The verdict

The HF 38 Niagara Intel Socket 1366 is an impressive cooling-block alright. Now I have to make two remarks here. The first, since we already had an Alphacool CPU block installed in this PC, I didn't want to remove the motherboard from the chassis and just used the old mounting system. So we did not use the new fastening system with the hidden springs behind brass pipes. So please understand that the new fastening system is just looking much better then the old one I used okay?

Secondly, our results were pretty darn good really. Why am I saying this? Well, we reached 4 GHz on the CPU absolutely stable, and once we stressed the four cores so intensely high, the measured temperatures were just above 70 Degrees C. This is impressive, especially since we used a fairly mid-range liquid cooling system (the Cooler Master Aquagate MAX). What I am trying to say here, the best water-block in the world will only be as good as the rest of the components. A better radiator or pump can effect the overall cooling performance easily.

So: your liquid cooling performance is dependant on the rest of your liquid cooling setup.

That being said, we can only acknowledge that Alphacool has made a really nice looking CPU block here. High performance, great mounting system and an aesthetically pleasing cooler is what it is all about.

The one deficit that AlphaCool might stumble into is the gold/brass color schema ... not everybody will like that. I for example like my coupling units either transparent (for UV) or totally black. Others would absolutely love it of course. That's just a matter of taste. But choosing a golden/brass color schema. .. well is quite balsy.

Other than that, really the 59 EUR you need to chip in is worth every penny as this is a great CPU block... Actually it is probably one of the best cooling blocks we have ever had our hands on.

Again, a 4000 MHz Core i7 965 was running perfectly with a merely mid-range radiator, pump and reservoir. As such, the HF 38 Niagara Intel Socket 1366 liquid cooling block is just what it is really... and that is downright good.

• If you like this article please digg it.
• Leave/read comments on this article
• Sign up to receive a notice when we publish a new article
• Or go back to Guru3D's front page