Alphacool NexXxoS XP Water Block

Alphacool NexXxoS XP water block is shipped in a small plastic box together with a tube of some no name thermal compound and a brief manual. In our case the water block also included a a set of retention brackets, screws and a full installation guide:

As we found out, potential owners of this water block will have to purchase the necessary retention brackets separately, because they are not included with Alphacool NexXxoS XP by default.

This water block is a pretty heavy (330 g), but at the same time compact metal square measuring 50x50x18 mm. it consists of a copper base and brass middle and top parts covered with some nickel alloy:

There are incoming and outgoing holes at the top of it, and ideally even mirror-polished base surface at the bottom:

This water block boasts pretty interesting internal structure: a top lid with fitting holes, middle part with distributing canals and 20holes with a little over 1 mm diameter and a copper base with 168 pins 1x1 mm big and 2 mm tall in the center:

To ensure leak tightness of the water block, there are sealing rings between all three parts that sit in special grooves.

The water block is installed using special screw-on retention brackets and a screw in the middle that presses the water block against the CPU:

The pressure provided by this retention is very high that is why there is no need to worry about the secure contact between the water block base and the CPU heat-spreader (we will show you the thermal compound imprint later in this review). Unfortunately, there were no LGA1366 brackets with the kit that we received for review, but we managed to use the LGA775 retention after slightly bending the ends of it towards the outside.