Introduction

The TechPowerUp GPU roundup series continues today with Alphacool, after having examined entries from EKWB and CORSAIR to date. Alphacool is high up on the list of large, established DIY watercooling brands, and the company had sent two different takes on its cooling solution for the NVIDIA RTX 3080. We take a look at both today, and this article will cover the GPX Aurora version. Thanks to Alphacool for sending both review samples to TechPowerUp!

On the product page, the name is actually “Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-N,” before the GPU mention even enters the picture. But the product packaging and a few other references have used “Eisblock GPX Aurora,” which I am going to use for convenience. As the name suggests, this is a full-cover GPU water block that uses an acrylic top throughout. Alphacool is marketing this to users who prefer a mix of function and form, with the Eisblock ES Acetal, of which a review was published alongside this article, on the other end of the spectrum with an acetal top, side-mounted ports, and no lighting support. Be sure to read both reviews as the two designs share commonalities, but also differ in enough ways to merit the existence of both. I recommend starting with the other one since it was done first and has some extra detail that is applicable here, too.

Specifications