA 775, 1155 and 1366. It doesn't have the proper brackets for the socket LGA2011. It also can support any AMD sockets. Version 2, they came out with a newer mounting brackets for LGA1155, 1366 and 2011; they got rid of the LGA 775 rails because they where least requested that time. Version 3 unit had the upgraded Chill Control Software V 1.0 and the Version 4 came out with the Chill Control Software V 1.2 and also came out with the Chill Control Software VI for Windows 8 fix but there was alot of bugs and issues with the software that's why we asked the customer to downgrade to the Chill Control V 1.2.

The Kuhler 620, 920 and 1220 are all made by Asetek and we are coming out with our own Liquid Cooling unit. Kuhler's 650, 950 and 1250 will be coming out soon. The difference between these liquid cooling units prior to the old ones are re designed bigger pumps than the Asetek models. We've moved the pump near the radiator and the fan because on the Asetek design, the cooling plate, when get's hot, the impeller on the pump is affected by heat that the CPU is generating. Which causing the pump to either seize up or you'll hear the pump clicking noise. Just a FYI, the new Kuhler's looks like the pump is in parallel with the air fan motor but it's generally, 2 motors, 1 motor for the pump unit and 1 motor for the fan unit. The Kuhler 1220 that was designed by Asetek only has a single pump for the 240mm radiator. The Kuhler 1250 that will be coming out has a dual pump design for better cooling options. We should be releasing the new Kuhler's by this coming September.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. warranty.info@antec.com

Antec 620 and 920 Input and Power:
Kuhler 620 input:
Operating Voltage: 12 VDC
Rated Current: 430 mA with 2000 RPM fan
Input Power: 5.2 W

Kuhler 920 Input:
Operating Voltage: 12 VDC
Rated Current: 1200mA with 2x 2400RPM Fans
Input Power: 14.5W

The modification section:
Any sort of mods, relating to the Antec units, will go in here

-Plywood99's mod

-DirtyTrickster's dismantled Antec 620

-Evil Genius Jr's guide to changing the tubes

-DjBodya's Antec 1200 Case Mod - to fit the Antec 920

-[CyGnus]'s white tube mod

-Lapping the Antec plate does NOT void its warranty - Official confirmation by Antec (thanks to M3TAl for pointing this out)

-Buklyne's 620 mod

Fan section:

I highly suggest changing the stock fans - not are they loud but are also a little inefficient when compared to other fans out there:

I put the stock fans and applied my new MX-4 paste:
Max temp at silent: 83c
Max temp at extreme: 75c




Antec 920 + SP120's on push/pull: max temp was 75c.
Antec920 + SP120 (which is super silent on full load) = Antec920 + stock fans on EXRTEME:

Here are fans, in no particular order - that were recommended either by myself and/or club members.
This is to replace the stock fans. Despite the stock fans doing an excellent job in cooling - they proved to be quite noisy in comparison to some of the aftermarket fans one could buy - remember the rad side for the fans is 120mm. I should also note that getting 3pin fans won't work with the antec software but WILL work with most motherboards. To be on the safe side - purchase a 4pin 120mm PWM fan
All links to the fans will be linked to places you can purchase the fans mainly in the UK (prices may vary and you might be able to find better prices elsewhere):
-Aerocool Shark
-Scythe Gentle Typhoon
-Akasa AK-FN058 Apache
-Corsair Quiet Edition
-Corsair High Performance Edition - In my humble opinion the HP edition is a bit over powered versus the SP versions. One doesn't simply need that speed with these fans
-Yate Loon Performance fans

Adding this thread in your signature:
Here's the signature code:
Code:

Code:
:Snorkle:[B][URL="http://www.overclock.net/t/990111/official-antec-k-hler-h2o-620-920-owners-club"]Antec Kühler H2O 620/920 Club[/URL][/B]:Snorkle:

Here's how it will look like:
Snorkle.gif
Antec Kühler H2O 620/920 Club
Snorkle.gif


Please feel free to share pictures of your rig, with your Antec installed - or any other cool things you would like to show!

Here's the sign up form!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cTfwRe09_Glo4sHmvBm_PyKpxnJUDfeC7x3oUZIBL0M/viewform?embedded=true

Here's the Spreadsheet!
It will automatically update after awhile and you should see your name come up in here after adding it via the sing-up form
ALL ENTRIES start from the 7th of February 2013 - all other older entries haven't been put in.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AsDou5a9Q8M5dHNlY3NxQmZncFFwNDdlTE5KWUFaNUE&single=true&gid=0&output=html&widget=true

 
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13 8
#4 ·
Strange how all reviews I see never include the H50 in their tests.
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kokin;13119660
Strange how all reviews I see never include the H50 in their tests.
I'm pretty sure all the reviews I included have the H50/H60/H70 as well as some Coolit units included in the testing.
 
#6 ·
I have the 620 on my new build and so far I have not seen temps get over 59 or 60. Usually idles around 30-32 but I have one fan in my Raven 2 that is not working very well and I have not messed with the fan settings at all since I dont really understand the Asus Suite 2 interface that well yet.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Topgearfan;13127812
I have the 620 on my new build and so far I have not seen temps get over 59 or 60. Usually idles around 30-32 but I have one fan in my Raven 2 that is not working very well and I have not messed with the fan settings at all since I dont really understand the Asus Suite 2 interface that well yet.
Try adding yourself to the spreadsheet
smile.gif
I wanna make sure it works lol
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by HOTDOGS;13129661
Is the cooling difference worth the price difference? Anybody have one in a CM692?
The Antec 620 units are $58 in Canada while the Corsair H50 is worth $59. And before you accuse me of using different websites I actually used the cheapest price I could find using shopbot for both products - not including MIR or special discounts. The price difference is negligable, but the Antec has much better performance. Check out the reviews. I'm not sure about prices in the states.
 
#11 ·
Check out Asetek Stu's sig rig... he lists "Asetek Prototype" under GPU cooling. Sounds like an Omni ALC competitor.

And the old tubes were seriously corrugated like that on the inside? I thought that was just a cover over the tubes.

I guess these guys aren't loosing to air coolers so easily any more.
 
#12 ·
Im coming!!! Plan on becoming a member in about 6 5 4 3 days. Got it! Frys price matching Antecs website at 69.99!!!
 
#13 ·
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by fyzka;13135228
add me cuz im joining the frakking club ladies and gents

got a 620

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4126/photo0249g.jpg

i know the image shows 2 antec fans but ive updated them with 2x akasa blue led fans @1450rpm just cba uplaoding the picture
Very nice! and thanks for adding yourself to the list, now I know it works!

Look at that tubing! haha
cool.gif
 
#16 ·
I got the 620 with my new build. i5 sandy bridge, p67a ud3p board.

Temps aren't all they're cracked up to be. some people are getting better temperatures with the 212 cooler.

Also using IC Diamond 7 on this sucker. I'll post a pic..

The installation of this thing was a PITA. The radiator didnt fit on the rear exhaust so I had to place in above my hard drive cage. Then the copper plate itself has circular ridges which make it very very easy to mess up an install. Air pockets are not very cpu friendly.

The best way that I have found to put it on was put on TIM, evenly and carefully place pump/water block/ copper plate and twist a few times to fill in the ridges. IC Diamond 7 is a pain to work with as well because of its viscosity.

After a few days of plying around and reseating these are my temps with an OC of 4.4Ghz @ 1.32v ambient temps 20C
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by craptakular;13139798
How long are the leads for this? I have just bought a micro-atx case, the Lian Li v354B.

I want to mount the unit in the front of the case, but need to know how long the leads are, I should be ok as it's a small case...
you mean the tubing? Not sure exactly, I'm sure you could find that info on the benchmarkrevews review. I remember seeing a ruler....

Manootie, please add yourself to the list
smile.gif
I'll do it if you want but it's better when everyone does it themselves becauase you can add comments that people will be able to read on the OP.
 
#23 ·
  • Rep+
Reactions: grassh0ppa
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tennobanzai;13140140
I'm contemplating on buying the 620 since it has the slim rad that I would need in my itx rig and has the slim pump/heatsink. I just think it's overkill on a undervolted/stock 2600k.
Yeah, it is, but god does it look sweet.
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by grassh0ppa;13140012
you mean the tubing? Not sure exactly, I'm sure you could find that info on the benchmarkrevews review. I remember seeing a ruler....

Manootie, please add yourself to the list
smile.gif
I'll do it if you want but it's better when everyone does it themselves becauase you can add comments that people will be able to read on the OP.
Ta, the review said its 30cm, so should be enough I think. Will confirm that tommorrow.

What fans would be good on these? Think I will go with two...
 
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