Cooling GPUs Graphics Reviews Watercooling

GPU water block fished and blanched up to 2.2 GHz: Alphacool Aurora GPX-A RX 5700 XT for the Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+| Mr. ProtoTYPE

The fact that I am given prototypes, PVT or evaluation samples in advance by various production products is not new. Also, with a little luck, you can pick up one or the other good piece in advance at the OEM, which you know so well, without having to beg the customer in question big. Be it as it is – something always works and it is never to the detriment of the respective companies. Because the measurements here in the laboratory are available via the reviews even at the end of the day even at no cost and real klopse are not published in a bad way, but evaluated with the companies concerned. Win-win for everyone.

After the recently tested Samos from Raijintek, which will still be in stores, in today's case it is Alphacool with the individualized GPU water block for Sapphire's Radeon RX 5700 XT Nitro+, whose board differs considerably from AMD's reference. Distinguishes. And so I am once again the first to be allowed to run exclusively here – almost as a media dejuvenation of a new cooling product and for the information of our loyal readers.  And I can spoil it: there's more to come. Also from various other manufacturers and even something for air coolers. So stay tuned!

Unboxing, scope of delivery and assembly

Unpacking is hard for a product that isn't even on the store shelf as a nickel-plated final version, so Retail is failing. For this I have some good news in advance regarding the screws and thermal pads that have been enclosed. Alphacool is currently returning to M2 slags, which suits the fit and better compensates for inaccuracies in assembly. The spring screws used (and the matching counterparts as threaded sleeves) are finally made of durable material and are now hard enough not to eat out or overturn during solid turning. Up to 0.8 Nm were easily possible here, I did not test more, because it would have been absolutely meaningless.

The second point is the completely new thermal pads. Here you follow an idea from the manufacturer, which Nvidia has already taken up at the Founders Edition and whose benefits I have been able to prove several times. These pads are ultra-soft, but not because of the (later nasty bleeding) silicone of the commercially available products, but because it comes almost like kneading thermal paste, which has "weaved" even wafer-thin textile fibers inside to maintain the consistency.

In such, the thermal conductivity does not even have to exceed 10 W/mK in PR-effective terms, since even medium single-digit values are sufficient. This smart mass is almost ideal under pressure, perfectly excludes the air and does not create any pressure on the components. She obeys the displacement when screwing on is unwilling and simply expands. Thus it covers even a much larger area including all unevennesses, regardless of these and thus forms e.g. in the voltage converter range a good thermal connection down to the PCB and all gaps by including everything on the board right away.

This is what Nvidia uses with the print, e.g. in the case of the RTX Titan and RTX 2080 Ti to bypass the contacting problem of the memory modules, where hollow modules have led to the notorious "Space Invaders" due to the (asymmetric) pressure from the cooler through aborted soldering pills. We also remember that, of course. The slightly lower thermal conductivity of such pads is compensated by the better contact alone and this with the almost avoided pressure is available as a benefit. I also do not want to hide the fact that such products are already significantly more expensive in purchase than the usual softpads. But it's worth it.

Let's take a look at the finished prototype, which I"borrowed from Alphacool in advance. This is all still copper and not nickel-plated, but it is already working without complaint. With the matching O-rings and the Plexi as cover, I will then complete the usual measurements and also overclock once up to just under 2.2 GHz. Then just over 300 watts are due – enough to put a cooler through its paces.

The Plexi already includes the inserted LED strip with the 5V aRGB, which can also be connected to all matching 5V headers of the motherboards with the included PreciDip adapter. This gives you a small illuminated bomb, which was designed in the edge design of the new Aurora line and also includes the appropriate, transparent terminal. The thermal paste is always available on the house, which would actually have been the way in which the scope of delivery would have been celebrated.

The back is also free of secrets and you can see besides the GPU heatsink the surfaces, over which one establishes the thermal contact to the three memory rows and the voltage converters by means of the pads already described above. The pads are conveniently placed on the cooling block and the thermal paste is applied to the GPU after the Nitro+ has been taken apart and cleaned. For the edges of the GPU and the old thermal paste, earsticks have also proven themselves.

Please do not use a fluenk or even kitchen paper. Instead of normal burning spirits or other solvents, isopropanol may be used at most, but nothing else. The thermal paste is easy to apply and the supplied quantity is easy enough for some applications. A thin and even application with a spatula is sufficient. Drops and blobs are suboptimal. Screw together and finish the paint? Here, too, you first screw the four screws on the GPU side by side and in small steps as tightas it can and only then outwardly the other screws to avoid voltages in the PCB. Then it can start. And: Don't forget plugs! There is a baking plate with it, so free to the house.

Test system and measurement methods

I have described the test system and the methodology in great detail for years and therefore, for the sake of simplicity, I now refer only to this detailed description. So if you would like to read everything in detail afterwards, you are welcome to do so.

If you are interested, the summary in table form quickly provides a brief overview:

Test systems and measuring rooms
Hardware:
Intel Core i7-9900K
MSI MEG Z390 Ace
G.Skill TridentZ DDR4 3600
1x 1 TByte Toshiba OCZ RD400 (M.2, System SSD)
2x 960 GByte Toshiba OCZ TR150 (Storage, Images)
Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 11, 850-watt power supply
Cooling:
Alphacool Ice Block XPX
5x Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 PWM (Closed Case Simulation)
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (for cooler change)
Housing:
Lian Li PC-T70 with expansion kit and modifications
Monitor: Eizo EV3237-BK
Power consumption:
non-contact DC measurement on the PCIe slot (Riser-Card)
non-contact DC measurement on the external PCIe power supply
Direct voltage measurement on the respective feeders and on the power supply
2x Rohde & Schwarz HMO 3054, 500 MHz multi-channel oscillograph with memory function
4x Rohde & Schwarz HZO50, current togor adapter (1 mA to 30 A, 100 KHz, DC)
4x Rohde & Schwarz HZ355, touch divider (10:1, 500 MHz)
1x Rohde & Schwarz HMC 8012, digital multimeter with storage function
Thermography:
Optris PI640, infrared camera
PI Connect evaluation software with profiles
Acoustics:
NTI Audio M2211 (with calibration file)
Steinberg UR12 (with phantom power for the microphones)
Creative X7, Smaart v.7
own low-reflection measuring room, 3.5 x 1.8 x 2.2 m (LxTxH)
Axial measurements, perpendicular to the center of the sound source(s), measuring distance 50 cm
Noise in dBA (Slow) as RTA measurement
Frequency spectrum as a graph
Operating system Windows 10 Pro (1903, all updates), driver as of 22.10.2019

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About the author

Igor Wallossek

Editor-in-chief and name-giver of igor'sLAB as the content successor of Tom's Hardware Germany, whose license was returned in June 2019 in order to better meet the qualitative demands of web content and challenges of new media such as YouTube with its own channel.

Computer nerd since 1983, audio freak since 1979 and pretty much open to anything with a plug or battery for over 50 years.

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