INTRODUCTION

   As many of you already know once upon a time water cooling did belong in the niche hardware component category but largely thanks to the appearance of AIO liquid CPU and GPU coolers that's really a thing of the past. It's true that complete water cooling kits are still way more expensive and quite harder to install than AIO models but at the end of the day these are still aimed at experienced users and their prices are nowhere near to what they used to be a decade ago. There is however a solution for inexperienced users who are still willing to spend quite a bit on a complete water cooling kit but can't or are not willing to spend time installing one. We are of course talking about external water cooling kits and today we're going to be testing one and more specifically the brand new EISWAND 360 by our friends over at Alphacool.

   Alphacool are based in Germany and are one of the biggest producers of watercooling components for the PC market. Their products are sold worldwide which is testament to the quality of products they sell and are renowned for being very high performing.

   The Alphacool EISWAND 360 is basically an aluminum tower (535mm tall) which contains a 360mm long radiator (NexXxos XT45), a rather medium-sized illuminated reservoir (700-750ml capacity), two high-performance pumps (DC-LT 2600) and a total of six 120mm fans (Eiswind) placed in push and pull configuration for optimal performance (EVA insulation sheets placed on both sides of the tower keep dust on the exterior for easier cleaning). The kit is completed by a 4 meter long 11/8mm black PVC tube with 4 anti-kink springs, the NexXxoS XP3 Light universal CPU waterblock and two quick-release connectors which allow you to expand the loop (add other components such as radiators and GPU waterblocks) with ease. The EISWAND 360 is not the first external water cooling kit in the market (nor do we expect it to be the last) but it is the very first released by Alphacool so let's move forward with our review and see what kind of cooling efficiency you can expect from it.