Thermaltake Big Water 735

This system is installed in the same rig I conduct all my heatsink reviews on to give continuity between reviews.

• Case: Lian Li PC-70
• Motherboard: ECS KN1-Extreme
• CPU: Athlon 64 3000
• Video Card: Albatron GFX 5750
• HDD’s: A Bunch
• RAM: PQI Turbo 3200 2x512MB
• PSU: Antec TruePower 550

While the system is idle, you can see that the Big Water 735 drops the temperature of the CPU almost 7 C from stock cooling. That translates to almost 13 (12.384) degree F difference, and that is not insignificant.

To measure load temperatures, the system is probed while running Prime 95’s torture test and Folding@Home simultaneously.

The Big Water proves to be better at cooling the CPU at load temperatures vs. Air cooling. This is to be expected given that water has better heat transfer properties than air alone, but it only did so at a 3C difference than the AC Freezer Pro 64 costing a third of the price.

The real benefits to the system here is that it is nearly inaudible and provides better cooling with more versatility. There are a ton of accessories for the system ranging from flow meters to VGA waterblocks. The 735 offers a nice introduction for those who are hesitant about entering the water world. There is a bigger brother to the 735 that offers a much larger radiator as part of the system and should do a much better job of cooling than the 735 does. When push comes to shove, Thermaltake did better than I expected, but I think the system could benefit from an updated radiator and a less restrictive CPU waterblock. Bottom line, would I buy one? I love water, but I would probably opt for the Big Water 745 with its larger radiator instead.