The installation of the cooler Antec H2O 1250 Watercooler was not so easy. For some users, the large retaining ring might be too big for the assembly of the pump. In the nearby base environment, nothing should be located, which is larger than a small capacitor – see Fit for Fan guide.
Unfortunately, appeared problems with the insertion of the screws-spring combination. Although the backplate fit easily on the back of the board …
… the springs were so high-pressured that a risk-free screwing was not possible. There always is a risk of slipping or damage the motherboard due to the high pressure at the mounting hole.
Even the fans are missing the guard, which is why you should make sure that all cables are firmly secured in the case with cable ties. When mounting the radiator otherwise no problems arose so we could easily mount it on top of the housing.
The many cables coming out of the pump, and then connected with the fans, as well as USB and motherboard, are tricky to lay through the case. Here, however, the craftsmanship of the system builder is required.
Very easy was the installation of the Antec Grid software. The accompanying CD contains the version 1.0 which was not used because there is the current version 2.0 on the manufacturer’s site. After the installation and the required reboot the software immediately started. On the start screen, the user can already see all points of interest about the cooling status.
The fan rotation is shown on the left side and on the right side you can check the water temperature. Three modes are available. In “Quiet” mode, the software throttles the fan at about 900 rpm which is perceived as pleasantly quiet. In “Extreme” mode, the maximum speed of 2211 revolutions is set. The fans did not quite reach those described on the box 2400 revolutions in the test.
In the third “manual mode” the user is able to adjust the speed in 200 to 300 rpm steps. Under “charts” there is a monitoring tool that can record the water temperature …
… and the fan speeds, show them in a timeline and save them to a file.
In the “settings” the user can define whether he wants to start the program minimized, in which color design it should come along and the language in which menu items are to be shown.
And finally the point “LED”, which offers the user the option of changing the built-in cooler LED unit either temperature-dependent or manually adjust the color he wants.
Regarding the software, there is nothing negative to say. The software performed its duties perfectly and is operator-friendly and functional. Here one can pronounce Antec’s programmers a compliment.
Antec Kühler H2O 1250 Setup and Results …