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Senfu Water Cooler Review- results curtesy of Steven Wong

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Introduction

Senfu has recently introduced their Water Coolers into the international market with good reviews from many sites all over the world. For the first time, a company has attempted to manufacture Water Coolers commercially & with good quality control to ensure thier Water Coolers are 100% safe & leak proof (woudn't want water to spill all over your components would you? :) ) Another advantage of Senfu Water Cooler set is that it fits ANY type of CPUs ie. Slot 1, Socket 7/ 370/ FC PGA & Slot A (Athlon).

After a few weeks of negotiation with Senfu & receiving a collection notice from KLIA Sepang customs, we finally got ourselves a sample unit of their famous water cooler. My first impression was .. wow.. there are sure a lot of goodies included! The water cooler set that we offer to Malaysia as Senfu's authorised reseller consists of :-

  1. 1. Water Cooling Kit
  2. 2. Water Cooling Fan (Dual 80mm fan with radiator)
  3. 3. Overclocking DIY House (open air computer case)
  4. 4. Water Cooling Motor (water pump)
  5. 5. Thermoelectric Cooler (peltier)

Since one of our regular visitor, Mr. Steven Wong was very keen to get the Senfu Water Cooler set for his experiments, we decided to let him review our first sample unit. One addition to the Water Cooler set he got was a Copper cold plate for the peltier from us, as there was no cold place included with the Thermoelectric cooler. His experiment was conducted in a typical Malaysian room with regular ceiling fan (no air-condition) & regular water so that Senfu Water cooler set is tested at most demanding conditions. Below is an account of Mr. Steven Wong's experiment results with the Senfu water cooler. As comparison Globalwin FDP32 cooling fan is used :-

Machine Configuration

  • 1.Intel Celeron 366
  • 2.Abit BE-6 motherboard
  • 3.256Mb PC-100 RAM
  • 4.GlobalWin FDP32 cooling fan

Celeron 366 Overclocked to 458Mhz

Machine just started up. Voltage at 1.8V. Temperature at 31C.

 

After half an hour on Quake 3 at the same settings

Temp went up to 36c.

 

Celeron 366 at 550Mhz (2.2V)

Machine just started up. And Rain is running. Temp 44C. After running Quake 3 for a while the temp rises to 46C. Not too bad the GlobalWin Fan.

Turning off Rain will see significant increase in temperature.

Turning off Rain and running Quake 3 for 10 minutes will hang the machine.

 

Celeron 366 at 550 Mhz (2.2V) with Senfu Water cooler only… without the peltier kit.. Startup.

As can be seen the temperature at startup is lower than before…32C

 

This diagram is taken after 15 mins of Quake 3 Arena without Rain.

 

Celeron 366 overclocked to 550 (2.0V) with Peltier and Senfu

the temperature went down to 4C. Stopping Rain immediately pushed the temperature up to 18C as shown. Previously, this processor could NEVER do 550 at 2.0V. With the Peltier and Senfu, this is no longer a problem. Will test with Seti as soon as possible.

Tried playing StarCraft for about 30 minutes and this is the reading that I got. 20C!. Reason for testing with StarCraft is to test the stability. Before putting in Senfu or Peltier, with just GlobalWin, StarCraft would hang when overclocked to 550Mhz at 2.0V. It will only run stable at 2.2V. However, with the Senfu, it still hangs at 2.0V, but runs fine with 2.1V.

Using Soft FSB I raised the FSB to 105Mhz and this is the reading that I got. 2C higher than before without raising the voltage. Prior to this, this frequency will hang the system no matter at what voltage that is supplied. Seems to be quite stable though. Not until I try running StarCraft. This will be what I will do now. Nope. The chip just couldn't handle speeds higher than 550Mhz.

 

Celeron 366 @ 550 (2.1V) with Senfu and Peltier - after Lapping

Lapped the CPU and the results are quite amazing actually. Without Seti running, this is the normal temperature of the CPU. 14~15C.

The previous reading with Senfu and Peltier before lapping the CPU was a standard 18C.

 

Celeron 366 o/c to 550Mhz at 2.1V (Senfu and Peltier)

The following screenshot taken after running Seti@Home straight for more than 12 hours.

System is still stable. The temperature of the CPU is at 19C!

 

Performance (Celeron 366 at 550Mhz at 2.1V) Using Sandra.

The following Screen Capture was taken.

 

Setting Up Senfu Water Cooler.

Setting up the Senfu water cooler is pretty simple. The instructions given should suffice. However for it to be really practical, the Open Air Casing that came with the Water Cooler kit should be used. This is because using the water cooler will require 2 water hoses. The Open Air casing gives you the room you need to manipulate the hose. In addition to easing the setting up of the water cooler, the open air casing allows better ventilation of air through the system.

If noise is of concern to you, then you will be dissappointed with the water pump. It is a little bit noisy but not too much to take for myself.

Setting up the Peltier with the Senfu water cooler was not such a nice experience. This is because the clamp that came with the water cooler did not leave space for the peltier kit. Once the peltier kit is set on the CPU, putting the water cooler and trying to clamp it is really difficult. It still could be done but requires significant strength to clamp the peltier and the water cooler together. Overall the product is good and really achieves what it sets out to do. My CPU temperature now is within 15~25 C (Intel Celeron 366 at 550Mhz at 2.1V).

 

Summary

From Mr. Steven's experiment results, we at Overclockers Paradise have seen the best cooler in Malaysia todate. For our hot & humid weather (with room temperatures ranging from 35-40 Celcius) the Water Cooler Set offers excellent cooling performance by lowering your CPU temperature down to 19-25 Celcius. Apart from offering excellent cooling, it can fit any current CPUs & it is leak proof. This Water Cooler set will very likely last many CPU lifetimes & upgrades.

It has a few disadvantages though. The Water Pump (noisy & we prefer if Senfu will provide a more powerful unit) & it does not come with a cold plate ( we recommend Senfu to include a Copper cold plate to use with their thermoelectric cooler for better effect). The clamp for fitting the peltier kit can also be improved to accomodate better fitting.

All in all, we like the Senfu Water Cooler very much & we will definately support the product in a long term basis. As our first review & product report, we award Senfu 9/10 points! (we would have given a 10/10 if not for the water pump & cold plate issue).

Senfu Water Cooler sets can be ordered from OVERCLOCKERS PARADISE.

FINAL RATING

9/10 ... Excellent!

How we rate :-

1-4 points - Very poor performance...look somewhere else
5-6 points - Average ... ok for normal use but nothing special
7-8 points - Good .. well designed & good performance
9 points - Excellent! ... superior & advanced performance ahead of the competition
10 points - Perfect! ... the best product in its class with no competitors