Phobya HPC 360mm Radiator Review

Thermal Performance

Thermal Performance scores are derived from the relevant Performance Factor scores. We set this scale with 75% and below as the 0 mark, with each 2.5% increase from 75% in relative performance adding 0.5 to the awarded performance score.

Push Only Thermal Performance – 2.5/5

The HPC’s Push Only APF result of 85.5% translated into a thermal performance score of 2.5.

Push/Pull Thermal Performance – 1.5/5

As we have seen in the data the HPC didn’t perform so well in Push/Pull due to its core design marginally favoring Push Only. Its Push/Pull APF result of 82.4 gave a thermal performance score of 1.5.

Overall Thermal Performance – 2/5

The Master Performance score of 83.9 gives a score of 2/5.

In the plot above we can also see the Watercool HTSF2’s results of 88.7. It is apparent that the 1FPI difference has impacted quite significantly on the HPC’s performance compared to the Watercool version.  As such a small difference in FPI seemed unlikely to cause such a performance difference I retested both these radiators again and again until I was finally convinced that the difference was in fact real.

Features & Quality – 3/5

The Phobya G-Changer HPC is visually appealing with the powder coated black enclosure contrasting nicely with the aluminum fins and painted copper tubes. It is constructed from quality materials and is well put together. My only complaint here is the angle at which the ports are set at and this could be improved with better quality control. The fins are perfectly spaced along the round tubes.

The HPC has only 2 ports due to the finned tube design, so we are not offered any dedicated fill/drain ports nor a fill/drain port at the return end. The two ports protrude quite some distance from the housing which somewhat detracts from the otherwise stylish looks.

There are no tube protection plates, thankfully though there are no tubes directly under the mounting holes.

The core of the HPC is biased towards low speed fans, so users should keep that in mind and decide if it is right for their intended set-up.

With a very low FPI count the HPC will need cleaning less often than most of the rads in the test group, and the ability to disassemble the HPC will be appreciated by some of the modders wishing to do custom paint jobs.

The HPC is rather high in it’s restriction level meaning that pump power and overall system flow rates may need to be calculated to see if a single pump will be sufficient for your system.

Summary – 2.5/5

The Phobya HPC is an average performer with low fan speeds when set up in a Push Only configuration, but performs rather poorly compared to the competition in Push Only at medium to high speed fans. In the Push/Pull comparisons the HPC results were in the lower 1/3 of the 25 radiators tested.

The HPC is a well made and good looking radiator but is lacking some of the additional features we like to see.

There are better performance options than the Phobya HPC, so with this one it’s all about the looks and style.

Where to buy: AquaTuning $113 + shipping