Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro & Performer CPU Coolers – Water vs. Air

The Specifications, Unboxing and Installation

The Water2.0 Pro and Performer coolers each arrive in a cardboard box packed with everything necessary to cool any modern CPU that you may buy. These coolers are “universal” – engineered to fit any modern Intel or AMD CPU’s cooling needs – overclocked or stock. Here are the Water2.0 differences between the Pro and the Performer as compared from Thermaltake’s site:

The main difference is the thickness of the radiators; the Pro has a much larger cooling surface area due to its being nearly two times thicker than the Performer.  First we will unbox the Water2.0 Pro CPU cooler.

The Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro

The Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro is designed for overclocking and it is engineered to easily fit any modern socket as it is held securely in place using a custom Thermaltake backplate to fit your motherboard. The fans are PWM and managed by the BIOS from 1200-2000 rpm.

Here is the Pro box that advertises its features at retail emphasing its universal mounting system and durable pump and large radiator.  Thermaltake describes it’s liquid cooling system (LCS) as “dazzles the performance”:

No refill of the liquid is ever needed.  The box also displays its features on the other side as it is sold at retail.

Here are the Pro’s features from Thermaltake’s site:

The cooler and its accessories are safely packaged within a smaller inside box that cradles the contents for shipping.

Thermaltake instructions although brief are easy to follow if you have experience with water.  If not, you might want to consult a Youtube walkthrough.  Perhaps Thermaltake might consider including a CD or DVD with an installation video.

Here is everything out of the box.

There are common parts and also parts included specifically for Intel and AMD CPUs.

We had no difficulty following the instructions for installing a watercooler on either an Intel or AMD CPU platform but we were already used to working with an Asetek liquid cooling system as AMD uses a similar Astek-designed cooler for their FX series of CPUs..

Above is our Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro out of the box and ready for assembly and installation. Below is another view of the radiator and cooling tubes.

The fans work in a push-pull configuration and they screw directly to the radiator.

Here are all of the accessories for use in any Intel or AMD system.  We would have liked to see another Y-adaptor as not many motherboards have more than one CPU fan header. Before we install our Pro, let’s look at the Water2.0 Performer.

The Water2.0 Performer

The Water 2.0 Performer is identical to the Pro except for a thinner radiator.  The Pro is approximately 150mm x 120mm x 49mm thick, while the Performer’s radiator is nearly half as thick at 27mm.

Before we install the Thermaltake Water2.0 Performer, let’s look at its box. This time the slogan emphasizes value as, “the most valuable all-in-one liquid cooler”.

The other side of the box advertises its features.

The Performer is packed identically to the Pro and all of the accessories and parts are the same.

The features are shared between the Water 2.0 units and here are the specifications for the Performer from Thermaltake’s site:

The Water2.0 Performer is identical to the more expensive Pro except for the thinner radiator.

The thermal interface material is preapplied.  It is very convenient for the first time, but you will need to buy more paste if you ever decide to remove your cooler as you cannot reuse the old paste effectively.

Both coolers are very similar, but the Water2.0 Pro on the right is definitely made for cooling hotter CPUs by having a thicker radiator than the Performer’s (left).

Both coolers sport smooth copper surfaces that contact the CPU and they use the same mounting system and parts.  Their contact surface is quite smooth but not as polished as the Noctua NH-DH14, for example.  You may find yourself using the more traditional method of spreading the thermal interface material with a gloved finger or a credit card rather than using the “grain of rice” method.

We used the Arctic Silver 5 (AS5) compound after using Thermaltake’s pre-applied thermal interface material only once.  You cannot reuse thermal material once its bond is broken and it must be removed and new material replaced.  Other Thermal Interface Compounds (TIMs) may be more effective at cooling, but AS5 is a decent thermal compound and it is very easy to apply.

To cool well, there has to be a great contact surface.  The block used for contacting the CPU is made from a single solid piece of metal:

Thermaltake describes their “Skived Fin” technology as the process of combing special cutting tools and a controlled shaving technique to produce a heat-sink from a single block of material.  This technology facilitates a higher heat transfer compared to fins soldered onto a cold plate.

Installation

The installation of the Performer and the Pro are identical and pretty straightforward.  The cooler head needs to be prepared.

The supplied holding rings are universal and the one used for Intel is assembled with parts that must be put together exactly right to fit your particular CPU.  Refer to the installation guide to be sure it is correct.  The parts are all easily identified and the installation is not difficult.  Here it is ready for installation on a LGA 1155 platform.

Next the cooler head has to be prepared.

Here it is ready to be screwed into the motherboard’s waiting new backplate.  However, before we do that, the radiator needs to be installed.

First the fans have to be screwed into the radiator and you can use only one fan if you choose for quietness.

Next the question is where you want to have your radiator installed and do you want the fans to intake air from the outside or from inside of the case.  A good location at the back of the case uses the Water2.0 radiator to replace the exhaust fan.  Instead, we chose the top of our Overseer RX-I’s case for both motherboard installations as it was very convenient for us.

In our case, cool air is drawn in from the front of the Overseer RX-I and also in through its side case panel opening (although optional, we installed a 240mm fan), and the hot radiator heated air is exhausted from the top of the case.  If the end user reverses the fans to draw fresh air in from the top of the case, make sure to use a dust filter and also make sure that the case that you use can handle this kind of airflow (below).  The only disadvantage with our choice of location is that we needed to move our optical drive down two slots to accomodate the radiator.

Next the Water2.0’s backplate needs to be prepared.  We are using an Intel 1155 LGA platform and we used the correct Thermaltake-supplied backplate by installing the proper nuts into the holes provided for 1155.  The instructions are quite clear and the backplate is well-marked for use with any CPU.

We did not like the plastic backplate as tightening the cooler head screws down snugly deformed the plastic and made it difficult to reuse it for another installation.  It may have been better if Thermaltake had used a metal backplate and another method to prevent overtighting of the cooler screws.

As a tip, don’t use the entire double stick tape provided by Thermaltake as shown below.  Rather cut it in half as it is only used to hold the backplace against the motherboard when the screws are tightened down from the other side.  Using the entire piece makes it very difficult to remove.

The plastic backplate is placed over the motherboard’s CPU backplate as shown below and the mounting screws project all the way through the motherboard.

The Water2.0’s CPU cooler head is then placed over the motherboard so that the screws can be tightened down snugly to the Thermaltake backplate.  Just don’t overtighten the screws or you will damage the soft plastic of the backplate!

Here it is about to be installed again into our EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard.  We removed the old paste and applied a fresh thin coat of AS5.

Here it is fully installed into our ECS motherboard with a GTX 690 – notice how much room there is around it.

Now check out the lack of room with a Noctua NH-DH14 installed in the same full tower case.

Using a bulky air cooler such as the Noctua NH-DH14, there is almost no room to access the connectors at the top of the motherboard, the cooler barely clears the video card and you have to remove a fan (and your video card) to insert DDR3 into a slot.  Watercooling absolutely wins as far as roominess and convenience goes.

Noise

The Thermaltake fans do a fine job of keeping the radiator and the liquid cool at regular rpm.  However, when the cooler is under load the fans spin up and you can hear them.  In contrast, the Noctua NH-DH14 is much quieter even under full load.

The Water2.0 wins for convenience and the Noctua air cooler wins in the quietness department.  Let’s head over for the test to see which cooler is more effective in keeping our Core i7-3770K cool above 4.8GHz.

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