Magicool Copper CPU Block Review - Compared to Tuniq Tower, FuZion and APOGEE GTX

Misoprostol · | July 26, 2007

Magicool Copper CPU Block Review - A Quick & Dirty Analysis of Premium Air vs. Value Water

Price: NCIX.com $37

Availability: Available Now
Warranty: 30 days from Retailer

Table of Contents
1- Introduction
2- Packaging
3- Package Contents & Instructions
4- Block Appearance & Internals
5- Installation
6- Test Bed Hardware
7- Testing Methodology
8- Results
9- Conclusion

1. Introduction

Today we'll be looking at a newcomer in the North American water cooling scene. Magicool is practically unheard of, but we've managed to obtain a sample of their current CPU water block which has a distinct advantage over many of the other high end blocks available right now in that it costs less than $40 Canadian!

The look of the block is somewhat "love it or hate it". Personally I think it looks great, particularly with coloured coolant running through it.

Unlike many other inexpensive blocks, the Magicool CPU Block uses an all-copper design rather than inexpensive aluminum, which does not conduct heat as well as copper, and can lead to galvanic corrosion in your loop.

2. Packaging

The Magicool CPU block comes in a nondescript looking plain brown box. I imagine for them to hit this kind of price point, it's hard to afford the beautiful clamshell packaging that companies like Swiftech are using on their mainstream offerings.

Despite the unimpressive box, it seems to get the job done. Everything was well packed and damage-free when it arrived.

3. What's Included

Included in the box is the bare minimum you'd expect: the CPU water block itself, a hold-down plate, universal mounting hardware for LGA775/S478/AM2/S939/S754/SocketF, and an instruction manual. It should be noted that you will need to buy barbs separately, but these can be had for quite inexpensively and the Magicool CPU block uses industry standard G1/4 threads.

I felt Magicool really could have done a better job of the instruction manual. It seems to be written in an oriental script, and the pictures are very hard to see. Fortunately, mounting a water block is fairly straightforward, so most users shouldn't have too much trouble with this.

I would also have liked to see some Nylon washers included rather than the metal ones. I have a hard time believing this would not cause a short out on the motherboard. I highly recommend using some nylon washers to isolate the screw and nut from the motherboard. Failing that, a little piece of paper will do.

4. Block Appearance & Internals

The Magicool CPU Water Block came with a protective film over the base.

Once we removed the film, the block looked a little something like this:

I was quite disappointed with the finish of this block until I decided to clean it up a bit. I started with some 99% isopropyl alcohol, and that got me this far:

Then I went straight for the Brasso, flushed it with some more alcohol, and it ended up looking like this.

Now THAT'S more like it!

The finish on this block is very shiny and quite flat. I would say it's not quite as well finished as a Swiftech or D-TEK block, but definitely better than I expected, especially after seeing that base when it first came out of the box....

The internal design is quite simple. The water flows diagonally through the irregularly shaped fins (if you look closely at them, they are neither smooth, nor all oriented exactly the same way. This appears to be intentional to increase turbulence.)

Here's a closer look at what I'm talking about with respect to the shape of the fins.

5. Installation

Installation was fairly straightforward despite the lackluster instructions.

Magicool includes metal washers, but it is this reviewer's opinion that using metal washers right up against your motherboard would be negligent.

I would highly recommend replacing them with some fibre washers, or for a low-cost solution, just cutting out little pieces of thick paper to isolate the nut and the head of the bolt from the motherboard PCB. The red washer in the picture above is a fibre washer.

Once the washer is installed, run the bolts through the motherboard from the back, then install the washer and nut on top. Like so:

Once the block is positioned, then it's as simple as putting down the hold down plate, then springs and thumbscrews. The thumbscrews should be finger tight when you're done, but use common sense to some extent.

You're trying to get a tight mount, not push the CPU through the socket out the back of the motherboard. You can always tweak mounting pressure once you have a temp monitoring program up and running.

6. Test Bed Hardware

Please Note! This has recently changed, so results are not comparable with the previous review.

System Hardware:

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 rev.1.0
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 3.6GHz 1.5V (in BIOS) 8x450
2x1GB OCZ PC2-6400 @ 2.0V DDR2-900 5-5-5-15
eVGA 7900GS KO
Silent Green Modular 600W power supply
Samsung 80GB SATA2 HDD
Lite-On IDE DVD-ROM

Water Cooling Hardware:

APOGEE GTX (bowed)
D-TEK FuZion
Magicool CPU Block

Swiftech MCP655 variable (set to 5 for all tests and 1 for bleeding)
Clearflex 1/2" ID 3/4" OD tubing
Magicool dual 120mm radiator with 2x Yate Loon D12SL-12 @ 12V
Swiftech MCRES-MICRO
D-TEK High Flow Barbs were used across the board for consistency

7. Testing Methodology:

We've decided to compare the Magicool CPU Block to a high end air cooling solution, the Sunbeam Tuniq Tower. This is to give air cooling users some idea of what kind of temperature drop they can expect when they move to water cooling.

Test numbers for the current king-of-the-hill blocks from Swiftech and D-TEK Customs are also included for reference.

For the sake of ensuring that our temperatures for these coolers are consistent, we've mounted each water block using a Zalman reinforced plastic backplate with D-TEK screws and hold down springs.

Each block is mounted twice with idle and load temperatures being recorded each time. These results are presented as "Mount 1 Idle", "Mount 1 Load", "Mount 2 Idle", etc.

The Tuniq Tower is mounted using the included hardware.

Room temperature was held in a controlled environment at 25C.

The system was allowed to sit at the Windows XP desktop for 15 minutes to take an idle reading. Dual Prime95 small FFT was used to load the CPU for 15 minutes, and then a load reading was taken. The CPU was then allowed to cool for 15 minutes, and idle temperatures were verified.

Arctic Silver Ceramique was used to ensure consistent mounts and to avoid the curing times associated with Arctic Silver 5.

8. Results

And now the moment you've all been waiting for. Here's a little thing I like to call "charts and graphs":

The Magicool CPU block neatly demonstrates to the Sunbeam Tuniq Tower why water cooling, not air is the best of the ambient CPU cooling methods. The Sunbeam Tuniq Tower was (to me) intolerably loud at full speed, so what we have effectively is an ~10C difference under load between low end water and high end air cooling.

It should also be noted that Core Temp stopped reading the Tuniq (low) after 85C. It simply didn't go up any more, and I do not believe that it only went 2C higher with the fan on low...

The D-TEK FuZion and Swiftech APOGEE GTX both beat the Magicool CPU block by at least 5-8 degrees under load, but this is expected given that they both cost about twice as much.

9. Conclusion:

Air cooling thy name is mud. At this kind of price, there's no excuse not to take the plunge and go for water cooling. The cost of the Tuniq Tower is $55, and for only $37, this little block kicks the stuffing out of it.

The thing to get over is the initial investment. The reality of it is that it does cost about $150-$200 to put together a decent water cooling setup the first time, but many of these parts can be reused and upgraded later.

With an air cooler, the next greatest thing comes along and you end up throwing it away or having it sit and collect dust somewhere.

We're looking at a 9 degree difference in load temps between the lowest end water block we could find and one of the most well-regarded air coolers available right now. Any overclocker can tell you that 9 degrees can be the difference between stability and instant crashing when you're overclocking. Besides that, my standard water cooling test bed was more comparable in noise level to the Tuniq on low setting, so at a similar noise level, we're looking at an 11 degree difference.

Obviously the more expensive blocks are going to be more efficient than the Magicool CPU block, but for the price it's very hard not to recommend it. I'm awarding Magicool's CPU block a 4/5 rating for delivering great performance and fantastic value for entry level water cooling users.

Pros:
- Excellent performance compared to air cooling
- Cost of water block is quite low
- Excellent compatibility
- Great looks
- Much easier mounting than the Tuniq Tower (which cut this reviewer several times...)
- All copper design to eliminate risk of corrosion

Cons:
- Performance is less impressive when compared to high end water blocks
- High cost of initial investment in water cooling gear
- Terrible instruction manual
- Metal washers should be replaced with something non-conductive

Link to Discussion

Review by: Misoprostol

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