Introduction

Depending on when this review goes live, you might well have already seen our coverage of Alphacool's new NexXxos HPE-45 360 mm radiator. It's an impressive update from Alphacool that competes favorably with thicker radiators to make the High Performance Edition (HPE) moniker more than just marketing, and offers multiple ports in a fairly novel manner, but a 45 mm thick radiator is still too thick for some cases, especially if you are aiming for a custom loop in an SFF build, or a CLC cooler replacement in a like-for-like configuration. Clearly, Alphacool thought as much about the market for new radiators, having launched an HPE-30 series alongside the HPE-45.


Today, we are taking a look at the triple 120 mm (360 mm) NexXxos HPE-30, and this is the latest generation of Alphacool's popular NexXxos radiator lineup. The HPE-30 series comes in 120, 140, 240, 280, 360, 420 and 480 mm sizes, and this is the thinner analogue to the HPE-45 series we have seen before, where 30 and 45 refer to the thickness in millimeters. The NexXxos HPE-30 is a direct replacement for the NexXxos ST30 v1 and v2, and my colleague inadvertently already covered this radiator in the Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360 HPE AIO CPU cooler review, which supports my basis for these thinner radiators suiting upgraded AIO cooling solutions, as well as custom loops when tight on space. The cooler might not have been too impressive, but how does the radiator fare on its own? Thanks to Alphacool for providing TechPowerUp a review sample as we aim to find out for ourselves!

Specifications