Raijintek Triton AIO

Hard to pronounce, easy to install

ANOTHER DAY, another company you may not have heard of before. Only established in 2013, Raijintek is yet another marriage between German designers and Taiwanese manufacturers, producing a range of fans, cases, and coolers. One of its latest products is its first liquid cooler, the Triton All-In-One.

The first thing you’ll notice, releasing the Triton from its box, is the quality of the components. They’re not quite up to the same standard as other AIOs we’ve looked at lately, such as Corsair’s Hydro H110i. But a glance at the Triton’s price tag might explain why—it’s significantly cheaper.

The pump unit is a beast, quite a bit taller than the one on the Corsair Hydro H110i, for example, and runs almost silently. The unit is made from clear acrylic with a chrome-plated copper base, and uses a graphite pipe and ceramic axis bearing. It runs at 3,000rpm and can shift 120l/hr. For those who like things to be lit up, the pump unit is illuminated by a pair of white LEDs. As part of the extras, you get three dyes— red, green, and blue—to color the coolant, if transparent liquid just isn’t your thing.

GETTING KINKY

After dealing with some impressive manuals that came with the last few liquid coolers we’ve reviewed, it was a shock to see the basic fitting instructions Raijintek supplies. But truth be told, the design has been so well thought-out that more detailed instructions simply aren’t needed. Having said that, first-timers might find a bit more hand-holding reassuring.

One thing to take care of is the hoses. These don’t have anti-kink coils fitted, so care must be taken not to flatten them. What they do have, however, is standard compression fittings, meaning the cooling loop can be customized with off-the-shelf components. So, although it’s marketed as an All-In-One, it can be expanded, by adding in a GPU water block, for example.

The Triton comes with a pair of 120mm fans (rated between 1,000 and 2,600rpm), but surprisingly these aren’t PWM fans. Instead, they’re controlled by a rheostat, which means having to get your hands inside the case to turn the fans up or down as required. It’s a pain. If you want to use the Triton for an overclocked system that doesn’t scream the house down, and have a preference for cooling fans you can monitor, it’s worth tracking down the cheaper Core Edition version, which comes without fans.

At the Core i7-4770K’s stock speeds, the Triton performs remarkably well, keeping the processor at 21°C, and with hardly a sound. Without any PWM fans, it’s down to you to adjust the rheostat to get the right balance of performance and noise, which is a job you could do without. To test at standard clock speeds, we adjusted the rheostat to around the middle position to get the best balance. At stock speeds with a 100 percent load, the cooler still performs pretty well at 62°C, though it does trail behind the much more expensive Fractal Design Kelvin S24.

For overclocking performance, we took no chances. Turning the fans up to full speed and at full load, the Triton once again fell behind the Kelvin S24, but still kept the processor at under 90°C. However, with two 2,600rpm fans running at full chat, the only way to describe it is LOUD. The Triton performs much better than its price tag implies. Even so, by not having PWM fans, Raijintek isn’t doing itself any favors.

Raijintek Triton

TITAN Good value; funky coolant dyes; straightforward to fit; expandability.

RAIN CHECK Hoses kink quite easily; fitting instructions could be better for less experienced users; non-PWM fans.

$100, www.raijintek.com