Sometimes you need to think outside the box. If we didn't, invention would stagnate altogether. When you look at the biggest advances in technology, it is typically done by a device that no one assumed would work at all at first glance. We all fall victim to expecting certain items to look a certain way, so when a new technology is presented to reach a common end that gets there in a completely different way, it is often initially scoffed at. Take the poor Apple 1 and it's wooden frame as a prime example.

So, at this point, closed loop liquid coolers have pretty much stagnated. Performance seems to have gone as far as it can go without some major design changes, with the top tier CLCs showing cookie cutter-like numbers. With the exception of the Antec 950/1250, they all also look pretty much the same. Of course, stronger pumps, moving from aluminum to copper/brass rads and better contact blocks would make a tremendous difference, as Swiftech proved with the open loop H220. But, for some strange reason?.Swiftech seems to be the only manufacturer around willing to (or possibly ?capable of?) produce such an item. If CLC is going to progress, it's obvious an entirely new take on the concept is needed, and Zalman is first out of the gate with a radically new concept.