Thermaltake Big Water Liquid CPU Cooler Review :: Performance

Keeping the CPU cool is job one when it comes to liquid cooling kits and the Big Water did a very adequate job of keeping the CPU temperatures at a moderate level even when the CPU was overclocked by a good margin. We took the 3.73GHz EE and pushed it to 4.3GHz without any heat problems whatsoever. The maximum temperature reached was 129 Degrees Fahrenheit under a full load at 4.3GHz and idle the system ran at 120 Degrees. Either way the CPU ran very cool through everything we did, such as intense CPU based games like C&C Generals and Act Of War that really use a lot of CPU power and help generate heat, as well as many 3D based test programs like 3Dmark 2003/2005. I was impressed at how well the Big Water kept the CPU cool and can say without doubt that it is good enough for all but the most insane enthusiast at keeping your CPU running coolly. Increasing the voltage on the CPU helps maintain stability in an overclocked state, and that as well increases the CPUs core temperature, but the Big Water did not miss a beat and heat dispersion was efficient with very little increase in core temperatures regardless of these voltage increases. Overall performance was exceptional and functional in any environment.

10% Full Load

15% Full Load

Factory Default Idle

Overclocked 15% Idle