Taking a closer look at the cooler itself, at first glance it looks unlike any other cooler I’ve seen; it looks like a very complicated device from the future or something. I liked how CoolIT decided to integrate everything into a single package that comes pre-assembled and pre-tested. 

 

 

The waterblock itself is made out of copper and comes with thermal grease already installed; the grease that CoolIT uses is more viscous/sticky than any other grease I’ve ever seen. During installation, I had a chance to examine the waterblock surface more closely; it’s a smooth, polished surface as to be expected for a high quality cooler.

 

 

The radiator and electronics is a separate unit in a shape of an “L” that is designed to fit on the back of the case where a 120mm fan is normally mounted. The module does take up a lot of space, as we’ll see when we install the unit. The module has a nice black matte finish with an easy to read LCD display. It is powered using a 3-pin fan connector. The inside of the module provides a view of the radiator fins and a small picture showing the different modes the fan operates in.

 

 

 

Installing the Domino ALC cooler into the test system took a little bit of effort but overall was very straightforward. After preparing the CPU for installation by removing the old cooler and removing any residual thermal compound, the first step is to install standoffs on the existing retention bracket (thankfully you don’t have to remove the motherboard to install the Domino). Next, since the test system is AMD and the Domino comes with the Intel adapters installed, I installed the AMD-specific mounting bracket to the waterblock. The block is keyed such that the bracket can only be installed in one direction; that makes it fool-proof.

 

The next part of the installation is to secure the waterblock to the CPU using the 4 spring-loaded screws. This part was straightforward as well, and the waterblock design offers plenty of clearance between it and the other components on the motherboard.

 

 

The final step of the installation is installing the electronics/radiator module to the rear of the case; this turned out to be a bit of a chore as I had to figure out how to route the coolant lines. As it turns out I had to flip the waterblock 180 degrees to prevent kinks in the lines. I would have liked to have seen a little more tubing length but perhaps that causes other problems. The module itself fits perfectly where a 120mm fan is mounted and comes with vibration-absorbing mounts. I did have to remove an adjacent 120mm fan as the Domino’s module took up too much real estate. Also, you have to watch to make sure the side of the case doesn’t interfere with the module; if you have any side-mounted case fans this could be a problem as well.

 

 

Powering up the computer, I was greeted with a nice soft glow from the LCD that displays coolant temperature, fan speed, pump speed, and operations mode. From a noise perspective, I thought that the Domino cooler at low speeds was indeed quieter than a typical air-cooled cooler and definitely on-par with other liquid cooling units. There are some faint liquid pump noises as well as the noise from the fan, but they aren’t louder than other components such as the power supply. At high fan speeds, the cooler is significantly louder, almost as loud as an air cooler at high speeds. 

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Johan Terblanche Says:
This cooler rocks!!! I installed it in 15 minutes flat into my DX58SO/i7 920 and dropped 45% CPU temp on standard clock speed, easily upped the clock to 3.3 GHz and temp very stable on 50 Deg C under full CPU and Memory load. Looking foward to push the 920 to it's max with this new toy! :-) Really the best water cooling solution for the price!