Pump, reservoir and control unit
Asetek decided to integrate the reservoir and cooler for simplicity's sake. They're glued together, thus minimising the chances of water leakage. The combined unit functions best when installed in an upright position. The only 'assembling' one has to do at this point is to attach the pre-supplied suction caps to the bottom of the pump.
The pump, a Hydor L20 II, shifts around 700 litres per hour. This may seem underpowered to some standalone pumps from manufacturers like Eheim, but it's generally accepted that massive water movement isn't necessary in the majority of cases. 700 l/ph should be fine for a basic system. The pump had no difficulty in pushing the water 2 feet directly above its own head. It appears as if Astek will also market chipset and graphics card blocks in the near future. The same, easy-to-use pushfit connections are on both the pump and reservoir.
The WaterChill control unit is attached to the pump and ensures that the watercooling system starts as soon as the power button is depressed. A floppy-style connector provides the necessary power conduit (right) and a 3-pin fan header accepts the Sunon fan's cable. The middle jumper allows you to toggle between 7 and 12v fan operation, therefore you can define some sort of noise-to-performance ratio. Lastly, you can attach a LED. A 2-pin plug on the other end (shown below) connects to a hermaphrodite power cable shown below.
An interesting cable. It connects to the PSU's power socket and has a female end that accepts the normal power cable. Shown below.
This ensures that the WaterChill does indeed boot at the same time as the system. You can see why it's called a hermaphrodite cable.
