Internals
To open the block up simply remove the 4 screws with the provided allen key. The allen key is decently chunky meaning that it doesn’t easily slip and strip the head when torquing down on it. This makes us very happy because not all manufacturer’s do this – for example EK’s blocks have quite a small allen key.
Opening up the block we see the micro channel base with some additional crosswise channel cuts. Inside the top we see the typical jetplate arrangement. Unlike some designs the top does not come further apart and we like this:
While this can make the part more costly to make, it means that there is less risk of a user messing something up during routine maintenance. In addition the o-rings channels have nice smooth corner radii so that they are pretty easy to keep in place during re-assembly.
The base itself has very fine micro channels as we would expect, however the cross channel perpendicular cuts are more unusual. Presumably they are there to help spread the flow from the center out to the corners of the base. While the majority of the CPU heat is cooled in the center of the block we’ve found that when TIM doesn’t get near the corners of the IHS that performance suffers very slightly. Therefore better coolant flow to the corners of the cooling engine may also be helping performance.
At about 25mm in length – the channels are very similar to most other blocks.
The width of the cooling engine is a bit wider at ~28mm. So now we know what the block looks like and all the features it has, let’s get it tested!
hmmm… I can see alphacool eisblock xfx in the test, but where is review of it?
It is now up 🙂 https://goo.gl/DJ2Cp8
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