Antec Kühler H20 920 & 1220

[ChrisRK]

So I finally got the 1220 and it works great!

 

This will be a quick and dirty summary of the cooling performance I think... I have never reviewed something before, so wish me luck!

All feedback is welcome! (I meant to post this only on the thread I made over in the Water Cooling section, but it turned out better than I thought, so I decided to post it here as well. I hope you guys will like it!)

 

 

First off I have to say thank you to everyone who has given me feedback on my other thread over at http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/86682-what-dual-140mm-closed-loop-to-get/! A 280mm radiator would never have fitted in the top of the Define R4.

 

 

So, for testing I ran my AMD FX-9590 at stock speed with TurboCore disabled, used Intel Burn Test running for 15 minutes for torturing and had my side panel off.
Antec ChillControl was set to the Silent profile for both tests. The stock fans are replaced with Corsair SP120 High Performance Edition PWM fans.

 

And the obligatory specs list:

CPU: AMD FX-9590

MB: ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z

RAM: Curcial BallistiX Tactical Tracer, 4x4 GB

GPU: MSI 780 Lightning

PSU: Corsair AX860i

Case: Fractal Design Define R4

Extra fans: Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition\w blue LEDs

 

 

Antec Kühler H20 920

 

 

I have to say that the 920 is looking pretty beast with it's thickness, and it was conveniently covering up the molex power calbe to the motherboard which looks a bit ugly.

 

 

 

 

For cooling performance, it wasn't doing a very good job at keeping my 9590 cool.

The CPU reached a max temp of 65c (149f) and avereged at almost 64c (147.2f) and dropping down to 57c (134.6f) when Intel Burn Test went to the next loop.

 

My motherboard was doing a nice job at keeping close to near absolute zero though. Which is -273.15c (-459.67f) for those who shouldn't know

 

 

 

The liquid temps and fan speed was... Acceptable I guess. The liquid temperature was at a steady 47c (116.6f) (plus/minus 0.1c when the fan ramped up and down) and the fan noise was noticeable, but not very loud.

(I should have pulled out my dB meter and actually measured this... But I didn't. I also forgot to take a screenshot of the dashboard tab that has a built in dB scale. I have no idea if that is actually measuring the sound level or if it just works off variables.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up whe have the:

Antec Kühler H20 1220

 

The radiator on it was nearly impossible to install with a push-pull configuration in my Fractal Design Define R4 case!

I even had to cut away a part of the colored ring on one of my SP120 fans to make it fit over my RAM

And here you can see molex cable going to the motherboard (best viewed in the full size picture linked below). Not looking very good there.

 

 

Link to a full size photo for those who wants that: http://i.imgur.com/SZV7x5v.jpg

 

 

Here's a proper close-up to show how little space there actually is left between the motherboard and the fans:

 

 

And link to the full-size picture if you so desire: http://i.imgur.com/RcqmhJj.jpg

 

 

 

The 1220 was doing a MUCH better job at cooling my CPU! Keeping it 14c (23.4f) cooler than the 920.

 

My CPU was steadily holding itself at 51c (123.8f) during the torture test, reaching a max of 52c (125.6f) [or 53c (127.4f) if you want] with an averege of what I really cannot say as OverDrive crashed about 6 minutes in the test.

The temp dropped quickly down to 45c (113f) when Intel Burn Test was going to the next loop.

 

My motherboard still keeping it cool at almost the absolute zero.

 

 

 

 

So this is the moment I would tell you how much cooler the liquid temperatures would be and show how fast the fans would spin, buuuuut...

There where a few problems:

 

First: the CD that came with the 1220 did not have the drivers on it. It only came with ChillControl VI and Open Hardware Monitor.

 

So obviously I went to Antec's homepage and downloaded the latest software from them. Also no driver.

 

Then I contacted Antec support.

 

This is what I wrote to them:

 

Hello.

I cannot find the USB driver for my new Kuhler H20 1220.
The CD did only come with the CC VI software, and the online download has the same content.

So can you please send me the USB driver?

Thanks.

 

 

This is what they told me:

 

Thank you for contacting Antec. The drivers for the Kuhler H2O 1220 should install with the Chill Control Software.

Thank you,
Antec Support Team

 

I got a reply within 20 minutes which was very positive, but their reply was not helpful.

 

After some googeling and talkin with peoples I managed to get the driver for it. Yay!

 

But wait! I said there where a few problems. So.

 

Second: I think the pictures here will talk by themselves.

 

 

 

 

That's right. The ChillControl panel keeps saying "USB connection lost!".

 

I know the driver works at least because it will only show an error message when it doesn't detect the USB device.

 

 

But ignoring my technical difficulties, the fans never ramped up and still my CPU was nice and cool! And if you ask, yes I know that the fan controller work properly. If you unplug the USB cable the fans immediately spins up to the max.

 

 

 

So there you have it!

 

That's my little review of the Antec Kühler H20 920 and 1220. The upgrade was absolutely worth it! But next time I'm gonna upgrade I will look for a case that actually can fit a large radiator inside.

 

 

 

[TechSage]

9590 isn't worth it IMO.You have it already so it's all good, but it draws too much power for the performance it offers.

[ChrisRK]

9590 isn't worth it IMO.You have it already so it's all good, but it draws too much power for the performance it offers.

 

Yeah. It's a power hungry CPU for sure. I have considered moving over to Intel, but the prices for any i7 CPU here in Norway is more than the 9590. So I went with it last time I upgraded instead of getting a new CPU and motherboard.

[TechSage]

Yeah. It's a power hungry CPU for sure. I have considered moving over to Intel, but the prices for any i7 CPU here in Norway is more than the 9590. So I went with it last time I upgraded instead of getting a new CPU and motherboard.

I hope you're using the crosshair V formula, or something high end for AMD

[ChrisRK]

I hope you're using the crosshair V formula, or something high end for AMD

 

I am

[TechSage]

I am

Good, otherwise the northbridge will turn brown and black lol

[ilikemacandpc]

why  not get a 9370 - much better value - $199 right now in the US - i'm assuming it's similarly cheap compared to its competition in finland as well