The Direct block is unusual because it doesn’t use a metal base to contact the top of the CPU. Instead it applies a seal to the CPU and let’s the water directly contact the top of the CPU. This has certain advantages (no thermal resistance of the TIM and block base), but also disadvantages (a lack of surface area). There is some concern about the safety of such a block. However if you are comfortable enough taking apart your CPU block (and putting it back together again) then this is no harder than that. I would advise leaving some extra time for drying in case draining the block does not go well. As always leak test before you power on!
The ports are very widely spaced. Underneath you can see why – the input has to be centered in order to center the cold water on the center of the CPU:
There are no springs on the mount which also leads to a nice clean look. The bosses on under side stop the block from getting too close and crushing the CPU. The details on the base mean that the block can only be mounted the correct way round so that the hole in the 3930K IHS does not get exposed to water.
Results
The DT Direct did not perform well for me. In fact it was so poor that I was convinced something must be wrong. My first idea was that my overclock was too high for the limited surface area. So I then compared the DT Direct at various different power settings by changing my overclock:
As you can see the DT Direct performed poorly regardless of the overclock setting. At this point I am left with various theories: –
1. The CPU I have is now pretty polished (see pic below) and will have less surface area than a “fresh” CPU – this will no doubt hurt performance – the question is how much. I have a 2nd 3930K with only 2 mounts on it that I will run after I’m done with the Indigo Xtreme testing
2. The mount was poor. I only attempted one mount. However the mount was so poor that this might indicate an unreasonable amount of performance variation with mounting tightness.
3. I have a faulty block. I see no evidence from photos to suggest this.
The only alternative is that the Direct block simply does not perform. For now I can not recommend this block. However I will do more testing soon to rule every possibility out.
Polished CPU:
Conclusion
For now I can not recommend the block. Although I would like to investigate further the block may either be a very poor performer or simply very sensitive to things that other blocks are not!
