CONCLUSION

   Although it did take quite a bit of time for us to wrap this review in the end it was well worth it since the Raystorm 750 EX280 WaterCooling kit outperformed every other CPU Cooler in our database with ease and at just 52.4dBA of noise (the pump may get slightly noisier from air bubbles but that will go away). Of course one of the things i really like about custom watercooling kits is that you can use massive radiators up to 560mm in length whereas AIO solutions only come with radiators up to 260mm long so in a way the 280mm one we had in this test is far from the largest/best one available. Still thanks to the excellent craftsmanship by the people over at XSPC it did manage to keep our overclocked Intel Core I7 3930k @ 4GHz from crossing over 53 degrees Celsius at heavy load. On our way to this result however we did experiment a bit and so we did learn that by connecting the waterblock before the radiator with the reservoir/pump we lost almost 3 degrees Celsius and although that's not a very large amount (roughly 6%) I’m sure that no one out there would want to lose them. Also the easier way to bleed out air from the loop is to add coolant until the reservoir is filled all the way up and to verify it we tried it twice. Of course custom watercooling kits are not perfect and so at first you need to check for leaks which means that you'd better have the loop running without the hardware components inside the case. This of course is not the case with AIO solutions so in a way i can understand why some people choose those instead. Also custom watercooling kits lose coolant over time so you always need to keep watch on the coolant level so you can add more if it drops again something that's not even possible with the closed AIO solutions. On the other hand however you just can't get the same performance from AIO solutions at least not currently so in the end you need to weigh the pros and cons and make your decision. Installation wise it took us less than 20 minutes to cut the hose, secure the fittings and mount the entire kit into the 900D and although we didn't really use the installation manual we did read it and it's perhaps the most detailed one we've seen to date.

   Since i strongly believe that almost always you get what you pay for the current price tag of USD279.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 195Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) for the Raystorm 750 EX280 WaterCooling Kit by XSPC doesn't really seem high to me. As i explained above however in the end it all comes down to what your needs are so if you are after superior performance and you can fit an 280mm radiator into your tower then the Raystorm 750 EX280 could be the ideal solution for you. Certainly if you own a beast of a tower like the 900D then i strongly recommend making use of that by going for one of their other kits that feature 420mm long radiators. My only slight problem with the kit is that XSPC doesn't include their own EC6 coolant and it may not be the easiest thing for people to find it (we had to wait for a full week to receive ours) so i hope that may change soon. In the end i really think that XSPC has introduced an excellent choice in the market for enthusiasts, overclockers, serious gamers and professionals who are after superior performance at a good price point and that's why the Raystorm 750 EX280 WaterCooling Kit gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Excellent Performance
- Noise Levels
- Reservoir/Pump Combo
- Coolant Level Window
- 2x140mm Fans
- Socket Compatibility
- Easy Installation

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- EC6 Coolant Not Included