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- Date:
- Wednesday, December 08, 2004
- Author:
- Steve Lynch
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Danger Den TDX Water Cooling Kit
Thinking about water cooling you computer? Water cooling is not as wacky as it sounded five years ago, and today top companies like Danger Den are making performance-minded kits that will make "pro" cooling a breeze.
The Pump:
The pump used by Danger Den is the Laing Thermotech D4-34/810N 12v DC pump capable of moving 317 gallons of coolant per hour. This is the very same pump used by Swiftech and sold under the MCP650 name. As we said in our Swiftech H20-120 review, the compact size of the pump makes it easy to work with and gives the end user more options for pump placement compared to larger pumps. The pump comes with a preinstalled bracket for easy mounting but can be easily removed for custom applications.
The Radiator:
The radiator that is included with the TDX kit is a very nice Thermochill HE120.1 copper and brass radiator. According to Danger Den, the radiator is capable of dissipating 250W of heat at a 10°C coolant / air differential, more if differential is increased.
The radiator comes with a unique removable dual fan shroud that can be used to mount dual 120mm fans (one on each side) or to mount one 120mm fan and use the other to attach the radiator to the case as we did for this review.
Danger Den has a line of optional radiators that come in single fan, dual fan and triple fan (per side) configurations.
Reservoir:
Our kit came with a clear acrylic dual floppy bay reservoir that fits neatly into two open 3.5 bays. The thick 3/8” acrylic reservoir comes with two ½” fittings and a built in center divider that directs the incoming water flow to the front (or back, depending on which way you are viewing the reservoir) before allowing the coolant to exit the reservoir. The reservoir has mounting pads so you can secure the unit in the same manner you would a hard drive or floppy. The unit is filled from the top via a plastic threaded plug that utilizes a rubber o-ring for a watertight seal. To fill the unit, simply loosen or remove the mounting screws, slide the reservoir out until you can access the fill plug and refill your system.
Other reservoirs are available through the Danger Den website. Dual / single 5.25” drive bay reservoirs in a variety of colors can be added to any kit you purchase.
The Hose:
Unlike most kit manufacturers, Danger Den provides thick walled ½” Tygon tubing with the TDX water cooling kit. Tygon tubing is by far the most durable and easy to work with of all the popular tubing supplied with today’s water cooling kits.
Installation Overview:
Danger Den has made installation of the TDX water kit incredibly easy. If you can install a heatsink and / or a hard drive, you can install the TDX kit. Any time you install a water cooling kit a little pre-planning goes a long way. We are firm believers in the age old saying that it is always better to measure twice and cut once than vice versa. Careful test fitting of the components allows you to make sure the parts will fit where you want them and it also makes it much easier to measure and cut the required tubing more accurately.
It is easiest to test fit and then install your water blocks first because the motherboard has to be removed to install the chipset cooler anyway. The TDX uses a simple two hole design that allows the block to be bolted directly to the stock AMD heat sink backing plate. Hold the block firmly in place as you alternately tighten the retention screws until the block held firmly in place. The Maze 4 chipset block must be installed before the motherboard is bolted into your case. This is done by threading the retention screws through the two chipset heatsink mounting holes. Follow the same procedure you used for the TDX installation of alternately tightening the retention screws until the water block is securely fastened to your chipset. If you are installing this kit on an existing system this kit requires the removal of your motherboard.
Once the blocks are installed and the motherboard was put back in the system it was time to lay out the rest of the components. Since the reservoir installs into open 3.5 drive floppy drive bays, we installed it first followed by the pump. The pump required two holes be drilled in the base of the case to fasten it in place.
Next we installed the radiator and fan in the top of our case using the included mounting hardware provided with our kit. Whenever possible, we try to install the radiator and fan combination in the top of our case and situate it so that it is able to draw on the cooler air outside the case.
Once all of the components are in place, you will need to install your hoses, hose clamps and fill the system. Make sure to leave enough slack in the tubing that leads to the reservoir so that you may pull it out far enough (through the front of your case) to fill it with distilled water. Once the water is installed and the accompanying Zerex additive is used, it is best to jumper the system power supply and run the H20-120 for 12 - 24 hours and check for leaks and give the system a chance to push any trapped air into the reservoir.
It is recommended that you use a jumper like this to power up the cooling system without powering up your whole system. Once the installed kit has been checked for leaks and topped off with distilled water, you can safely remove the jumper from the ATX power lead and start your system.
TDX Block Design:
The TDX block weighs in at 140grams and measures only 5.6cm x 46cm (1.8” x 2.2”). The TDX comes in both a copper version as well as a solid silver version. The inside of the block is a triangular / tear drop shape with a small half inch by half inch raised area with water channels that sits directly beneath the inlet barb. The opposite end of the block is the tapered end of the “tear drop” that houses the outlet barb. Slightly above the raised water channel area there is a wall that extends from the floor of the block to the Lucite top. This wall acts as a “cradle” to hold the accelerator nozzle in place and forces the incoming water to flow direct over the raised water channels. The water then flows out and around the sides of the wall and is directed (by the shape of the block) to the narrow end of the block where it exits the block via the outlet barb.
The copper TDX shares the exact same design as the silver version; the only difference in the two blocks is the actual material they are constructed of. To see if there is any benefit to using the silver TDX over the standard TDX we will run the system with both blocks installed as well as compare the performance against similarly configured water cooling systems from leading vendors.
System Configuration & Testing Procedure:
As with all of our water cooling kit testing we think it is best to pit the current kit against other water cooling kits in its class. We tested the Danger Den TDX kit against other well known products like the Swiftech H20-120 the Asetek Antarctica and an earlier Danger Den water block, the Maze 4.
ASUS KV8 (VIA K8T800), Athlon64 3000+ clocked at 2GHz (10 * 200FSB) and 2.15GHz (10 x 215FSB), 1024MB Corsair XMS PC4000, NVIDIA GeForce 6800, 80GB Seagate SATA/150 hard drive, Vantec 550w PSU.