The Thermal Data
Moving on from the restriction test bench the G2 radiator was loaded into the thermal test chamber for a series of 9 tests – consisting of 3 flow rates, each having 3 different fan rpm rates tested. I felt the thermal test data was most important and which you as the reader would be most interested in.

Below is the final data results gathered from at least 2 data logging runs at each flow rate and fan rpm combination.  The most stable 15 minute period from each logging run was used and then averaged with the other runs to obtain the data for the table below. A total of 16 temperature sensors were used in the thermal test chamber (8 air in, 2 air out, 3 water in, 3 water out) each take a reading every second and logged via a CrystalFontz unit. The data in the table below is the result of the logging runs which has then been used to create all the plots and tables there-after.

The performance metric of critical importance is the delta between the warm coolant temperature in and the cold ambient air temperature in to the radiator. Given that the system is well insulated and in equilibrium and we know the heat input to the system then we can also calculate a very important number – that is the amount of power required to raise the coolant temperature 1C (or 10C which is more useful reference point).

G2 - Thermal Data Table

Like the vast majority of the other radiators tested, the Coolgate G2 cares little about flow rate, particularly above 1.0GPM. Here are some plots to show the variance:

G2 - Delta Bars

For those who love the curves, I have plotted a chart and added a poly-line to extrapolate the data. Note that the extrapolation of the curve is much more sensitive to error than in between the tested range.

G2 - Delta Plot

So the performance is not greatly affected by varying flow rate. However Delta T is not always helpful when thinking about how many radiators you would need to cool your system. Instead it’s more useful to know the delta/W, or more usefully, the inverse metric of W/delta C.

The metric plotted below tells us how many watts are dissipated by the radiator when the coolant rises 10C above ambient temperatures. (10 Delta T):

G2 - W10DT Bars

As expected increasing fan speed and therefore airflow through the radiator is the primary determinant in changing the radiators performance. This data can now be plotted as a pretty curve so that an end user can interpolate their own fan speed. Note again that the extrapolation of the curve is much more sensitive to error than in between the tested range.

G2 - W10DT Curves

This makes it easier to see that at higher fan speeds that a low flow starts to impact the cooling performance. This makes sense if you take it to the extreme and think about a very low flow rate where the coolant is already cooled 99% of the way to ambient with 10% of its journey through the radiator. In this example the radiator is not being efficiently used. 90% of the radiator surface area would then be wasted and you could have used a smaller radiator.

Having said all of this in this next plot all three flow rate results were averaged together to produce one curve. This works well because the radiator was so flow rate insensitive. Averaging reduces test error of course so this helps further to be sure of our data and is more useful therefore for comparing to other radiators.

G2 - Avg'd PP Vs

Now let’s go back to the push data:

G2 - P Vs PP

Here we can see that there is a reasonable difference between Push and Push/Pull.  This is not a surprise given how thick the G2 is but is worth bearing in mind.  This is a radiator that will do better at Push/Pull.

Now let’s analyze that data.

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23 COMMENTS

    • The Coolgate G2 was like that vast majority of the rads, coming clean after my usual hot water flush followed by vigorous shaking method. After the hot water flush, I shake with warm tap water 3 times, then 3 times with distilled. The hot flush dissolves excess water based flux, and the shaking is usually enough to get all the small particles out. If you plan on using Pastel coolant which is much more PH sensitive, then additional measure should be taken, such as Blitz Part 1.

  3. Thank you for this amazing review. I was debating (as I’m a reseller for Koolance), weather or not to purchase the Koolance product or this one. As a result of your thorough testing I’m going to go with the Coolgate CG-360G2. My config will be set up like this:

    25mm Fan/65mm Rad/25mm Fan/65mm Rad/25mm Fan = 205

    Which will just cover the bottom of the width of my Origin Genesis PC Case. Again, thank you for your help. Greatly appreciated !!!

  4. I just ordered these rads from Performance-PCs and just checked the port openings inside of these rads. My question to you is, what do you do when the tubes in these rads are partially or completely blocked with solder? Mind you this happened 3 years ago when I purchased a Magicool Extreme Triple 540x35mm rad. 3 of the 5 rads had major issues in the tube openings that were completely blocked and I had to have (Authorized Officer) Yiming Huang (found here on FB: https://www.facebook.com/yiming.huang.969/photos) ship a replacement rad, but I never received it because the shipping company he used messed up my shipping address and he never replied to my many emails to him to resend another one. 3 years later here I am purchasing 2 x CG-360G2 rads (which fit perfectly in my case) and 1 x CG-240G2 rad and BOTH 360 rads have solder that are either partially or completely blocking the tubes so NO water can flow through those channels. Then I come to find out that Coolgate is run by the SAME company as Magicool and by (guess who)… THE SAME PERSON – Yiming Huang. I guess I’m going to be out of luck getting any kind of help from him. What would you do?

  5. Wow that sounds bad. I just put two 480 versions of these in my TH10A. How do I check for this kind of blockage? I ran distilled through a fish pump with a water filter for about two hours not much junk came out of mine.

    • There is nothing to prevent an actual block in the two and/or channel if it’s been soldered over. I think the only thing that you can do is just take a picture of it as best as you can with a flashlight there is nothing to prevent an actual block in the two and/or channel if it’s been soldered over. I think the only thing that you can do is just take a picture of it as best as you can with a flashlight to highlight the area that’s blocked if you can find it on the inside of the radiator port. I wish there was a way that I can upload some pictures to show you exactly what I’m talking about but there is no option on this website you’re going to have to email me directly and I will send you pictures. My email is:

      punknugget@gmail.com

  6. Sorry, in the beginning of the sentence I meant to say the word “tube” not the word “two.”

  7. The best thing that I can tell you is if you see that kind of blockage inside the radiator port opening I would just take that radiator and show proof to the person who you purchased it from and asked for an exchange for one that does not have any blockage. As that is the process that I’m going through right now with this company.

  8. You”re talking about one of the G1/4 openings is where you see the blockage? I just want to make sure I’m looking in the right place.

  9. Yes that is correct. They are the quarter inch openings that you have to take the and open them up and look inside to see the tubes to make sure that all the tubes are open with no obstructions. Again please email me and I will send you the pictures see you can see exactly what I’m talking about. If it has any welding get obstructing the tube opening then that’s not good. And if I were you I would take that radiator and send it right back to that company and have them exchange it wherever you bought it from. Just to let you guys know Performance PC’s has he sent me to replacement radiators and they thoroughly checked everything! I’m very happy to hear that and I’m glad that they’re giving me stellar service and not trying to charge me extra money for something that they should be doing anyway. For that I’m very happy. We’ll see how they look when they come in and I inspect them.

    • I try and check mine when I get home today. I’ll get back to you. I got mine from PPC too.

  10. Hey guys, sorry to hear you’ve had some problems with these rads. As you recently bought them from PPCs then they should be happy to work with you to RMA them 🙂 FWIW Coolgate also make a lot of the other radiators for other manufacturers so it can be quite hard to ‘escape’ them.

    • Well I have to be honest, I’m not vindictive, but at the same time I can’t stand injustice. Especially when you order something from a company and they are not up front with certain costs to things that really shouldn’t be a cost. I already know who that “supervisor” is at PPC. The great thing is I was dealing with Chris (of the employees at PPC) and he went through the trouble to help me and unfortunately had left early that day and said that he was going to personally handle my order the very next morning. Well that the person after him didn’t know that, nor did that other shipper (B.M. that person’s initials) read my notes to check the Rads before they shipped them and, well… you know the rest of the story.

      I did speak to the manager though (Duke) and he too was very helpful. That “supervisor” could learn a thing or two from his own employees as only a few years ago that “supervisor” was very helpful. I guess over time you can lose your way in wanting to help people, but if that’s the case, then you should leave in charge others that will have yours’ and the customer’s back and THEM deal with those situations (like in my case) so things can get dealt with properly. I have a business too, so I understand the fine line of knowing when to help my customers and drawing that line.

      In my case though, this was very simple. Coolgate (Yiming Huang) is coming out with (what seems to be), some great stuff, but he’s not quality controlling the inventory and that’s going to hurt him in the end as I’m going to NOW look into starting a post on my 10 PC forum sites that will shed more light into calling him to better quality control (as I don’t want this to happen to anyone else). Like with Drew Smith for example, maybe nothing is wrong with his rads, but now he’s got to take things apart to check.

      To be quite honest, that’s not good, especially with something as simple as just checking the inside ports of your rads. That needs to happen at the company level and not from the reseller (like PPC). BUT – PPC should double check the work as well on every rad that is not taped-sealed. Like in the case of Coolgate. All they had to do was just unbox it, pull back the bubble wrap a bit and unscrew the caps and look inside quickly to see if every Tube is completely open and not blocked with solder.

      Anyway I’m ranting and need to do other things, but I will revisit this topic with a more detailed review of my particular situation. But for now I’m STILL waiting (after 3 years) for Yiming to ship me my replacement 540x35mm Rad that I never received and lost time and money on. But that’s another story altogether that I’ll be putting together later on in my future post. Thanks for allowing us to contribute our thoughts here on this forum to protect others from making the possible same mistake. As I know a LOT of people check out this site (like I did), BEFORE they purchase these items. Again, thank you… 🙂

  11. I’m having restriction problems with the loop I just did with the two Coolgate 480’s. I’m only getting about 0.5 GPM with them and one Heatkiller CPU block. I proceeded to hook up a DDC pump I have with an Aquacomputer Flow Meter to just one of the rads and max flow was only 350 L/H 1.5 GPM. Doesn’t that seem really low for just one rad?

  12. Sorry I did not get a chance to see your post their Drew. Did you look inside your radiator to see tubes are blocked? Please let me know, thanks…

    • I’m running Mayhems X-1, and I checked my Heatkiller IV Pro CPU block as well, and that is only getting 240 L/H with just the CPU block in the loop. I think that the restriction is coming from the CPU block now that I researched it further. I don’t see any blockage in the rads. My alphacools UT 60 was only getting 400 L/H so the difference was not that much different than the G2’s. I think my rads are fine to be honest. My temps are really good too. My X99 5930 no overclock yet, but even with FPU test on Aida 64 temps don’t go over 52C, and idle I stay around 30C, with an ambient around 25C. Im going to dismantle the CPU block in next few weeks and check for a possible blockage, to see if I can get better than 130L/H on the whole loop.

  14. Drew,
    If you’re getting 150 – 180 GPH, that (to me) is awesome. I know that the amount of flow is not a factor; especially at that kind of flow rate. Just my thoughts on it and the reviews that I’ve read and watched over the years. This video is pretty interesting. It’s one mans’ opinion, but I think it’s helpful…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghk-kWqUrpE

    Hope you find out what your issue is. Later…

    • Thanks for the link Punkbuster! I seem to of leveled out at 130 L/H and like I said temps are great so I have no complaints. The rads seem to be treating me very good!

  15. Good for you, glad things are working out for you. Like I mentioned before I’m going to do a detailed post on how Tubes should look like inside the rad and what they shouldn’t look like and the two companies that have been notorious for that.

    • Ok sounds good make sure to let me know where to find the link. I’m on overclock.net as well. I’m NewtoCooling on that forum.

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