Evercool WC202 Water Cooler Review :: Evercool Watercooling Unit and External Radiator

With the contents of the box pretty much across the bench, I'd wager it's a good time to take a look at the box (hey, better late than never, right?). The box shows an image of the unit, as well as the CPU water block, while foregoing the option to show off the optional GPU block and additional radiator. While the front of this box does inform us about the ease of installation, the compatibility across myriad platforms, the idea of no leaks even though a stronger pump is used, and the forward panel's functionality, it makes no claims as to the potential heat that can be dispersed. Words of the wise? If you're purchasing this kit to cool off an extremely hot... erm, Extreme Edition processor, utilizing the additional bundled radiator is advisable.

Evercool Box

Speaking of the optional included radiator, it's a custom made job, which looks dangerously similar to one I saw with a kit years ago, though the name will eternally escape me. The included 27dBa passes air through a collection of fins, clustered along a group of 10 copper pipes, which loop into one another, cooling the liquid as it snakes its way between the fins. The design of this radiator facilitates the inclusion of a second fan, as well as the mounting of it to the rear of a case. On the negative side, though, radiator design has moved on and past condenser style radiators, toward heatercore style radiators, who run the liquid parallel to the fins, turning the channels into a part of the fin network, rather than making them a separate entity. For what it's worth, a larger radiator, with a more modern design would have boosted the kit's overall performance. Additionally, something other than chrome shroud on aluminum fins would have been nice. Near the top of the radiator, the inlet and outlet tubes (interchangeable, by the way), make their appearance, making for easy installation and tube routing.

Aux Radiator Top

Aux Radiator Bottom

Aux Radiator Coil

Moving from what helps to cool the water to the star of today's show, I've decided to greet you with the faceplate of the unit - first while on it's own, then from outside the case. As you can see, things had to be done properly here, and the unit was installed with free airspace both below and above. Before discussing the issue here, let's take a look at the front panel. From the left to the right, the reservoir's fill level can be seen, followed by a decently sized character LCD, complete with buttons below. On the right side of the unit, a knob is placed which will control fan speeds of the internal fan, with a blue glow emanating for low speed and a purple one emanating for high. On the note of styling, this unit could be hit and miss, as it covers both of the most popular bases in case design today - black and silver - though it forgoes picking a side.

Front in the Open

Front in the Aurora

Sliding past the lip of the WC202 (which may not fit behind some tight case doors, so check first!), a decently sized fan can be found along the top. This white 80mm fan feeds a purely copper radiator in below of it, sucking air through a grille which reminds me so very much of the ventilation systems seen in department stores. This fan, which is rated to whisper at 16dBa and whine at 35dBa, sits unshrouded on the radiator, meaning that any reflected air will be wasted as turbulence alone, contributing to wind noise, in opposition to helping the cooling. For what it's worth, though, Evercool has made admirable use of the space, packing a full sized water cooler into little more than an optical drive bay. Now, pending the impossibility of installing a shroud, Evercool could at least make the fan pull air through the radiator, or place the fan below it, so that hot air can rise in the case, and be sucked out by the PSU or a top fan, rather than be dumped below the unit, and subsequently rise to be sucked in again. Moving along to the back of the unit, a host of connectors are visible - a 4 pin slot for a Molex, a 3 pin header for the auxiliary radiator, and two threaded outputs for the chilly liquid. Also notable are a few vents, which are here presumably to dissipate the air lost into the unit as turbulence. On the bottom of the unit, only the 18 pass copper radiator is visible, one which, once again, would be likely to perform better if manufactured along a more modern guideline. With our overview of the system complete, it's time to see just how hard Evercool has made things to install.

Top White Fan

Rear Panel

Bottom Radiator Block

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