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Thermaltake Launches Pacific M4 Monoblock For Asus TUF X299
Thermaltake entered the custom water cooling market in 2014. Since then, it’s been steadily growing its lineup of products to include radiators, full kits, and full-cover GPU blocks. Thermaltake is now competing against water cooling stalwarts EK and Bitspower by producing ultra-niche products, such as the new Pacific M4 motherboard water block.
This is the company’s fourth motherboard and CPU combo block, often called a monoblock. Like those from EK, the Pacific M4 fits one motherboard only, the Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, and covers both the CPU and the surrounding VRM circuits of the motherboard. The waterblock is fitted with RGB lighting that is compatible with Asus’ Aura Sync ecosystem, but it’s somewhat deficient at only 256 colors.
The construction of the Pacific M4 differs slightly from those we’ve seen from EK. The CPU cooling plate, which uses 0.15mm thick micro channels, is screwed into the bottom side of the main body of the block. Coolant apparently enters directly over the CPU plate and exits above it. The block appears to be made of nickel-coated copper.
I'm concerned, to say at least. Thermaltake is not producing anything, they are rebranding Chinese Bykski blocks (take a look at 1080 Ti block linked in article and search for Bykski 1080Ti - they added cover plate, and that's all). I'm not against rebranding, but Bykski has ongoing issues with quality. I've bought three "general purpose" blocks (universal for chipsets, and other silicon) and six CPU blocks from them, and only two did not leak from the seals. The acrylic they are using is surprisingly resistant to cracking, but it doesn't matter, when it pisses all over you hardware from the o-ring. At this point even the very, very low price (like you can buy their CPU blocks starting at $13!) doesn't mean much.
