The Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT Liquid Cooling Kit Review
by E. Fylladitakis on October 24, 2016 9:30 AM ESTTesting Results, Maximum Fan Speed (12 Volts)
The thermal performance of the NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT kit proves that size (and powerfulness) does matter. With its fans and pump at maximum speed, it wipes the floor with the AIO coolers that we have tested up to this date. Top-tier air coolers follow closely behind the AIO liquid coolers. Mainstream and stock air coolers are virtually incomparable against the NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT.
The average thermal resistance of the NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT is 0.0532 °C/W, the best that we have recorder to this date by any cooler, air or liquid based. It remains almost entirely constant regardless of the thermal load, hinting that the system is capable of both quick thermal energy absorption from the CPU and fast dissipation to the environment regardless of the thermal load. In other words, both the pump and the radiator are dramatically oversized for the cooling of a single CPU. The performance of this kit would most likely be only slightly affected, if affected at all, even if a couple of GPU cooling blocks are added to it.
| Core Temperature, Constant Thermal Load (Max Fan Speed) |
With its fans at maximum speed, the NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT produces a sound pressure that measures 43.4 dB(A) from one meter away. This is significantly better than what most AIO coolers that we have tested to this date can achieve, but it would still be uncomfortably loud for the majority of home users and gamers.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
40 Comments
View All Comments
Death666Angel - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
That works for people hard of hearing, those willing to put up with abysmall thermals and/or loud noise or those like you who have enough space and willingness to put the source of the noise in another part of their dwelling.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
That's a lot of exaggeration. Stock coolers are ear-splitting monsters that let the chip run at unsafe temperatures. There are literally billions of PCs that have been shipped with OEM coolers over the years and while a few designs have been fatally flawed (I'm looking at you ECS GREEN320 laptop with your whiny hair dryer blower on a 1GHz VIA C3 processor) the vast majority of them provide years of problem-free service by keeping the CPU within manufacturer specified temperature limits without causing undue end user stress due to poor acoustic design.Keep it in perspective. I'd happily agree that temperatures might be lower and the computer might be quieter with a bit of attention paid to cooling, but the way you're putting things seems overly dramatic.
HollyDOL - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
I moved to custom loop to get rid of "angry vacuum cleaner" (back in 8800GT days). My pump is sitting in a foam inside the case and radiator is external, passive and quite big. In combination with noise dampening case and semi-passive PSU it's silent at city night (I guess in significantly quieter environment you could hear a bit but not really much).galta - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
Liquid cooling is for people for want/need extreme performance, generating tons of heat in the process. Heatsinks that come out of the box cannot handle it.There is also the question of noise, for cooling an OCed system on air produces - generally - more noise than on liquid.
Those, however, do not seem to be circumstances that apply to you, so you better stay on air.
JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
I'd clarify the "generally" part as follows:If they're using an AIO, chances are the combined pump + fan noise is actually noisier than a dual stack tower heatsink. (2x 120mm or 140mm fan + pump noise VS 2x 120mm or 140mm fans and no pump).
If they've built a custom open loop, then chances are that they've over-engineered the solution (as the few who go this route have the cash to spend and are willing to go all the way) and are using a thick radiator, a large reservoir, a large but quiet pump, and fans that don't ever need to spin up to address increased heat on intensive tasks, and at this point, they might actually have a quieter solution.
galta - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
Lots of chances involved, it seems. In the end, what makes sense - generally - is to understand your problem and look for the best way to solve it.For some, air will do; for others, not.
Check Corsair's H110iGT review @ Guru3d: it is as quiet as the venerable Noctua NHD15, but 9C cooler when overclocking an i7 4790k. Oh, and it also significantly lighter than 1.32kg.
But then there is our friend BrokenCrayons, mixing bunnies with pancakes...
fanofanand - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
I thought his points were valid and reasonable, far from mixing bunnies with pancakes.BrokenCrayons - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
To steal a certain internet meme, "Overclocking in 2016 makes about as much sense as a bunny with a pancake on its head."Aerodrifting - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
What's the point of running X99 i7 if you don't overclock? So you can be content with stock 3.0 speed?BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
What's the poinnt of overclocking it? The home user's typical workloads don't benefit from overclocking and if they do, the increase in performance is marginal and not worth the effort. Sure there's showboating to friends and emotional self-gratification, but those aren't tangible rewards. If emotional satisfaction is what you gain from that sort of thing, then knock yourself out, but in my opinion, it's wasteful, childish, and silly.