Liquid cooling solutions has been in the market for years in the PC enthusiasts community , but despite knowing its superior cooling performance, there are still many who remained with air cooling solutions due to fear of leakage that could damage one's system.
Self-contained liquid cooling solutions (aka All-In-One, AIO) comes into play as the maintenance free liquid cooling solution, bridging the gap between air cooling solutions and custom liquid cooling solutions. Those who are not yet ready for a custom loop but still wanted to experience the somewhat similar cooling performance can go for an AIO before taking a full dive into the world of custom liquid cooling solution.
Corsair, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, etc are among the major brands and makers of AIO that are available here in Malaysia. Raijintek, a new contender who recently joined the competition sent us one of their competing product for review, the Raijintek Triton.
*Special thanks to Cudo Technologies and Raijintek for making this review possible*
Specifications
Packaging
The packaging comes in an appealing futuristic design with the actual product illustrated at the front, along with a long description of the product and the list of compatible socket.
Specifications of the Triton can be found at the side of the box.
On the other side of the packaging, you'll find the Triton lineup with different colors and specifications.
Accessories
The accessories you'll find in the box are; coloring dyes, user's manual, screws, mounting plate, thermal paste and a pair of controllable fan.
The fans included looks identical as the ones we've seen on the Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme. It's capable of producing large amount of airflow but it's noisy at the same time, the controller on the fan cable is meant to compensate for this shortcomings.
The fan controller allows you to control the fan speed to compensate for the fan noise on maximum speed that is unpleasant to some users. The drawback of this design is that the fan controller itself doesn't have the option for you to install it on any part of a PC chassis. It'll be quite a hassle if you wanted to adjust the fan speed because it requires you to remove the side panel whenever you need to reach out for the fan controller .
The Raijintek Triton
At first glance, the Raijintek Triton looks nothing like any AIO we've seen so far. Instead of using FEP or rubber tubing that we normally see on AIOs nowadays, the Raijintek Triton uses the actual PVC clear tubing that is found on a majority of custom loops.
The Raijintek Triton radiator measures 32mm in thickness and a total count of 22 fpi (fins per inch), much higher than most OEM made AIO radiators that is 27mm thick with total count of 20 fpi. Better cooling performance is much to be expected from the Raijintek Triton.
The use of compression fittings should be more secure than the conventional barb fittings.
The reservoir + pump + CPU block of the Raijintek Triton is undoubtedly huge, much larger than most AIO we've seen so far - we're looking forward to see how it will perform!
The bottom of the block is a mirror-polished, nickel plated copper base, which is much to our surprise, as most AIO we've encountered so far uses only copper base.
As the pump reservoir unit is translucent, we're able to actually observe the flow of liquid that goes through the entire loop.
One of the best part of the Raijintek Triton is that it is expandable and maintainable, giving users the freedom to change the type of liquid used, the loop itself and more as long as its within alignment with Raijintek's T&C.
Installation
The installation was fairly easy, starting off with aligning the backplate and inserting the screws in its place.
Next, place the spacers onto the protruded screws to create a layer of insulation, preventing any metal parts of the cooler to come in direct contact with the motherboard.
Insert the metal spacers through the screws for the top metal frame mount.
Align the metal frame with the metal spacers and secure the metal frame mount with the screws provided.
Last but not least, apply the correct amount of thermal paste (rice grain method is recommended) on the CPU and secure the block to the metal frame mount. The coloring however, is optional and we thought of sticking to the clear water instead of pouring the coloring into the loop.
Performance Test
Test Bench Configuration | |
CPU Cooler | Raijintek Triton |
CPU | Intel Core i7 4790k |
Graphics Card | ASUS R9 280X DirectCU II OC |
Memory | Corsair Vengeance Pro 4GB x 2 |
Primary Hard Drive | Intel 520 Series 240GB |
Power Supply | be quiet! Straight Power 10 600W |
Chassis | Vector Bench Case |
We fired up a CPU stress test with Prime95 with the option 'In-place large FFTs' for maximum heat output, under room temperature of about 28ºC. We've also included results for various CPU coolers that we've tested with the same configuration as a comparison for the Raijintek Triton.
While our CPU is running on stock speed, the Raijintek Triton overwhelms the other liquid cooler in the list with a super impressive 45°C on maximum load.
When we ramp the CPU clock to 4.6GHz, the maximum temperature reading skyrocketed drastically - just so you know, the i7 4790k ES in our system is known for producing large amount of heat compared to most retail version.
The Raijintek Triton is shown still managed to keep up with the heat output, leading the race with maximum temperature reading of 73°C.
Our Verdict
We're totally blown away by its impressive cooling performance, the powerful pump and thick radiator combo makes the Raijintek Triton the best AIO we've tested to date. The maximum temperature on stock speed is nothing like we've ever achieved before with any AIO that arrived to our lab which usually hovers around the range of 70°C.
The installation was fairly easy, but what makes things even better is its expand-ability and maintainability. If you're willing to void the warranty with alterations against what is stated on the product page, you could go even further to explore what the Raijintek Triton is capable of, though we don't really recommend doing so.
At the price of RM395, the Raijintek Triton has the best price to performance ratio compared to other brand of AIOs available in the local market, and we will not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who seeks for the best AIO under RM400.
Pros
- Outstanding performance
- Reasonably good value for money
- Coolant / liquid can be replaced timely
- Easy to install
- Offers expandability (will void warranty if its not aligned with the T&C)
- Comes with a reasonable 2 year warranty
Cons
- Fan is noisy on full speed
- Need to take apart chassis side penal to reach the fan controller
- The tubing is very soft and kinks easily if it's overbended
- The coolant evaporates overtime
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