With two times the fans and a radiator nearly twice as thick, the Kühler H₂O 920 is designed to be a big step up from its little brother. A push-pull orientation for the fans helps to overcome the reduced air velocity normally caused by a thicker radiator without a noticeable increase in fan speed.

The same CPU mounting hardware is used by both the 920 and 620 versions of Antec’s Kühler H₂O. Extra mounting thickness prevents us from reaching the motherboard’s EPS12V power connector, but we still had more than enough room to reach other motherboard connectors.

While dual fans and extra radiator thickness give the Kühler H₂O 920 its performance edge, the most interesting installation difference is the presence of a USB cable for controlling performance profiles. Users can select a wide range, from near-silence to stellar cooling from the Kühler H₂O 920’s software interface.

Antec Dashboard shows a coolant temperature that’s far below our processor’s internal thermal reading, along with the estimated noise level and speed of its fans and pump.

Graphing shows a brief history of liquid temperature and fan speed.

Default fan controls target a maximum coolant temperature of 50° Celsius. Evaluating the system’s maximum cooling potential requires setting the software's minimum selectable coolant temperatures of 20° to start and 25° max.
I completely agree. Pretty much the only reason to go with these sealed water coolers is to say that you water cooled your PC.
I completely agree. Pretty much the only reason to go with these sealed water coolers is to say that you water cooled your PC.
I agree 100%. And I do, in fact have an H70. And when I'm at work describing the epic beast of computers I build, and I show off some pics of mine; I always point to the H70 and go "Theres the radiator for the water cooler" /gasp!
I think that's a perfectly good reason to buy any product. I like that I have a choice. But Noctua's tower coolers look pretty sexy too.
Remember these are easy to install closed loop water colling setups too guys.
They are not half inch or bigger professional units designed to keep your massively overclocked sub-critical mass uber rig cool as ice and quiet too.
You need a decent pump, a large or two smaller radiators, a tank, and a lot more hose ... and some more time.
http://www.swiftech.com/
Corsair, Asetech, Antec, Thermaltake ... these are all low end units ... not enthusiast's water cooling gear like Swiftech.
Good value for money though ... I am not knocking them.
Once again you do a comparison against an inferior air cooler, so your conclusion does not hold much weight with me.
Why do you not include the Noctua NH-D14 or a Thermalright Silver Arrow, both which cost about the same as your WC loops (or a bit less) yet are delivering better performance (and noise levels) with the Antec H100 at max speed as the exception. The H100 is comparable to the air coolers.
Oh I'd rather have a Noctua NH-D14 with a 3rd NH-12 fan, but I traded an old crappy PSU for this H70 brand new. So I takes what I can gets!
Furthermore you say "Once again..." even though the air cooler won the last time this editor wrote this type of comparison. Look it up, "Small water versus Big Air", I'm sure Google can help.
Furthermore you say "Once again..." even though the air cooler won the last time this editor wrote this type of comparison. Look it up, "Small water versus Big Air", I'm sure Google can help.
I read your last article as well, like I do most articles on the site.
The problem I have with this article is your intro where you mention noise and cooling performance, yet you chose an air cooler that is cheaper than the WC loops you are testing.
Had you chosen a comparable air cooler price wise (the Ncotua NH-D14 or Thermalright Silver Arrow), all of the WC loops would have performed worse than the air cooler, the H100 would have been the exception, but it would have to run at max speed, thus negating the noise level performance.