Conclusion
The scariest thing about the LightSpeed is that it's currently impossible to fully stress it. Optimised for 240W heat loads, no processor I threw at it, overclocked Athlon FX or otherwise, stood a chance of stressing it. It's for that reason that the LightSpeed falls down just a little, at the time of writing. With the small FR8.5CL compressor and R507 gas, the fans need to shift a lot of air to cool it down, making the unit noisy.However it's not ear splitting and definitely tolerable. I've been using the LightSpeed with my main setup since benchmarking finished a few days ago, and I don't yearn to go back to my air cooler.
The cooling performance is phenomenal, if you can stress it. Even if you can't, it's a better chiller than the XE, just noisier, and it'll really get into its stride with future processors.
Detaching the unit from the usual VapoChill case (a case which I'm not too enthusiastic about) has a couple of benefits too. Firstly, load on your power supply is greatly reduced, the LightSpeed using your mains supply. Secondly the attractive aluminium casing and integrated LCD gives phase-change users style as well as power, something Asetek have been missing while nVentiv were on the go.
Noise and price are perhaps the only drawbacks. With the LightSpeed currently retailing higher than an XE (around £530, and remember the XE comes with a case), it's not the cheapest cooling solution you'll ever invest in. That said, with Lian Li cases getting ever cheaper, the LightSpeed's only major functional downside appears to be the noise.
The brilliant mounting mechanism, peerless cooling performance (now unmatched since the Mach II GT is no more) and stylish enclosure allow Asetek to raise the commercial phase-change CPU cooling bar.
Awesome.
Score
Pros
240W of cooling performance (although not so optimised for current heat loads)Stylish enclosure
LCD monitoring
Good software
Brilliant CPU mounting mechanism
Good manual
Simple to assemble, no harder than a normal heatsink in terms of involvement
Allows access to more power supplies
Cons
Not quiet, the XE is there if you need near-silenceThe performance comes at a price
