Gigabyte Aurora Case & WC kit

3D Galaxy Water Cooling Kit

Another “Gigabyte first” is their entry into liquid cooling solutions. The 3D Galaxy kit can be purchased as a standalone product and will work with any system. However, after my experience with it, I would dub it more as an elaborate accessory for the 3D Aurora case as they were obviously designed to work together. At $150 US, it's a serious accessory at that.

Water cooling is not what I would recommend for the faint of heart. As simple as some companies have made it - such as in this kit from Gigabyte - you are still combining a conductive liquid with electronics, a potentially damaging combination. But if silence and/or top performance is what you are after (and if you are reading a bit-tech article, that much is probably true) then liquid cooling certainly has its merits. It has evolved from its early years and has become much easier and safer, this kit is a pretty good personification of that fact.

Here are the features according to Gigabyte:

• Large, pure copper base employs unique water road design
  
• Long-life, quiet and powerful ceramic bearing pump
  
• Low water-level (LWP) and over-temperature protection (OTP) (Patent pending)
  
• Clear blue LED tank for straightforward coolant refilling
  
• Large aluminum radiator with 4-parts water road design
  
• Special aluminum fan cover enhances thermal dissipation
  
• Radiator installs easily onto most PC chassis
  
• Multi-purpose Nano-scale GIGABYTE coolant
  
• 1/2 inch special UV tubing material allows for extreme angling and flexing
  
• Fully compliant with MOSFET thermal function (Patent pending)
  
• Optional thermal partner: Gigabyte chassis 3D AURORA (GZ-FSCA1-AN / GZ-FSCA1-SN)

Notice they specifically mention the 3D Gigabyte Aurora case.

The major components consist of: the external radiator, CPU waterblock, pump/reservoir assembly, coolant and fan.

The Radiator comes built into a shroud containing a 120mm Gigabyte fan with wiring long enough to be routed into the case. The pump/reservoir is all in one piece and represents a fairly compact package. A nice feature of the pump/reservoir device is that it includes a low water-level (LWP) and over-temperature protection (OTP) sensors that will automatically shut down your system should the coolant level drop too low or the temperature of the water rise too high providing about as close to fool-proof water cooling as you can get.



Gigabyte’s water block is a decent design. It features a solid copper base with an acrylic top casing allowing you to see the coolant. The water feeds from one side and exits directly across. Inside the chamber where the water meets the copper and the critical exchange of heat happens, Gigabyte’s block has a grid-work of raised dimples that are machined out of the solid copper core allowing both turbulence and surface area. It should prove to be a good design. The quality of the base surface that actually comes in contact with the processor is not as polished as it could be. As you may know, the smother the base, the more copper comes in contact with the processor and, therefore, the more efficiently heat is transferred. Gigabyte’s block base has apparent machining marks that could stand for some “lapping” for maximum performance. Save that, it seems to be an overall decent design.