After EKWB left the XT series rads this looks a very interesting alternative and being thinner doesn't seem to have affected performance with more tightly packed fins to aid in cooling. Push/Pull all the way :)

wteSmithyAfter EKWB left the XT series rads this looks a very interesting alternative and being thinner doesn't seem to have affected performance with more tightly packed fins to aid in cooling. Push/Pull all the way :)

Eventhough it doesn't make much sense:

Fans mounting points: one sided

Also they're 54mm thick: hardwarelabs.com/nemesis/nemesis-products/nemesis-gtx

I mentioned push pull because the PDF says there's 32 M4 threaded holes www.hardwarelabs.com/nemesis/images/nemesis/diagrams/N480GTX_MountingDiagram.pdf

The actual overall thickness coverage to the fins is more than what's quoted at 55.7mm than the headline figure of 54mm. Even still there's 7mm in the top of 900D (edit: From the top of mobo) to fit one in and if that's too large plenty of room in the bottom. CaseLabs would be ideal for these slower fans on rads single sided. Enthusiasts on forums turn their hand to modding case top with dremel and finish off with rad shroud to increase the height then add spray painted filters.

Jebus. What an unabashed advertisement.

Let's look at some of these claims, and ask ourselves some critical questions:
1) Best performance on the market.
Yep, I buy this. It isn't because of any thing special, it's because there is more surface area and lower flow impedance. Other manufacturers don't do this because it's more expensive, and if you compare quoted prices it's clear that the increased manufacturing cost translates into high consumer cost and better performance.


2) The dark matter coating is somehow special, and doesn't actually decrease thermal transfer.
Nope, this is crap. I'm so eager to dismiss this because I could paint a radiator with concrete, and technically not decrease thermal transfer rates. Sound zany, allow me to explain.

You have a soccer ball sized chunk of depleted uranium. It emits energy at a constant rate, and functionally all of that energy is heat (my example, if you want you can make it something else). Heat transfer into the environment is a function of the interface material, and the area of the thing that is experiencing heat transfer. In this case, let's say you can paint the soccer ball with a layer of rubber. Rubber has terrible thermal conductivity, but the area exposed to the outside world actually increases. Effectively, you retard heat transfer with the coating, but the increased surface area can actually increase thermal conduction.

The problem here is that you either need a very thin coating, or very good thermal conductivity in the coating material. I'd place my bet that this "dark matter" is in fact a very thin coating, delivered by some sort of deposition process. Thinner coatings sound less robust, but by changing how you paint you can go from an easily breached shell to an extremely durable surface coating. Again, kudos to the manufacturer for likely incorporating an awesome and expensive process, but points away for a very misleading statement and the obvious increase in price justified by this process.


3) Made from conflict free materials.
Yeah, dubious on this one. Mil-spec, and in fact most regulatory specifications, have been calling this out for the better part of a year (if not longer). Whether you know it or not, most items produced in the first world are conflict mineral free. Chinese policy about these is less...strict... but they are moving towards this with some of their products.

Having my car air filter conflict mineral free has made me somewhat jaded to the meaning behind this. It should be something we demand in general, not a selling point.


4) Radiator cooling performances.
I'll buy that these exist somewhere. I'll also buy that they could reproduce these results. I won't buy the lack of figures. Assuming you've got a coolant at 60C, and an ambient of 20C, dissipating 1200 W of heat isn't difficult. Dissipating 1200 W from a 40C loop, into a 30C ambient is another story entirely. Some facts and figures need to be checked here. I'm not sure about why this is even an advertising point as most people can't do the math to debunk the paint, let alone the actual heat transfer rates. The cynic in me says big numbers impress people ,and 1200 Watts sounds like a lot when the power of a GPU is only in the couple of hundred Watts.



All in all, this is an advertisement. I'd poke fun at some of the awkward sentences, the lack of spelling acuity, and the bold claims that aren't necessarily the complete truth. I'd also wonder why we have an advertisement here, without having some internal testing of product. My complaints end because it's this kind of fluff that allows this forum to exist, and it's likely that somebody here will fact check some of the more bold claims being made.

Just under the title it reads: "PRESS RELEASE". Written by the company, not btarunr, and a clear hint to take it with a grain of salt. :)

flemeisterJust under the title it reads: "PRESS RELEASE". Written by the company, not btarunr, and a clear hint to take it with a grain of salt. :)

I know that this is a press release. I know that btarunrdidn't write it. No matter what differences I've expressed in the past, btarunr has always put out respectable material with regards to readability and grammatical precision. While we may disagree, btarunr deserves respect for their writing talents. This release has earned no such respect.

What I am trying to say is that a press release can be informative while selling products, or sell products with the guise of having some useful information. In the case of the later, you get something like this. Poorly translated (I'm hoping this is not a native English speaker, otherwise there is no reason for the abhorrent spelling and grammar) drivel selling a product with "data" that doesn't give anything really useful is not a press release, it's an advertisement that a company cannot afford to purchase.


My criticism doesn't rest with anyone here, it rests with the PR people at Hardware Labs. It seems like either an after-thought, or a half hearted effort, to make this release. They don't offer comparisons, they don't make any effort to fact check anything (12 core processors, let alone on mini-ITX boards?), and they make special reference to a product for which they don't even list pricing. All of this in a sprawling format which they eventually sum into bullet points.

There are a dozen other Press Releases on the front page of Techpowerup. I can't find anything to be annoyed about with them. If they're long, the bullet points are listed. They don't meander, and all read cleanly and easily. Most importantly, they get to a point. "Our product is awesome because of x," "our new hard/software gives you x," or "we improve upon competitor offerings by doing y" are all easy to read and compare. None of that is here. Let's talk about the company history, let's say we can do something and never offer proof other than our word, and then let's wrap it all up by immediately restating the first four paragraphs in four bullet points. Call it laziness, but reading something which is immediately summed into 1/40th the space seems like a crappy way to sell your products. Repetition is good in sales, but it's a blunder to repeat without time to allow the first telling to sink in.

Everything looks nice and it just nobody mentions thickness. On picture ill sey 55mm thickness .45 mm or 40mm thick real! of course, to obtain full efficiency of such a radiator also need a good: pump ,reservoir, fens and pipes! Flow and temperature tests will show their true value! Regardless of the liquid cooling the ambient temperature rose sharply in the summer at full load. suggest installation outside the room in which we live! So use the coupling elements on the radiator!

so, basicly these are the same HL rads, just a lil aesthetic update.???

@lilhasselhoffer
Is called FOOTBALL not soccer. Just because you in US are calling it like that doesn't make it right. ;)

Prima.Vera@lilhasselhoffer
Is called FOOTBALL not soccer. Just because you in US are calling it like that doesn't make it right. ;)

Fair point.

Allow me to ask though, if I said it was a football and called it a sphere how many people do you think would have asked me if I rode the short bus? I had almost started with a basketball, but that isn't really overly popular anywhere.

As an aside, my Thermo professor introduced this concept to us via a ski pole, with a layer of paint.

EDITED: Thank you btarunr for the article edit.

Allow us to a address a few of the points raised by the forum posters..

1) The Black Ice® NEMESIS® Radiators is NOT a cosmetic update. We've revised the core geometry to include 15% more tubing surface area while maintaining the same form factor. It also uses an optimized fin geometry that provides improved performance using very low noise/airflow fans.

These "Supercruise™" optimizations, provide users with a wider range of performance conditions depending on fans. 25 micron unlouvered copper fins give this radiator significant reduction in air pressure drop across the core.

The increased tubing and overall fin frontal area gives these radiators added performance while maintaining the same size.

As stated by some more informed forum members, radiator performance is only part of overall system performance and is dependent on pumps and fans, as well as affected byother components.

As a practical example a mining rig set up ran as follows:
RADIATOR NEMESIS® 240 GTS®
FANS: 4 x Corsair SP120 (PUSH/PULL) *high rpm fans
LOAD: 2 x 280x
Ambient: 30C (hot in here)
Coolant Flow: 400lph
Mining temps: <60C
Gaming temps: <45C

2) The Dark Matter finish, has no bearing on the thermal characteristics. Something definitely got lost in translation. The new finish simply provides the radiator with a more solid aesthetic that matches its revised strengthened structural aspects. The new radiators can now withstand twice the operating pressure as its predecessors. So contrary to the initial remarks here, these cosmetic changes serve a functional purpose.

Our customers in Europe will have their Black Ice® NEMESIS® radiators available in the Euro version "Black Carbon" finish.

3) Conflict free materials. We do take this matter seriously. And no, these radiators aren't made in China, as with the plethora of rebranded "me too" products that we've inspired. Our company, based in the Philippines, has always seen itself as part of a global community with shared responsibilities to our customers, our employees, our environment and our community.

Back in 2005, we were the first company to get our radiators RoHS compliant with the Black Ice® Gen Two rads. Well enough that we didn't need to put on a sticker saying so to show for it when regulations came into effect in 2006.

We have in fact eliminated lead across our entire production process.

Simply our products are made with compliant materials, and our suppliers are vetted accordingly. Our employees are provided a safe and nurturing workplace. This isn't as much as "selling point" as it is a declaration of principles. And these are things we deem to be non-negotiable.

4) Quality. One thing we've done for over the past decade is to take ownership of our work. That is why the Black Ice® NEMESIS radiators are offered with a lifetime warranty.

After all, we design and manufacture these radiators and our roots have always been based on the same passion as PC enthusiasts. We keep this spirit as the company continues to grow.

We hope this addreses some of the points raised. Thank you to the OP for his personal attention on the matter. We appreciate the valid criticisms issued. Our customers expect and always deserve better from Hardware Labs.

Well now,

Ive used a few HL rads over the years, and if these ARE an upgraded version, ill be getting a couple more!!!

Prima.Vera@lilhasselhoffer
Is called FOOTBALL not soccer. Just because you in US are calling it like that doesn't make it right. ;)

LOL