Thermaltake BigWater 745 Cooling Kit

Conclusion

After some of the trouble that I had with the installation of the Thermaltake Bigwater 745, I wasn't sure what I thought of it.  The performance of this kit just totally blew me away.  I saw temperatures lower than I had ever seen in my system before, over 20 degrees Celsius lower than with the Stock HSF.  I was VERY impressed with the performance of this kit.

Dean's Thoughts

The Thermaltake BigWater 745's best point is also its weakest.  Effectively having triple the capacity of a standard 120mm radiator, the BigWater 745 offers fantastic performance and I applaud Thermaltake for releasing a kit that represents 'the extreme!'  The downside to this is mounting space.  Installing this kit in a full size Thermaltake case such as the Armor, Kandalf or standard Tai Chi for instance should offer the end user no problems.  But again, that's the rub, you want a water cooling kit to be as close to 100% compatible with all cases as it can possible be and not create problems like those Jeremy experienced.  I think the way to look at the Thermaltake BigWater 745 is in the same light as other oversized H2O kits like those of AseTek or Swiftech that come with the unspoken assumption of being custom kits you will have to mod to some minimal degree for.  Take this Swiftech kit for example, tell me where you would out of the box mount it.  It is in this light of a custom kit that I think the BigWater 745 can be easily recommended.  Pricing of the unit at $144 is a not bad at all considering the hardware you are getting for your money here.  All things considered, ihaving a plan for an extreme rig and some creative installation will reward Joe Gamer heartily.  As far as it being an all in one kit to pick up off the shelf for quick installation into a case made by brand X, you may want to think twice.