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MSI HydroGen - Watercooling, MSI Style
Author: Richard SwinburnePublished: 26th November 2007
MSI's HydroGen waterblock which will be fitted to its Intel X48 motherboard.
The block is made in Germany as an all copper design where the water travels all the way from one end the other. This is completely unlike any previous design that we've seen before which has just featured simply a single in-out from a single block on a single chipset or power regulation components by the CPU. This means that you can run a system completely passively as there's no need for some airflow over the heatpipes like with other boards and the amount of flow reducing 90 degree turns is kept to an absolute minimum.
What's more, there are no barbs included, just simple threaded sockets. This means watercooling enthusiasts can for once use exactly the same barb size as the rest of their system, keeping a more optimal water flow.
It looks like finally a motherboard company has listened to enthusiasts' actual needs, however there's no word on the warranty situation, or how it performs without being plugged into a water supply - the pipes are empty after all.
MSI claims up to 20 percent more power efficiency and up to six times longer life because of the continually reduced component temperature. We expect this also means there should be some better potential overclocking too - providing the BIOS (and new X48 chipset) is up to it.
A tentative and early price of €379 may put a lot of people off, but if you're serious about it consider how much it costs for an entire watercooling kit in addition to finding a non-heatpiped board to fit it. From the pictures below, the awesome professional CNC milled piece might say enough to watercoolers to spend the money. Even if you're not a watercooler, we've discovered that MSI is working on its own kit to work in conjunction with it, but is remaining extremely tight lipped as to how this is progressing.
It's essentially no different than the BFG Tech 8800 GTX waterblock we looked at last year, or the Asus Maximus boards, so are you sold or do you think companies should leave watercooling to the niche high end? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Comments (35)
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It's not a heatpipe - it's a single tube that fills with water which makes it travel from top to bottom (or bottom to top)
fine then the part of the loop that is attached to the south bridge and mosfits and of cause the actual copper tubing, you still knew what i meant lol
Oh yea, totally, but at least this is the first complete solution - it's a step in the right direction if I was wanting to watercool everything. The problem with the Asus ones is that you still need some airflow for the heatpipes, which kind of defeats the object to an extent.
Unfortunately it doesn't have a great layout - the yellow slots are x4 only which make them almost pointless. Better to have had an extra PCI slot and an x8.
Really like the concept though, much better than the Asus which was reviewed last week in my opinion.
Laser cut? Sorry to disappoint but those are cnc milled for sure, as the shape of the piece wouldnt correspond to a leser cutted piece...
I had a water-cooled PC before my laptop and having to find blocks that fit your NB, SB and MOSFETs is a major PITA.
Buying a board with them custom-made and pre-fitted is a really nice idea IMO. :)
I'd buy one. :)
Yes, you're right :o
Do you mean the display? As far as I can tell it's a four digit display. I think I remember these being used for status codes from the mobo. I think we first saw them on the Fatal1ty boards?
And it actually is the lower left corner if you turn the mobo standard wise :)
Yea it's X48 - the press release was for X38 but MSI have saved it for the X48 release instead in order to finalise the details of the HydroGen block. The layout stays the same but they haven't changed the ink yet that's all ;)
+1
peace
fatman
while water cooling may be interesting, i think it is only time when some vendor or enthusiasts will use higher thermal surface-transfer oil based liquid or even a bit nutty - diesel.
cool factor 100%. practicality <you decide>%
fantastic piece Richard!!
Is that good as a coolant in WC loops (other than the flammable risks though I believe it needs to be at high pressures to be highly combustable).
liratheal - if you're going to do it properly you'll get individual blocks like EK makes for the 680i, like EVGA sold with its Black Pearl board, but that has tons of 90 degree turns and is generally a low flow design. Being German, I assume this works better with a low flow as well, and from the looks I'd argue a greater diameter than heatpipes, but I'll see when we get one.
Even with the Asus blocks, you still need an additional fan iirc.
diesel is not combustable even with open flame unless in particle form and with correct air-fuel mix ratio.
diesel is a poor-man's coolant, but has changed with rise in oil price.
imagine your rig smelling of diesel!
try this..
http://www.5min.com/Video/Build-Your-Own-Mineral-Oil-Computer-Aquarium-772248
I think it is a step in the right direction.
It's for X48 so whenever that arrives, but I think it's going to be some sort of limited edition - not with every Diamond.
I have some fluorinert I bought ages ago with the intention of doing it but the drum I got was quite small and cost about £300 IIRC. :(
Mineral oil may be worth a look though... :)
Aye, I know, when I end up W/Cing this rig again, I probably won't lose many of the fans (I just like the lower summer temps to be honest), and will probably be using the included strange little fans that clip onto the whole cooling assembly.. thing. I know no integrated W/C system is going to be perfect, but I really don't like dropping the ID of tubing like that, it really messes with your flow, no matter where you put it.