INTRODUCTION

   One of the first things you will read online when you start looking about water cooling kits and custom loops (also possibly what people will tell you if you ask around) will be that they require a good amount of time to install/mount and that they cost quite a bit which is why many manufacturers (and people) still consider them part of the more "niche" market aimed at overclockers, professionals and enthusiasts. Well if you've been following our reviews then you know that things have changed a lot in the past 5 years and so although back then there were just a handful of manufacturers that offered custom water cooling kits today there are twice as many and since competition always favors the end consumer it's a lot more affordable today for someone to build his very own custom loop. Thermaltake has been in the cooling industry for as long as i can remember but it was just last year that they started unveiling their very own water cooling kits and today we'll be taking a look at the Pacific RL240 model.

   The beginning of every myth and legend is about dreams and desire: the challenging, creative and combative features of Thermaltake Group create an exciting and fascinating user experience to share with everyone, while allowing users to enter a selfless state in terms of function and potential. Thermaltake Group's 3 main brands: Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS and LUXA2 have been merchandising throughout the world, and have successfully established 6 business footholds in areas such as Europe, America, Oceania, Japan and China, with 95 regional distributors and over 4000 premium retailers. All product planning is orientated by observation of global PC peripheral market and understanding of consumer demands. Thermaltake creates direct contact opportunities with resellers and consumers by participating major global ICT exhibitions and trade shows every year, and develop innovative marketing strategies for the promotions of new products. Meanwhile, Thermaltake incorporates the composite marketing system by making branch offices and regional distributors both the distribution channel and technical support or service center to provide instant support; by maintaining close contact with end users, we manage to strengthen corporate competitiveness and create the momentum for the growth of accomplishments. With its outstanding wisdom and strength Thermaltake Group is recruiting creative talents to build a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle!

   Just like any other 240mm water cooling kit out in the market today the Pacific RL240 is comprised by a dual 120mm radiator, pump/reservoir combo, water block, water cooling tube, compression fittings, coolant and two 120mm fans. Since Thermaltake however is not your typical manufacturer in order to make the Pacific RL240 stand out from the crowd/competition they equipped it with a 64mm thick radiator, powerful D5 pump, two "silent" 120mm red LED fans and 1 liter of red coolant. So although the radiator is just another dual 120mm one (that's not a bad thing since it can fit where larger models can't) thanks to its FPI count of 14 (fins per inch) and 64mm thickness it should be able to match larger 280mm models in performance while the D5 pump should be more than enough for people who may wish to expand the loop to include a 2nd or even a 3rd radiator and one or more GPU water blocks. So who wants to see what the Pacific RL240 Water Cooling Kit by Thermaltake is really capable of?

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

We received the Pacific RL240 inside a large cardboard box with a drawing of all the included parts at the front.

On the left side Thermaltake cautions consumers to take some necessary steps prior to using the kit.

The package contents are listed on the right side of the box.

As you can see everything is placed in their retail boxes so i don't expect any issues during shipping.

Contained inside the box are the RL240 radiator, PR22-D5 pump/reservoir combo, pump/reservoir metal and plastic brackets, 4 mounting pads, W1 water block, two Luna 12 red LED fans, V-Tubler 4T tube, red coolant, coolant bottle (used to fill the reservoir), 24pin ATX bridging plug, two Allen keys, 4 stoppers, fan screws, 6 1/2" compression fittings, 5 cable ties, thermal grease tube, installation instructions (each box has its own aside the complete paper) and mounting hardware for Intel 775/1150/1155/1156/1366/2011-3 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1/FM2 compatible mainboards.

THE PACIFIC RL240

The 702g heavy aluminum RL240 radiator measures 282.5mm in length, 129mm in width and 64mm in height. Also thanks to the brazing manufacturing process used by Thermaltake and its double-rows and 13-set flat tubes the RL240 should be quite the performer.

To have a better idea about how thick this radiator is we placed it right next to two of the radiators we use in our lab one 36mm thick (bottom) and one 25mm thick (top).

Fin quality is excellent as you can certainly tell from the above picture and as mentioned earlier the RL240 has an FPI count of 14.

The radiator has four G1/4" ports at the rear and a single G1/4" port at the front

Unfortunately Thermaltake hasn't placed fin shields underneath the mounting holes so pay extra attention when using long screws.

The pump/reservoir combo features a high quality acrylic (PMMA) tube at the top which can accept up to 300ml of coolant.

Thermaltake has used a very powerful D5 pump which can spin up to 4800RPM (you can configure the speed manually) to discharge up to 1135 liters of liquid per hour at a maximum height of 4.5 meters.

There's one G1/4 port at the base of the pump and two more at the top of the reservoir.

Two mounting holes are placed at the rear of the pump which can be used to mount the device either directly or with the supplied brackets.

For the CPU Thermaltake has used their very own W1 water block (345g heavy) which features an all-copper base with anti-corrosive nickel plating.

Taking a look at the interior of the water block we see the 0.15mm micro-channel fin construction which according to Thermaltake offers optimal clearance and extreme heat dissipation.

Thanks to the nickel plating the base of the W1 features a mirror like finish.

The Thermaltake Luna 12 fans can spin up to 1200RPM and thanks to their hydraulic bearing and rubber pads placed on all 4 corners they can produce airflow levels of up to 50.44CFM (1.32mm H2O air pressure) with just 20.7dBA of noise.

Prior to mounting and testing the Pacific RL240 we did a leakage test and i think that the Luna 12 fans look great (since our test rig is not half as good as the P5 if you want to see a step-to-step installation of the Pacific RL240 take a look HERE).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Testing complete water cooling kits or individual radiators is no different than testing CPU Coolers and since we want all of you to be able to compare similar products we created new and separate charts (you can still cross-compare results however since we are using the same test rig). So once again single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of our test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests complete water cooling kits or radiators with bundled fans are measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. When testing complete water cooling kits we use the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Finally much like when testing CPU Coolers it's very important to point out that just because a water cooling kit outperforms another when tested with our test rig (when we test complete water cooling kits) that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests (when fans exist in the bundle) are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the radiator. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   When Thermaltake send the Pacific RL240 Water Cooling Kit over we had to do two things with it, showcase the brand new P5 mid-tower and test it so since the P5 looks quite awesome we decided to showcase that in our building section instead (our test rig is nowhere near as impressive). Now moving to the performance part of our review I have to admit that although cooling efficiency is very good at first the Pacific RL240 fails to impress. The reason I’m saying at first is because when you take a look at the D5 pump used and its specifications and the almost inaudible noise levels even at full load you realize that the Pacific RL240 has other things to offer than just raw performance. You see on one hand you can expand the loop with two or even three extra radiators and just as many GPU water blocks (SLI/CF) without having to worry about performance decrease and on the other thanks to the Luna 12 fans you can even use this kit with an HTPC placed in your bedroom. If you’re looking however for raw performance we’ll try to get our hands on the Pacific RL360 kit to see how that one compares to the others in our charts.

   There’s one problem with the Pacific RL240 Water Cooling Kit by our friends over at Thermaltake and that’s its price tag which is currently set at USD284.58 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 342Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Of course its high build quality along with its performance and features allow for such a price tag but at the end of the day we’re still talking about a water cooling kit with a 240mm radiator something that may push some people with larger towers to other solutions that cost just slightly higher like the Pacific RL360 kit. Overall however the Pacific RL240 Water Cooling Kit is a solid answer to all those people who don’t have much room in their PC cases and since it excels in most areas that really matter it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Very Good Cooling Efficiency
- Universal CPU Compatibility
- Powerful D5 Pump (4800RPM / Manual Speed Control - 1135l/h)
- Very Low Noise Levels
- Size (240mm Radiator)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Thick Radiator (Clearance Issues)