HWLabs Nemesis 140 GTS Radiator Review

1. Introduction2. Technical Specifications3. Flow Rate Testing4. Thermal Testing5. Data Analysis6. Summary7. View All

Introduction

Hardware Labs Nemesis 140 GTS Radiator Review

Welcome to another Extreme Rigs review. Today it’s our second outing into 140mm radiator territory.  This time we turn our undivided attention on the the Nemesis 140 GTS. The Nemesis GTS is a stealthy offering from HWLabs and is the thinnest of the 140 rads that we’ll be looking at.  The Nemesis 360 GTS really surprised us in the 360 roundup as it was competitive with larger radiators despite it’s small size.  We were keen then to see how the 140mm version stacked up.

HWLabs have been kind enough to supply review samples for all our radiator reviews so far.  So a big thank you to the crew at HWLabs for their continued support with this Nemesis 140 GTS.

Before we start we would like to say thanks to Noctua for providing the NF-A14 Industrial PPC-2000 IP67 PWM 140mm fans.  We use these fans for all our 140mm based radiator thermal performance testing.

What’s in the Box?

The Nemesis 140 GTS review sample arrived in full retail packaging.  The box features the Nemesis logo and a CGI image of the radiator along with the model number.

On the back of the retail sleeve there is a detailed technical drawing along with a list of features.

Removing the retail sleeve we find a sturdy cardboard box with a factory sealed sticker.

The seal is a reminder to use correct length mounting hardware, which we’ll touch on again a bit later.

I love the HWLabs style of boxing as the compartment at one end keeps the provided accessories away from the core. It would be nice to see a bubble wrap sleeve over the radiator to protect it.  Despite that the Nemesis 140 GTS has great packaging that should ensure safe arrival to the end user.

Under the flap on the right hand side, we found 2 bags with the supplied accessories.

Extent of delivery:

1 x Nemesis 140GTS Radiator
4 x M4 x 28mm screws.
4 x M4 x 5mm screws.

There are four short and four long screws.  These enable mounting a single fan to one side of the radiator using the 28mm screws.  The 5mm short screws enable mounting of the radiator directly to the chassis. This means the radiator can be mounted either as an inlet with the fan pulling, or an outlet with the fan pushing.  In other words the supplied 28mm screws are not long enough to mount a fan between the case and radiator.

If you intend to run a different radiator/fan configuration you will need to provide your own M4 screws of suitable length. M4 x 30 should do the trick in most situations if you are using 25mm thick fans.

Not all 140mm fans are 25mm thick though, such as the new 140mm e-loops.  The e-loops are 29mm thick, so check your fan thickness and order appropriate screws when you order your radiator.

Onwards to technical specifications!

Technical Specifications

Technical specifications: as listed by Hardware Labs.

• 140 mm x 1 fan slim form factor two-pass radiator
• 172mm x 153mm x 29.6mm (L x W x H)
• 16 FPI 25 Micron Copper Fins
• Now optimized for sub-800 rpm ultra-stealth fans
• Supercruise optimizations for scalable performance with higher speed fans
• 15% more tubing area in the same Black Ice® GTS™ 140 form factor
• Increased internal coolant flow rates
• Standard G 1/4″ inlet/outlet fittings
• Standard M4 mounting threads
• Custom Dark Matter™ high quality finish
• Fully ROHS Compliant
• 100% Made from conflict-free materials
• Industry standard Black Ice® quality

Thanks to HWLabs we have a technical drawing of the Nemesis 140 GTS.

Dimensions Measured on the Radiator Tested:

The + 1 on the thickness is the amount that the ports sit proud of the casing.  Measured at the ports, the Nemesis 140 GTS sample was 30.5mm thick.

Radiator Core Dimensions:

The core is a single row of 16 tubes arranged in the standard U-Flow configuration. The fin arrangement is split, non louvered fins with a 17 FPI count on the review sample (HWL specs are 16). The high fin count on it’s thin core should equate to some great push only thermal results.

The following picture shows a typical “U-Flow” coolant flow path.  The coolant travels up all the tubes on one side (left side) of the radiator and then returns down the other side. “U-Flow” is easily recognized when the port end has two separate tanks. The Nemesis 140 GTS does not have separate end tanks

The split non louvered fins are evenly spaced for a dense core structure and our sample measured in at 17 FPI.

Please Note: alternate lighting was needed to get a decent picture of the fins.  This distorts the color of the finish and it is not a true representation of the “almost” black shade of the “Black Carbon” paint finish.

Finish and Features

HWLabs calls the finish “Black Carbon”, which is an accurate description. The finish on our sample of the Nemesis 140 GTS could almost be described Matte Black.  However it is more like an extremely deep charcoal grey. It has a subtle yet stylish look which should work in great with almost any build’s theme. The Black Carbon finish of our sample we believe is for the European market.  In the US, HWLabs’ offers the textured “Dark Matter” finish.

PerformancePCs also have a “primer only” version available of the Nemesis 140 GTS.  To assist in the perfect paint job they sell the “HWLabs Professional Radiator Paint Hanger Assembly”.

Additionally, PPCs also have listed red and white versions of the Nemesis 140 GTS.  We assume these are the primer units which have had finishing coats applied by the PPCs team.

The Nemesis 140 GTS comes equipped with just the 2 x G1/4 ports, either of which can be used for inlet or outlet.

No alternate ports are fitted.
Extra ports offer installation flexibility and the option to install coolant temp sensors or a drainage valve without having to use a T or splitter fitting. Maybe in the next revision we will see additional ports fitted.  Though that may means offsetting the ports because of limitations caused by the thickness.  We would love a stealth multi-port radiator!

On the return end tank there is no auxiliary port fitted.  This is unfortunately something which is missing on all HWLabs radiators.

The auxiliary ports often come in handy as a drain or fill port option on vertical radiator installations.  Again it is on our wish list for a future revision.
Care has been taken during painting to ensure paint did not get into either of the G ¼ ports.

There are screw protection plates fitted on the Nemesis 140 GTS – however they are difficult to photograph!

The fan screw holes are not located directly over any tubes.  The plates are not required then, but it’s great that HWLabs chose to fit the plates anyway.

The Nemesis 140 GTS looks great when paired up with some black fittings…

It looks even better with a sexy looking fan such as the new eLoop B14-PS 140mm  from Black Noise’s NoiseBlocker range.

So here we have a ~30mm thick 140mm radiator with a reasonably high fin count which has no alternate port options. The build quality is great, and a variety of finishes are available.

 

Let’s see how it performs…

Flow Rate Testing

The Data

All the testing was performed with the exact same equipment as the 360mm radiator roundup.  The only exception is the use of the 140mm Noctua Industrial fans replace the 120mm GT fans.  We used the exact same methods as in the 360mm round-up.  To see exactly how the tests were carried out, details of the test set ups and equipment used, please head over to the RRU Test Setup page.

Restriction Test

It’s generally agreed that radiators are some of the least restrictive components in the water cooling loop. There are some exceptions, so this must still be verified through testing:

The above photo of the restriction test bench is for reference. The Nemesis 140 GTS is not loaded so please disregard any data from the picture.

Here is the raw data at the tested flow rates.  Flow rate was increased and the differential pressure was measured:
The table numbers show that this Nemesis 140 GTS is quite a restrictive radiator. However numbers in isolation can only tell half the story. By plotting against other components it more easily shows the whole story.

We have decided to use a HeatKiller 3.0 CPU block as the reference in this next plot for two reasons. Firstly there is no chance of the plot being cluttered by curves overlapping. Secondly it gives a reference point against a common loop component of average restriction.

We have limited the maximum flow rate displayed to 2.0 GPM as we suspect there are few systems that operate above 2.0 GPM. For more information on how to read a restriction plot check out our guide.

This plot indicates the Nemesis 140 GTS is a relatively low restriction loop component. What about compared to other radiators?

The next three plots show the restriction level at three different flow rates compared to the other 140mm radiators tested. We consider the chosen GPM rates to represent systems which have low, medium and high flow rates.

These 3 plots show us that the Nemesis 140 GTS is actually a restrictive radiator when compared to some other 140mm models. The restriction is partly due to the small tube size used which we measure at 1.3mm.  Yet we can’t help but wonder if the cut-away sections on the return end tank might be contributing to the restriction level.

Lets now take a look at where the Nemesis 140 GTS fits in relation to all the radiators we have tested. For this plot, only results for 1.0 GPM have been used for the comparison.

When put into context with all the radiators, we rate the Nemesis 140 GTS as a radiator with a high restriction level.

Onwards to Thermal Performance!

Thermal Testing

The Thermal Data

A total of 6 tests were conducted at 1.0 GPM with fan speeds of 750 rpm, 1300 rpm and 1850 rpm being run in Push Only and Push/Pull. All inclusive this testing takes between 40 – 50 hours of logging time (plus processing the data) to get the results that are presented.

Below is the final data results gathered from at least 5 data logging runs at the 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 sensor takes a reading every second and is logged via a CrystalFontz unit.

The data in the table below is the averaged results 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 going 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 number is the amount of power required to raise the coolant temperature by set amount.  That amount is typically 1C or 10C.  The latter is a more useful reference point.

Let’s take a look at the Delta T results from the tests. Note that the extrapolation of the curve is much more sensitive to error than in the tested range.

I was not too concerned about the actual delta numbers but instead the trend pattern.  As we should expect, the deltas come down significantly as the fan speed is increased.

Delta T results (as above) are not always helpful when thinking about how many radiators you would need to cool your system. Instead it’s more useful to know the metric of W/delta C. This metric is plotted below.  It tells us how many watts are dissipated by the radiator when the coolant rises 10C above ambient temperatures. (W/10 Delta T):

We don’t see a lot of performance increase by adding the second fan (push/pull) because the core is so thin that a push only fan is already effective.

This same data can now be plotted on a chart 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 the tested range.

As we just saw, a push only fan installation is quite efficient on this radiator. However because the core has a reasonably high fin count there is a decent boost from adding the second fan. At each fan speed adding a second fan (Push/Pull) yielded an average performance increase of ~15%.

 

Now let’s analyze that data some more…

Data Analysis

This first table shows the HWLabs Nemesis 140 GTS’ Watts/10 Delta Temp results with our flow rate of 1.0 GPM.

Using this data we can effectively show percentage gains/losses relative to a reference point. It’s an interesting way to show gains/losses while changing a variable.

So, let’s focus on 1300 RPM as our reference and see how much gain or loss in performance we get by changing fan speed.

In push only we see a larger percentage drop from 1300 rpm to 750 rpm.  This indicates that at 750 rpm the fan might not yet move enough air through the dense (yet thin) core to be efficient.

So from the data above we have a good idea of how the Nemesis 140 GTS radiator performs relative to itself.  But there is a large selection of 140mm radiator models to choose from.

We have some other 140mm radiators with thermal testing completed.  So let’s put the Nemesis 140 GTS’ results into some comparison charts.  The Nemesis 140 GTS is a thin radiator and is able to fit into small spaces.   Push Only is the most likely installation scenario for the radiator.

Before we delve in it must be said that this is the only slim 140mm radiator of the test group.  Therefore we should not expect it’s results to be on par with results achieved by the thicker radiators tested here. Most of these competitors are twice as thick as the Nemesis 140 GTS.

Push Only Data vs Competition

Let’s focus on the Push Only results for now and come back to the Push/Pull data later.

Starting with 750 RPM let’s see how the Nemesis 140 GTS performs comparatively.

Results are always close at this data point, but here we see a clear winner.  Of special interest is the Nemesis 140 GTS out performing it’s thicker sibling. Finishing just ~8% behind the wining rad which is 100% thicker is a great result for the Nemesis 140 GTS.

Now let’s look at 1300 rpm:

At 1300 rpm Push Only the Nemesis GTX which placed last at 750 rpm shoots out to take the lead. There is something about the Nemesis GTX rads where they perform poorly at low rpm at Push Only. The Nemesis 140 GTS finished ~13% behind the leader.  The leader is again twice as thick and is ~33% more expensive than the GTS.

At 1850 rpm the Nemesis 140 GTS falls further behind the competition.  Again given it’s size this is no surprise. It’s bigger stable mate, the Nemesis GTX, is dominating here.  But the performance variation of the other three radiators is quite close.  On average the Nemesis 140 GTS is only ~10% behind these three radiators.

The push only comparison results for the Nemesis 140 GTS were excellent given it’s size. We don’t expect it to be as competitive in push/pull because the thicker rads should benefit much more from the the second fan.

Push/Pull Data vs. Competition

Let’s now look at the Push/Pull results and see how the Nemesis 140 GTS compares.

Again the 750 rpm first:

The Nemesis 140 GTS 140 turns out a respectable result and isn’t too far from the thicker competition.  It takes 5th place ~8% behind the winning rad.

Let’s move to 1300 rpm:

At 1300 rpm Push/Pull the Nemesis 140 GTS performance increase seems to have plateaued.  Yet it is still just ~9% behind the 3 radiators above it.

Now 1850RPM:

At 1850 rpm Push/Pull the Nemesis 140 GTS has fallen further behind the leader.  But it reigns in some of the gap between it and two of the radiators in front of it.

Let’s now combine the Push Only and Push/Pull results of our 1.0 GPM flow rate tests. Sometimes these combined plots show up some points of interest.

Again the 750 rpm first:

As noted earlier the GTS beats out the GTX in Push Only at 750 rpm.

However, at 1300 rpm the GTX in Push Only Beats out the GTS in Push/Pull.

At 1850, there are no surprises given what we have already reviewed.

Here is one last alternate view of the data before we move onto the summary.  This time the data is plotted as extrapolated curves.

Push Only first up:

This plot perhaps best shows just how close the results are, particularly at the low fan speeds.

In the push/pull setup we see a bit more separation occurring.  As the fan speeds are increased the different core designs show their strengths and weaknesses.

From all the test results we created “Average Performance Factor” charts for both Push and Push/Pull.  We then made a combined plot of the average called the “Master Performance Factor”. The radiator with the best cooling ability (W/10ΔT) at each rpm was awarded a score of 100.  Each other radiators W/10ΔT result was scored as percentage of the top performer.

This way of looking at the comparison takes away any advantages that a radiator may have at higher or lower fan speeds and looks at an overall average. While this appears fair it does tend to favor those radiators that are all-rounders and those radiators which do very well at high RPM. Most users should be more focused on their specific use case.

Here are the Nemesis 140 GTS percentage scores at each data point:

This can give a false impression that the Nemesis 140 GTS performed poorly as the air flow was increased.  Instead it is probably more accurate to say that another radiator’s performance improved as the air flow increased.

The percentage numbers in the table offer another way of looking at the Nemesis 140 GTS’s results.  But for our scoring system we need a way to reduce the categories while retaining the data. To do this we average the results for each fan assembly type giving us Averaged Performance Factors.  We calculate this for push only, push/pull and finally an average of everything.

Firstly – the Push Only APF:

The Nemesis 140 GTS’ Push Only APF score of 87.4 was ~10% behind the 2 leaders and ~5% behind the equal 3rd place rads. We believe this to be an excellent result as 3 of the 4 other rads are twice as thick as the GTS.

Now the Push/Pull APF:

The Nemesis 140 GTS was never expected to be truly competitive in the Push/Pull thermal performance category. The thinner core just does not have the cooling potential of the competition.

Finally we created the Master Performance Factor which is calculated from the averaged results of all the tests:Overall the Nemesis 140 GTS placed last in our thermal tests. However this was not a “fair” comparison and so it’s wise to delve a bit deeper to get the details instead of just reading the headlines. In otherwords this was actually a great result for such a slim radiator.

Next up – Summary!

Summary

Thermal Performance

Thermal Performance scores are derived from the relevant Performance Factor scores. We set this scale with 72.5% and below as the 0 mark, with each 2.5% increase in relative performance adding 0.5 to the awarded performance score.

Push Only Thermal Performance

•  2.5/5
  

The Nemesis 140 GTS’ Push Only APF result of 87.4% translated into a thermal performance score of 2.5/5. It’s thin core core produced good results at all fan speeds in Push Only but it’s high 17 FPI count meant it was not quite as efficient at low rpms. It was the weakest performer of the test group but it was also the thinnest.  So do not be put off by the ranking if you are considering this radiator, particularly if you are in the market for a slim 140mm radiator.

Push/Pull Thermal Performance

• 2/5
  

The Push/Pull Performance results were dominated by the Nemesis 140 GTX which is the GTS’ bigger brother. Taking into consideration the thickness of the competition the GTS still had a good score.  Besides we feel that a push/pull set up is not best suited for the Nemesis 140 GTS, or any other slim radiator.

Overall Thermal Performance

• 3/5
  

The Master Performance score of 85.6 generates a respectable overall performance score of 3/5.  This is a good result given how dominant the winning radiator was. The competition tested here had much more cooling potential because of the extra thickness of their cores.

Features & Quality – 4/5

Like all HWLabs radiators, the Nemesis 140 GTS has excellent packaging, but is lacking bubble wrap protection that we wish they had. Screws are provided for installation and mounting of a single 25mm thick fan in certain scenarios. The screw lengths do restrict the installation options without the end user purchasing additional screws.

The build quality of the Nemesis 140 GTS is excellent as is the Black Carbon finish of the review sample. There are only two primary ports and there is no auxillary bleeder/fill port fitted. Tube protection plates are included to protect the core, which on our sample had a reasonably high 17 FPI.  Given this, some dedicated cleaning time should be set aside to keep performance at peak levels. The GTS has a high restriction level for a small radiator.  Consideration of pump power and expected flow rate is advised.  This is especially true if considering using multiple Nemesis GTS series radiators in a loop.

Summary – Silver Award 3.5/5

The Nemesis 140 GTS proved to be a good all round thermal performer although we believe it is best suited for a Push Only fan installation. It was most efficient in Push Only at 1300 RPM. The build quality is excellent, as was the Black Carbon finish on the review sample. It has just the one set of ports and there is no auxiliary port fitted.

At just 30mm thick the Nemesis 140 GTS can be defined as a slim or “stealth” radiator”. The slimness is perhaps the most important feature of this radiator as it can fit into places where the competition cannot.  This makes it particularly useful for auxiliary cooling capacity such as a floor mounted intake or as the primary cooler in a low power SFF build.

So while the comparative thermal performance results may be weak (in a somewhat unfair comparison) and it lacks some features of other radiators tested, we would still highly recommend the Nemesis 140 GTS.

Where to buy:

Performance PCs:
Nemesis 140GTS (Dark Matter) – $40 + Shipping from USA.
Nemesis 140GTS (Primer) – $40 + Shipping from USA.
Nemesis 140GTS (White) – $45 + Shipping from USA.
Nemesis 140GTS (Red) – $45 + Shipping from USA.

Watercooling UK
Nemesis 140GTS (Black Carbon) – £25.77 ex VAT + Shipping from UK