The CoolIT Domino A.L.C is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it\\\'s a highly innovative and attractive product that oozes class but still manages to be user friendly. But on the other hand, the cooling performance is not what you\\\'d expect from a liquid cooling system. For someone wanting to experiment with water cooling but thinks it might be too risky, the CoolIT Domino A.L.C is a brilliant introduction as to what to expect in terms of the components that make up the whole system. As someone who has never used water cooling before, I was thoroughly impressed with the package and personally learnt a lot from the experience to make sure that one day, I could easily build my own setup. For those that still like the idea of liquid cooling but lack the patience to maintain it, this is again a good solution. It is surprisingly easy to work with and all the components making up the system are secure, so are not likely to leak. The Domino A.L.C has certainly made liquid cooling accessible to the mainstream market.
Performance wise though, the CoolIT Domino A.L.C did not deliver what it promised. It lagged behind the heatsink based coolers throughout the testing and at 4ghz, the temperatures were beyond 90 degrees centigrade. On Full, the system was far too loud for general usage and thankfully Performance mode gave acceptable results generally in terms of noise and cooling. At stock speeds and during general gaming however, the cooler coped very well and at no time gave extreme readings.
Pros:
•Very well bundled
•Extremely easy to install and set up
•Highly innovative
•Decent cooling performance
•User friendly and informative LCD screen
•Interchangeable modes
•Maintenance free with 2 year warranty
•No stress on motherboard
Cons:
•Noise
•Performance not on par with more popular heatsink based coolers
•High price tag
•LCD screen not as effective in non windowed cases
•Requires side panel to be taken off to switch between cooling modes
It\\\'s hard to conclude a product that is so highly innovative and with so much thought gone into it but that lacks the ability to match other coolers. For a first time liquid cooler user, this might just be what you want and you\\\'ll certainly learn a lot from it to make a step up further down the line into proper water cooling. Enthusiasts looking for cool and quiet solutions though might want to stick with tried and tested heatsinks.
I will give the CoolIT Domino A.L.C the Vortez Hardware Bronze Award for its innovations and for creating a market that will certainly show a lot of growth in the future. A certain other company has already \\\"borrowed\\\" the idea and created an alternative...It would be interesting to see how they compare head to head.
To discuss this article, please visit out forums
Performance wise though, the CoolIT Domino A.L.C did not deliver what it promised. It lagged behind the heatsink based coolers throughout the testing and at 4ghz, the temperatures were beyond 90 degrees centigrade. On Full, the system was far too loud for general usage and thankfully Performance mode gave acceptable results generally in terms of noise and cooling. At stock speeds and during general gaming however, the cooler coped very well and at no time gave extreme readings.
Pros:
•Very well bundled
•Extremely easy to install and set up
•Highly innovative
•Decent cooling performance
•User friendly and informative LCD screen
•Interchangeable modes
•Maintenance free with 2 year warranty
•No stress on motherboard
Cons:
•Noise
•Performance not on par with more popular heatsink based coolers
•High price tag
•LCD screen not as effective in non windowed cases
•Requires side panel to be taken off to switch between cooling modes
It\\\'s hard to conclude a product that is so highly innovative and with so much thought gone into it but that lacks the ability to match other coolers. For a first time liquid cooler user, this might just be what you want and you\\\'ll certainly learn a lot from it to make a step up further down the line into proper water cooling. Enthusiasts looking for cool and quiet solutions though might want to stick with tried and tested heatsinks.
I will give the CoolIT Domino A.L.C the Vortez Hardware Bronze Award for its innovations and for creating a market that will certainly show a lot of growth in the future. A certain other company has already \\\"borrowed\\\" the idea and created an alternative...It would be interesting to see how they compare head to head.
To discuss this article, please visit out forums
