Soldato
I figured with the recent rush of people asking about phasechange there should be a thread with the basics/links for reference purposes.
What is Phase Change?
The compressor compresses the refrigerant into a high pressure... Where in the condenser, it condenses to a liquid under high pressure and also at the same time gives up its heat. It then travels to the liquid line, where liquid refrigerant usually travels through a filter/dryer, which filters out particles and is a desiccant, meaning it absorbs moisture. From that point, it travels to the metering device, usually either a capillary tube, or Thermal Expansion Valve (TXV). These regulate the flow of the liquid refrigerant, because at this point is under far too much pressure to evaporate. Once it leaves the metering device, it enters the evaporator, where the liquid refrigerant boils off, sucking up the heat with it. It then travels down the suction line of the system, back through the compressor, and into the condenser.
What phase change system should I buy?
The 2 common systems are a Prometeia Mach 2 and an Asetek Vapochill. You can then build your own if you have the knowledge and tools and with a little reading this can be done on your own. I will hopefully be doing this soon and will include a write up of my progress. Bear in mind average pull down is a few minutes. So dont expect any 10second boot up times.
How much will a phase change system set me back?
A new bit of kit will cost about 450ish for a Vapo LS or Mach 2 GT, with a standard Mach 2 being slightly less. However if you manage to pic us a used system you are likely to get a bargain as people tend to sell there used systems scarily cheap and a Mach 2 GT can be had for about £200, and an old Mach 1 for about £130 which is cheaper than a good water setup and much better. Older vapochill models also go for around £150.
So there are only 2 types?
Yes, there are 2 kinds of phase change, direct die and waterchilling. Direct die is covered next and waterchilling will be covered at the end of this guide.
So what kind of direct die systems are there
Well yes and No, There are 2 main companies in the field Nventiv also known as Ecold and Asetec who are better known for their waterchill kits. Both manufacture different levels of systems as shown below
Nventiv
Prometeia (Formerly Mach 2)
These are entry models and are charged with R134 refridgerant, they usually get to about -40.
Prometeia 2 (Formerly Mach 2 GT)
This is a beefed up version of the standard Mach 2, it is charged with R404 refridgerent and gets to about -60. It looks identical to the standard prometeia
Asetek
Asetek have many models (classic, pe, xe, ls), however only mainly produce the LS nowadays
Asetek Vapochil LS
This is on par with the Mach 2 GT and is charged with R507 refrigerant and also gets to about -60. It to comes with silver aluminium panels though they do not have the same style design as the lian li cases.
Older Vapochill (Classic, PE, XE)
These were charged with R134 and came in their own cases which were pretty damn ugly if you ask me but did the job. They were also quite cramped inside I found.
Which is the better choice then?
Well as with all computer genres there are 2 main contenders fighting for your wad of cash. (ATI vs Nvidia, AMD vs Intel etc)
And with these come the fanboys of each. So you will never really get an honest opinion if you ask on a forum.
I prefer the Mach 2 range (partly because asetek called there water cooling kits waterchill which they aren’t but I’ll explain why later.)
The mach 2 range seem to give better temps when the heat load is under 200w as most chips are. However with the new FX57 range the LS seems to give slightly better temps on the heavily overclocked FX57’s whereas the mach2’s have been known to get into positive temps
What is Phase Change?
The compressor compresses the refrigerant into a high pressure... Where in the condenser, it condenses to a liquid under high pressure and also at the same time gives up its heat. It then travels to the liquid line, where liquid refrigerant usually travels through a filter/dryer, which filters out particles and is a desiccant, meaning it absorbs moisture. From that point, it travels to the metering device, usually either a capillary tube, or Thermal Expansion Valve (TXV). These regulate the flow of the liquid refrigerant, because at this point is under far too much pressure to evaporate. Once it leaves the metering device, it enters the evaporator, where the liquid refrigerant boils off, sucking up the heat with it. It then travels down the suction line of the system, back through the compressor, and into the condenser.
What phase change system should I buy?
The 2 common systems are a Prometeia Mach 2 and an Asetek Vapochill. You can then build your own if you have the knowledge and tools and with a little reading this can be done on your own. I will hopefully be doing this soon and will include a write up of my progress. Bear in mind average pull down is a few minutes. So dont expect any 10second boot up times.
How much will a phase change system set me back?
A new bit of kit will cost about 450ish for a Vapo LS or Mach 2 GT, with a standard Mach 2 being slightly less. However if you manage to pic us a used system you are likely to get a bargain as people tend to sell there used systems scarily cheap and a Mach 2 GT can be had for about £200, and an old Mach 1 for about £130 which is cheaper than a good water setup and much better. Older vapochill models also go for around £150.
So there are only 2 types?
Yes, there are 2 kinds of phase change, direct die and waterchilling. Direct die is covered next and waterchilling will be covered at the end of this guide.
So what kind of direct die systems are there
Well yes and No, There are 2 main companies in the field Nventiv also known as Ecold and Asetec who are better known for their waterchill kits. Both manufacture different levels of systems as shown below
Nventiv
Prometeia (Formerly Mach 2)
These are entry models and are charged with R134 refridgerant, they usually get to about -40.
Prometeia 2 (Formerly Mach 2 GT)
This is a beefed up version of the standard Mach 2, it is charged with R404 refridgerent and gets to about -60. It looks identical to the standard prometeia
Asetek
Asetek have many models (classic, pe, xe, ls), however only mainly produce the LS nowadays
Asetek Vapochil LS
This is on par with the Mach 2 GT and is charged with R507 refrigerant and also gets to about -60. It to comes with silver aluminium panels though they do not have the same style design as the lian li cases.
Older Vapochill (Classic, PE, XE)
These were charged with R134 and came in their own cases which were pretty damn ugly if you ask me but did the job. They were also quite cramped inside I found.
Which is the better choice then?
Well as with all computer genres there are 2 main contenders fighting for your wad of cash. (ATI vs Nvidia, AMD vs Intel etc)
And with these come the fanboys of each. So you will never really get an honest opinion if you ask on a forum.
I prefer the Mach 2 range (partly because asetek called there water cooling kits waterchill which they aren’t but I’ll explain why later.)
The mach 2 range seem to give better temps when the heat load is under 200w as most chips are. However with the new FX57 range the LS seems to give slightly better temps on the heavily overclocked FX57’s whereas the mach2’s have been known to get into positive temps
Last edited:
