Liquid cooling offers great performance for cooling your CPU but it can really be a pain to get a system put together and of course you've got to worry about leaks, changing the fluid, flushing the system etc and for the average person it's just not worth all of those hassles. Liquid cooling can also get very expensive, with the waterblocks, tubing, radiators, clamps, fans and pumps, you can easily spend a couple hundred dollars on quality parts, and for the non-enthusiast out there they don't want to spend that much money on something they've got to put together. The liquid cooling kits on the market today are popular because they offer a relatively easy and inexpensive way to have some of the advantages of liquid cooling while not being a major hassle to install, for the most part they're fairly easy to get up and running in your system.

Today CoolIt has introduced their new CPU cooler called the Domino ALC, or Advanced Liquid Cooling. It's an inexpensive liquid cooling kit that is meant to make liquid cooling hassle free, easy to install and readily available for the general populous to just jump right in. The Domino is a closed system liquid cooler, meaning you'll never have to worry about changing fluids, system killing leaks, or any of the problems that might arise from other kits, or DIY solutions on the market today. The Domino ALC is easy to install, and it offers decent cooling performance, it's got an LCD display on it to let you know what's going on with the system and an easy to access control button to quickly change fan speeds if you need that extra cooling boost.

So read on to learn more about the Domino ALC, I've got a quick unboxing video for you, along with lots of pictures and of course testing on both C2D and C2Q processors.

Product Name: CoolIt Domino ALC Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor: CoolIt

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

CoolIt Domino ALC Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler

Domino Advanced Liquid Cooling transforms the CPU cooling industry by being the first really affordable robust liquid cooling system that delivers superior performance and quiet operation with multiple configurable settings. Domino A.L.C. comes ready for extreme cooling of Intel’s latest generation Socket 1366 and includes all hardware required for use with Intel 775 and AMD AM2+ sockets.

Price: $79.00

The design life is over 7 years at 50C.

- to achieve this we had to start from scratch on the pump and incorporate a ceramic bearing pump that could withstand high temperatures. After a tremendous amount of effort, the goal was achieved with our new CFF1 Pump. (Compact Form Factor Version 1)

- Water Vapor Transmission Loss is the reason why most liquid systems require refilling. All plastic or rubber is porous on one level or another. The liquid loss through that material increases dramatically (depending on the material, more than double with a 10 degree rise in temperature) Although the material is slightly more expensive (and a little harder to work with) the corrugated tubing you se on the Domino ensures the most durable and lowest permeability available. The only thing better would be hard plumbed metal tubes.

Best Damn Thermal Interface Material ever!

- The Thermal interface material consists of only the highest quality and most reliable formulation. When the CoolIT Pro ATC is used with the new retention mechanism the interface would be hard to beat. In fact when we tested the Pro ATC vs our previous TIM, we experienced a 0.04 °C/W improvement. (which translates to 8°C at a 200W load)

- In case it matters to anyone the Pro ATC is warranted against pump out and dry out for over 5 years.

Retainer

- the retainer incorporates a number of subtle features including tool run-off protection. (the little cups on the screws) this prevents the accidental screwdriver slip from creating havoc on the expensive motherboard components

- the calibrated springs, when bottomed out, provide balanced pressure down onto the CPU to minimize the bond line thickness of the TIM without violating the maximum pressure spec’s provided by Intel and AMD.

- All bits and pieces are captured (held together as one piece) for ease of installation.

Radiator

- This is a ground up custom designed aluminum radiator that gives us excellent performance while keeping the size small and the cost reasonable. When comparing the performance of the Domino to some of the giant heat pipe solutions it becomes a simple surface area trade off. We consciously chose to keep the size of the Rad minimal and increase the compatibility with many chassis models and of course minimize the mass that is being mounted on the CPU. We have gone through some shock and vibe testing with the assembly hitting 40G’s and passed (with screws – not the vibration isolators that also ship with the Domino kit). I can assure you that would not be the case for some of the large Heatpipe solutions out there. This may not matter to the after market enthusiast, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Reliability

- every single unit is leak tested using mass spectroscopy at a high differential pressure so that we don’t have a risk of leaking. Every joint, connection and fill port is thoroughly inspected prior to being filled.

- Coolant is a 25% propylene Glycol Mixture with a very comprehensive anti-corrosion package to ensure there will never be any performance reduction due to build-up or inter-metallic reaction

- Factory warranty is double what you’ll find with any competing products – 2 years.

Performance

- the entire system was designed to deliver on the promise of liquid cooling which is not only performance but also flexibility. When the fan runs slowly and quietly the performance is excellent. When the fan runs faster and louder, the performance is even more excellent. The bottom line is that we wanted to provide a product that can be tuned easily to suit the taste of the individual that in using it.

Safety

- It’s not ok to fail but when you are talking about an electro-mechanical system, one day it will. That being the case, we wanted to provide the functionality that will let the user know when something goes wrong both on the LCD and also with an auditory alert. Give it a try – stick a pencil in the fan – watch what happens

Specifications:

User Interface:

-High contrast backlit LCD displaying system status and operation mode.

-Easily accessible push button for configuring operation modes and temperature scale

-Audible alarm from system status alerts

Processor Compatibility:

Intel 775/1366 and AMD AM2+

Coolant:

CoolIt Systems low toxicity with anticorrsion/antifungal additives.

Radiator:

Custom engineered fro low noise high heat dissipation

Dimension: 157x133x25mm

Weight: 228g

Fan:

High reliability, Quiet 12v

Speed: 1030 to 2550 RPM

Noise level: 19.2 db to 39.4db

Dimension: 120x120x25

Weight: 155g

Operation Modes:

Quiet*: Fan Speed @ 1030 RPM

Performance: Fan Speed @ 1500 RPM

Full: Fan Speed @ 2550 RPM

*System will automatically increase cooling performance to ensure continous protection

 CPU thermal Grease:

-CoolIt Systems premium thermal interface material

CPU FHE (Fluid Heat Exchanger):

-Copper micro-channel

Dimensions: 50x50mm

Weight: 122g

Proprietary Pump:

-Compact, Long life CFF1 with ceramic bearing

Noise: <21dba

Dimension: 67x47x29mm

Weight: 57g