Antec Kuhler H2O 1250 Review

Introduction

All in One, or AIOs as we tend to call them, have been around for a little while now.  For the greater part their designs are all alike and essentially based on a pre-filled and pre sealed version of a standard water cooling loop, the only main differences being the absence of a reservoir and the pump being contained within the cold plate assembly.  With the Kuhler 1250 Antec are somewhat bucking this trend.  In an effort to make the system quieter and more efficient Antec have instead combined each of the 120mm fan assemblies with a water pump, creating a twin fan, twin pump configuration the tubing from which feeds down to a stand-alone cold plate.   Antec have combined this with their Grid software which enables control and monitoring of the cooling system from the desktop, with LEDs on the cold plate giving immediate visual feedback on system temps.  We’re keen to see how all this comes together, and in particular whether the setup is quieter than standard AIOs from the likes of Corsair and Cooler Master, which at the end of the day aren’t as quiet as we would like.  The gauntlet is down.  Let’s see how it survives the torture tests.

 

Technical Specification

 

Features

• -Copper cold plate, optimized for thermal conduction
• -Extra large pump and integrated fan engineered to cool the radiator efficiently
• -Two Integrated PWM fans automatically adjust fan speed based on temperature. Built-in directional blades focus airflow through the radiator
• -RGB LED illuminates your case and changes color to indicate CPU temperature
• -Included software provides essential tools to control and monitor the KÃœHLER H2O 950
• -Dual pump operation for maximum performance