CoolIT Domino A.L.C. System

Product: CoolIT Domino A.L.C.
Provided By: CoolIT Systems
Price: $79 MSRP

Introduction:

It's not often we get a chance to look at a water-cooling system here at BCCHardware, and it is more rare to take a look at a system that is priced under $100.  What is almost unheard of is a system that will cost you $80 and still offer great performance.  Today, CoolIT Systems has unveiled their latest creation - the Domino A.L.C. (Advanced Liquid Cooling).  This system is an all-in-one CPU cooling unit that is quite easy to install, offers great performance, has nice features and costs about as much as a high-end heatsink and fan.  I'm sure that many of you are thinking that it doesn't have the heart to perform, but we're going to strap it to a hot AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE and see if it can take the heat.

First Look:

The Domino A.L.C. arrived by FedEx safe and sound and I eagerly tore open the brown box to reveal a well-packaged product box.  The package looks very sharp and offers some detailed photos and information about the product inside.  Apparently, CoolIT has already won an Innovations Award for the upcoming CES 2009 with this product.  As we carry on, we'll try and find out why.  Due to the high quality components used, CoolIT states that this product has a MTBF of 50,000+ hours - that's over 7 years.  They also provide a 2-year warranty which is very impressive for a liquid cooling system.

Domino Box Front

Domino Box Back

The design of the Domino A.L.C. is similar to other strap-in cooling kits on the market.  It attaches to a rear 120mm fan hole and plugs into your motherboards 3-pin CPU Fan header.  Once you strap it onto your CPU, you are good to go.  It's really that simple.

Domino Side Profile

Specs & Features:

Take a look at the complete system specifications before you look at the system features as described by CoolIT themselves.

Below are some highlights that I received by email from the CEO of CoolIT Systems.

The design life is over 7 years at 50C. 

1. 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)
2. 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 see 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!

1. 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.

Retainer

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. All bits and pieces are captured (held together as one piece) for ease of installation.

Radiator

1. 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.

Reliability

1. 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.
2. 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
3. Factory warranty is double what you’ll find with any competing products – 2 years.

Performance

1. 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

1. 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.

Liquid cooling is ready for the masses.  The technology now exists and can offer more than air cooling in many ways.  We at CoolIT have learned a great deal through working with large OEM’s (and their grueling requirements) and feel an obligation to our after-market customers to put the same advancements in reliability and functionality into our retail product.

Liquid cooling is now about more than just Gaming – the Gaming category has long been the connoisseur of new technology and therefore expected to pay more…a lot more for their preference for performance.  We’d like to change that starting now.  The Liquid Cooled PC is now about to become available for everyday computing as well as gaming.  After all, lots of people game but they also send email, surf the web and maybe even do some work.  With the price point of the Domino, I think we’ll see it as an integral part of the “Under $1000” PC and like most technology advancements, this just makes the combined system better… for less.

With that in mind, we'll jump over to the next page and take a closer look at the Domino.