Closer Look
Despite being positioned as an enthusiast lineup, the H2O does not get any special treatment in terms of packaging.
Looking through the plastic cover, the modules look as if they mean business, but a closer inspection and disassembly of the heatspreaders reveals a number of serious design flaws.
First up is the two-layer construction that would remotely make sense if the bottom blue heatsinks were a part of another non-water-cooled model and both parts were connected at least via a layer of thermal adhesive.
Another thing we do not like is the loose attachment of the cooling pipe. Even with the screws fully fastened, it does not take much force to move it inside its tunnel meaning that heat transfer between it and the heatspreaders will be equally loose.
Luckily, the Hynix 2Gb CFR ICs used on this model are not known as fire-spitting monsters, so even a cooling system as flawed as H2O’s should not have any difficulties with keeping temperatures under control.
To finish our initial inspection, we check with the SPD. As can be seen from the CPU-Z screenshot, the SPD provides users with basic information about their memory and assists them in the process of getting up to its rated speeds.
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