[section_title title=”Conclusion”]
Conclusion
It’s of no surprise that a custom water cooling loop (done right) outperforms an AIO and an air cooler pretty comfortably, but is it worth all the extra planning, effort and cost involved?
First of all, you have to look at ALL the benefits of having a custom water cooling loop as opposed to a non-flexible AIO closed loop. A custom loop provides lower temperatures when installed and planned correctly, with a better look about it. Secondly, with closed loop coolers, you don’t really have much flexibility; it’s CPU only. The benefits of a custom loop allow cooling and adding other components into the mix such as a graphics card, memory and even PCI-e SSDs; Intel 750 water cooled anyone?!?!
Performance from the NexXxoS Cool Answer 240 D5/ST water cooling kit is superb and the choice of parts for the price is nothing short of brilliant. One thing we would change however is the fans, although it isn’t because they are low quality, it’s just I’m pretty picky in regards to fans and if it was up to me, I would lower the price and make them optional. That isn’t to deter people from buying this kit as after all, this is a full kit with the novice user in mind and it does that absolutely superbly. With a clear performance gap between this kit and the likes of the Cooler Master Nepton 240M, it’s understandable why custom loops reign supreme in terms of lower temperatures.
The CPU block is good quality, the pump is of superb quality and the dual bay 5.25” reservoir certainly works wonders when combined into a kit. This kit is specifically good for those with a limited amount of space due to the 30mm thick radiator; this means 55mm if you include the depth of the fans when installed too. This offers space saving performance but is obviously going to give slightly lower thermal performance over a 45mm or 60mm thick radiator.
With all that being said, the NexXxoS Cool Answer 240 D5/ST kit is a fantastic addition to any water cooling compatible case and system with exceptional value (when compared to buying parts separately) and offering higher levels of performance that AIO closed loop and air coolers can’t currently hope to achieve. If overclocking or high performance is your thing, then the D5 clad Cool Answer 240mm radiator clad water cooling ready kit should be regarded as a definite purchase.
Huge thanks to Alphacool and Aquatuning for sending in the NexXxoS Cool Answer 240 D5/ST kit in for review.
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Performance
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Design
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Value
Summary
Pros:
– Cheaper than buying each part separately
– Fantastic performance
– Upgradable into GPU cooling with purchase of additional fittings/blocks
– Better than AIO/air cooling for thermal/acoustic performance
– Great aesthetics when set up correctly
Cons:
– Much more expensive overall than air/AIO cooling
