The CoolIT Domino A.L.C. Watercooling Kit

Firstly you can see the Domino A.L.C is a one-piece kit with everything attached and filled. Before shipping each kit is leak tested by CoolIT in their factory/s. This is a great relief for many first timers to watercooling, as filling, testing and bleeding the system can often be a tad messy. Moreover, special de-ionised water does not need to be sourced, which at times, can be very difficult to find.

The side of the Domino in the photo below has a blue backlit LCD located towards the top. This LCD is very useful as it shows fan speeds, pump speeds, temperatures, different modes and system alerts if there are any problems. Located on the edge of this side is a little button, using this you can select from the three different operating modes:

• Quiet
  Low fan speeds and Overheat protection enabled
• Performance
  Fan speeds adjusts automatically for optimum quiet cooling performance
• Full
  Maximum cooling performance

The button also allows you to select between temperature scales (Celsius and Fahrenheit).

Moving swiftly to the other side of the CoolIT Domino you can see a 120mm fan. This fan uses long-life bearings, is low noise at a minimum of 19.2dBA and is 25mm thick. It is secured with screws to the radiator which sits directly behind it. The low noise fan can operate using a 3-pin motherboard fan connector at RPM’s between 1100 and 2900.

Pre-attached to the fan are four rubber dampeners. These are much thicker than the usual type and boy do they need to be… These four dampeners support the whole CoolIT Domino system by installing it to the rear 120mm fan mount. Although having the kit hanging by four pieces of rubber does sound a bit daunting, the way in which the pegs are designed gives a very secure and safe mount. Moreover, it makes the installation very simple – a common problem with water-cooling kits is the need to drill holes and modify your case.

The pump powering the water cooling kit is a CFF1 (Compact Form Factor Version 1) long-life ceramic bearing type. It produces a mere 21dBA at the most with an average RPM of 3100. Amazingly, the 3-pin motherboard header is able to power this pump, LCD and fan. This definitely helps to improve a common problem with watercooling – wiring mess. With just one cable to connect up, cable management is a thing of the past.

The coolant in which the CoolIT Domino pumps round is a proprietary coolant with anticorrosion/antifungal additives. This means the system is able to operate for 50,000 hours without needing any maintenance. Yet again, another common problem with WC’ing has been addressed – many kits need constant attention.

The radiator (or rad as it’s known by the experts) is completely customized for the Domino and measures in at 157 x 120 x 27. The fan covers the whole surface area of the radiator’s fins and so it will get maximum cooling potential. Unfortunately, the radiator on the kit I received had a few bent fins. However, with the aid of a small flat head screw driver, they quite easily bent back into position.

The tubing connecting the CPU block to the radiator and pump is unlike the transparent ‘fish tank’ stuff used in many watercooling kits. Instead, it’s black, seems to be made of plastic and has grooves all around.

The CPU Block is made very light with a thin aluminium construction and copper block. This puts less strain on the CPU socket which AMD and Intel are currently very cautious about. There are four screws which are used to secure the block to the backplate and so should keep it very secure.

The base comes protected with a plastic cap held in position with a rubber band. The thermal paste on the bottom is described by CoolIT as ‘Proprietary Pro Advanced Thermal Compound’ and the company says it’s their best compound yet. Beneath the thermal paste is a very reflective and flat surface, this should score an excellent contact point between base and CPU IHS.