Alphacool Core 1 White and Aurora Black CPU Water Block Review

Performance

All tests were performed on the Ryzen 9 7950X processor, ASUS Crosshair X670E Gene motherboard, ADATA Lancer Mera Edition 32GB DDR5-7200@6200 CL30 memory kit, and GeForce RTX4070 Founders Edition graphics card, and all the mentioned Alphacool cooling.

There are three tests. The first is called Idle, so an operating system without additional load besides standard processes in the background. The second test is based on the PCMark 10 Extended benchmark, which simulates daily work. The last one is a high CPU load tested with AIDA64 with AVX instructions.

The Ryzen 9 7950X CPU runs up to 5.7GHz with a default TDP of 170W, which goes up to about 235W during full load. Our CPU boosts up to about 5.75GHz without overclocking. The overclocking is not changing, even though the cooling is better. We can still see about 5.9GHz on specific cores.

At the default settings, Alphacool custom loop with the Core 1 cooler was about 2-3°C better than the XPX Aurora Pro. At the same time, results were 3-7°C better than on the best 360 AIO coolers.

The difference in the temperature is significant, but it affects even more the time at which the CPU keeps the highest boost frequency. The temperature limit for new Ryzen processors is 95°C, so higher temperatures can be registered, but the CPU will adjust the voltage and frequency to stay below the programmed limit. Since the Alphacool cooler keeps it always below 95°C, then also the performance is always optimal.

Even more significant differences are on single cores when we analyze longer high CPU load. During the PCMark 10 tests, Core 1 could keep most cores at even 5°C lower temperatures than the XPX Aurora. The Core 1 is clearly a great CPU cooler, and we didn’t expect such good results. The Ryzen 7950X is probably not the best CPU to compare temperatures, but the fact that the CPU keeps the higher frequencies for longer gives us a better performance average in daily gaming or more demanding work.

Each time I review the Alphacool CPU cooler, I have about the same conclusion. Every new cooler is better and improved in various ways. I haven’t been so satisfied with any previous Alphacool CPU block. Everything from the aesthetics to the mounting kit and the performance is improved, so it’s hard not to recommend this product to anyone, especially since one cooler fits all popular sockets.