Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360 CPU Liquid Cooler Review

Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360 CPU Overview

As we mentioned in our introduction, the Eisbaer Aurora 360 CPU, is as you may have guessed, a 360mm AIO. This version of the Eisbaer Aurora pairs three of Alphacool’s Aurora LUX Pro fans with a 360mm radiator for improved performance capacity and quiet operations. The radiator and pump are connected via tubing and fittings that made their way from Alphacool’s Enterprise Solutions series to the consumer realm, both of which we will touch on a bit later.

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Starting off with the radiator, we find a full copper fin and tube design, which is an improvement over the standard aluminum construction that you find on most other AIO solutions. At 30mm thick, this radiator is towards the middle of the road when it comes to thickness. With a fins-per-inch measurement of 16 FPI, the Eisbaer Aurora 360’s radiator can more easily support the airflow of the Aurora LUX Pro fans’ smaller fan blades due to its lower FPI density.

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A black steel frame surrounds the radiator core, and discreet Alphacool branding has been applied to the long side panels.

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While the exterior surfaces of the radiator have been painted black, at an angle we can see the copper colored raw material found on the fins and tubes of the radiator core itself.

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At the business end of the radiator, we see the very sturdy compression fittings mentioned earlier that made their way from Alphacool’s Enterprise Solutions. The connections have a higher tensile strength than standard fittings, giving users a bit more peace of mind that their connections are secure.

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Regarding the tubing connecting the radiator to the pump, this is also another place where the Enterprise Solutions area contributed to the Eisbaer Aurora lineup. The TPV hosing used here is more resistant to heat, resulting in better kink resistance and longer life. Plus, we really like the stealth look that this black tubing gives the kit.

We definitely can’t leave out the expansion options available on the Eisbaer Aurora 360 CPU, as present on the tubing coming from the Out port on the pump is a quick-release fastener. This connection allows you to expand the loop with Eisbaer Ready products like the Eiswolf AIO video card cooler or additional radiators. This type of expansion is typically not supported with AIO systems, and goes to show that the kits components like the pump and radiator can support the addition of extra components, within reason.

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Moving on to the CPU block/pump/reservoir combination, we find a much taller unit than many other AIOs utilize. Of course this is largely due to the reservoir portion of the unit, which can be filled with additional liquid via a fill port on top.

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Three sides of the black colored nylon reservoir body have been adorned with an “etched” bear design, visually paying homage to the Eisbaer name. While this lighting method looks quite good, some buyers may shy away from the bear aesthetic, as in our opinion, it’s a bit cheesy.

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Moving around to the fourth side of the block brings us to a window into the system, giving us a look at the pump’s propulsion unit and additional RGB lighting.

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At the top of the pump housing we find a plethora of connections, including the in and out fittings for the tubing, a fill hole cap, and a lighting and power cabling bundle. Again we see the same Enterprise Solutions fittings at the top of the pump housing, and while we appreciate their solid connection, we do wish they had a rotary connection, as the TPV tubing is a bit stiffer than standard AIO tubing. Having a rotary connection would allow for a bit easier installation and routing of the tubing in your case.

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A braided 3-pin power connector exits from the top of the housing, along with the 3-pin 5V ARGB wiring, though the latter is not sleeved. We would have liked to see these both sleeved either individually or together, as it just looks a bit odd having two types of cables coming from the same point on the pump.

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Moving down to the base of the pump, we find a nickel-plated copper base that has had some improvements made to its design. Alphacool has reworked the internal cooling fins of the base plate to be expanded in size in order to more fully cover a CPU Die. By enlarging this cooling area, you can be assured that the entire footprint of your CPU is being cooled more evenly.

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The mirror-like nickel surface of the base shows absolutely no machine markings, and will provide optimal transfer of heat from your CPU to the block via a thin barrier of thermal paste.

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While the AIO itself is assembled at the factory, Alphacool does ship the unit with the three of their new Aurora LUX Pro 120mm fans detached. This allows you to install them in a push or pull configuration on either side of the radiator, depending on your setup. We appreciate this flexibility, even though it does add a bit more work to the installation process. Each Aurora LUX Pro fan is illuminated with addressable RGB LEDs around the perimeter and interior of the fan body, resulting in three distinct light rings. We do want to point out a few notable items of these fans, the first being the noticeably small fan blades when compared to other 120mm fans. The thick fan body results in a smaller fan blade size, which can result in the need for faster speeds to move an equivalent amount of air compared to standard 120mm fan blades.

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The next item of note is the inclusion of foam pads at the corners of the fan. We really appreciate this feature, as it significantly reduces the chance for any vibrations being converted to buzzing sounds.

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Helping keep cabling tidy, and to consolidate connections, a 3-to-1 PWM adapter is also included.

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In order to control the lighting on the fans, as well as the pump, a simple three-button, DRGB lighting controller is also included with the kit. Powered by a single SATA power connection, this controller allows you to adjust the lighting of the components without the need for a motherboard connection, though this kit is also compatible with standard 5V, 3-pin headers. Offering control over the Mode, Speed, and Light, this controller is best used in a “set it and forget it” method, as physical access to the controller buttons is required in order to adjust the lighting.

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