Deepcool Maelstrom 120: Closed-Loop Liquid Cooling
Deepcool Maelstrom 120
We're told that this is an original design from Deepcool, and not another Asetek clone. The pump's resemblance to Asetek's design is purportedly coincidental.
Be that as it may, we're also told that, due to the patent situation in the U.S., certain design changes have to made before this closed-loop liquid cooler can be sold here. Right now, it's only available in Europe.
Deepcool has a Maelstrom 120 and a Maelstrom 240. The latter sports a double-wide radiator, but both models have the same pump. It goes without saying that we picked the smaller cooler for the entry-level Intel Pentium CPU. The water cooler comes with a complete accessory set, including mounting kits for all current AMD and Intel interfaces, screws, a manual, a fan, and the water cooler assembly itself.
Depending on your processor and interface, you need to pick the corresponding bracket and mount it on the pump. Then, you attach four screws to the one-size-fits-all back plate and secure the screws with plastic shoes. An audible click confirms that a screw is locked in place.
Next, you stick the screws through the motherboard’s holes (on AMD motherboards, you need to remove the back plate first).
Then, you place the pump/water block combination on the four screws and secure it with as many thumb nuts.
In order to mount the motherboard into the case, remove the enclosure's rear 12 cm fan and install the I/O shield. Complement the installed motherboard standoffs as needed. The case comes with a tiny thumb tool for tightening them.
Carefully lower the mainboard onto the standoffs and attach the radiator to the rear wall of the case.
Finally, you put the case on its back and mount the water cooler’s red fan with the enclosed long screws.
Attach the pump’s cable to the motherboard’s case fan header, boot the board into the BIOS, and ensure that the water pump is not subject to automatic fan control. The pump requires a steady, unmodulated +12 V supply.
The fan’s cable is attached to the motherboard’s CPU fan header, but perhaps you want to set the fan to run a tad faster than the default, as it also has to handle some of the graphic card’s heat. For the GeForce GTX 750 Ti, however, we found this not to be necessary. When we tried a Gainward GTX 760 Phantom for test purposes, it was.
