Intel 120MM Liquid Cooling Unit Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2012-05-07
·
1,371 words · ~6 min read
0:08
So today I have a pretty cool unboxing of something that at the time of
0:12
unboxing it is not released, but by the time I release the video, it will be
0:16
released. So this is the Intel Thermal Solution RTS 2011 LC for TDP up to 130
0:24
watt. Yes, that is Intel's awesome and
0:27
like cool marketing name. And by
0:31
marketing name, I mean I mean part number for their new liquid cooler for
0:36
their LG 2011 processors. And it's not only for their LG 2011 processors.
0:41
Actually, they outline on the front of the box here, check this out, that is
0:44
good for 2011, 1366, 11, 1156, and 1155.
0:50
Now, one difference between this and competing liquid cooling solutions such
0:54
as those from Corsair or Coolit or uh
0:58
Anttech or whoever the case may be is that this one does not come with any AMD
1:02
mounting hardware. I know, right? Very
1:06
unexpected. So, we've actually got a trial cameraman with us here today. I
1:10
just thought I'd let you guys know that. And uh I saw on one of the other videos
1:14
I uploaded, you guys are already making comments on what you think of the
1:17
various camera people we're trying out. So, I'd be happy to hear your comments,
1:21
and I'm sure he'll be either happy or or
1:24
disappointed to hear your comments. And apparently, there's a CPU in here,
1:28
although I really really don't think they're all going to come with a
1:34
CPU. So, yeah, let's look at the uh
1:38
documentation that's included. First, we've got the Intel RTS 2011 LC liquid
1:43
cooling solution, which includes installation instructions and a three-year warranty. That's awesome,
1:47
actually. That's outstanding. Having a three-year warranty on a cooler like
1:51
this important. Do not fully tighten, okay, until they're all partially
1:55
engaged. That's good. These are all good instructions. Here's little diagrams
1:59
showing you what to do and what goes where and how to mount on AMD. Oh, no,
2:03
not on AMD. Never mind. No, no, this only mounts on Intel sockets. Haha.
2:07
Okay, so there you go. These are actually fairly detailed. Plug the thing
2:10
in the thing and you're done. Okay. Uh, let's look at the included mounting
2:15
accessories and whatnot. I like the environmentally friendly packaging here.
2:19
So that's all recyclable material. So this is actually different.
2:24
This looks like the probably OEM by ASET
2:29
based on Yeah. Yeah. There there's an ASICH logo right there on the back of the back plate. So you can see it's got
2:34
the 1156 1366 and 775 mounting here. And
2:39
then it looks like the way Okay. Here's the retention
2:42
ring. All right. And then what else have we got here?
2:47
Okay, we've got some thumb screws. Nice big thumb screws. So, you have the
2:50
option of either screwing them in with your fingers or screwing them in with a
2:54
Phillips head screwdriver. Got some other more different
2:57
ones. All right, we've got what look like aluminum
3:01
spacers. Okay, we've got some double-sided uh sticky pads, which are
3:06
going to prevent your motherboard from being shorted out by applying the back
3:10
plate. All right, we've got some screws. So, these are your fan mounting screws
3:13
as well as your radiator mounting screws. I'll show you how those work in a minute. We've got some Intel approved
3:20
thermal compound, which comes in a little baggie. And we have some zip
3:24
ties. Look at that. Intel includes zip ties for you. Actually, two things of thermal compound. Very nice. All right,
3:29
let's have a look at the unit itself. The first thing I want to check out is
3:32
the fan because my expectations for this fan based on how cool it looks are
3:36
pretty high. This is actually a blue fan. And you know what? Let's pause the
3:40
video for a minute and let's go check out the color. So, there you go. That's what the fan looks like when it's on.
3:45
It's pretty cool. Or as my little brother would say, super cool. Okay, so
3:49
it's got three LEDs which are all on the central hub, not on the frame like we're
3:53
used to seeing on fans. Okay, it's not
3:57
incredibly loud by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that it's
4:00
running at 100% right now because that header is not speed controlled. So,
4:03
we'll go back and we'll have a look at the unit itself. So, one of the first
4:07
things I notice about this particular guy right here is that it looks pretty
4:11
similar to the Anttech 920 in that it has uh this awesome awesome tubing. So,
4:18
look at this. I can take this tubing, I
4:21
can twist it up, and I could mount my CPU here and I could mount my tubing
4:27
like that and it would not kink. This is nice thick wall, flexible tubing, and
4:33
you should not underestimate the importance of that when you're doing a
4:36
liquid cooling setup. Tubing is
4:40
imperative to the overall performance
4:43
because if it kinks, performance will suck and if it doesn't kink, performance
4:47
will be good. It is the difference between suck and good. So, very, very
4:52
nice, very well thought out. And it's expensive, too. Bear that in mind.
4:55
Tubing is very expensive. So putting in a high quality tubing is something where
4:59
Intel is saying, "Okay, we're going to spend extra money on this unit to make
5:02
sure that it performs well in any given scenario." Another thing I noticed right
5:06
away is that it uses a thicker style radiator. This is another thing that I
5:10
cannot stress the importance of enough. Liquid cooling is not a magic bullet. It
5:16
comes down to the same basic principles of moving air and surface area. The only
5:22
reason liquid coolers perform better than air coolers is that we're able to
5:25
take that surface area, move it very efficiently away from the CPU, and then
5:31
disperse it somewhere else on something that is bigger and has more surface area
5:35
than a typical heat sink that you can put directly on a CPU socket. So, using
5:39
that thicker style radiator versus the kind that is used on something like an
5:43
H50 is definitely a good move for Intel.
5:47
Last but not least, we've got the pump and CPU block combo unit. So, you can
5:52
see here that there are actually Oh, neat. Okay, so there's actually a power
5:58
lead here. So, that's going to plug into your four pin PWM CPU header. And then
6:02
there is an additional power lead, and that is
6:05
a I can't remember whether it's male or female, but the point is that it plugs
6:10
into the fan. There you go. So, that one runs the fan. So that means that all of
6:14
the logic for controlling pump speeds as well as fan speeds is all based on the
6:20
unit itself. Here we've got a copper base, which is pretty much par for the
6:24
course. If it's using anything but copper, it's going to see slightly
6:28
degraded performance. All right. And I think that pretty much covers
6:32
everything. Oh, you know what? That looks like it lights up. Let's go back to that test bench and find out if it
6:35
does. So this is a lights on simulation of what the unit will look like. There
6:39
we've got the fan installed on the
6:43
radiator as well as the CPU block unit installed on the CPU. So you can see
6:48
both the Intel logo and the cooled by acet parts at the top actually light up
6:52
blue which looks really cool. And now let's do a lights off shot of this. And
6:56
here is our lights off look at the unit. Very very cool looking. Definitely one
7:00
of the best looking liquid coolers that I have seen to date for these pre-done
7:05
pre-filled units.