Conclusion
For rather incomprehensible reasons, the cooling performance of the vast majority of AIO liquid coolers is degraded by the use of an unsuitable backplate. The backplate is usually undersized, made of plastic, and cannot exert optimal pressure on the processor. To give you an idea of how a “traditional” plastic backplate stacks up against a proper, steel one, we’ve prepared a comparison of the two.
Conclusion
The results of the metal backplate versus the plastic one clearly show that the plastic variant is really inadequate for more expensive coolers. When a cooler gets a bigger radiator, more pump flow, or more efficient fans, none of these (even in combination) may improve cooling performance as much as the higher pressure of a robust backplate.
See how small the differences are between the different liquid coolers in our tests and also, how big the difference in results can be for the same liquid cooler with different backplates. Our measurements did not achieve as significant a difference as Alphacool claims, but this does not negate their claims of a 13°C reduction in temperature with a metal backplate.
The above temperature drop is real, although although in our case it was at best “only” 7 °C (Too little? again let’s remember tests of CPU coolers, go through them to see what are the differences between the different models of liquid coolers). This is because Alphacool most likely used a custom loop for comparison, which has a significantly higher cooling capacity (TDP) than the Eisbaer Aurora we used for our tests. This is also evidenced by the fact that Alphacool talks about a 240W load in the context of their results.
At a similar load (~250 W) in our tests, the largest temperature difference due to backplate effects was not achieved. The latter was recorded at significantly lower loads. A load corresponding to 250 W is already out of the effective range of the Eisbaer Aurora 360 (and not only of it, but of most of its AIO alternatives) and it achieves the best results at a different, lower TDP.
After exceeding the most efficient range, the cooling performance of each and every cooler drops, sometimes quite dramatically. In this case, it wasn’t so terrible, and the Eisbaer Aurora 360 with a metal backplate still achieved temperatures four degrees Celsius lower temperatures than if you used a plastic backplate. In gaming load (12900K) at a power draw of about 100 W, the difference is greater – 7 °C.
However, the biggest temperature difference will be somewhere between 100–250 W (maybe even closer to 13 °C). But that would be for another article, which would deal with which cooler is most efficient at which load with which CPU, and where it starts to tip (and the progression takes an inefficient trend). But that’s a new topic in itself.
Anyway, the use of a metal backplate is important, and although it is ignored by the manufacturers of expensive liquid coolers, it needs to be vigorously pointed out. With a price of 7 euros (that’s how much the tested Alphacool Core backplate is sold for), it doesn’t make much sense to pay significantly higher amounts for other elements when such a simple (and cheap) thing as a solid backplate will do more work.
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
| Alphacool Core Backplate |
| + Significantly higher strength than a plastic backplate... |
| + ... and the resulting better heat transfer (more efficient cooling) |
| + Compared to the plastic backplate, significantly increases cooling efficiency |
| + High mechanical durability |
| + Favorable price |
| - Thin internal thread walls – nothing for frequent (de)mounting |
| Approximate retail price: 7 eur/172 Kč |
Excellent testing as always. Hopefully with the integrated backplate on AM5, more manufacturers will be forced to utilize proper metal backplates instead of flimsy custom ones.