Destructive testing of six liquid cooling radiators reveals some don't match the marketing
How do you find out what's actually inside your all-in-one liquid cooler? What's clear from an investigation by Igor's Lab is that the manufacturer's specs sheet won't always provide an accurate answer to that question. Wallossek found two out of the six coolers ripped apart and prodded for testing did not contain the copper parts the manufacturer advertised and were usually replaced by copper/zinc alloy, or brass by another name.
Igor's Lab ripped apart six 120mm liquid coolers for testing:
Each cooler claims a different combination of materials making up their often unseen innards, though primarily those of a premium tilt will use copper for its thermal conductivity. Copper's thermal conductivity is rated to around 401 W·m−1·K−1 (watts per metre-kelvin), which is a good deal higher than aluminium at around 237. There are other factors at play for cooling efficacy, but that's often why you'll find coolers bragging about full or part copper construction—as indeed some of those tested by Igor's Lab claim.
Two coolers come out of Igor's Lab testing pretty much unscathed. The 'full copper' Alphacool NexXxoS ST30, which was genuinely made of copper throughout, and the mostly aluminium Aqua Computer Airplex. Both made claims of which materials they were using and where, and Wallossek's testing proved that to be true.
The Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis GTS – 120 XFlow also comes out fine. It only claims copper construction for the cooling fins, and that's what was found during testing. Though why the rest of the materials aren't listed could be because they're primarily a copper/zinc alloy, in other word's brass, of a relatively low copper content—63/37 Cu/Zn but some 70/30 Cu/Zn. All in all, nothing massive to worry about but not exactly a premium construction, either.
The EKWB Quantum Surface P120M claims to come with Copper H90 tubing, which as Wallossek points out gives the impression that it's copper, whereas 'H90' designates it as an alloy. Testing put it at 90%
Read more on pcgamer.com
