Alphacool NexXxos Full Copper Radiator 120 Range Review
by Dark MantisThis is a new range of radiators from the well respected Alphacool stable in Germany. These modern styled units are more than just pretty accessories. They are actually re-designed from the ground up to perform better than all of the competition. Several new features have been incorporated to improve the general design. Firstly they are made totally out of copper (apart from the side brackets) which after silver has the highest thermal conductivity rating. Before most radiators had copper fins and channels but some other material for the end chambers but not now on this new range. Even though copper is a lot more expensive nothing has been spared to get the ultimate performance out of these components.
Next Alphacool has looked at the connectivity of the pipework to the rads and instead of just two or a maximum of four ports available as usual these now have six and on the UT60 versions another located at the bottom end that can be used as a fill loop connection or just an air bleed or any other use that you can think of. All of this cuts down on the need to use a lot of metal connectors, bends, elbows,and other fixings. This helps to keep the clean tidy looks, less flow restriction and also less risk of leaking joints apart from the initial cost of purchasing all the accessories. Personally I think that the extra port should have been incorporated into the XT45 models as well but that is something that may well come later.
The addition of the air bleed port means that the radiator can be positioned almost any way that is convenient in your chassis. No more airlocks that are nearly impossible to shift. The channels are solid copper as mentioned before and are in parallel formation to reduce flow restriction, this in turn allows the use of much slower and quieter fans to aid in the thermal transfer to the air. There are twelve parallel channels across each of the radiators and on the XT45 versions the channels are two deep through the depth of the unit making a total of 24, whereas on the UD60 versions the channels are three deep giving a total of 36 on each component. To also aid in this venture the fin spacing has been optimised to allow the free passage of cooling air.
Again versatility is the keyword for this new range and they come in three different thicknesses to make installation even easier. You now have a choice of 30mm, 45mm and 60mm deep components. We only had the 45mm and 60mm models supplied for this review. Sometimes the thinner versions can be a lifesaver especially when trying to watercool a HTPC or other size limited case. Of course if size is not an issue then you can take full advantage of the 60mm thick rads which will allow a tremendous amount of cooling fluid to pass at once.
These particular radiators have six or seven 1/4" BSPP industry standard ports dependant on the model. The mounting threads for the fans are M3, personally I prefer the M4 size but a lot of manufacturers do favour this size. Alphacool has made a breakthrough with this range of rads and is something that I wouldn't be surprised to see other manufacturers copy to follow suit. The interminable problem with radiator fitting has always been the use of slightly too long mounting screws incurring damage to the channels behind the screw holes. Well this has now been illiminated by the fabrication of a clever metal screen that blocks the path of the screw before it can pierce the channel. Simple but effective. Problem solved!
Rad model Volume ml Length Width Height Port centres No of channels Channel centres No of ports Screw shield
XT45 120...........185...........160..........125.........45...............60....................24........................7.5......................6.................yes
UT60 120...........270...........160..........125.........60...............60....................36........................7.5......................7.................yes
XT45 360...........300...........400..........125.........45...............60....................24........................7.5......................6.................yes
UT60 360...........480...........400..........125.........60...............60....................36........................7.5......................7.................yesAll pump tests were done with Alphacool 10mm tubing, fittings and pumps and were measured using ten litres of water throughput.
All temperature tests were done using Alphacool 10mm tubing, fittings and Heatmaster controller and were taken after one hour of running stress software.
All measurements are in
litres per minute and
Centigrade.
All in all these new radiators are quite a quiet revolution in various ways and I think Alphacool should be congratulated in their approach to the redesign of the entire range. I am very impressed by all the new features and think that they will put this manufacturer at the top of the list. I have no reluctance in awarding 10/10 for the whole range.
Supplied by : Alphacool http://www.alphacool.com price: see website
