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.
Our early pre-production sample
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ikjadoon - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
This idea just doesn't die.Quieter and cooler and cheaper than a Noctua NH-U14S.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2016/02/11/arctic_c...
Azune - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
He should have said best noise/thermal performance for 240mm radiators. Because larger radiator and larger fans will always win in this metric. (H110 is a 280mm)BrokenCrayons - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
Pass on the water cooling. I don't like the idea of mixing liquid and electricity for no tangible benefit over the HSF that was included in the box. Yes, sure the temperature of the processor is lower, but who cares really? As long as it's not above the manufacturer's spec, temperature makes literally no difference to me. I can understand wanting to cut back on noise and that might warrant an upgraded air cooler over the retail boxed one, but even then, a lot of the reasoning behind that ignores ambient noise of HVAC, other people, and blaring televisions which would drown out the relatively small amount of noise from a stock cooler.ikjadoon - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Why are you even reading this review? LOL. It's like a guy who drives a Camry walking into an aftermarket parts store: "A turbocharger? I don't like the idea of mixing more air. Sure, the horsepower is higher, but who cares really?"Wrong review and maybe even wrong website, dude. :D
BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link
What is it with men and comparing everything to a car? Is it really that ingrained into the brain wiring that guys who were given little toys to push around as toddlers that then grow into grade school students who drive imaginary cars down the hallway while making engine sounds with their mouths end up seeing their world as adults through the view of a windshield? Nah nevermind, let's not delve into psychology here, it'd be a waste of time.Anyway "dude," have you read many articles on this site? AT doesn't cater specifically to the audience you think it does and perceive that you fall within. In my opinion, that's one of the nice things about Anandtech. It's writers explore a wider range of technology in greater depth than do the dinosaurs of the desktop computer era that have yet to realize that overclocking and tinkering is now well controlled by hardware manufacturers that manage even that experience to the point where it's basically a walled off sandbox that only leaves buyers with the impression their extra expenditure is giving them something more rather than genuinely rewarding them with something worthwhile.
BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link
What is it with men and comparing everything to a car? Is it really that ingrained into the brain wiring that guys who were given little toys to push around as toddlers that then grow into grade school students who drive imaginary cars down the hallway while making engine sounds with their mouths end up seeing their world as adults through the view of a windshield? Nah nevermind, let's not delve into psychology here, it'd be a waste of time.Anyway "dude," have you read many articles on this site? AT doesn't cater specifically to the audience you think it does and perceive that you fall within. In my opinion, that's one of the nice things about Anandtech. It's writers explore a wider range of technology in greater depth than do the dinosaurs of the desktop computer era that have yet to realize that overclocking and tinkering is now well controlled by hardware manufacturers that manage even that experience to the point where it's basically a walled off sandbox that only leaves buyers with the impression their extra expenditure is giving them something more rather than genuinely rewarding them with something worthwhile.
JeffFlanagan - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
I used to liquid cool and overclock, until a tiny leak destroyed a motherboard and CPU years ago.These days my PCs are so fast that I don't need to overclock, but if I wanted to, I wouldn't even try it unless the cooling liquid has a low enough boiling point to be MUCH more effective than air-cooling, like the liquid cooling used in some tablets.
Death666Angel - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
"like the liquid cooling used in some tablets."You mean vapor chamber technology, which has been in use for several years in the PC space already and is in pretty much no way comparable to water based liquid cooling which is typically meant when talking about liquid cooling? Totally different technologies which shouldn't be conflated at all.
Death666Angel - Monday, August 1, 2016 - link
And I forgot to add to your "MUCH more effective than air-cooling" point. If you indeed mean vapor chamber technology, that is only effective in drawing heat away from the chips that create the heat. That heat needs to be transferred to somewhere where it can be taken out of the system (unless the heatsink attached via vapor chamver is literally the size of the wall around your room) and that is usually done via air cooling, i.e. having a lot of metal fins oriented in a way that a fan can push or pull air through them to cool them. So nothing magical about it.maximumGPU - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
I'd appreciate if anyone can answer this:Can you make a custom loop cool better AND be quieter than a high end air tower?
Unfortunately I can only find contradicting opinions on this, anybody with direct experience cares to pitch in?