Antec have bundled a very intuitive application to allow users to control the fan speeds based on temperatures. It also allows for other customisation. Branded ChillControl, it is unique to the KÜHLER H2O 920.
The first window displays a plethora of information regarding the cooler including the fan speed, pump speed, liquid coolant temperature and the sound level. For each, the minimum, maximum and averaged are recorded although they refresh frequently. Ideally, the minimum and maximum should be over saved for the whole duration and users be given the ability to refresh. Rather than record the CPU temperatures, the liquid temperature is recorded instead. In many ways, this is better as there are already plenty of applications that record the CPU temperatures already.
The application tool allows users to choose between two pre-determined profiles and to create their own custom one. Choosing ‘Extreme’ mode automatically sets the fan speeds to their maximum rated speed. At 2400RPM, the sound level reaches a mighty 53dB. The cooler doesn’t actually have a sound sensor so I can only imagine that the sound level are pre-calibrated based on the fan RPM rather than showing the actual noise. Still, it is an indication of how loud the KÜHLER H2O 920 can get.
In ‘Silent’ mode, the fans respond to a default pre-programmed fan profile. When the liquid temperature is below 40C, the fans only operate at 660-700RPM making the whole system quiet. However, above 40C they start to increase and under the full load of an overclocked i7, the fan speed can even reach 2000RPM in this mode. This is counter-intuitive as the cooler is no longer quiet. The problem is that with a low fan speed, the liquid temperature will rise disproportionally quicker under full load and the fan speed will increase in response so the cooler will no longer be quiet. Thankfully, it is possible to customise a profile in the third setting. It would have been good if the fan speed could be set automatically rather than rely solely on the liquid temperature.
The second window monitors the liquid temperature and fan speed tracking them on graphs.
The fan control window can be customised when ‘Custom’ mode is selected. Here users can specify when they want the fan speeds to increase based on the liquid temperature. In this case, the fan will ramp up after the coolant reaches 40C and continue to increase linearly until 50C is reached. Notifications can also be set should the coolant temperature get too high.
The settings window gives users the unique ability to change the LEDs colour on CPU block to anything within RGB space. Let’s take a look at how they look.
