Water Cooling is awesome. There’s no doubt about it. Traditionally, it performs better than air cooling, it’s quieter, and looks amazing. But, it’s also expensive, can be complicated, and to the uninitiated, looks risky. So, what if you want the benefits of water cooling, whilst eliminating…well, every one of those drawbacks? Enter the self-contained water cooling unit.
Perhaps the most popular of these technologies are those branded by Corsair. Their HXX series has been selling very well amongst average system builders and enthusiasts for a while. There are also closed-loop systems by Intel, AMD, Zalman, Antec, CyberPower.. you get the idea. But really, the majority of these coolers are made by one of two companies: Asetek, or CoolIT.
The Thermaltake WATER 2.0 Performer and Pro are made by Asetek. They are both equipped with 120mm radiators, allowing effective mounting almost anywhere in a chassis that has 120mm fan mounting locations. Thermaltake provide you with two 120mm fans so that you’re able to do a push/pull set up, which is most welcome and much appreciated.
With so many of these options now sitting, begging for your hard earned cash.. which one do you choose? Perhaps we can help you make that decision.
Special thanks to Thermaltake for providing us with the WATER 2.0 Performer and WATER 2.0 Pro for review today.
Packaging
The packaging for the WATER2.0 series uses a black base color. On the front of the box is a large picture of the product individually, as well as product and company logos. A golden “badge” is present, which states support for Intel’s enthusiast socket, LGA2011. Three choice features are listed in the bottom corner.
On the rear of the packaging, features of the product are listed with more detail. Four images highlight facets of the product you may be interested in. There is also a large image of the product mounted to a motherboard. On the side of the boxes there is a full specification list, as well as a performance graph of the units vs. a stock intel cooler on the LGA1366 platform.
Inside the boxes you’re provided with a manual, a warranty guide, two 120mm case fans, the product itself, and mounting hardware for both Intel and AMD sockets. The WATER2.0 series supports LGA 1155, 1156, 1366 and 2011 for Intel, as well as AM3+, AM3, FM1, AM2+ and AM2 for AMD.
To give you a good idea of how all this is packaged, please check out our unboxing video below!