Installation

Installing the Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360 HPE requires a bit of assembly. First, you will need to slide the proper brackets onto the pump housing until they click together. Next, put the spring and then the necessary washers onto the screws before securing them to the bracket with the nuts.


On AMD systems, you must use the backplate included with your motherboard. To start, remove the plastic brackets and apply some thermal paste, after which you must line the pump block screws up with the backplate and then tighten them down. Depending on how well you lined everything up, this process will be rather tedious since the screw holes on the pump bracket have some play and are not matched exactly to the backplate. While this improves socket compatibility, it's not a great solution.


Its now time to secure the radiator to the chassis and attach the fans. With everything in place, plug in the pump, fans, and ARGB cables, after which your cooler is good to go.

Overall, the installation was pretty straightforward on AMD and Intel, but it's tedious to say the least. Especially on Intel, the backplate, be it the original or new metal offering, has captive nuts with some washers holding them in place. Sadly, the tension isn't that great, so they tend to slide around. Add the mounting screws which can also move around and it makes for a frustrating installation as you try to line everything up perfectly. Alphacool's mounting hardware design feels decidedly dated and out of touch. It is more difficult to use than that of most AIO coolers I have tested, but can be fixed. At the very least, using standoffs to secure the backplate and then screwing the pump screws into said standoffs would dramatically reduce frustrations during installation since you are not trying to line up 4 nuts and 4 screws on the front and back at the same time. Hopefully, future revisions or designs will offer a better mounting setup.