Installation
Building the Eiswand is much easier than you would expect. I’m sure newcomers to water cooling would be more comfortable than they would be building a loop with their own pump, reservoir, etc. First up, screw the barbs into the radiator and CPU cooler block.
Then you need to push the tube into the top of the barb and hand tighten the screws around them. This only takes a few minutes to do, and the CPU block is no harder to construct and mount than any other CPU air cooler or AIO. It screws onto the motherboard and then large thumbscrews with springs ensure you get a clean fit without accidentally overtightening it.
The stock block looks cool too, with a low profile design and a nice chrome finish to the top plate.
Now for the fun part, simply open up the screw cap on the top, and begin to pour in the coolant. You’ll need about 750ml to fill it, and there’s 2000ml included in the box, so plenty to keep you topped up for a long time. Remember to rock the radiator gently to free up any air bubbles, but ones you’re full, simply screw the top on and you’re ready to go.
You can power the unit from a Molex from your system, so it turns on and off with your rig. However, there’s one extra party trick, as you can power it using the mains adaptor. This means you can have the cooler running before and after you power your system. If you’ve been running extreme overclocks, running the cooler early and leaving it running after can help ensure your chip is properly cooled down and could improve its life span.
When powered on, you’ll see the reservoir lights up thanks to a built-in white LED strip light.
While the base of the cooler its self glows with a soft blue light.
This is a big cooler, with great potential and may not be suitable for everyone, but let’s get it powered on and see what it can do!
Thanks for the review, it’s good to a closed/ open loop system that actually cools the CPU better than 90% of the other AIO’s out there, it would have been nice to see how this system ranks other kits (e.g. EKWB Predator, Thermaltake Pacific R360, Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360, Swiftech H320, etc.).
There is one thing I should point out; many times throughout the review you state that the kit uses barbs, while in fact the kit uses compression fittings. While this may be a small oversight; this may cause undue confusion for those purchasing the kit, thinking that they have to purchase compression fittings (if they so choose) when in fact they don’t.
http://www.eteknix.com/alphacool-eiswand-360mm-external-radiator-water-cooling-kit-review/4/
Going to make few holes in my 570x for this one, thanks for the review =].