Alphacool HF 38 Niagara Intel Core i7 CPU water block review - Photos setup & installation

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 06/08/2009 01:00 PM [ ] 0 comment(s)

Photos setup & installation

On the next few pages we'll show you some photos. The images were taken at high-resolution and then cropped and scaled down. The camera used was a Canon 450D 12 MegaPixel.

Alphacool HF 38 Niagara Intel Socket 1366 CPU block review

Right then, here's the gear we'll be talking about today. In our case we'll be 'adding' the new liquid cooling CPU block to an existing liquid cooled setup...

So for 59 EUR you'll receive the water-block and mounting system, for Socket LGA 1366. Mind you, you'll still need to order two fittings/connectors/barbs each at 3/8" wire taps. Alphacool offers them at 2 EUR a piece.

The package includes the water-block, screws, studs, brass covers, springs and a little thermal paste.

Alphacool HF 38 Niagara Intel Socket 1366 CPU block review

Here we have the CPU-block kit on display. The spring mounting system will require you to remove your motherboard, as the screws need to be inserted through the back of the mainboard for optimal mounting.

Alphacool uses a new mounting system with hidden springs behind brass pipes. Basically you insert the screw through the backside of the motherboard, apply black washers at the frontside, seat the CPU block at the frontside, put the springs in place, slide the brass pipes over there and then screw it down with the brass thumbscrews. Really easy... and looks really nice.

Alphacool HF 38 Niagara Intel Socket 1366 CPU block review

First glimpse of the water-block... that's looking mighty fine in my eyes, a very sturdy CPU block. That thing can squeeze up to 5,3 liters/min though there. The brass parts are permanently protected with clear lacquer against starting and casting. Let's see if it has a flat copper bottom finish.

Alphacool HF 38 Niagara Intel Socket 1366 CPU block review

So we spot a near perfect mirror finish on the copper block... 100% flat, that is just a remarkably flat finish right there. You can even see a little reflection of that sticker on there.

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Alphacool HF 38 Niagara Intel Core i7 CPU water block review
There aren't that many companies out there that offer liquid cooling products which you can purchase separately. There's a handful of them. One of them is the German based Alphacool. Recently they introduced a new CPU block called the Alphacool HF 38 Niagara. This new water-block is designed for Socket 1366 processor, aka Nehalem aka Core i7. A high-end liquid cooling CPU block priced fairly. Let's check it out.

Alphacool NexXxoS XP Core i7 water block review
In this article we test the Alphacool NexXxoS XP HIGHFLOW Core i7 CPU water block. We will apply a nearly passive water-cooling kit to it and observe installation and temperatures. Since we could take a Core i7 965 processor up towards an overclock of 4 GHz we'd say this ia a very succesful product from the guys over at Alphacool.

AlphaCool External 240x128 Display
Today we are testing this cute External LCD-Display with the colossal 240x128 Pixel dimensions. Now that by itself is cool, but the software controlling the unit is where the magic happens. You can display pretty much any system info, yet it goes way beyond that. RivaTuner is supported, Fraps, Mainboard Monitor (MBM), SpeedFan and it does not stop there.

Alphacool Ready2Go Stacker (Passive)
Alphacool can deliver pre-fitted and modified PC Cases with water-cooling (prefilled and leak tested) installed. Today Guru of 3D will test the Coolermaster Stacker Silver with preinstalled water-cooling from their Ready2Go series of products. Pretty much install your components and you are good to go. The beauty of this beast is the fact that it is passive water-cooling, the only thing connected to the power circuit is an inaudible pump. That means this system just does not make any noise, at least not that we can hear.