Introduction
It's been quite a while since my last look at an Asetek product. You get nothing for ages then two turn up at once.
The last time I reviewed a WaterChill kit I wasn't too enamoured. Horrible tubing and a fussy Hydor pump took the shine off the brilliant waterblocks, good cooling performance and quiet fans.
In the 6 months or so since, I've often wondered whether Asetek have taken the initiative to rectify what I think are the biggest failings. So I was happy to accept their latest WaterChill for review, keen to see if things were any better. Now with the Antarctica moniker, the basic WaterChill kits have just had a pretty large price drop too, even more reason to take a peek.
I won't bother covering the mechanics of how water-cooling works, instead I'll leave that for the earlier WaterChill review from last year. Nothing's changed concept-wise, it's all in the details.
The kit they sent over is the KT03A-L30. Asetek sell a range of WaterChill kits, each differing slightly in what's bundled, be it radiator, waterblocks or pump. You can find a handy matrix of the options on Asetek's website. As far as the KT03A-L30 goes, The A means Antarctica block, the L30 denotes the Hyper L30 pump, both partnered with a Black Ice radiator that takes a pair of 120mm fans. That's the basics, let's take a closer look.
