Innovatek Premium XXS review

Unlike many kits, Innovatek’s only includes a block to cool the CPU, although you can buy extra blocks and other components separately. Using a standard four-pin Molex plug, it’s easier to install than the Asetek, but you can’t mount the reservoir separately unless you buy an adaptor. Anti-vibration mountings minimise noise: in fact, it’s so quiet we couldn’t tell it was running.

The pump and reservoir are smaller than Asetek’s, and the included XX-Flow CPU block can be fitted on any motherboard. It comes with clamps for Socket 478, 754 and 939/940, with a Socket 775 adaptor costing an extra £14 inc VAT from Innovatek’s German website. The radiator is slightly bigger than a 120mm fan, so will bolt onto a standard fan mount if there’s room around the edge. There’s a resistor included, so you can choose to run at 12V or 7V. It’s not silent at either setting, but a decent case will mask out most of the fan noise.

Installing the pipes proved a touch fiddly, but there was no leakage once finished. We chose to install the Cool-Matic X800 water block (£52 inc VAT) for our X800 Pro, which covers the GPU and RAM, but not the memory on the underside of the card. A cheaper alternative is the Graph-O-Matic (£27 inc VAT), which simply cools the GPU, and we found it just as effective. We also installed the in-line FlowMeter Pro (£27 inc VAT), which connects to a standard fan header and reports a figure in litres per minute to the BIOS.

Using the same tests as for the Asetek, we saw similar idle temperatures of 23 degrees for the CPU and 33 degrees for the GPU. Under load, though, the CPU jumped to 50 degrees, while the GPU settled at 48 degrees. Although these aren’t quite as impressive as the Asetek kit, the Premium XXS is quieter overall and can be installed into much smaller cases.

Build quality is superb and you can achieve lower temperatures by mounting the radiator externally. If you want complete silence, opt for the Premium XXK kit, which includes the passive Konvekt-O-Matic radiator (£199 inc VAT). Otherwise, combining the Premium XXS kit with the Graph-O-Matic GPU cooler is a great value combination for quietness and cooling potential.