Thermal Performance

Test System

Test Methodology

A Xylem D5 pump, Aquaero 6 XT controller, and an EK-Quantum Surface X360M radiator with Phanteks T30-120 fans help complete the loop. The GPU is not placed in the loop to make the only source of heat the CPU, thus limiting testing to the CPU block itself. Average flow rate is set to 1 GPM and calibrated in-line temperature sensors are used to measure the coolant's temperature. Everything required is placed inside an environmental chamber with the ambient temperature set to 25 °C. Thermal paste cure time is taken into account, and three separate mounts/runs are done for statistical accuracy, and to remove chances of any mounting-related anomalies. For each run, a custom Prime95 test with small FFTs and AVX2 load is used, looping for 30 minutes, and CPU core temperatures are measured using AIDA64 with the average core temperature recorded at the end of each run. A delta T of CPU core and loop temperature is thus calculated for each run, with an average delta T that is then obtained across all three runs. This way, the cooling solution is taken out of the picture.

Test Results

Note that metal top blocks tend to perform slightly better than the non-metal top blocks in my environmental chamber with active ventilation, owing to more uniform and efficient heat distribution. The Alphacool Apex 1 is a weird mix of aluminium, acrylic, and brass before we even get to the cold plate, yet the brass base may well play a small role in this regard. There are some blocks here which are socket-specific such as this one, and others which offer more compatibility knowing that they are not necessarily designed to specifically perform as best as possible on the Intel LGA 1700 socket. These two factors add to the rest of the puzzle including the installation mechanism here offering a higher clamping force onto the CPU IHS owing to the spring-less mechanism, and how well of a fit is achieved with uniform mounting pressure across the entirety of the CPU. Alphacool is marketing the Apex 1 at the top of its lineup, which means the Apex 1 did not surprise when it landed straight at the top of my chart that now has Alphacool taking over the top three positions—incredible for a brand which was nowhere near the leaders just a few years ago! Obviously once again I should point out the actual differences can be smaller than errors of margin in many cases, and it may well be a case of my CPU having diminishing returns too. The Apex 1 for AMD boasts a more specialized cooling engine—not to the extent of what EKWB did with the Quantum Magnitude line, yet we see whatever Alphacool is doing clearly works.