Reviewed: XSPC RayStorm 750 EX240

Final Thoughts

This is a great kit to install and well pitched at either the novice water-cooler (i.e. myself) or a more experienced system builder with a specific project in mind. Enthusiasts and mad overclockers would probably be attracted to something more high end from XSPC but this unit does the job, does it well and does it with some bling. Whilst PWM fans would have been a nice inclusion, not everyone has the relevant controller and fan controller headers on their motherboards and voltage reducers are not expensive. In our test build, the case had a built in 3 speed fan controller that we were able to use.

We’d recommend also considering a flow meter/sensor and a drain line for the relatively small outlay and the minor effort required to include them in your build from the start.

If your case doesn’t have a fan controller, we would strongly recommend that you buy one. Whilst you could use cheap 5v fan speed reducers, an adjustable controller is more convenient – especially  in the Australian summer.

Lessons learnt

• Finding the right balance of length with hosing is slightly harder than it looks – cut longer and then shorten to fit
• 45 degree barbs would have been worth buying for the CPU to Radiator line
• The true value of a really sharp pair of scissors
• Dry fitting absolutely everything and mapping it out beforehand takes more time but is the way to go
• Take your time
• Paper towel in the base of the case makes it easy to see if the loop is leaking or not
• Leak testing for 24 hours needs to be factored in to the build and started a reasonable amount of time before you want to go to sleep
• Think about fan placement when attaching the barb clips to the radiator – you could foul the side of the fan if you don’t keep the clamp to the outside/back of the radiator
• Leave slack so you can pull the bay reservoir out to use the fill port – but not too much slack

Value
Alternative LEDs are inexpensive and can really change the appearance of this XSPC kit for pocket change. The standard blue LEDs look great – unless you had a specific theme in mind like we did, they should suffice for most people.

We costed the individual components of the XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 kit and came up with ~AU$230. When you consider that this kit can be purchased for $165, it really is a bargain. If you wanted to expand your cooling later to also cool a graphics card, it’s simply a matter of buying some more tubing (unless you have enough left over), another radiator, more coolant and some barbs to extend the base kit. This is a platform that offers a level of expansion not possible with closed loop solutions.

Coolant is a personal preference and costs between $16 – $20 for ~700ml – 1lt of liquid with a variety of additives and colours on offer.  One bottle should be enough.

Build quality

All of the components were well finished, unblemished and of the highest build quality. The instructions are clear. This kit feels like a premium product and you can see the detail and appreciate the obvious quality control that went into producing the kit. XSPC state in their documentation that all of their kit components are leak tested before being distributed but recommend that you test them thoroughly as a precaution. The CPU water block has a mirror finish and every component we received in our review sample was in pristine condition so we have to give this one a 10/10.

There are a (quite a few) few things that we really liked about this kit in terms of the components and design. Some of this was immediately obvious but some of it only really became apparent when installing the kit.

• Labelling of the flow direction on the reservoir and CPU block
• Integration of LEDs in the CPU block mount and dual bay reservoir
• The 3rd port on the reservoir for a drain line and or temperature sensor
• Fan grills – normally these don’t get used but they did make the unit look ‘finished’ and will keep fingers and cables out. We didn’t get these with our Corsair H100
• Availability of substitute LEDs
• Freedom to choose our coolant and not get a litre of something that was the wrong colour
• Separation of screws, barbs etc was great – the barbs were even wrapped in tissue paper to keep them in mint condition
• Quite possibly the most awesome instructions we have seen in a long time

Noise
The pump noise is a low hum and although you can pick it out if the PC is next to you in a quiet room, it’s constant and we found that it blended into the ambient room noise.

The fans were barely audible at 5v with the PC sitting on the bench next to me. 5v is the best speed to run the XSPC fans at as far as we were concerned – unless you really need the extra 4 degrees of benefit at stock or ~6 degrees when overclocking, running the fans at a full 12v isn’t worth the acoustic penalty.

Conclusion

The XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 kit doesn’t feel like a bunch of components that have been bundled into a box. I really does feel like a well thought out and spec’d up custom cooling platform designed to work as it comes out of the box but with room to expand or tweak as required. You can add a real wow factor to your PC with this set and not be limited in terms of a CPU tower cooler footprint on your motherboard. The slim Noctua coolers will accommodate tall RAM modules but most performance heat sinks will overhang at least the first memory slot.The ability to tailor the look of the final installation without any hardcore modding is also a huge bonus.

This project is up there with my first rig as one of the most satisfying system builds I’ve ever done and whilst I would do a few things slightly differently next time, I was really happy with the result. This was my first time installing a custom water loop and the instructions were perfectly matched to my level of knowledge, making this a very straight forward experience rather than an ordeal.

Final words: Think it through, follow the instructions and take your time – but don’t forget to enjoy the ride.