First Look At Asetek's 9800GX2 Waterblock: Water-cooling For The Masses
The water-cooled card had GPU1 idling at 38 degrees C, while GPU2 was idling at 47 degrees C. After completing several 3DMark06 loops, the temperatures jumped to 50 degrees C and 66 degrees C, respectively.
Since Asetek has a sound room, we were able to compare the sound levels produced by the two setups as well. The air-cooled system created a noise level of 34 dBA in idle mode, which jumped to 40.2 dBA due to increased fan noise. If you were to continue to load the card, the noise output tops out at 48 dBA. We did not notice an increase in system level noise during that procedure with the water-cooled system. 28 dBA came from the system, while the fan on Asetek's 9800GX2 water-block produced 20.8 dBA. The Blackbird comes with a relatively noisy fan by default, which should be considered for a replacement by users with something more... silent.
At the end of the day, we cannot say that we were not impressed by Asetek's water-cooling solution. It is silent, and is able to keep the 9800GX2 at bay, without outputting excessive heat inside the system (9800GX2 cannot push all of the heat to the outside, but features gills that heat the air inside the case).
The OEM volume pricing for the whole setup is flowing around $45-50; Asetek guarantees no-leaks and no-water-evaporation for 50,000 hours.
If Asetek is able to keep the price down, we could be seeing see much more LCLC systems coming to the market. As a retailer, you won't find this setup attractive from a visual standpoint (unless you paint it), but if you're an OEM that wants to build a low-noise solution, this setup is able to cool the hot 9800GX2 by a massive 30 degrees. And the best of all is that you can get a complete setup for the price of one high-end waterblock.
