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Coolermaster AQUAGATE R120 - PAGE 2
Tom Karpik - Monday, April 18th, 2005

Coolermaster's AQUAGATE R120 is one of two products in their AQUAGATE line. They only differ in terms of radiator/fan size, of which the R120 is the larger one, at 120 millimeters.

The product arrived to us in a hefty (both in weight and size) cardboard box, in which we found the pre-assembled pump/waterblock and radiator/fan units, as well as a huge abundance of mounting brackets, screws, and other accessories. Most of the stuff provided is for the purpose of mounting the pump/waterblock unit on the variety of sockets that it supports, though included is a power adapter, fan grill, and back plate for mounting the variable fan resistor. The weight of the box can obviously be attributed to the pre-filled cooling assembly, which weighs in at about 2.5 pounds by my rough estimate.

Coolermaster deserves to be congratulated on a very well-thought-out and clean design. I remember back in my high school days when I dreamed about putting together a water-cooled rig, but once I started reading into everything, I became overwhelmed with all of the foreign knowledge I would have to take in. I never knew that things like tubing and coolant could have as huge an impact as people discussed. I eventually gave up on the idea, as the more I read, the more I realized that the costs, the time investment, and the maintenance involved were much too high for me to bother. Enter the AQUAGATE.

I've already made a slight mention of its unique design, but I'd like to delve a little deeper now. The waterblock and pump unit is the heaviest component in the whole contraption. The base of the unit is solid copper, with a rubber seal around edges. There are three outlets on the pump, one of which is sealed. This outlet was probably used to fill the closed system with coolant. The other two outlets are obviously used for water intake/expulsion to circulate the coolant. Power for the pump is provided through a 3-pin fan connector, though Coolermaster provides a Molex-to-3-pin adapter, since a motherboard may not provide as much power as is required.

The second part of the contraption is the radiator and fan unit. The finned area of the radiator measures 120 mm by 120 mm by 15 mm, with extra 15 mm by 120 mm by 25 mm reservoirs on either side. The radiator is made completely out of aluminum, and as a result, is fairly light. The fan, which can be mounted on either side, is a regular black 120 mm fan, though with a variable resistor attached. Power is provided through a 3-pin power connector.

Connecting the two units are two tubes, about one foot in length, and 1 cm wide in diameter. Tubing is attached to the radiator and pump with clamps much like the ones found in motor vehicles and should be quite secure. The tubes are a tad rigid, but allow for a reasonable level of flexibility nonetheless.

Other than that, Coolermaster has provided all of the necessary parts for mounting the AQUAGATE on a variety of socket configurations. In total, the AQUAGATE supports Socket 478, LGA 775, Socket 603, Socket 604, Socket 754, Socket A/Socket 462, Socket 939, and Socket 940.


Article Index

1.Introduction
2.Closer Inspection of the AQUAGATE
3.Test Setup and Methodology
4.Test Results
5.Conclusion

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