Having introduced you to Alphacool’s Eiszeit 2000 chiller cooling system, it was time to test it and take some measurements with our i9-13900KS processor. Let’s see if we should stick to the basic chiller values, or if we can access the advanced settings to give our processor maximum cooling! Thanks to Alphacool for giving us the opportunity to review this cooling system.
As a reminder, we recently reviewed other Alphacool products, including the Core 1 CPUwaterblock, the Eiswolf 2 AIO – 360 mm RTX 4090 TUF and the Core Geforce RTX 4090 GameRock Phantom waterblock.
[nextpage title=”Introducing the Eiszeit 2000 chiller: “]
As you’d expect, given the chiller ‘s dimensions, the box containing it is quite imposing. It also weighs a hefty 29 kg, which is why it was delivered on a pallet. The chiller is perfectly protected by a transparent plastic film and large foam blocks, ensuring delivery in perfect conditions. Alphacool claims a cooling capacity equivalent to 1500 watts. This cooling system comes at a not inconsiderable price, as the Eiszeit 2000 is priced at almost 1,000 euros.
The Eiszeit 2000 chiller is really quite imposing, with dimensions of 560 x 280 x 470 mm and, above all, an empty weight of 29 kg. In fact, you’ll need to fill it, and knowing that the tank has a capacity of 9 liters, you can easily add this weight when it’s up and running. Alphacool has provided two handles on the top for moving it. It stands on four rubber feet, but in the end we would have preferred to see it equipped with four small castors.
The front panel features an LCD screen for setting the liquid outlet temperature, a power button and two LEDs, one green and one red. These are designed to let you know if there’s a flow problem. The Eiszeit 2000 benefits from a number of safety features, including protection against compressor overvoltage and overtemperature.
The two side panels are each fitted with a perforated door to allow air to enter and then be exhausted from the rear of the chiller. Both doors feature a dust filter that can be removed for cleaning.
When the door is removed, the 9-liter tank is revealed. Like most of the chiller’s components, it is insulated with armaflex.
Inside the tank is the evaporator. This is responsible for cooling the liquid according to the temperature set on the LCD display. The tank is filled from the top of the chiller via the filling port.
To the right of the tank is the compressor, rated at 0.49/0.57 KW (0.66/0.77 HP). The gas used in the circuit is R-134a. You can also spot the large radiator, known as the condenser. Air will pass through it and be evacuated by the two fans located at the rear of the case.
Let’s talk about the rear panel. You can see the two fans responsible for drawing air through the condenser and evacuating it out of the chiller. The two fans measure 160 mm and are fitted with a protective grille to prevent you from losing a finger. On the upper left, you can see the tank inlet and outlet, which are G1/4 compatible, the standard used by most watercooling fittings.
To circulate the liquid, as in any cooling loop, you’ll need a pump with a flow rate of 10L/min. The power of this pump will enable you to relocate the chiller if you wish to place it in another room to avoid noise pollution, for example. You should also be aware that the pump has a 10-meter head! If the flow rate seems too high, you can limit it by adding a ball valve to your cooling loop.
You’ll also need to pay close attention to the level of liquid in the reservoir. Alphacool has provided a window indicating the level, which should be in the green section. At the bottom of the rear panel is a plug for draining the circuit.
How a chiller works:
We’re going to try and give you a simple explanation of how a chiller works, based in particular on this video from the abcclim website. As we’ve already explained, the four key components are the compressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator. Bear in mind that, in the case of our Alphacool Eiszeit 2000, the evaporator has a serpentine shape and is inserted into the reservoir to lower the temperature of the liquid in your liquid cooling loop.
Our example of the Alphacool Eiszeit 2000 also features an electronic part that allows you to select the temperature of the liquid in the reservoir. Alphacool allows you to choose a basic minimum temperature of 20°C. In our case, we’ll see if it’s possible to go lower.
The inner workings of the Eiszeit 2000 :
Although the first photos already give us an idea of the chiller ‘s operating principle , we were keen to discover its inner workings. So we removed the hood to reveal the cooling circuit.
We can see that the internal organization follows the diagram shown in the video, and that the various components are easily identifiable, such as the condenser whose dimensions are 190 x 310 x 80 mm. The various elements that could condense are isolated.
The tank is also easily identifiable, with a capacity of 9 liters. The transparent plastic tube on the back of the chiller allows you to judge the liquid level. You’ll need to keep a close eye on this level to see if a top-up is necessary, or to ensure that the circuit is perfectly sealed.
The thermostat is an Elitech T-503 and the gas used in the chiller is R134a. We’re going to look on the internet for information about the thermostat to see if it’s possible to access the advanced settings.
Let’s finish with a photo of the pump and the Y which will allow you to drain your liquid via the rear of the chiller. As we said, the internal design is clean and the welds well executed.
[nextpage title=”Installing the chiller:”]
The first step is to choose where to place your chiller. Alphacool has designed a pump powerful enough to allow you to move it to another room, for example, to avoid noise pollution. In our case, we’ll simply test it close to our configuration first. Here are the steps to follow before powering up the Eiszeit 2000:
- Place the two G 1/4 connectors at the rear, noting “inlet” and “outlet” so as to place your components to be cooled in the right order. In general, a waterblock has a specific inlet and outlet that must be respected for optimum cooling.
- Install your pipes. In our case, knowing the power of the pump, we didn’t shorten them so as not to waste them, especially given their price – they’re EK-Loop ZMT Soft black – and especially since this isn’t yet the definitive location for our chiller.
- Fill the tank, keeping an eye on the water level. Note that once you’ve tested your cooling loop, i.e. plugged in the chiller, you’ll almost certainly need to top it up again, depending on the length of your cooling loop and the components to be cooled.
- Press the switch to the “ON” position and off you go!
Two operating modes:
Our chiller has two operating modes: intelligent mode and constant water temperature mode. By default, the intelligent mode will operate. The chiller will therefore adjust to the ambient temperature and set the water temperature 2°C lower. For example, if the ambient temperature is 24°C, the water will be around 22°C. To be honest, we’re not really interested in this mode, and we’d like to be able to manage the liquid temperature as we see fit.
Constant water temperature mode:
In order to be able to adjust the water temperature, we’ll have to change the operating mode, but here the default liquid temperature is 25°C. If the temperature rises, the compressor starts up to bring it back to this default value.
So we’re going to decrease it by going to the advanced settings and holding down â–² SET for 5 seconds, until “0” is displayed. Change the value with â–² and choose the default password, which is “8”, then press SET. This takes you to the settings shown in the table below.
The table above shows the default parameters that we’ll be able to modify. If we want to modify the water temperature, we need to edit code “F0”. We’ll select this code and lower the 25°C to 20°C by pressing SET and then saving with RST. We’ll also need to change code “F3” from 1 to 0 to activate constant water temperature mode. Code “F2” is used to set the temperature difference before the compressor starts. If we leave it at default, when the liquid temperature reaches 20°C, the compressor will switch off and only restart when the temperature rises to 20.8°C.
Go further:
As you can see, it’s possible to go even further and lower the temperature. To do so, you’ll need to deactivate the alarm via code “F5” and the minimum temperature limit via code “F9″. We’ll test whether this is possible on the next page.
[nextpage title=”Testing with the i9-13900KS:”]
For our test protocol, we’re going to use the one we set up to compare the performance of waterblocks and recently used with the Alphacool Core 1.
The tests will be carried out on a ROG Z790 APEX motherboard, combined with an Intel i9-13900KS processor. This processor features 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores for a total of 32 threads. For the tests, and to prevent the Boost frequency from distorting the results, we’ll set the P-Core frequency at 5.6 GHz, the E-Core at 4.0 GHz and the voltage at 1.20 volts, with the LLC at level 7.
Temperatures will of course be high, as we’re going to use a stress test that will load our processor at 100% continuously for 10 minutes with Cinebench R23. Of course, in everyday use of your configuration, it’s never the case that all cores are called upon for such a long time at the same time! The reference score, which will be compared with the chiller ‘s performance , will be achieved with an EK-CoolStream XE 480 radiator, 520 x 130 mm, 60 mm thick. It is equipped with four 38 mm thick EK-Meltemi 120ER fans.
As far as our chiller is concerned, we’ll carry out a test with the water temperature set at 20°C, but also at 15°C. We’re off!
Stress tests with R23:
Here are the results we obtained in our series of three tests.
During our first test with our liquid cooling loop, the water temperature climbed to 30.1°C after 10 minutes of stress. With the chiller, it was between 19.8 and 20.5°C in the first test and between 14.6°C and 15.5°C in the second. Our results are perfectly consistent with core temperatures varying according to liquid temperature.
Alphacool’s Eiszeit 2000 still allows us to lower the liquid temperature, but beware: as we continue to lower it, we’ll be confronted with condensation. We’ll need to protect the motherboard, as we do for cold tests. We’ll go further in this direction in a second article.
[nextpage title=”The last word:”]
So, who is this type of product aimed at? Obviously, a more restricted audience than users of a traditional liquid cooling solution. The idea here is to keep a configuration equipped with several waterblocks cool, without having to invest in a whole series of radiators and fans. We can also see this chiller being used to keep water-cooled servers cool. But it can also be used for a more fun side of things, to start overclocking at temperatures close to 0°C. As you can see, it’s easy to get to grips with and use, and requires no special knowledge. This Eiszeit chiller can also be used for our waterblock comparisons, by setting a fixed water temperature for an even more precise protocol.
A special thanks to Alphacool  for allowing us to review this Eiszeit 2000 chiller, which will become an invaluable tool for our overclocking sessions. We’re preparing a new test to push this Eiszeit to the limit!
Alphacool’s Eiszeit 2000 chiller:
We liked:
- Ease of use
- The ability to lower the water temperature below 20°C
- Build quality, inside and out
- Manual in three languages: German, English and French
- Alphacool’s availability of a chiller, the last brand on the market to offer it
We would have liked :
- A less expensive price
- Reduced noise pollution, but that’s impossible on this type of product
This Eiszeit 2000 chiller from Alphacool is aimed at a niche audience, but as we’d like to emphasize, we’re glad to see a brand still offering this type of cooling. For our part, we’re far from finished with it yet, and you’ll soon find it at the center of a new test. Thank you once again to Alphacool for allowing us to get our hands on and test this Eiszeit 2000 chiller!