Thermaltake ProWater 850i

Mike D. 2 Oct, 2008 at 3:58pm ET Article published in Tech

It seems that most enthusiasts cross the line at one time or another. It is the point when fans alone just won’t cut it any longer. I still remember my first faithful dive into liquid cooling back in 2004. I put together a custom 1/2” system and modded my old Antec tower case for a dual 120mm radiator. I was able to overclock my Athlon XP well beyond its intended specifications, and took my Radeon 9800 Pro to new limits.

A lot has changed since 2004—especially in the aircooling market. Heatsinks are bigger and more efficient than ever. One look at my recent Thermalright TRUE 120 Black review proves just how far these modern towers have come. Although certainly not as popular as aircooling, watercooling still has quite a following. It has unfortunately always been just a bit out of reach for the average enthusiast—not so much due to cost, but rather the complexity.

Thermaltake hopes to bring a higher end watercooling system to the mainstream with their ProWater 850i. They have thrown a very complete watercooling system with all of the necessities into a box, and have made it univeral enough to fit a wide variety of cases. Today we’re going to take a look at the ProWater 850i and see if it lives up to its promise.

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Comments

2 Oct 2008 ~ 4:42pm BuddyJ Sweet article lemonlime! Well done!
2 Oct 2008 ~ 9:38pm lemonlime Thanks, Buddy J

Here is a shot of the backplate after I took apart the system. Manufacturers really need to steer clear of this area on LGA775 boards. As I mentioned, the padding was thick enough to protect the board.
5 Oct 2008 ~ 2:50pm jared Great review Mike!

Looks like an awesome kit. I wouldn't mind picking one of these up, but I think you might as well add a GPU cooler in there too...
5 Oct 2008 ~ 6:51pm BuddyJ They say it's expandable. The pump pushes quite a bit of water; enough for a GPU cooler and 2x120mm radiator.

I'd like to see how the new OCZ waterblock stacks up when added to this system. It's only $40.
5 Oct 2008 ~ 8:18pm jared Which one of their kits is the "step up" from this one.

Didn't they have one that included some of that stuff mentioned above^^

(specifically the 2x120mm radiator i thought)
5 Oct 2008 ~ 8:40pm BuddyJ Right now, the ProWater 850i is their top kit. They sell upgrades individually:
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Products.aspx?C=1162

I can't find it, but there's a review online somewhere I read last week where they added a Thermaltake GPU block and the 2x120mm radiator to the mix and got better results. I guess the ProWater's pump is strong enough to take mild upgrades. The only real downside I see to the kit (aside from lemonlime's remarks) is the small reservoir. I'm not sure if it can be replaced or not.
20 Oct 2008 ~ 5:50pm muddocktor I see a few things that I find not too desirable with this kit (besides that mounting bracket that Mike noted). First, the radiator is all aluminum and you have to run some kind of antifreeze mix (which I'm sure that the included coolant that Thermaltake provided contains) or you will have corrosion due to ionic transfer between dissimilar metals. And the pump, while adequate, is not a real powerhouse. Finally, I find a single fan radiator, while easier for mounting purposes, is a bit small for overclocking a quad based system. For the price this is selling for ($135 at the Egg), I would rather spend another $5 more and get the Swiftech H20-220 Compact CPU Water Cooling Kit. With the Swiftech kit you get a double fan brass tank and tube radiator, radbox for mounting the radiator externally and a waterpump/waterblock combo based off of the Apogee GT block and MCP350 pump. There's nothing really bad with this Thermaltake kit but it's competing against a superior Swiftech kit in it's price range.
20 Oct 2008 ~ 5:54pm BuddyJ The downside of the Swiftech kit is its upgradability, right? You can change the pump top but you're stuck with their block...
20 Oct 2008 ~ 6:37pm muddocktor Yeah, that is a minor downside, but if you think about it you probably would be changing the block in the future anyways. And the MCP350 pump side of the combo is fully upgradable with an aftermarket top and there is also a very simple solder mod you can do to the MCP350 to convert it to a MCP355 motor (from 10 watt to 18 watt motor) as they are the same motor on the pump. Martin's Liquid Labs has some good pics of the mod area in their review of the Apogee Drive (the pump/waterblock combo that comes with this kit). This mod could also be done on the present setup to get you a little better flowrate and pressure also.
20 Oct 2008 ~ 7:15pm BuddyJ Yeah, I read about the mods etc. on Martin's site. The MCP350 sounds like a great pump. I'd like to get one myself. Are you saying you can detach the pump from the block on the Swifty kit so you can upgrade to a better block like the GTZ? I was under the impression that if you wanted to move to a better waterblock, you also had to get a new pump.
21 Oct 2008 ~ 12:16am muddocktor No, the pump body comes off just like pulling the shipping top of the MCP350 and 355. If you install an XSPC top on the pump body and impeller, the only difference between it and a pump you buy as a pump is the lack of the 2 mounting brackets on the sides of the pump body. The waterblock part of the pump comes off just like the top of the regular pump with 4 screws. Here's a link to Martin's review of the Apogee Drive, which shows him mounting an aftermarket top to the pump body of the Drive. It has a pic of the pump body with an aftermarket top mounted on it. Plus, he shows the solder mod clearly too in the article. That is what is so nice about this kit; your pump isn't obsolete when you decide to upgrade to a better waterblock.:thumbup
21 Oct 2008 ~ 12:26am BuddyJ Thanks for clarifying it mudd. The Swiftech kit just became much more appealing.