The Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT Liquid Cooling Kit Review
by E. Fylladitakis on October 24, 2016 9:30 AM ESTThe NexXxoS XP3 Light Block
Except from the block itself, the necessary hardware for the mounting of the block – including a universal backplate and retention brackets for Intel and AMD platforms – can be found inside the packaging of the block. There is also a small syringe with unbranded silver thermal material and instruction manuals.
Alphacool has designed the NexXxoS XP3 Light to be compact and easily adaptable for future platforms. It is very small and lightweight, hardly larger than the CPU socket itself. Two openings for the compression fittings can be seen at the top of the block. The user has to make sure that the flow goes in from the center of the block and out from the edge, otherwise there will be a great loss of performance. Alphacool also includes a very clear notice that no tools should be used for the tightening of the compression fittings, as that can easily damage the plastic threads. Tightening the compression fittings by hand is more than enough.
The base of the NexXxoS XP3 Light is obviously copper. It is well-machined and smooth enough, but Alphacool did not bother polishing it down to a mirror finish. The company likely expects that the experts who would buy such a kit already know that a perfect mirror finish would not actually benefit performance by a measurable amount. Alphacool is also using copper screws in order to prevent chemical oxidation.
The interior of the NexXxoS XP3 Light is relatively simple, yet it is more complex than what an untrained eye might realize. The plastic part forms two H shaped jets that forcefully direct liquid flow towards the copper base. The copper base is practically a thin sheet of copper that has many small traces engraved into it, forming about a thousand mini rectangular pylons. The pressure generated by the jets forces the liquid to move in-between these mini pylons, enhancing heat transfer.
The NexXxoS XT45 Radiator
Perhaps the most important part of the system is the massive NexXxoS XT45 radiator. Alphacool supplies it along with mounting and fan screws, as well as with four plugs.
The 360 mm-class XT45 is a massive heat exchanger that measures 400 mm long and 46 mm thick. Its exterior frame is steel, while the chambers and the fins are copper, resulting to a massive weight of 1.4 kg without any parts/fans attached. The paint job of the steel frame is excellent, but it is only superficial on the radiator itself, covering just a bit of the copper chambers. Close inspection reveals that the fins are bare copper.
Alphacool placed not two but six openings for compression fittings, which is why they also supply four plugs alongside with the radiator. The user can select two of the fittings with the most suitable orientation, or even connect more than one loop/system to a single radiator.
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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.