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 Box Shot  Kit The water-cooling kit we received was the most basic kit available. It includes one pump, one 120MM radiator, one 120MM fan, one Antarctica CPU Block, a small reservoir, and some tubing. There were bags of accessories for the CPU block and the pump and a thorough manual.  What's Inside Like I mentioned earlier, the waterblock is Asetek's new Antarctica CPU Block. It has one inlet and two outlets, joining together with the Y adapter provided. The block's mounting frame is universal, meaning that it fits on all three popular platforms available: Socket 478, Socket A, and Socket 754/939/940. The base of the block was protected with plastic seal to prevent scratches while shipping. Removing the seal showed that the base was not mirror-finish, nor was it very clean. Oxidation had occurred, although unpreventable.  Block 1  Block 2  Block 3  Block 4  Block 5  Block 6  Block Inside 1  Block Inside 2 I removed the frame of the block to have a better look at the Antarctica's internals. At the very center are the extruded fins. It was designed for water to hit the center first, then travel to the sides traveling through the fins and exits out the two outlet holes. There was another mounting frame included. Although the current frame is universal, the included frame is for Socket A only. It was included for motherboards that have tight circuitry around the socket. Installing the waterblock was very simple. Simply remove your motherboard from the case, secure the provided rods with the small screws and nylon washers, mount the block on the CPU, then tighten it down with the spring and thumbscrews. It was extremely easy to mount no tools were necessary.  Block Assembly  Block Mounts  Motherboard 1  Motherboard 2  Motherboard 3  Motherboard 4 The pump included is a Hydor L30. The pump is known to be fairly quiet and produces decent flow rate and head. However, I have been hearing many complaints about the pump failing after a use of 3-5 months. It did perform very well for me during my testing though. The pump has a power relay that allows the fan to be adjusted to use either 7v or 12v.  Pump 1  Pump 2  Pump 3  Pump 4 The reservoir included is very small. Reservoirs' main purpose is to bleed out bubbles during the bleeding stage. The design of this reservoir made it hard to bleed the system. I had to fill the reservoir, turn on the pump and tilt it a little so it would suck the water, turn off the pump, fill the reservoir again, and repeat the steps for a total of three times. It would've been much easier if there were a helping hand, but no one should need help when they have something good to work with.  Reservoir 1  Reservoir 2  Pump and Plate  Pump and Reservoir Attaching the reservoir to the pump was a straight forward job. The instructions manual made it very clear on what to do. The only problem I had was that there were no sticky pads for the reservoir to sit on. The manual stated that there would be sticky pads included, but I found none in my kit. I had to provide some cheap alternative by using twisty ties to temporarily secure the reservoir on the plate. The radiator used is the famous Black Ice Pro. It has quick-connects already assembled on the barbs. The fan used is a Sunon 120MM fan. The fan runs silently at 7v but does manage to produce some noise at 12v. Assembling the fan and the radiator was harder than it's supposed to be. First the fan holes for the radiator were not tapped. The included self-tapping screws helped a little but not all that much. I had to use a lot of force in order to screw the fan in. The second problem that I encountered was that the screw was a bit too long. Even after the fan is assembled, it was long enough to touch the fins on the radiator. Users have to be very cautious when doing this as it can permanently damage the fins on the radiator. While damaging the fins on the radiator doesn't destroy the performance, damaging the channels certainly will. During installation the screw came very close to the channels of the radiator. I was forced to get some rubber spacers for my radiator and fan assembly to prevent the screws from breaking my radiator.  Radiator  Radiator 2  Fan  Fan 2  Fan and Radiator  Fan and Radiator 2  
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