(11 votes, average: 4.27 out of 5)
Loading ...Does the CoolIT Domino make the grade?
When the guys from CoolIT approached me for a quote for their Domino press release, my immediate reaction was, “Let’s get it in the lab and send me a review unit to test”…
Here at AMD we have a full scientific test lab for thermal devices. We all know that a properly built PC is a careful dance of core temp, ambient temp, chassis temp – all at idle, mid and full load. We like to test for real-world conditions, especially for those lazy Sundays when the air-conditioning breaks and your PC whizzes away stuffed in a cabinet under a desk collecting large deposits of dust. It’s our business to make sure our products run under the most grueling and sometimes strange environments.
Our lab guys were impressed with the Domino coolers they received. It was once thought that cost effective water cooling was impossible. Unfortunately I cannot share any of the details from those tests as they are all still very cloak and dagger (considered as internal trade secrets), but to say the least, I was impressed that they – our thermal fellows – were impressed. Now before I would ever give a “nod” to any product, I have to use and experience it first.
My hands on time with the Domino consisted of building out a new system based on AMD “Dragon” platform technology:
- Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P Motherboard
- ATI RadeonTM HD 4890 discrete graphics
- Corsair DDR3 Ram 8G
- AMD PhenomTM II X4 955 3.2GHz processor
- 3x Western Digital HDD Totaling 1 Terabyte
- Corsair HX1000W PSU
- Coolermaster Cosmos 1000
- CoolIT Domino A.L.C
Domino installed in my Dragon System
The setup was surprisingly easy; I fiddled with the brackets and little bolts until I got it right. It took just as long to install a Domino cooler as it did to fully install a PSU.
Once it was fully installed, I checked for leaks, cracks, breaks and/or other signs of water in my system prior to plugging it in and firing it up!
Water flowing through your PC is absolutely foreign to many and frankly most PC users. Why would anyone in their right mind want to have a water contraption in their PC, the answer is quite simple, superior cooling!
Water cooling has always been very expensive, labour intensive and a little dodgy at times. Horror stories of broken piping, reservoirs cracking and water leaking that swiftly destroys your entire PC have been whispered everywhere in the enthusiast community. A costly breakdown to say the least!
The old adage was “Cost effective water cooling is impossible”, well, until now.
The Domino made a tremendous difference in the hot air being expelled from the back of my chassis, it’s no longer “hot”, it’s simply a mild warm. This helps in a room full of PC’s and 2 giant monitors, trust me, personal comfort becomes paramount.
Domino's operations screen
When I did a play test, I used CoD WaW and saw the Domino report a temp of 99degrees, 2079 rpm fan speed and 3123rpm pump speed on medium.
I switched it to the high setting and saw a decrease in temp, but an increase in ambient noise. The Domino reported a temp of 94degrees, 2824rpm fan speed and 3105prm pump speed.
The increase in noise levelled off to something more than bearable, but regardless, I game with headphones so the increase in ambient noise doesn’t bother me. I really liked the “beep” feature, it audibly lets you know when something has been changed or goes wrong.
The Domino does not seem to be intended for a DIY’er who makes lots of changes to her/his PC on a regular basis. It seems better suited for the gamer or enthusiast who builds and uses their PC in that config for awhile. How often do you really upgrade your mobo and CPU anyway, every 6months? 9months? 12months?
As I am not a reviewer, nor do I claim to be, I almost completely rely on the reviewer community to recommend or not recommend a product, here is what they have to say:
Maximum PC gave it a 9/10 in its June issue.
Almost unanimously reviewed positively and recommended.
If you are a gamer looking to add “H2O” to your system, the Cool-IT Domino is a good option.
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
#1 by ir0×0r - June 15th, 2009 at 13:05
When you say the temp of the air coming out of the case went from hot to warm, do you mean it actually makes the devices that give off heat give off less heat?
How does this unit compare in performance to the less expensive and better spec’d solution at Danger Den?
http://budurl.com/mz7a
#2 by Ian McNaughton - June 15th, 2009 at 15:24
I have asked the CoolIT guys to jump into this forum and answer these questions as they are best to represent their products…
#3 by Peter - June 15th, 2009 at 13:05
I’d suggest using something besides the Domino’s built-in temp sensor. Icrontic is reviewing the Domino right now and we’ve noticed there is a pretty large disparity between what the Domino’s LCD shows and what readings the system shows. Perhaps it’s coolant temp vs CPU temp.
#4 by Cliff Forster - June 15th, 2009 at 13:17
Nice comments Ian,
To reference some conversation on twitter, I think the Domino is a really cool differentiated product, not so much because its one of the better liquid cooling solutions available, but because its so reasonably priced, and its set up is a bit more straight forward than what you would find on a more hard core liquid cooling solution.
This product may represent the perfect gateway for those that were always interested in liquid cooling, but too afraid to try.
#5 by Toby Hudon - June 15th, 2009 at 14:06
So it’s yet another copycat of the Swiftech H2O Compact series that’s been out for 2 years now? Most of these imitations have been poor compared to the original.
There’s a way to do even more effective cooling at lower cost, but it would require minor changes to motherboard and case formfactors.
#6 by ir0×0r - June 15th, 2009 at 14:20
Ya, my bad. DD is more expensive.
#7 by wpeltola - June 15th, 2009 at 14:34
Cool, I’m still on the fence on if I want to try water cooling or not. Cost is one issue, but not being sure where to start would be another. A buddy of mine had a water cooled system basically explode in his rig..we was not very happy!
Nice results from your setup!
- Bill
#8 by xfloggingkylex - June 15th, 2009 at 23:15
@wpeltola, If you’re interested in water cooling, the Swiftech h20 220 Apex Ultima is highly recommended. Gives you plenty of cooling and room to expand to gpus, ram, NB, SB… whatever you need.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2009/05/19/coolit-domino-alc/6
That test compares the Domino with some top tier air cooling, and throws in the Swiftech kit for good measure.
#9 by Rambaldi - June 15th, 2009 at 23:19
@wpeltola, Been looking at a few systems myself and i know how confusing it can get. A suggestion if you do go for it which Ian didn’t mention above, run it for a while in a bath tub or something before popping it into your system just to make sure there aren’t any leaks.
#10 by Ian McNaughton - June 16th, 2009 at 10:46
This Domino is self contained so I am fairly confident with it in my system… For the price, its a decent place to start…
#11 by wpeltola - June 19th, 2009 at 10:32
@Ian McNaughton, Now you guys have me really interested! I’ll do some research and see what it will take for me to get started. Thanks!
- Bill
#12 by Natasha Van Khouvers - June 16th, 2009 at 02:30
that sounds neat!
#13 by Chris Elt - June 16th, 2009 at 04:14
Hi All,
My name is Chris Elt, Sales Manager for CoolIT in the UK and Europe.
Thank you for your blog Ian
1) Peter – In answer to your question CPU TEMP vs COOLANT TEMP, this is 100% correct. The display shows coolant temp and takes the reading from inside the pump.
There maybe some better ways of cooling but as you mentioned “it would require minor changes to motherboard and case formfactors” we are providing an easy to use, mainstream product that ANYONE can take home and fit into thier PC in order to get the benefits of liquid cooling.
2) Toby – Whilst the concept maybe the same as the Swiftech H20 Compact, the design and manufacturer is completly unique. The guys at CoolIT HQ in Canada are Thermal Engineers, rather than taking a product and copying it they decided to look at each component separately and find the most effective solution for cooling a CPU, everything on the Domino has been looked at with Thermals in mind. The end result is the Domino
Here at CoolIT we really appreciate your feedback and any questions that you have i will answer
Please remember when looking at the Domino, we are advocators of watercooling and love the custom kits that are available on todays market……..However The CoolIT Domino is not here to compete with these, our aim is to bring the benefits of liquid cooling into the mainstream with an easy to use, cost effective, maintenance free, reliable product that will give you performance that exceeds top end air coolings
Kindest Regards
Chris
#14 by Ian McNaughton - June 16th, 2009 at 10:34
Thanks Chris, glad you could join this forum discussion. Everyone, if you have questions for Cool-IT, here is a good opportunity to ask them.
#15 by SonDa5 - June 19th, 2009 at 00:35
Make the fan swappable on both sides for either direction and increase the size of the tubing and I’m sure better cooling can be attained. I’m interested in an upgrade like the Domino A.L.C. and hope that the improvements that i have suggested find their way in new and improved model soon.
#16 by Barrolde - June 19th, 2009 at 02:29
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the blog and regards from Canada.
Barry
#17 by anon - June 19th, 2009 at 12:21
This is to coolit; can you explain the multiple failures that happened with the units at bit-tech you supplied? where the nipple repeatedly came apart at the radiator??
Can you explain accordingly by that article writer you did not want them to write about it.
They showed pictures of the failed nipple.
#18 by xfloggingkylex - June 22nd, 2009 at 10:37
@anon, if you read the entire article it was all explained. The barbs that broke were reproduction models, and the current models that you buy from retailers do not have that problem. And they probably didn’t want it written about because that’s terrible for marketing.
I think the Domino is a good idea, I’m just not sure where its niche is. It is barely better than top end air cooling (if at all, depending on which reviews you are reading), yet costs a fair amount more.
Sure it is a no maintenance water solution, but if it doesn’t cool better than air, what does that matter?
I’m of the opinion that CoolIT has come out with a great product in theory, but it just doesn’t pan out as well as it should/could.
Ways to improve:
Larger radiator for better cooling.
Ability to use externally.
Larger diameter tubing.
With these additions, increase the cost.
If you do that and possibly lower the cost of the Domino just slightly, you could have a kit for people who want a little more than air, and for people that want true water.
As it stands the Domino isn’t enough for enthusiasts and is too much for anyone who doesn’t overclock.
#19 by Barrolde - June 19th, 2009 at 16:33
@ SonDa5
I like the fan idea, it would also allow people to use a push / pull config if they wanted to.
As for the tubing size – we’ve actually done extensive testing and large hoses only help if you have a large innefficient block. Tube size is more about balancing components than hard and fast “bigger is better”.
Designing an enclosed system like this is much different than piecing together a custom cooling system from pieces. In that situation, the parts are not tested and matched together so it might be safer to get the big tubing, ultra-flow pump, and massive radiator.
These things being said, we’re of course always working to improve things so please keep the feedback (and questions) coming!
#20 by Barrolde - June 19th, 2009 at 17:03
@ anon
As I have attempted to explain before, the first unit we sent bit-tech for review was either damaged during shipping or assembly and broke when it shouldn’t have during installation under what we all considered to be non excessive force.
Of course, this turned bit-tech off the unit quite a lot and they actually took it upon themselves to ’stress test’ the next two units we sent in. Not surprisingly, the plastic barb broke two more times but for both of these I am certain that an excessive amount of force was used. They may disagree but I was there for one of the breaks and in my opinion, that much pressure would never be exerted on the barb in that way during normal handling, installation or operation. In other words, if you set out to try to break something, you probably will. Ie. if you were to push on the caps of a motherboard with your thumbs, chances are you’ll end up with a dead motherboard. The unfortunate part for us is the failure mode for a liquid system is alot messier than it is a motherboard so it looks worse on us.
As for me asking them not to write about it, I did ask that. Bit-tech is an influential site and their reviews affect buying decisions. I did not feel their experience was indicative of a typical user experience and therefore it wasn’t fair to us. In fact, its not even representative of the typical reviewer experience considering there are over 40 other extremely positive reviews out there but at the end of the day they are entitled to their opinion so they wrote about their experience and I can’t fault them for it.
I oversee the selling and returns of all Domino ALC coolers in the whole of Europe and can personally attest that the failure rate is extremely low and of those few failures I know of only a handful of those that have actually leaked.
I hope you can appreciate this honest and candid answer from a manufacturer. We take great pride in what we do and strive to deliver excellent value to our customers.
#21 by xfloggingkylex - June 22nd, 2009 at 10:39
@Barrolde, can you elaborate more on what types of failures you are in fact seeing, regardless of how rare?
#22 by Barrolde - June 22nd, 2009 at 16:52
Sure, there are two moving parts.. the pump and the fan. Once in a while as with anything that is mass produced you get one that either isn’t working or isn’t working right. Right now we are hovering just under a 1% failure rate which is actually just down right impressive.
#23 by xfloggingkylex - June 22nd, 2009 at 21:15
@Barrolde, no kidding, 1% is remarkable.
Does the system have measures to alert you when one of these parts fail? I imagine they do and it may even been included in the specs, but I can’t remember.
#24 by Andrew - June 23rd, 2009 at 09:38
The Domino ALC does alert you of any failures with the pump or fan…
its a pretty nifty unit compared to the “PURE”
Very quick and easy installation and It does a good job keeping the temps down… I noticed a lot of noise from the pure Unit (the pump) but no problems with the DOMINO so far…
Coolit Systems also have some very very good customer service they stand behind their product 100%