Closer Look Continued:

Mirror 1

Mirror 2

The 3pin wiring coming off the capped water block is actually meant to power the built in pump inside the block. This is the smallest liquid cooling pump and block assembly that I've seen created for computer based cooling. The secondary block just cools your secondary GPU in the SLI system of your choice. The flow indicator and sensor is installed between the secondary block and radiator. If any blockages or abnormalities in fluid flow occur, then you definitely want some sort of warning so you can save your precious hardware.

Flow Indicator

Flows Left to Right

Powered Up

Installation and Testing:

The Aquagate Duo Viva can be mounted on the side panel of your case drawing in cool air through the radiator. Or you can mount the radiator inside any one of the many drive bays that you might have inside your case. The downside to this method is heat build up in your case if it has very poor ventilation. If neither of these methods work for you, there is always the PCI bracket installation method where the radiator can be attached to the supplied brackets. Then the unit is simply plugged in to any on of your vacant PCI slots. Very neat!

Manual

HDD Mounted

PCI Kit

PCI Mounted

There isn't really any particular order for the blocks to go in when you get down to installation. In this test system, the hotter 7600 GT was used since it comes overclocked and tends to get very, very warm during a good 30 minutes of testing. The 8800 series are the most recent graphics cards that also hot enough to require more upscale cooling. It's usually been good for GPU temps as the fabrication processes have continued to shrink. Unfortunately, it's the higher core frequencies that also continue to rise despise the smaller die which brings heat back up. Because of this, liquid cooling is still the top cooling option if want to get rid of any noise and get more from your graphics card.

Test System:

• ABIT IN9-680i Fatality Edition

• 2x1GB OCZ PC2-6400 Flex XLC

• Bluegears Inspirer 7.1 HD Audio

• Geforce 7600 GT PCIE 256MB

• Thermaltake 700 Watt ToughPower

Seating The Card

Plenty of Space

Pump Is Go

Looks Great!

After a good solid hour of 3D intensive graphics, the graphics card did what all other graphics cards do best with stock GPU cooling. Get hot! This is no surprise given the nature of most GPU heat sinks. One thing that can help the stock GPU coolers do a better job is some Artic Silver 5. It never hurts to add some good grade thermal paste to your video card. But for today's testing purposes, the included thermal compound has to be used to give you the proper results. Overclocking the 7600 GT resulted in stable maximum, performance. This card will never reach its maximum overclock with its stock heat sink no matter what kind of thermal compound used on the GPU.

Temperature differences aren't very dramatic across the spectrum, but it does indicate that the new blocks do improve performance. The benefit of a cooler GPU is better stability especially when overclocking. One side effect of too much heat can be sudden jittering and artifices either randomly or sporadically showing up on your screen. Even if your card manages to stay up and not crash or lock up, it does very little good in game or during your 3D programs. This is where a couple degrees can break or save your video card.

If you're curious about whether or not the Aquagate Duo Viva can handle any processors, the answer is yes. However, the problem with the kit lies in the length of the black tubing. The Duo Viva can handle lower voltage single core processors and one graphics card depending on how far the first graphics slot is from the CPU socket. Since this can't be guaranteed and the Duo Viva isn't meant for it, it will undoubtedly serve your SLI configuration best. Just to answer the question further, the AM2 3500+ reached 40 C under load. The Duo Viva kept the processor to 38 C under the same test.

As the review comes to a close, let me address one last issue regarding noise. There isn't a sound. The radiator fans are so very quiet during regular system operations. Even while overclocked, I would have to get right up next to the unit to confirm the fans are spinning. So, if you're looking for something to silence your graphics cards during intense program use, this is so far your most affordable and reliable choice.

Conclusion:

What can I say? It's another innovative, highly configurable good performing budget cooling solution. The Coolermaster Aquagate Duo Viva is all around well made with reliable components and good looks to match. The design and jet black components give it a serious, yet unique appeal. It resembles an intentional design idea of a high tech cooling system hidden within your extreme machine. The ability to adapt the cooling system to your own installation design is simply a cool feature. It is also a good alternative to the ever growing aftermarket GPU coolers that take up so much space and often don't allow room for another graphics card in any SLI or Crossfire configurations.

Performance alone should appease any concerns you may have had concerning such a compact kit. The kit is intended to run any single, SLI, or Crossfire graphics card currently found on the market. It isn't completely suited to handle extreme overclocking, but can afford some head room if you feel so inclined. Essentially, the Viva Duo is a compact alternative to your own graphics card cooling fans and heat sinks. Temperatures keep respectfully cool and extremely quiet! A big thanks for Coolermaster for giving the power hungry users another good choice.