Antec leader in the compact (maintenance-free) liquid cooling, boxes and power supplies in the world. It is characterized by including great innovations in its excellent high-performance components without penalizing the price of the product.

On this occasion, its new simple radiator liquid cooling kit has passed through our laboratory: Antec Kühler H ₂ O 650. I have placed great expectations in it, in this analysis we will see if it has matched with one of the best processors on the market.

Product ceded by:

Technical characteristics

ANTEC KÜHLER 950 FEATURES
Radiator	159mm x 120mm x 27mm
Fan	One unit: 120mm x 120mm x 25mm / 600-2400 RPM PWM
Block height	26 mm
Tube length	300 mm
Cooling liquid	Safe, environmentally friendly and anti-corrosive
Net weight	1 kg
CPU compatibility	Intel LGA 775/1555/1556/1366/2011 AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2 + / AM3 + / FM2 / FM2 +
MTBF	100, 000 hours
Warranty	3 years

Antec Kühler H ₂ O 650: Packaging and first impressions.

The presentation of the liquid cooling kit is ten. I love the light blue - black color that predominates in the box, giving a cold feeling.

An image of the kit appears, its full compatibility with current Intel and AMD platforms, and logos with all the news.

The product specifications are detailed on the back.

With the Antec brand, we will rarely find a manufacturing or transportation defect. The packaging is outstanding. All in sachets, cartons and perfectly insulated to avoid any entry of dust and shocks.

The bundle includes:

• Liquid Cooling: Antec Kühler H ₂ O 650 Instruction Manual, Quick Guide and Installation CD. AMD & Intel socket accessories, screws and adhesive tape.

The Antec Kühler 950 is a high-end liquid cooling kit, maintenance free. This means that we should not change the liquid inside: safe, environmentally friendly and non-corrosive.

Its design can be defined as: sublime and stylish. The finishes and materials used are of the highest quality. As we can see in the following image, its design is captivating.

Antec has dropped corrugated tubes to flexible tubes. They have a length of 30 cm, which allows us a simple and ergonomic installation.

The block is 100% copper and has a very minimalist style. This time it is thinner and less heavy (26mm high) as they have moved the pump into the fan area.

In the logo area we have a custom RGB led, which will give a very pleasant feeling, when it is working.

Detail of the sealing of the block with the tubes.

In the copper base we have pre-applied thermal paste. It comes with an ideal size and surface. Excellent!

The radiator is simple 120mm with dimensions of: 159mm x 120mm x 27mm. As we can see in the image, it has a great thickness and the density of the fins is 16 FPI. That is, we can put it at low revolutions at low load and playing or working in extreme mode at high revolutions. Significantly lowering the processor temperature.

Here we find the most important novelty of the cooling system. The pump is located between the radiator and the fan. As we can see in the following images, it is joined with two tubes. Of course, the idea is a very good one, as the dissipation ability has been greatly improved.

Some of you may be asking… Can you change the fan? Yes, we unscrew the fan and we can install the one we like best.

Can I change the tubes? I personally do not recommend them. Because we have to be very sure of what we are doing. But the decision will depend on each user.

Antec Kühler H ₂ O 650: Accessories and installation at Intel Haswell (Socket 1150)

Antec includes two 120mm x 120mm x 25mm fans. Both are self-regulated by the same kit thanks to their PWM system (4-pin plug). They are capable of rotating from 600 to 2400 RPM. The details are very good and its aesthetics makes you fall in love.

4-pin PWM cable.

We are going to install the Antec Kühler 950 on the Intel Z87 platform. For this we are going to take the backplate and stick the two 3M adhesive tapes that it includes.

We place it on the back, as we see in the following image.

We need the next two sets of hardware. The first four are for the backplate and the ones for the bag to hook the block with the backplate.

We position the block on the processor and screw the 4 screws with Intel springs. Be careful, we don't need thermal paste, since the block has a thin layer.

The result should be such that.

In addition, we connect the USB connection and the four-pin fan plug.

The end! Installation time: 5 minutes.

Software: Antec Grid

We can install the software from the included installation CD or download it from the official Antec website.

We have three profiles:

• Silent: fan at low revolutions. End: Fan at maximum revolutions. Custom: create our own line (the ideal one).

It allows us to place some revolutions, if it starts once you start windows, the language, the LEDs and see the graph.

And customize the RGB LED according to the temperature of our processor.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7 4770k
Base plate:	Asrock Z87 OC Formula
Memory:	G.Skills Trident X 2400 mhz.
Heatsink	Antec Kühler H2O 950
HDD	Samsung EVO 250GB
Graphic card	Gigabyte GTX 780 Rev 2.0.
Power supply	Antec HCP 850W.

To test the real performance of the heatsink we are going to stress the best processors on the market: Intel Haswell i7-4770k with Intel Burn Tests V2. We no longer use Prime95, because it is not a reliable test, as it is outdated software.

WE RECOMMEND ANTEC P101 Silent: Ultra-quiet chassis

Our tests consist of 72 uninterrupted hours of work. In stocks and overclocked 4400 mhz at 1.30v. In this way we can observe the highest temperature peaks and the average that the heatsink reaches. We must bear in mind that when playing or using other types of software, temperatures will drop dramatically between 7 to 12ºC.

How are we going to measure the processor temperature?

We will use the internal sensors of the processor. For that test on Intel processors we will use the CPUID HwMonitor application in its latest version. Although it is not the most reliable test of the moment, it will be our reference in all our analyzes. The ambient temperature is 24º.

Let's see the results obtained:

Final words and conclusion

The Antec Kühler H2O 950 is a high-end liquid cooling kit with a single 120mm radiator. It has dimensions of 159 x 120 x 27 mm and a weight of 1k g. It is compatible with all current and old Intel series: 775/1550/1555/1556/1366/2011 and AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2 + / AM3 + / FM2 / FM2 +. Its design is totally reinvented: incorporation of LEDs, structuring and anchoring system.

We found several innovations regarding the 620 and 950 series. Although one of the most important is the positioning between the radiator and the pump fan. This new system makes it unique and very effective in dissipating.

Includes two 120mm fans in black (frame) and white (blades). They are PWM (4 pins and adjustable from the same kit) and high performance: 600 to 2400 RPM and a very good static pressure.

The results obtained in our tests with an i7-4770k is 28ºC at rest and a maximum of 44ºC in stock values. While with a strong overclock of 4400 mhz at 1.25v we have at rest 31ºC and 48ºC in maximum performance. Very good work, done by the Antec team!

I really liked the new anchoring system for its simplicity and speed when installing liquid cooling. If we have ease in assembly, in a matter of 5 minutes we will have it assembled.

One of its great innovations is its new Grid software. Very minimalist but effective, since it allows us to use three profiles: Silent, Extreme and Custom. For example: modify the LEDs according to the temperature, fan speed and monitoring of the entire kit.

In short, or if you are looking for a high performance liquid cooling kit, with excellent fans, with a 120mm radiator and monitoring software. The Antec Kuhler 950 is the chosen one. Its current price in online store ranges from € 80.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ NEW DESIGN.	- NONE
+ SILENT PUMP
+ FLEXIBLE TUBES.
+ RGB LED.
+ GRID SOFTWARE.
+ HIGH PERFORMANCE FAN 600 ~ 2400 RPM.

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal: