Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate Review

[section_title title=”Conclusion”]Conclusion

Jumping right into things and let’s start with the design aspect of the Water 3.0 Ultimate. As far as design goes there is unfortunately not a whole lot that can be done with a radiator, it’s one of those things if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all type of deal. With that being said the real design aspect for me in an AIO cooler is the pump/block and the tubing. Thermaltake used a very flexible rubber hose tubing to connect the pump/block to the radiator which is nice as it allows for it to be moved around easily. The pump/block is fairly simplistic which isn’t bad in my opinion as it is going to be on show if you have a window in your case, it is round and features the Thermaltake logos and the wording Water 3.0 on top of it.

I would also like to touch base on the fans real quick. The fans have a black frame and white blades which definitely let them been seen behind vents and dust covers. The point I want to mention is I took .5 points away from design due to how loud they are. I chose to take it away from design as while loud, they don’t effect the performance and all and it seems to fall more into the design category, at least in my eyes. When using the fans at full load it sounds likes your PC may just get up and fly across the room they are that loud! However, on the other hand they do their job and they do it ever so well so maybe that has something to do with it? Compromising sound for performance is a decision you will have to make for yourself on this one, me personally, I would go for it!

On to the performance and this is where the Water 3.0 Ultimate really shines! This is now the new king of coolers at Play3r and rightfully so. As far as thermal benchmarks are considered here at Play3r the Water 3.0 Ultimate is the King and sits atop the thrown across all 4 categories. Some may say this is due to the fact it is the only 360mm radiator on an AIO cooler we have tested and it would be very hard to argue that fact as it definitely has a lot to do with the outcome. What I will say is for now it is King and leads the pack by a very good margin, especially when testing an overclocked 4770K at load! It will be very interesting to see how well the Water 3.0 Ultimate will hold up in the future when more companies start utilizing 360mm radiators for AIO coolers after seeing Thermaltake’s success.

When it comes to value, it is hard to compare it to the Water 3.0 Ultimate as it is not meant to be a budget cooler. It is meant to be a beast and sit atop the charts in its thrown as King and it does. When you want the best 9 out of 10 times you are going to have to pay for it and value can kind of be thrown out the window. While you can argue the Water 3.0 Ultimate is good value for the money it is a bit hard to do so as there aren’t any similar coolers to compare it to and again, it should the best of the best really be compared in terms of Value?  Personally I think not so I will leave it up to you readers and your personal opinions of value for the money.

When it comes down to it if you are looking for the best of the best in AIO cooling solutions on the market the Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate is in fact it! We here at Play3r have not tested a better CPU cooler period and it is very doubtful that there are many AIO CPU coolers that can currently compare to it, though there are some that should at least give it a run for its money on the way. If you want the best of the best, pony up the money and make it happen captain!

I would like to thank Thermaltake for sending the water 3.0 Ultimate in for review and look forward to seeing more from them in the near future.