Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige Review
Category : Watercooling
Published by Christian Ney on 12.12.13
Cooler Master is relatively new in the CPU AIO water cooling market and with the recent introduction of the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige, it is quite clear that the company wants a bigger piece of that market. Teaming up with the likes of Alphacool from Germany and Eheim for the pump design, Cooler Master is definitely aiming at high-end market. The Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige promises some rather unique and impressive features and since it is based on an open-type design, it is expandable with more components, something that we do not usually see in the AIO water cooling market. Today, we embark on a journey to check out if the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige has what it takes to compete in an already crowded CPU AIO water cooling market.
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Not so long ago, Cooler Master announced and released its new Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige open-type All-in-One water cooling setup that promised some interesting features with its open-type design where you can actually add more components to the loop. Based on German design with Alphacool behind it, the Eisberg 120L Prestige was certainly a novelty in the AIO water cooler market filled with Asetek and CoolIT designs. It features a pure copper radiator and water block which were paired up with a powerful pump and water injection technology. When announced and on the paper, the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is certainly an interesting, high-end and innovative product and we hope that it can live up to its name.
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As noted earlier, the radiator on the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is made entirely from copper. Usually, copper is used only for water blocks while companies prefer to use aluminium for the radiator. Copper allows better and faster heat exchange but is also much more expensive when compared to aluminium. The Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige features 10/8 flexible tubing with ant-kink coil protection, something usually reserved for high-end AIO water coolers. The pure power of the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige lies in its powerful ceramic bearing pump that comes from Eheim. The unit is quite bigger when compared to other AIO water coolers on the market and offers 3'600RPM at 12V, which translates to around 400l/h. Usually, AIO water coolers are equipped with 1'200-1'500RPM pumps and in the case of Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige, the stronger pump makes perfect sense considering that it is an open-type AIO cooler and the pump should be capable in dealing with additional components. We just hope that it will be silent because 3'600 RPM just doesn't sound good.
The radiator comes with two 120x25mm Cooler Master, model SA12025SA2 fans. The manufacturing quality is decent and we have not found any manufacturing mistakes or issues on our sample. You might be asking why the copper is shimmering through the black paint. When there is a thick layer of paint covering the radiator, this deacreases heat conductivity, which is why there is only a thin layer of paint.
The design is quite standard although some might prefer a bit more modern designs from the competition while some might even prefer the industrial look of the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige.
Specifications |
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| Model | RL-EB12-16FK-R1 |
| Type | AIO WaterCooler |
| Provided Fan(s) | 2x 120x25mm 3-pin |
| Supported Fan(s) | 2x 120mm |
| Base Material | Copper |
| Radiator Material | Copper |
| Socket Support | AMD AM2(+), AM3(+), FM1,
FM2 Intel LGA 775, 1150, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011 |
| OEM | Alphacool |
| Thermal compound | CM Eiscreme (Tube) |
| Product Page | Eisberg 120L Prestige |
The Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige comes in a standard AIO water cooler box, which explains all the features of the cooler, while the unit itself is safely secured in cardboard made mold. The bundle is standard and includes the unit, manual, 120mm rubber "spacers", 5V adapter extension cable for the pump, mounting components, a tube of thermal compound (Cooler Master Eiscreme) and of course the two previously mentioned 120mm fans. The fact that Cooler Master did not pre-apply the thermal paste certainly points out that this is the high-end unit aimed more at enthusiasts rather than an average consumer. When the thermal paste is pre-applied, it leaves a lot of room for errors, but on the other hand, it makes the mounting a bit more easier for an average user.
The warranty is unfortunately quite low at two years, especially considering that it is marketed as a high-end product.
| Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Installation & Test Setup |
| Page 4 - Absolute Performance |
| Page 5 - PWM Performance |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Photo Gallery
| Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Installation & Test Setup |
| Page 4 - Absolute Performance |
| Page 5 - PWM Performance |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Installation
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The AIO water coolers are usually marketed as water cooling setups for an average computer user, while enthusiasts usually pick their own components and make their own water cooling setups. Unfortunately, mounting process on the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is not that easy and definitly not straightforward as expected. The design is not completely tool-less as on some other AIO water coolers as you still have to attach the fans to the radiator. We also had some issues with the base mounting system on Intel's LGA 775, 1150, 1155 and 1156 sockets as we had to use a griper to hold the lower part of the mounting system with threaded inserts. This did not happen with Intel's LGA 2011 and AMD sockets so design works well on Intel's LGA 2011 and AMD sockets, while it is far complicated on any other Intel socket. There is also no way to know if you screwed it far enough so in the end it will be either too tight or too loose. The design is quite awkward and it does sound like a great idea as you actually do not have to reach the back of the motherboard, which is nice for cases that do not have a cut out on the motherboard tray, but it simply does not work in some scenarios. Our sample also came with rather short fan screws which we could not mount in a case before removing the rubber fan spacers.
Test Setup |
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| Mainboard | ASUS Z87-Deluxe (BIOS 1602) |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-4770K Stock (Turbo On / HT On) |
| Memory | ADATA XPG V2 2x4GB DDR3-2800 CL12 1.65V |
| Video | Intel HD Graphics 4600 |
| Software |
Windows 7 x64 wPrime Benchmark v2.10 CPUID HWMonitor 1.24.0 |
| PSU | Seasonic Platinum SS-660XP2 |
| Fan Controller | Lamptron FC5 V3 |
| Thermal Compound |
Pre-applied or bundled GELID GC-Extreme else |
| Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Installation & Test Setup |
| Page 4 - Absolute Performance |
| Page 5 - PWM Performance |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Absolute Performance
Temperatures
7 V
To measure cooling capacity we took temperatures in idle and load with the fans at 7 and 12 V. The idle temperature represents the lowest temperature hit by the processor package after 10 minutes in idle. The load temperature is the highest temperature hit by the processor package after one pass of wPrime v2.10. The wPrime test takes 4 minutes and puts load on all 8 threads. Room temperature is 25°C.
12 V
Fan Speeds
Fan speeds (RPM) at 7 and 12 V.
Noise Levels
Decibel meter (Voltcraft SL-200) has been placed 1 meter away from the cooler. Measurements are conducted in a quiet room, where there are no other noise source. 32 dBA is the lowest we can get in our room. Also here the measurements are conducted at 7 and 12 V.
Watercooling Pump
Above the Water cooling pump speed (RPM) at 7 and 12 V. Below the noise levels of the Water cooling pump at 7 and 12 V (pump only, fans are off).
| Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Installation & Test Setup |
| Page 4 - Absolute Performance |
| Page 5 - PWM Performance |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
PWM Performance
Temperatures
At this point we plugged the fan(s) to the motherboard CPU fan header and let the motherboard take care of fan speeds. In other words the motherboard will ajust the fan speed via PWM signal according to CPU temperature. The idle temperature is the lowest temperature hit by the processor package after 10 minutes idle. The load temperature is the highest temperature hit by the processor package after one pass of wPrime v2.10. The wPrime test takes 4 minutes puts load on all 8 threads. Room temperature is 25°C.
Fan Speeds
Values are in RPM, we took the lowest speed hit by the fan(s) in idle and the highest under load.
Noise Levels
Decibel meter (Voltcraft SL-200) has been placed 1 meter away from the cooler. Measurements are conducted in a quiet room, where there are no other noise source. 32 dBA is the lowest we can get in our room. Also here the measurements are conducted at lowest and highest fan speeds in idle and under load respectively.
| Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Installation & Test Setup |
| Page 4 - Absolute Performance |
| Page 5 - PWM Performance |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| The Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is
definitely a nice and unique idea but it leaves us with mixed feelings.
While we certainly like all the features, it feels like we tested a
product which is in its beta testing stage, rather than finalized
product on the retail/e-tail shelf. Some enthusiasts will certainly
appreciate it due to its strong pump/reservoir, full copper design,
performance as well as expandability option and flexible anti-kink tubing
but some things simply do not work well. The installation is not easy and straightforward on most Intel sockets despite the fact that it is definitely a great idea, at least on paper. The pump, although with quite impressive specifications, is simply too loud at 7 and 12V and still noisy with the 5V adapter, aimed to be used when you do not need performance but silence. Supplied fans do not support PWM and are far from silent at 7V. The Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is definitely a nice idea on paper and we certainly hope that Cooler Master will perfect it on the next product. Currently it has a lot of flaws that ruins otherwise great idea. |
- Cooling capacity
- Strong pump/reservoir unit - Flexible anti-kink tubing - Expandable |
- Pump is loud, even at 5 V
- Fans aren't PWM - Not easy installation - No Y-Split fan cable |
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| Installation | + | - | |
| The Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is
compatible with most AMD and Intel sockets and does not come with
pre-applied thermal paste, which is definitely a plus in our book
although it might not bode well with less technical average consumers.
It also ships with 5V adapter for the pump which lowers the noise a bit.
The mounting system is definitely a nice idea as it does not need access to the back of the motherboard but unfortunately it does not work well on most Intel sockets. The entire mounting system, including screws that do not stop so you'll end up with too tight or too loose water block as well as too short fan screws that only work if you get rid of the rubber washer, simply feel like an unfinished product. The bundle also lacks the Y-split cable or a Molex to 3 fan header with voltage resistors that could make the fans and the pump silent. |
- Compatible Intel and AMD
- Thermal paste in tube - Rubber spacers for the fans - 5 V adapter for the pump |
- Complicated and not easy | |
| Performance | + | - | |
| One of the things that is exceptional on the Cooler Master Eisberg 120L Prestige is definitely its performance. Although we did not see any noticeable difference between one or two fans (around 1°C), the shear cooling performance of the pump and the copper radiator were quite impressive. | - Cooling performances | ||
| Noise Levels | + | - | |
| The impressive performance definitely comes with a
price and while main idea behind water cooling the PC is actually to get
rid of the noise, Cooler Master's Eisberg 120L Prestige fails in that
area. It is simply too loud for our taste and at 7 and 12V it is
probably the loudest thing we heard in a PC system and even with the 5V
adapter the situation is not that much better as the pump still spins at
2'120RPM and produces 35.8dBA of noise. Since the fans do not support PWM and since there is no voltage adapter provided, users will either have to adjust the fan speed via BIOS or via motherboard software as we certainly doubt that anyone will hold it at 12 or even 7V. We would at least liked that Cooler Master provided voltage adaptors or PWM fans, which they do have in their product lineup. |
- Noise levels
- Pump is loud |
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| Recommendation / Price | + | - | |
| Unfortunately we cannot recommend the Eisberg 120L
Prestige from Cooler Master as there is a lot of other AIO water coolers
on the market that are simply both cheaper and overall better as a final
product. It is definitely hard for us considering that we really liked
some of the ideas behind it and we are quite sure that there are
enthusiasts that would prefer those same features. We certainly hope
that Cooler Master will pursue this design further and hopefully one of
the next versions will be much better. Also, the price is way too high at 120 Euros. The Corsair Hydro H75, which we reviewed recently is better in every way as an overall product and only costs 66 Euros. |
- Price | ||
| Rating | |||
| We gave the Eisberg 120L Prestige from Cooler Master 2 out of 5 stars. | |||
| Page 1 - Presentation / Specifications |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Installation & Test Setup |
| Page 4 - Absolute Performance |
| Page 5 - PWM Performance |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |