Kingwin Gladiator Hybrid Liquid Cooler

The unit

At first glance the Kingwin Gladiator look like many other oversized air coolers on the market until you notice that under the silver helmet looking shroud is a water pump/reservoir.  The pump/reservoir is tiny compared to full on water cooling kits.  But that doesn't matter since the burden of cooling is equally divided between it and a standard heatpipe cooler design.  We'll get back to this again shortly.  Before we move on, check out the small fill cap is located on top that allows for easy filling down the road.  The clear acrylic of the reservoir allows for coolant level monitoring and adjustment when necessary. 

Turning the Gladiator 90 degrees we have a view of what looks like a standard air cooler.  A large 100 x 25mm fan that turns at 2400 RPM pushes a high volume of air between the cooler's tightly packed aluminum convection fins.  The silver "helmet" does more than give the Gladiator a Roman Centurion look, it also helps channel the air along the entire length of the cooling fins increasing the air's velocity and cooling efficiency.

Here are a couple of shots from the opposite side that give you a good idea of the amount of surface area the Kingwin Gladiator offers.  You will also notice the heatpipes at the base that will make the light bulb of understanding come on for a number of you.

Normal heatpipes are hollow with a wick of sorts and fluid inside.  The way they work is that as the fluid inside heats up, it radiates away from the heat source though the heatpipe.  As it cools down with help from attached convection fins, it comes back to the base via the wick inside the pipe creating a circular current.  What Kingwin has done with their Hybrid Liquid Cooling Technology is to take heatpipe coolers to the next logical step.  Instead of using a wick, what they have done is use the hollow 8mm copper pipes to create a small circuit with the pump/reservoir we showed you earlier in the loop.

Moving our gaze below we see the base of the Kingwin Gladiator.  The top section is an aluminum billet.  Those two cuts down the middle are for a clip when installed in an AMD rig.  The bottom section is 100% copper that measures 3mm at its thinnest point.  The lapping job was acceptable and we could not discern any imperfections.  The high luster of a mirrored finish was not here but the finish was more than acceptable.

Being that we commented on the AMD clip; here is a shot of how the mounting arms attach for installation in a LGA775 rig.

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