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The Alphacool Eisbaer 240 ships in a sleek black box, with a picture of the pump on the front.
Inside, there is a full-on manual for the Eisbaer – usually a small, double-sided booklet is all you get. The accessories also come in a labelled bag, which I love to see. Aside from the usual mounting plate and screws, there is also a small sachet of Gelid thermal paste, as well as a PWM splitter.
The Eisbaer 240 also ships with two of Alphacool's Eiswind fans. We can expect these to have high levels of static pressure and be more than capable of moving air through the Eisbaer's 30mm-thick radiator. The fans are rated at up to 1700rpm.
Above we get our first look at the Eisbaer itself. The quick-disconnect G1/4 inch fittings are immediately obvious – while they are certainly a good idea, the red and blue rings around each fitting (denoting which hose is the inlet and which is the outlet) make them stand out, and they could clash with your colour scheme.
The pump itself has a fill port – useful for when you connect another component, such as a GPU block, as there is only enough coolant for the Eisbaer in its out-of-the-box configuration. There is also a small window on the pump, allowing you to check coolant levels as you re-fill.
Here we see the Eisbaer with fans installed. It is certainly very stealthy – all black fans, NexXxos radiator and Alphacool DC-LT ceramic pump. I feel it is rather bland to look at, though, and it is a shame the quick-disconnect fittings stand out so much.
Lastly, this image shows the Eisbaer expanded to fit a GPU block as well. All you need are two extra 11/8mm PVC hoses with the compatible quick-disconnect fittings, and the GPU block. The quick-disconnect fittings simply screw off and on.
I bought an Eisbear Solo to build a custom loop for my son’s pc, adding a 360 Alphacool rad and his watercooled videocard. It works, however I question the pumps power in getting fluid around an expanded loop. I don’t think that it is powerful enough to push water effectively through multiple waterbloocks and rads. Not to be used on an overclocked system if adding extra rads and blocks. Installing this block was torment, it is not really user friendly. I could have done with an extra hand and bleeding the system was painful. Having said all of this, in my son’s loop Intel Core i5 and 980Ti (both stock) and a single slim 360 rad performance has been decent. The pump is quiet and has been able to keep the 980ti and Core i5 cooler than traditional aircooling.
if I ever go with water cooling, I will be going with this system
not to post again on the same article, looks like the first AM4 product is now coming to market https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Core_Frozr_L/