A Closer Look

Taking a look at the cooling plates, these are made primarily of some sort of metal. The same, thick thermal interface material, as you would find on the stock air coolers, has been pre-applied to the coolers. The part above the GPU is made of copper, which is in direct contact with the MTECs. Taking a look at the plates from the top, they do make a crude impression. The steel is looks a bit crude and has some discoloration. The MTECs on the other hand look quite nice with their blue color:


CoolIT Systems has changed the plates on the new system for the GTX280/260 series and has also covered it with a thin, black cover. This adds to the overall looks, but the same MTEC system is still used on the new version. Above is an image of the unit.


Two metal joints split the tubing into four parts. One tube of each joint leads to a video card. This means that one metal pair directs the liquid toward the cards, while the other joint is used to lead the liquid back to the radiator. This setup has been slightly simplified in the new version, with the loop going from the radiator to the first card, then to the second and from the second GPU back to the radiator. While this is certainly a viable approach, it also means that the second card in the loop gets slightly warmer liquid than the first.


The radiator takes up two drive bays and the front is made of plastic. It would have been nice to see a metal cover instead, possibly even an aluminum one. Considering that the radiator is the only part visible to the outside and thus is an integral part to the overall impression of the cooling unit. The radiator itself is well constructed and has a very fine structure.


Taking a look at the rear of the unit, you can clearly see the pump and if you look a bit closer, you will see the Sunon fan as well. It is a 70x70x25 mm fan with the model number PMD1207PTB3-A which has the following specifications:

• Dual-ball bearing
• 40 CFM
• 39 dbA
• 0.24 A
• 2.9W
• 4200 RPM

There is a second, 80 mm fan embedded in the unit itself, which is clearly visible upon taking off the top of the system. this one is rated for:

• Dual-ball bearing
• 59.5 CFM
• 47.3 dbA
• 0.37 A
• 4.4W
• 4400 RPM

You may wonder how Cool IT manages to push 63.5 CFM at only 34dbA, while only drawing 1.9W. I am no expert in electronics, but considering that both fans together push over 100 CFM, CoolIT System seems to be running them at less than the normal 12V, which in turn makes things quieter as well. So the advertised 34 dbA are certainly possible.

Assembly

Before diving into assembly, make sure that you have two reference design graphic cards - in our case two 8800 GTXs - at your disposal. The stock cooler needs to be removed and the card cleansed of any remaining thermal interface material. To do so, simply remove the spring loaded screws on the underside and take off the dual height PCI bracket. Both above cards are identical in every way, except for a slight deviation of the on-board BIOS version.


The second step consists of preparation of the cooling plates of the NV Reference Series cooler. Simply screw the extensions to the end and remove any plastic covering the thermal pads.


Then place the unit on the graphic card and use the included spring loaded screws to secure it to the card and connect the small power connectors to the fan headers on each card. That is really all you need to do. After all is done, check your work and then insert the entire loop into your case. As the radiator will only slide in from up front you need to navigate both cards through the external 5.25 inch drive bays first. While this should not be such a problem with the new version, the old one still has some fins which could damage the graphic card above it during this maneuver.