Verdict and Conclusion
Here we have the final page, the page that takes the hopes and dreams of multiple engineers at a minimum of two companies and distills them down to a single numerical rating. It’s always seemed rather brutal to me, but since that is exactly how I like my hardware tested brutal is fine!
On the subject of the Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme itself, I’ll lead off by saying that the cooling power is excellent. The ability to get heat out of the dubiously designed 3770k CPU is also excellent. This is, quite literally, the best performing cooler I’ve ever tested. Liquid nitrogen and dry ice don’t count.
This performance comes at a price however, the MSRP for this cooler if $130! It’s widely available online for $114, which is an improvement but still not inexpensive. For comparison the competitor in this review, the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, will set uou back $80-$105 depending on what store and what color you want. Is the extra few degrees worth the difference in price? That’s up to you.
Another big plus this cooler has over the tower coolers it beats is that it does not require obscene amounts of space above the CPU socket, and does not interfere with RAM. On the down side, you need somewhere to put the not insubstantial radiator.
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The mounting system has a fair number of parts, but once you read the instructions it is quite easy to put together and install. I like it.
The fan control software is nice, I like it. It doesn’t have any real issues and offers some features that are quite rare. Watching the water temperature graph while loading and unloading the CPU core was quite interesting. The USB control works well, I didn’t have any issues with it at all.
Looks wise it’s pretty cool looking, but if your case is like mine the top will look funky. The smoothly arcing hoses look great. Cable management for the fan power and control cables and the USB cable is difficult however.
The controller does a good job controlling the fans, you can adjust them from being very quiet up to moving a significant amount of air, or have them do it automatically themselves. There are no motor or bearing noises and no whine either.
All told there are plenty of pros:
- Excellent cooling power, best I’ve tested.
- Excellent fan control software.
- Still excellent cooling power with the fans turned down to near-silent levels.
- Mounting system is fairly easy to use and works great.
There are a few cons too:
- Not cheap.
- Cable management may be tricky.
- Radiator is be difficult to mount cleanly in some cases.
All told I am impressed by this cooler, if Thermaltake can get the price down to $100 or less it will be a spectacular deal. Even where it is right now at $114 it is well worth considering if you need a serious cooler. I give it a 8.9/10 rating and a recommended badge, as I recommend it if you need hardcore cooling for your cpu!
SCORE
8.9/10
