Gadgetory

so if you're about to build a PC within a fairly decent budget you probably consider going for an all-in-one cooling solution for your CPU there are so many good ones out there but there's a new kid on the block that you might want to check out the z9 neo buys all the right features on a budget with a large windows side panel five included fans and the excellent interior layout with super simple cable management get it now link in the description below this is the Alpha cool Ice Bear 240 you guessed it it's a 240 millimeter all-in-one liquid cooler and it's priced at $130 which I would say is very much in line with the competition but there's a twist to this unlike some other pre-built coolers alpha cool is not only looking towards high performance cooling but also expandability with this AI oh that's an interesting approach considering the price if you recall our last a i/o review was the predator 240 from ek water blocks and while it did leave us with a solid impression on performance there were some quirks around installing that ginormous radiator inside my PC check it out in the link below also the price of $200 was a bit extreme even though it's cooling potential was simply awesome the ice bear 240 shouldn't have any of those problems because for one its radiator is only thirty millimeters thick and installing the CPU block on an ex 79 board shouldn't cause any clearance issues but I'll go in-depth about it shortly the physical aspects of this cooler are very simple you get a fairly decent Icewind stock fans spinning at up to 1,700 rpms and a custom water block reservoir combination nothing too different from the offerings from corsair NZXT and a host of others the Ice Bear doesn't use any aluminum radiator yet instead it uses a copper based next SAS unit which has been painted in jet black to give it elbow profile look looking at different angles you can spot the copper sheen from the fins inside alpha cool has implemented their own 11 millimeter hf PVC tubing for both its tight bend radius and its UV stability it looks pretty good but clear tubing would have been simplified finding any air bubbles within the loop the water block reservoir is huge and features a clear window so finding and removing those bubbles we are the full is easy I would actually recommend running this unit outside the case for a few minutes while paying close attention to the reservoir to spot any air bubbles as the process of removing them would be less stressful when the system is inside the case the ice bear uses a DC LT pump which is surprisingly quiet considering it spins at 26,000 rpm what's even more impressive is that this pump is capable of pushing 70 litres of fluid per hour with minimal pump head pressure this 3 pin pump backstopped by an actual reservoir of coolant blows the doors off any closed loop AIO on the marketplace in my opinion remember how I talked about the company approaching expandability with the I spare 240 if you notice there's a large quick disconnect coupling within the tubing this allows the user to add another radiator reservoir or an entire second loop like a GPU cooling solution this eliminates the need to first drain and refill the system expect a minor amount of fluid and air leakage when you disconnect and quickly connect the coupler the installation process was an interesting and very different experience for me make sure you have the instruction manual beside because I had to refer to that a lot once you attach the mounting bracket to the water block move on to installing the itty-bitty parts since I'm installing it on an x79 board I don't have to worry about the we're supporting bracket as you can see the screws have to go through the springs and the washers have to be attached to the other side of the bracket getting everything in place is also a lesson in futility since the stick tubing tries its hardest to yank the block out of its place it's a tedious process at best and I think that alpha goo should have boards some of this process from other brands my H 100 I was a lot easier to install than this even with the block being large you won't have to worry about interference with the DIMMs of any motherboard that supports the Intel CPU sockets though I wouldn't recommend you install the iceburg 240 in a Mini ITX case make sure the mounting holds inside your case supports 15 millimeter spacing - thankfully installing on my entha luxe was a no-brainer considering the wide variety of configuration it supports now all that's left is installing the fans but unfortunately there's no built-in fan controller offical expects users to use their motherboard to all the fans but since they use a simple three pin setup the ability to control them is minimal they really should have included four pan PWM capable fans so how does it perform let's take a look these results are pretty impressive for a relatively small and compact water-based CPU cooling solution it's right up there competing with dual 140 millimeter radiator based solutions in terms of noise the drawback was the two fans were not that powerful nor that fast don't get me wrong the I spare 240 is an excellent cooler and very quiet but you can't unleash its true performance potential with those too slow stock fans on the acoustic side of things this is by far the quietest a ieo solution we've come across the ice bear 240 from alpha cool brings some interesting features to the table for one it's literally made up entirely of alpha cools premium products combined together in one simple relatively easy to install kit everything from the radiator to the pump has been designed for water cooling enthusiasts and the best part is that it comes in a relatively simple and clean package I will admit the installation procedure was tedious plus the inclusion of stock fans that do not support the PWM standard is a bummer and that significantly hits performance too the quickest fix to this would obviously be opting for a better faster and more efficient fans but that will add to the overall cost so what do you guys think about this new AIO cooler from alpha cool definitely share your thoughts down below I need more with hurricane X thank you so much for watching I'll see you in the next one