The Alphacool Eisbaer 240 CPU AIO Liquid Cooler Review
by E. Fylladitakis on August 1, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- AIO
- Water Cooling
- Cooler
- Alphacool
The Alphacool Eisbaer 240 CPU Liquid Cooler
Even though the radiator of the Eisbaer strongly resembles the radiators of many other AIO liquid coolers, the rest of the assembly is unique compared to any other that we have seen up to this date. To begin with, while the Eisbaer is upplied assembled and prefilled but it actually is a standard liquid cooling kit, as the tubing is not permanently attached on either the radiator or the block/pump assembly. Typical tubing compression fittings are used on both parts that can be undone at any time by the user.
The glossy black tubing of Eisbaer appears to be made out of PVC and has an internal diameter of 11 mm, which is much more than sufficient for a simple system with just one block. A black spring surrounds the glossy black tubing, preventing it from kinking when taking sharp turns. Alphacool also included a plastic connector on one of the tubes, offering the option of relatively quick future upgrades.
The radiator of the Eisbaer may be visually almost identical with the radiators used by many other products. A closer inspection however reveals a major difference: both the channels and the fins of this radiator are made out of copper. This makes the radiator a little heavier and considerably more expensive to manufacture, but it should also offer a noteworthy performance boost. The company logo can be seen printed on the sides of the steel frame.
Eisbaer’s block/pump assembly is quite tall but not very wide, with a plastic body and a copper base. There is a fill tap on the top of the assembly, allowing the user to refill and maintain the system. The company’s logo has LED lights installed and will illuminate blue once the pump is powered on. A little window on the side reveals the pump and fluid to the user. As this would not be visible from the side panel of the case, Alphacool did not install LEDs inside the block.
Inside the assembly we can see one of Alphacool’s pump designs based on the DC-LT Ceramic 12V pumps. The maximum flow is 70 L/h and it has a head of 0.85 m, figures that may not be great compared to those of large external pumps, yet are impressive for such a small device.
The copper base of the cooler is very smooth and appears to have been machined down to a perfect mirror finish. Unfortunately, copper is very easily oxidized and we received one of the pre-production samples that only had a temporary protective sticker attached. It was not attached well and the trapped air oxidized the base of our sample, creating an abstract canvas. This cannot and will not affect the performance of the cooler in any way, it is a mere aesthetic mishap that degrades the appearance of the product.
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b4bblefish - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
No compact ITX case can support a full cooler so the performance of having the closed loop coolers is amazing compared to low profile air.retrospooty - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
Agreed, but I guess my point is any compact Mini ITX case can fit an air cooler that is very capable. There are also plenty of good Mini ITX cases that fit full size coolers. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...Stuka87 - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
They may run cool at stock speeds, but water cooling is very nice for over clocking. My 4.5GHz 4690K very rarely goes over 55C.retrospooty - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
Yes, but most of todays high end air coolers are just as capable and they do it without adding the need for water, the placement of a radiator or the additional potential fail-point (and noise point) of a water pump.retrospooty - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
/edit - just as capable even when overclocking.ikjadoon - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Noise is no longer a concern with Gen5 Asetek.Here's a 120mm rad with 2 fans....5C cooler than the Noctua NH-U14S and STILL 0.1dB quieter than Noctua.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2016/02/11/arctic_c...
Asetek Gen5 is what AIO CLCs were meant to be...
r3loaded - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
Yeah, the Noctua NH-U14S cools just as well as the best AIO water coolers, but beats them by being much quieter on top of that since there's no pump noise. Zero risk of leaks is a bonus too!retrospooty - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
Exactly... Not just the Noctua, pretty much any high end air cooler equals, if not outperforms water on todays CPU's, even when overclocking.ikjadoon - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
You are far behind the times. :(http://www.hardocp.com/article/2016/02/11/arctic_c...
That was in February, dude.
AnnonymousCoward - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
I use a NH-U14S with an OC'd 6700K that runs all 4 cores at 4GHz. The highest temp I can hit with any stress test is about 30C over ambient (~55C).This AT review had a noise floor of 30 dBA, while the Noctua with its adapter maxes out at 19 dBA according to their spec (and is far lower using PWM). I have to doubt a water cooler can get anywhere near this low, which is critical for my silent box.