Alphacool Eisbaer 240 CPU - Black Water Cooling Kits, Systems and AIOs

First, this is a fantastic, well-built cooler. It is essentially a custom built 240mm AIO that is meant to be sold similarly to others in the market, akin to the Corsair H100i and the Kraken x52. It fits all recent mobos, including Intel and AMD.PROS:-This is REALLY CUSTOMIZABLE, flexible for expansion using your own tubing in the future from the pump included - it can power a larger loop for sure.-The LED is AWESOME, the OCOOL (alphacool) lights up blue and fits my system's theme perfect. Additionally, the reservoir on the pump combo lights up, so you can see the coolant in there.-Tubing BENDS A LOT W/ NO KINKS. I have this on my MINI-ITX, and while trying to fit test fit it in the system I put a lot of stress on the tubing. It withstood it in grand fashion, and the coils around the tubing really work.-Quick-disconnect part allows for expansion, as well as moving the tubing criss-cross to fit your case better.-My INTEL i7-6700K @ 4.5Ghz idles at 28-30C, and under really heavy load of Handbrake Encoding of Full HD files the MAX TEMP I ever saw was 88C. Keep in mind, the system has only one intake fan - through the GPU radiator. There is no other intakes, and the 240mm are the only exhaust for the system. (Realistically, normal spikes on desktop go to max 50C, and gaming on GTA V and opening about 600 Browser tabs yield ~60C s)CONS:-While it did fit in my MINI-ITX Corsair 250D, the fact that the quick-disconnect is to close to the pump-end of one of the tubings means the overall bend radius for the whole setup is not quite what it could be. I wish it were located a bit closer to the mid section of the tubing-The mounting setup for attaching the block to the mobo is a bit cumbersome. Alphacool should work on a simpler snap solution, while retaining the quality and firmness of this finished mounts-It came with its own thermal past. However, it should have come in a tubing rather than a bag I had to cut. Additionally, too much came in, and ironically when I decided to remove the block and replace the thermal paste the mid-portion of the die had little past there. It spread elsewhere, and the center of the CPU was left blank.-Black tubing means no way to see any air bubbles. I recommend running this loop outside the finished system or case BEFORE installing everything else, just to check if it all works properly.FINAL THOUGHTS:-This is one of the best coolers AIO in the market. I'm sure if I put this as an intake OR in a system that has more plentyful and better airflow, the temperatures would be really low (probably wold not break 70C on handbrake testing). Nonetheless, the 30cm thick radiator + the EXTREMELY SILENT and gorgeous pump/reservoir combo fits in most cases, and works similarly to much more expensive coolers (Like the EK Predator 240, plus this quick-disconnect system here is higher quality).I recommend you buy this as a future proof solution for your system cooling. The fill port allows you to, over time, fix any evaporation of coolant, and completely replace it if you want something of a different color or transparency - or UV reactive! Make sure you have the height clearance, and obviously your case has at least 55CM of clearance for the radiator+fans - which the Corsair 250D mini-itx has.I WILL SAY THIS: THE PRICE HERE ON AMAZON IS ABSURD! SERIOUSLY, $139+TAXES = 153 FRICKING DOLLARS! This should retail for just $130.

Pros:How do I start this review off? Well, for starters, this AIO is straight up amazing. The adapters that came with it for my AM4 socket were a perfect match. The radiator fit into my case, albeit a little snug. The pump/reservoir combo makes the installation a breeze. This unit comes prefilled with coolant, again making installation easy. The pump head is sleek, and somewhat stylish. The included fans do their job surprisingly well, and are nearly silent under a light load.The pump is eerily silent, even under a very high load.This AIO is cooling a Ryzen 5 1600af, overclocked to 4.4ghz. Not only does it keep this cpu cool, it keeps it stable.This is most likely the best, and most compelling all in one cooling solution that I have ever purchased. I highly recommend it!Cons:The tubing leaves something to be desired, yes the anti-kink tubing is great to use, but it does not match the aesthetic of my case. The metal banding around the tubing is a bit on the ugly duckling side, but it does its job rather well.

I assembled my computer last December, using a Gigabyte NVMe PCIe Gen3 Intel X99 chipset SATA Express 10Gb/s Motherboard (GA-X99-Ultra Gaming) in a DeepCool ATX Mid Tower KENDOMEN TI case. The idea was to have a pretty powerful machine, but keep it quiet, so I installed a LEPA AquaChanger 240mm Intel/AMD Liquid CPU Cooler ( LPWAC240-HF) AIO cooler. Everything was fine until April, when the computer became unstable. Well, after checking all the usual suspects, I checked my CPU temperatures, and they were peaking at 90°C! I set all the fans to full speed, and went looking for a different cooler.When I saw the Alphacool Eisbaer with all it's features, I thought, "That's the one!" An AIO based on true liquid-cooling-kit components: all copper radiator, visible coolant level in the integrated refillable reservoir/pump/water block, quick-disconnect for expansion, anti-kink hoses, low-speed high volume & pressure fans. All of this and serviceable, too! The only downside was that the Eisbaer radiator is 3mm thicker than the AquaChanger. Oh, well. I ordered the Eisbaer, and it arrived in 2 days (thank you, Amazon Prime!)The Eisbaer does fit in top of the Kendomen case with the Ultra Gaming motherboard, but just: there's about 1mm clearance between the cooler fan and the ATX 8-pin power plug. The reservoir/pump/water block installed nicely, the hoses were, if anything, a wee bit too long, but not enough to cause issues. I fired it up, set a reasonable fan profile in the BIOS, and booted into Windows.The first thing I noticed was the quiet: after running for several days with the fans sounding like a jet engine, these Eiswind fans were very quiet. I let everything come up (I run BOINC for distributed computing research, which puts a substantial load on the CPU) and the CPU temperatures were running 60°C: the best the AquaChanger did was 70°C, and it wasn't as quiet as the Eisbaer.Now, I don't know how well this will hold up, but the with the serviceability of the Eisbaer (which, by the way, is German for polar bear) I'm quite optimistic.