ADDENDUM - JULY 2006 - Further independant comparative results vs other rads - Testing Performed by Radical_53 on behalf of HardwareLuxx Magazine - Germany
120.3 radiator formats tested. Results scale down perfectly for all other formats (120.2, 120.1) from same radiator family (as originally proven in BillA's testing of the HE Series MANY years ago)
1 - Pressure Drop - flow set at 4lpm at pump, pressure measured after radiator. % loss shown - smaller the loss, better the head pressure... listed best to worst.
Least Pressure Drop...
ThermoChill PA120.3 - 6%
Watercool HTFX3-x - 14%
HWLabs BlackIce GT360 - 17%
HWLabs BlackIce GT360 XFlow - 17%
HWLabs BlackIce Xtreme - 17%
HWLabs BlackIce Xtreme XFlow - 17%
Watercool HTSF - 17%
Cooltek MCR320 - 18%
NexXxos Xtreme - 23%
NexXxos Pro - 27%
...highest Pressure Drop
As you can see, you could theoretically run TWO Thermochill rads, and still have better head pressure than if you were using a SINGLE rad of any other brand.
2 - Performance order (best to worst) based on final coolant temp, cooled with YateLoon 120mm fan - lower the "k" figure (difference between coolant temp and air temp), cooler the coolant, therefore better the performance...
At 600rpm:
Thermochill PA120.3 - 7k
Watercool HTSF - 8k
Watercool HTSF3-x - 8.4k
Cooltek Maxistream / Swiftech MCR - 8.4k
Black Ice GT - 9.2k
Black Ice Extreme - 11k
Alphacool NexXxos Pro - 11.2k
Black Ice GT X-Flow - 12.1k
Black Ice Extreme X-Flow - 12.3k
Alphacool NexXxos Extreme - 14k
At 900rpm:
ThermoChill - 6.2k
Cooltek - 6.9k
BIGT - 7.2k
WC HTSF - 7.3k
BIGT-XFlow - 7.3k
WC HTSF3-x - 7.4k
NexXxos Pro - 7.5k
BIX - 8.5k
NexXxos Extreme - 8.5k
BIX-XFlow - 9.5k
At 1200rpm:
ThermoChill - 4.2k
Cooltek - 5.6k
BIGT - 5.7k
BIGT-XFlow - 5.9k
BIX - 5.9k
NexXxos Pro - 6.1k
NexXxos Extreme - 6.1k
HTF3-x - 6.3k
HTSF - 6.3k
BIX-XFlow - 6.6k
The rad with the lowest delta (k) can also (because it is returning the coolant to a lower temperature) handle more heat at the same temp as another brand rad... eg: You could shift 500w with Brand X at 1200rpm. With ThermoChill at 1200rpm you could shift MORE than 500w - more cooling power for the same noise level... or you could shift 500w on it's own at LOWER than 1200rpm, therefore same cooling power, but less noise.
Couple the fact that ThermoChill PA Series is FAR less restrictive to head pressure than any other rad, AS WELL as the fact that it outperforms all the rest at every fan speed tested, with it's lead increasing the quieter the fan... and the results are obvious. One family of radiators out there will always beat all the rest (and I'm glad someone finally tested all those out there to allow me to actually say this with some proof to back it up!) - the lower pressure drop alone will mean better performance out of EVERY block in your system, as you'll have better pressure thru-out the entire setup.
Note, these results are from independant testing by HardwareLuxx Magazine in Germany, and were published in May 2006 in their magazine in a head to head shootout of the top 10 Triple-120mm radiators available today. The original article in German is available to download from
http://www.thermochill.com/pa1203.php, and since it's publication, we've seen ThermoChill sales to the German market soar, to the point that big name companies over there who currently rely on the chinese-clone rads as their main rad (ie: XSPC rads, AlphaCool rads) are beginning to switch over to using ThermoChill products instead...
These results also highlight the fact that singlepass rads on the market currently, which are all a dualpass with tanks knocked off and singlepass tanks slapped on, perform worse than their dualpass counterparts, and offer no benefits when it comes to pressure drop (the entire black ice range, whether dualpass or singlepass, still poses a 17% restriction). Other than the ThermoChill PA160 which was designed from the ground up as Singlepass...
So, if you're using silent low airflow fans, depending on your current rad, you could be seeing coolant temps upto 7 degrees cooler from a ThermoChill rad over another brand. The higher the airflow, the smaller the difference (eg: 2.4 degrees at 1200rpm rather than 7 degrees at 600rpm)... but in this day and age where everyone wants as quiet as possible... the PA series is the best choice.