Koolance - Letter to the Editor

In regards to CPU cooling and the Koolance Watercooled case article last month, I sent the following letter to the editor asking for a retesting on the Koolance case using only the CPU Cooler, and the high end Sparkle 300W PSU that meets the specifications of the motherboard and processor that Tom's Hardware used in their latest article of this case. Yes, I was pretty upset and dissapointed with them and their professionalism and after seeing all the controversy that it has caused on other major computer forums, I decided to let them know about it. Here is a copy of the letter and if you support this then send them an email asking for another test of the product. Koolance deserves that, especially after receiving great reviews from three other major computer hardware review sites. Thank you.
Allen

Dear Sirs,
I am a big fan of your website and appreciate all the current information that you provide the computer community. Every article I've read in the past was very solid and informative with hard facts to back up your findings.

The reason I am writing this is that I was very angry and dissapointed after reading your article regarding the Koolance water cooled case. Comments about the review can be found on almost every major computer forum.

First, the case that you reviewed was not set up for or approved for DDR ram motherboards and recommended only for AMD processors up to 1.1Ghz. The Koolance website even states it as the following:


The liquid-cooled unit is significantly quieter than our model with the SPI 300W PSU, and will work with any Intel P-3 processor, or AMD K-7 up to 1.1GHz. (Liquid-Cooled/Air Cooled)
PowerRex 300W SPC-300-12V
Not recommended for AMD processors above 1.1GHz, or with DDR memory.




After reviewing the article again I noticed that you did stay below the 1.1 Ghz range but were using a DDR ram motherboard. I wouldn't think that would make much of a difference here though.

Secondly, it would have been best to use just the CPU cooler system with the fan cooled 300Watt Sparkle Power Supply for comparing to other watercooled systems with the same motherboard/processor setup. This would have given a more fair evaluation to your own watercooled system too since you were not trying to cool 3 components from one pump. Cooling 3 components will decrease cooling efficiency and severely affect the flow rate. I don't hold an engineering degree, but it doesn't take an expert to realize that you don't take hot water from the processor and dump it on the video card. My nVidia TnT 2 Pro card doesn't even have a fan on it and I don't have any problems.

Next it would have been better if you would have used one of Koolance's own voltage converters avoiding any mistakes on the testers side and making Koolance fully accountable for all products used in the testing.

Lastly your negative comments toward the quality of Koolance products based on the one Koolance product you tested made it sound like this is what you can expect if you purchase this system from Koolance. I've seen posts on almost every major computer board regarding these negative comments and has definitely swayed people's decision from purchasing this case. There were also many posts that documented the wrong setup that you were testing and does not reflect the professionalism that you have shown in previous articles. If you were having problems with the system you ran, why didn't you just contact Koolance and have them send you a new product and one that is designed for comparison to other watercooled systems instead of rubbing one lemon into the dirt and posting your final conclusions on one system failure. If Asus sent you a motherboard for testing and it had a short circuit, would you continue to test it in comparison to other motherboards and draw a conclusion on one bad motherboard. I don't think so. It was obvious to me that the you had an underlying agenda to bash Koolance and a fine product. For what reason I don't know.

I have a Koolance case with only the CPU cooler and a Sparkle 300W PSU and it performs great. Running the same tests you did on an A7M266 with 1.33Ghz 266 FSB, 512 MB Micron PC2100 DDR ram, I have CPU core temps between 105-115F with ambient room temp. of around 75F. This is consistent with the other three positive articles written on this case. AMDSource.com , Overclockers.com , HardOCP Review

I am not using any case fans and my motherboard temps in Bios are consistently between 34-37C. It is also the quietest case I have ever experienced.
I have a friend that used the low end unit you tested with an A7V133 and a 1.33Ghz 266FSB and PSU, chipset, CPU cooler and is getting great results also with no errors, crashes or temp. problems.

Conclusion:
Your results were based on one lemon that you received from Koolance that was not setup to specifications using DDR ram, a non Koolance voltage converter, and trying to cool more than just the CPU in a comparison to your own homegrown watercooler.
I would like to see another article on the high end Koolance case using only the CPU cooler, the Sparkle 300W PSU, and a Koolance supplied voltage converter. I would also like to see some form of public apology to Koolance, a company that I feel is doing a great job of producing high quality cases at an affordable price and providing great customer service.

Thank you very much,
Sincerely,
Allen Hallada