Question The absolute best AIO 360

[Flyfisherman]

Hi,
I am looking for the top notch AOI 360 that one can by for money.
I really don't care much for LED light.

Looking at this test did not give exactly what I want, it is interesting though.
Tom's Hardware: Cooler Master Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux Review
The cooler is to thin, but I like the way they have manufactured the pump and perhaps less coil whining, however nothing in the review mentioned anything about coil whine.

Any tip would be highly appreciated.
Best regards from Sweden.

 

[bill001g]

What I was kinda surprised about is in the very latest list on tomshardware they had the arctic freezer 280 but not the 360 even though many sites rate the arctic 360 the best.

It is hard to say what they rate the highest they don't have detailed cooling test charts like many other review/ranking sites. They also rate pros and cons for things like LED which is a very subjective thing.

From what I have seen it depends on how important noise is to you. If you crank the fans to the max the list is very different than if you control the noise levels. I would recommend you dig around and try to find some of the actual data and pick what is most important to you.
There are a couple of youtube channels that have done comparisons but like anything be careful of bias or possible advertiser payoffs in anything you read.

 

[Karadjgne]

No such thing as 'best'. As such. The reason being is that they all differ, just like any other component. Might as well ask 'what's the best car?'

Best what? Best where? Best how? There's a marked difference between best temp at 100% fans, best quietest at 100% fans, same thing at lower settings, best reliability, best customization etc.

Arctic 360 has best temps. Asus/Noctua has quietest fans and most customization, Nzxt has Cam software so is more tailorable to your/case specific needs or wants vs standard motherboard/bios software run aios like the Arctic. Evga 360 is also highly rated, excellent mid range performance but gets noisy at 100% fans. EK has the best pump and is generally very close to the top in Every catagory and unlike most other aios, is refillable so the 5-6year lifespan doesn't apply.

 

[Flyfisherman]

The problem with Asus Cooler is that they have a fan on top of the CPU block.
Now, that is a problem since this fan spinns att full 2000, 2500 rpms the time.

 

[bill001g]

This is again where the comparison get messy. Some coolers are trying to cool the VRM around the CPU. It all depends on what value you place on that. It will greatly depend on if your case fans do a good enough job or you need more. And then you get into the debate about if you should even care about the VRM temps.

 

[Flyfisherman]

bill001g
You got a point there my friend.

 

[Flyfisherman]

So what are You suggest?
I really want the best!

 

[Karadjgne]

The problem with Asus Cooler is that they have a fan on top of the CPU block.
Now, that is a problem since this fan spinns att full 2000, 2500 rpms the time.

The Asus Ryuo/Ryujin has an OLED display on top of the pump. The fans included are @ 400rpm to 2000rpm.

The Arctic has a very small fan on the outer edge of the pump top, designed for active cooling of the VRM's, which is generally a downside with liquid cooling, the aircoolers having blowby that does that. And yes it does actually work pretty well. Gamersnexus has done reviews on the Arctics.

 

[Karadjgne]

What cpu? What case? Where is it going to be mounted?

 

[Flyfisherman]

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

 

[Flyfisherman]

So o one can tell me the best, I found that ridiculous.

 

[Karadjgne]

Most of the 360's will perform the same, or close enough to be margin of error. Cpu temps are not static, they will constantly be changing, so you'd never notice if one was 1° or 3° different at the exact same spot as a different model.

So general performance in a stock setting is going to be similar, which leaves the gimmicks, like Noctua fans or OLED displays or software controls or white paint or led fans etc.

The Arctic has a definitive advantage being 8mm thicker rad than almost all the others, the EK has the advantage of not being an asetek pump but a custom liquid cooling manufacturer pump. The Nzxt has the advantage of using coolant instead of cpu temp control if you wanted that as well as a better software control of fan curves.

So just saying you want the best is pointless, there is no best as such, there's only what's going to work best for you and your pc. Not everyone wants or needs certain options, or may prefer other options like a white rad and tubes, and the 1 or 3° difference (even if there is one) is a moot point because the white rad is the 'best' for what they want.

Finding the best for you is relatively easy. First, go look at a bunch of different models, and write them down. Figure out where they are different to other brands. Make a comprehensive list of exactly what you want for your pc. Then start deleting all the brands/models that don't fit your wants. You'll end up with several that fit needs. After that it's just deciding which might get better performance or which has stuff that's a waste of money or which doesn't look good or got terrible reviews etc. You'll end up with 1 or 2 options and they'll be the best fit for your pc, it's needs, your wants plus any bonus material. Then ask if there's a preference by others.

 

[Phaaze88]

There are coolers that do better on Core i than they do on Ryzen, and vice versa, due to slightly concave/convex cold plates, multi chip or monolithic die cpus, and the cpu's IHS goes slightly concave/convex in reaction to heat.
No one's really gone into that extensively, though TechPowerUp does have both AMD and Intel test setups, unlike other reviewers. They started doing that in April of 2021, though I think their AMD one is more in need of an update.

If all you want is best, 100% fan speed, raw performance, then some of the best ones out there have been among the loudest ones...
But once tuning to your comfort zone comes into play, the discussion falls off a cliff into the speculation pit. Fans have different specs, users have different set fan curves, fan performance at a given rpm is also different... too many possibles.
After you've chosen on a size of cooler, it becomes more about the other functions/features Karadjgne posted about above.