Hardware Labs Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow Radiator Review

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

Introduction

Hardware Labs Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow Radiator Review

Welcome to another Extreme Rigs 280mm radiator review. Today we’ll be looking at the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow from Hardware Labs. It is one of two, 280 slim models available in the HWLabs’ Black Ice^® Nemesis^® range.

Last week we published our review of the Nemesis 280 GTS which is the other slim 280mm offering from HWLabs, so be sure to check it out for our in depth appraisal.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow measures in at just 30mm thick and is therefore well suited for small form factor builds where space is at a premium or for larger builds where extra radiator area is required, but room for a bigger/thicker radiator may not be available.

BUT, the main attraction of the X-Flow version is of course that the G 1/4 port locations are on opposite ends of the radiator. This can greatly assist in cleaner tubing runs whether on a vertical or horizontal installation.

In this review of the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow we’ll take a close look at it’s construction & quality, analyze the performance data by comparing it’s results against other 280mm radiators and then conclude with a summary.

As we reviewed the Nemesis 360 GTS X-Flow last year, we may make a comparison or two between the 280 and 360 variants. The 280mm version only has ~10% less surface than the 360, so there may be some interesting data which we can highlight.

Firstly a big thanks to Hardware Labs for providing the review sample of the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow. Since we commenced our radiator testing, their commitment to our independent tests has been exemplary. Extreme Rigs couldn’t publish the reviews we do without the continued support offered by our sponsors, so a big thanks to all the crew at Hardware Labs.

Before we start we would again 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 because they have great static pressure which is required to get the best performance from even densest of radiator cores and of course, their proven reliability.

What’s in the Box?

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow sample arrived in full retail packaging. The front features an image of the radiator and Nemesis logo, along with the model number in large bold lettering.

On the back is a technical drawing along with a list of features.

After removing the outer retail sleeve we find a sturdy cardboard box with a Black Ice^® seal.
The seal advises to check screw length if using screws other than those provided, which we’ll discuss in more detail shortly.

Opening the box, we see the familiar packing layout which HWLabs use for all their radiators. The packaging is strong and secure, but it we feel it lacks a bubble wrap sleeve to avoid possible scuffing/scratches on the paint during transport.

On the right hand side the supplied accessories are placed under a lift up flap.

The accessories consist of the following:

8 x M4 x 28mm Phillips Head screws.
8 x M4 x 5mm Phillips Head screws.

The shorter screws measure in at ~5mm and have 2 possible uses. Firstly is for directly mounting the radiator to a case panel. Alternately they could be used to attach mounting brackets for reservoirs or pumps.

The longer screws measure 28mm and are the perfect length for mounting a 25mm thick fan directly to the radiator. However, in most instances they are not long enough to mount a fan between radiator and case panel. If using a mounting bracket, or placing fans between the case panel and radiator, you will probably need to provide your own M4 screws of suitable length. In most instances M4 x 30mm screws will be suitable.

Be warned though, with ONLY a 25mm thick fan, 30mm length screws are too long and the supplied 28mm screws must be used.

 

Onwards to technical specifications!

Technical Specifications

Technical Specifications as listed by HWLabs:

• “140 mm x 1 fan slim form factor one-pass radiator – Pretty sure that is meant to be “140mm x 2 fan”
  
• 326mm 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^™ 280 XFLOW 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
• Lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects^*“

Dimensions Measured on the Radiator Tested:

The X-Flow is ~15mm longer than the NON X-Flow version of the Nemesis 280 GTS. The port locations at each end do make it slightly longer than most dual pass radiators with “traditional” port placements. Therefore it is advisable to check that the extra length can be accommodated in your build before committing to purchase.

Radiator Core Dimensions:

The 19 mm thick core is made up of a single layer of 16 tubes arranged in an end to end (single pass) configuration. The fin arrangement consists of split, non louvered fins with a 16 FPI count. The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow looks to be a really well balance core package for a radiator of this thickness and appears to be exactly the same core as we saw on the NON X-Flow variant.

The difference with the X-Flow is it’s flow path. Coolant enters at one end of the radiator, and is split to travel down the 16 tubes (single pass), before exiting the port at the other end. This greatly reduces the restriction level of the radiator which was our main concern with the regular version of the Nemesis 280 GTS.

The split, louvered fins are spaced quite evenly between the tubes and our sample had a fin count of 14 – 17 FPI.

 

Finish and Features

The matte black finish on the review sample was perfect. Hardware Labs has earned it’s reputation as the benchmark for PC radiators because of their excellent build quality, superb finishes, and top tier performance. The finish on latest generation of Nemesis radiators lives up to HWLabs own very high standards. All visible joints are well done, port locations are well placed and fan mounting holes are position correctly.

Screw protection plates are fitted under each fan attachment hole on the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow.

Fitting of protection plates is always great, even though on the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow the mounting holes are not located directly above any tubes.

A standard 15mm spacing is used between the center fan attachment holes..

Fan spacing across and length ways was near perfect, measuring 124.5mm – 125.0mm

Speaking of fans, let’s take a look at the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow with a few different fans attached.

For the 29mm thick 140mm e-Loop fans, 32mm length screws are ideal and you will almost certainly need to cut these to length as 30mm is too short and 35mm is too long.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is fitted with just 2 x G 1/4 ports and as the name implies, are located on opposite ends of the radiator. Normally here I might complain a little about a radiator having only 2 ports fitted, but for the X-Flow I guess it can be somewhat forgiven.

It would be nice to see a port on the opposite side of at least one of the tanks to allow for easy filling and bleeding when in a roof mounted installation.
IF opposite ports were fitted on both sides of the tanks even more tube routing options would open up. Fingers crossed for the next revision.

Care has been taken to avoid paint getting onto the threads of the ports. It’s small details like this which can mean carefree integration into your loop, or unnecessary maintenance issues.

The angled tanks should make for very easy bleeding of air from the radiator when in a vertical installation.

Having the fan mounting holes offset back from the tanks slightly means even the largest of fittings can be used on the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow.
Here Bitspower’s jumbo sized 1/2″ x 3/4″ compression fittings are installed with plenty of room (a couple of mm) to spare.

So we have a slim (30mm thick) X-Flow radiator with a medium density core. Two G 1/4 ports are fitted to angled end tanks and screw protection plates are installed. The paint finish on the matte black sample was excellent as was the overall build quality.

All very good so far!

Let’s see how it performs…

Flow Rate Testing

The Data

As all the testing was performed with the exact same equipment (except the 140mm Noctua Industrial fans replace the 120mm GT fans), using the exact same methods as was used in the 360mm round-up we have decided to keep this review uncluttered by keeping our testing methodology, test set-ups and equipment used in a single location. 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 is generally agreed that radiators are one of, if not the least restrictive components in the water cooling loop. There are some exceptions however, so this must still be verified through testing:

The above photo is for referencing the restriction test bench The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is not loaded so please disregard the data in the picture as it does not relate to the its test results.

Here is the raw data at the tested flow rates, displaying the measured Differential Pressure across the radiator as flow rate was increased.
The table numbers indicate that the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is not a radiator with a high restriction level. However numbers in isolation can only tell half the story. By plotting against other components it more easily shows the whole story.

We use a HeatKiller 3.0 CPU block as the reference in this next plot for two reasons. Firstly there is little chance of the plot being cluttered by curves overlapping and secondly it gives a reference point against a fairly common loop component of average restriction.

As with all previous radiator restriction plots, we have limited the maximum flow rate displayed to 2.0 GPM as we suspect there are very 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 280 GTS X-Flow is a low restriction loop component when compared to a CPU block of average restriction, but what about other radiators?

The next three plots show the restriction level at three different flow rates compared to the other 280mm radiator that have been tested. We consider the chosen GPM rates to represent systems which have low, medium and high flow rates.

Here the the difference in restriction between the X-Flow and NON X-Flow versions really stands out. The effect on a system’s flow rate could be significantly impacted by the regular 280 GTS, while the X-Flow looks to be of average restriction for a radiator.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow has a medium restriction level compared to other 280 radiators which were tested.

A zoomed in plot showing a flow rate zone where most systems are likely to be operating at.

Let’s now take a look at where the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow 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 at 1.0 gpm, the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow fits into our criteria as a medium restriction radiator. The regular 280 GTS on the other hand was very restrictive.

The following plot which shows restriction levels at 1.0 gpm for many current model radiators from Hardware Labs including the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow. (0.22 PSI)

Next up 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 are 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 cool ambient air temperature going into 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 as the fan speed is increased. The less significant temperature drop from 1300 to 1850 rpm indicates the bulk of the radiators performance potential can be achieved with low and medium fan speeds.

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):

The average difference between Push Only and Push/Pull results at the same fan speed was ~15%, and ranged from ~19% at 750 rpm to 12% at 1850 rpm. A 15% average variance is very consistent with most radiators in the test group. However, while not seeming much, the 7% spread was one of the largest of the test groups and indicates that we may see some bias towards better performance with either a Push Only or Push/Pull fan assembly.

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 between the tested range.

Interesting! The Push/Pull fan assembly seems to run out of puff (if the extrapolation is even roughly accurate) with very high fans speeds, while Push Only still has a little performance left to offer.

 

Now let’s analyze that data some more…

Data Analysis

This first table shows the Watts/10 Delta Temp numbers for the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow in a quick glance chart format.

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.

So from the data above we’re getting a good idea of how the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow radiator performs relative to itself. But there is a large selection of 280mm radiator models to choose from, so let’s put it’s results into some comparison charts.

Push Only Data vs Competition

In general, thicker radiator perform better than thinner radiators of the same size (fan capacity) but a lot also has to do with how each core has been designed / tuned; number of tubes, thickness of tubes, fin array etc.
If it were thickness alone we should expect the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow to always be near the bottom and our testing would be totally unnecessary.

Focusing on the Push Only results for now, let’s see how the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow performed compared to the competition.

Let’s start with 750 RPM.

Amazing!! Clearly this is an awesome result for the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow. Finishing in second place and just ~1% behind the winner. It was the best performing slim radiator, just ahead of the regular 280 GTS and beating other radiators that are twice as thick (and more).

Now let’s look at 1300 rpm:

At Push Only 1300 RPM the group settles roughly into order of thickness. The 2 Nemesis GTS models have virtually identical results and are ~7% ahead of the other slim in the group.

 

Now 1850 rpm Push Only:

At 1850 rpm the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow stays in a similar ranking, 3rd from last and ~15% behind it’s dominant stable mate, the Nemesis GTX which is 25mm (or + 83%) thicker.

 

Push/Pull Data vs. Competition

Firstly the 750 rpm:

At 750 rpm P/P the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is at the top end of the comparison chart. Finishing in 2nd place and just 1.25% behind the winner, it is obvious this radiator has it’s best comparison results with low speed fans.

Let’s move to 1300 rpm:

Here we see very similar ranking to which we saw at Push Only 1300. In Push/Pull the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow and it’s sibling NON X-Flow variant have performed almost identically and are clear of the other slim radiator by ~9%.

Now 1850 rpm:

At 1850 rpm Push/Pull the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is the second best performing of the slim radiators in the group. It can’t match the performance of the thicker radiators and is ~3% behind the regular 280 GTS.

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 points of interest, though they can get a little busy and perhaps confusing if you’re not used to them.

750 rpm first:

This is a great plot for the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow showing it placed 2nd in both Push Only and Push/Pull.

At 1300 rpm everything looks in order given the data we have already reviewed..

At 1850 the Push Only result of the Nemesis 280 GTS is only 4.5% behind the Push/Pull result of the ST30 which is also a 30mm thick radiator. Interesting!

On the other side of the coin, if you know you are going to use high fan speeds it may be wise to further investigate the Nemesis 280 GTX (our review to be published soon) which has better Push Only performance than the GTS X-Flow has in Push/Pull

Another view of the same data, this time plotted as curves and some extrapolation added.
Be warned these plots can be hard to read given that many results are similar at the same data points.

Again the Push Only data first:

This perhaps best shows just how close the results are, particularly with low speed fans.

Because the data curves in the plot above are almost blurred into one another, we have split it into two separate plots; 750 rpm to 1300 rpm and 1300 rpm to 1850rpm and zoomed in on those fan speed zones.

While not totally clear, this plot shows the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is among the best performing radiators in this fan speed zone for Push Only.
In the following plot with increased fan speeds we see the thicker cored radiators outperform the thinner GTS X-Flow.

Now the Push/Pull results are plotted, again followed by split and zoomed versions.

Nemesis 280 GTS vs. Nemesis 360 GTS

Before moving on let’s take a quick look at the thermal results for the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow and Nemesis 360 GTS X-Flow on the same plot. This is one of those “just for fun” plots because in reality we can’t make a 1 to 1 comparison between the two sizes because of the differing performance of the fans used.
In other 280mm radiator reviews we made the same 280 vs. 360 comparison and saw an interesting and similar pattern start to repeat.

With the GTS- X-Flow that is not the case and we see unusual and unexplained data variations between the two sizes.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow has ~10% less surface area than the Nemesis 360 GTS X-Flow. Knowing that and the difference in fans used to test the 280 and 360 radiators, interpret the following as you will.

Push Only 750 rpm: 280 GTS X-Flow was ~4% better.
Push/Pull 750 rpm: Equal Performance.

Push Only 1300 rpm: 360 GTS X-Flow was ~5% better.
Push/Pull 1300 rpm: Equal Performance.

Push Only 1850 rpm: 360 GTS X-Flow was ~9% better.
Push/Pull 1850 rpm: 360 GTS X-Flow was ~2% better.

Meaning the 360 GTS had ~3.5% better performance in Push Only
BUT
was only 1% ahead in the Push/Pull comparison.

The overall average of ~2.2% was in favor of the Nemesis 360 GTS, which has a ~10% greater surface area.

The following plot best shows the above data. Again the fan difference makes these comparisons not truly accurate, but it is interesting.  Some other radiators followed the 10% area delta with a 10% performance delta.  This hasn’t happened with this radiator however.

For every radiator tested we create APF “Average Performance Factor” charts from both the Push Only and Push/Pull results. We also make a combined plot of the average called the “Master Performance Factor”. The radiator with the best cooling ability (W/10ΔT) at each rpm is awarded a score of 100 and every other radiator’s W/10ΔT result is 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 280 GTS X-Flow’s percentage scores at each data point:

This table shows us that the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is on average ~10% behind the best performing radiator at each data point that was tested, but range from ~1% to over 20%. The results “appear” to get worse with increased fan speeds, but that does not mean that the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow’s performance got worse, more so that the best radiator got better as the fan speeds increased.

As these percentage scores are relative to the best performer at each data point, we again advise readers to cross reference specifications and results for each radiator and keep in mind your intended fan assembly and operating speed.

The percentage numbers in the table above offer another way of looking at the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow’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:

With an 91.8 % Averaged Push Only result the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow places equal 5th (after test error margin is factored in) with a radiator which is + 50% thicker than it. This is an excellent data set for the 280 GTS X-Flow.

Now the Push/Pull APF:

In Push/Pull APF rankings the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow places equal 6th with it’s sibling NON X-Flow variant and a 45mm thick radiator. Any weak points were somewhat magnified by the 100% score on the Nemesis 280 GTX. All in all the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow performed very well here given it’s thickness and was in equal 1st place for the slim radiators of the group.

Finally we created the Master Performance Factor which is calculated from the averaged results of all the Push Only and Push/Pull thermal tests, at all fan speeds.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow placed equal 6th overall, ~ 8.5% behind the winning radiator. Of more relevance is that it came in as the equal top performing slim radiator.

Space Efficiency

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow’s space efficiency vs. performance ranking is likely to be very good as thinner radiators almost always produce better results here than their thicker counterparts. We have used the Average Performance Factor results from the charts above to compile two plots which shows us how it compares to the other rads in terms of performance Vs. space taken.

First up is Radiator Thickness Vs. APF

Here the combined APF scores were divided by the radiator thickness only, with the highest (most space efficient) issued a score of 100. Each of the other radiators results was converted to a percentage of the most space efficient radiator’s score.

Lets call this an equal 1st place. The order has ended almost in order of thinnest to thickest and as anticipated the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow ranked highly in this comparison.

Next we took the APF results for Push/Pull and divided it by the total thickness including the fans and applied the same scoring system. For the Push Only we used the Push Only Vs Push/Pull comparative results and applied the same scoring system when compared against the Push/Pull.

This plot is likely the most useful of the 2 plots for readers looking at space efficiency. With fan thickness factored in the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow finishes in equal 1st place for both Push Only and Push/Pull.

Value Factor

While our APF’s are still fresh in mind, let’s now look at some results vs Price to show which of the 280mm radiators might offer the best bang for your buck. Each radiator’s combined APF scores were divided by the radiator cost and again we applied our scoring system of percentage Vs. the best performer of the category.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow Value Factor turns out to be the 2nd best of the group, which tells us that it offers excellent value for the performance potential it offers. In reality the difference is not great, but when visualizing with percentages as we have done, the gap appears large. This is quite evident here because we know the 2 GTS models had very similar performance at every data point and the X-Flow is just $3 more expensive, yet we see nearly a 5% variance between Value Factor scores.

Generally speaking, value and space efficiency metrics usually correlate – thicker radiators do contain more material after-all and so are usually also more expensive.

 

Next Up – Summary!

Summary

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 in relative performance adding 0.5 to the awarded performance score.

Note: Our test group of 10 radiators range in thickness from 29.5mm to 84.5mm with core density ranging from 9 FPI to 21 FPI. This greatly differing array of samples means that the better performing thicker radiators (generally speaking) will actually make the thinner radiators scores appear worse. This is an unavoidable side effect of the scoring system and we again advise readers to focus on radiators which are suitable for the specific case scenario. Depending on the amount of variance in the results, this could end up with misleading scores based on the comparative performance.

Push Only Thermal Performance

• 3.5/5
  

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow’s Push Only APF result of 91.8 translated into a performance score of 3.5/5.
It’s 19mm thick core combined with the medium density FPI fin array proved to be a great combination for Push Only. It was a great all rounder finishing in equal 5th overall and equal 1st among the slim radiators.

Push/Pull Thermal Performance

• 3/5
  

The Push/Pull APF result of 87.9 translated into a thermal performance score of 3 out of 5. As expected the thicker rads pulled away in the performance comparisons. However among the slims the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow was at the top taking equal 1st place.

Overall Thermal Performance

• 3/5
  

The Master Performance score of 89.9 generates an overall performance score of 3/5, painfully close to achieving a 3.5. It was ~8.5% behind the overall winner but came in equal 1st among the slim radiators. Again the Nemesis GTX pushed many other radiator’s scores lower having an APF result of 98.2.

Performance is not the be all and end all factor in making a purchase decision, though for many it is high on the selection criteria.

Because of it’s thinness the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow ranked very well in our Thermal Performance Vs. Space Efficiency metric and the Value Vs. Performance in which it came 1st and 2nd place respectfully.

 

Features & Quality – 4.5/5

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow has Hardware Labs legendary Black Ice^® DNA built in. The build quality is excellent and the matte black finish is flawless. It is quality products like this that that has earned Hardware Labs the reputation of setting the standard for PC radiators.

The 30mm thickness is one of the main physical characteristics of the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow and offers fantastic performance for builders putting together small form factor builds or those wanting to add extra cooling capacity to larger builds but are limited on mounting options.

BUT it is the X-Flow ports which really make this radiator stand out. In most systems X-Flow ports can effectively be used to create much cleaner tubing runs and use less tubing. In both vertical installations (at front) OR horizontally mounted at the top or bottom of the case X-Flow ports could be of benefit to many users.

However, there are only two G 1/4 ports and there is no auxiliary bleeder/fill port fitted. Tube protection plates are included to protect the medium dense 16 FPI core. Given this some dedicated cleaning time should be set aside to keep performance at peak levels. The single pass nature of the X-Flow design resulted in medium restriction levels, meaning multiple GTS X-Flow radiators could be used without having to be too concerned about their impact on the system flow rate.

Summary – 4.0/5

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow proved to be a very good all round performer and was equal best of the slim radiators in 4 of the 6 thermal tests.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow is extremely hard to over look as the best option for low speed fans in the 280mm radiator test group. It ranked second with both Push Only and Push/Pull fans, beating out many radiators which are twice as thick.

The cross flow port locations may not be suitable for every build, and the design dictates that it’s slightly longer than the regular 280 GTS, but if your case (or available space) is limited so that only slim radiators can be used we highly recommend the Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow.

While both Nemesis 280 GTS variants we tested are virtually equal in thermal performance, we favor the X-Flow version because it is much less restrictive due to it being a single pass radiator.

The Nemesis 280 GTS X-Flow looks great, has best in class performance and is great value for money. For these reasons it is being awarded with the rarely issued ER Gold Award.

 

Where to buy:

 

 

 

• Performance PCs : NEMESIS-280GTS-XF Black $63 (USD) + shipping