| Spoiler Inside: Exterior Photos |
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Both mount plates are included:
Here we see the block with the intel mount, it loosely slots on top of the block:
Protective film was stuck on the block:
However the finish still looks damaged and not that flat from the reflection:
Also are those copper screws or just plated/painted?
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| Spoiler Inside: Interior Photos |
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After testing:
The mounting bracket just lifts off. I prefer ones that are attached as part of the block:
4 screws to remove:
Although the base looked like the phobya it is actually machined differently:
There is no specific jetplate but you can see the interleaved channels in the black top that help the block to have higher flow:
Pins give a lot more surface area, as well as possible paths for the water to flow through. However blocks with pins generally don’t seem to perform any better than blocks with channels.
The pin area is ~ 1 inch x 1 inch:
33 channels by 33 channels = 1089 pins
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Conclusion
The Alphacool NexXxos is a block that thermally performs well. It’s not quite as good as the top two performers but it leads the pack otherwise and is a solid third. However it is let down by the quality and general feel of the block and it’s mount. The mount is loose rather than being attached. The logo is a thin plastic sticker rather being machined into the block. The thumbnuts feel small and flimsy. The machine screws attach through the back of the board which is an unnecessary waste of time. In addition the port threading does not use complete turns all the way down meaning this block is the most likely to suffer from thread stripping out of any of any of the blocks in the roundup. I never had an issue, but it’s worth mentioning.
Overall the thermal performance doesn’t overcome those things and so the CPU-380 is a better choice in every category despite this block being a solid performer. 7/10
