Cooling Reviews Watercooling

EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB Review – With a whopping 6 fans to the class victory of the All-In-One water coolers?

Test and methodology

A Ryzen 5 3600 has to be cooled with factory settings, in addition to 16GB DDR4 G.Skill RipJaws 4 (2x8GB) RAM on a MSI B550 Tomahawk (BIOS 7C91vA3). The Asus ROG Strix GTX 1060 6GB runs for the CPU stress tests only for the image output in zero-fan mode and a BitFenix Whisper M 450W is used as power source.

All data sets are logged with HWInfo64 v6.30-4240 – 2000ms Logging, the specified temperature comes from the sensor CPU Die (Average). The load of Prime95 produces an average of 88 watts CPU package power. Since I don’t have an air conditioning system, the values in the graphs are the delta between room temperature and CPU temperature. In this way all cooling systems can be compared fairly, even if the ambient temperature is different.
The heat-conducting paste enclosed with the cooler or applied in advance is used.

Benchmarks

For the first set of records I set the pump to 12V and only changed the fan speed:

12V / 30, 60, 100%

12V / 30% PWM

12V / 60% PWM

12V / 100% PWM

Pump speed

3400 RPM

3400 RPM

3400 RPM

Sound characteristics

loud humming

loud humming

loud humming

Fan speed

660 RPM

1440 RPM

2780 RPM

Sound characteristics

Inaudible

whirring

loud whirring

Ambient temperature

20,5 – 21,0°C

21,4 – 21,6°C

22,0 – 21,7°C

 

As the pump has a similar design to EK’s SPC series, which normally supplies a custom water cooling system, the rather high speed and penetrating whirring at 12V is not surprising. But the next comparison, this time with fixed RPM for the fans, gives the all-clear.  Even with significantly lower speed and inaudible operation of the pump, you do not lose much power:

6V, 9V, 12V / 100%

6V / 100%

9V / 100%

12V / 100%

Pump speed

1560 RPM

2775 RPM

3400 RPM

Sound characteristics

Inaudible

low hum

loud humming

Fan speed

2210 RPM

2210 RPM

2210 RPM

Sound characteristics

loud whirring

loud whirring

loud whirring

Ambient temperature

21,4 – 21,4°C

20,6 – 21,4°C

22,0 – 21,7°C

 

And finally another 12V on the pump and increasing fan speed, but only with 3 fans in push:

Push – 12V / 30, 60, 100%

12V / 30%

12V / 60%

12V / 100%

Pump speed

3390 RPM

3395 RPM

3395 RPM

Sound characteristics

Inaudible

low hum

loud humming

Fan speed

660 RPM

1425 RPM

2210 RPM

Sound characteristics

Inaudible

whirring

loud whirring

Ambient temperature

21,9 – 21,8°C

21,9 – 21,9°C

21,4 – 22,0°C

 

And here’s the general overview, plus the average values for a run with 9V (2780 RPM – quiet hum) on the pump and 60% PWM (1445 RPM – noise) for the fans:

 

Finally the comparison to other already tested coolers:

Of course, it should be noted that my Ryzen 5 3600 with its offset die design is more difficult to cool than other CPUs, but with about 88W it is not a room heater. For CPUs with significantly higher waste heat, towards Ryzen 9 / Core i9, the distances between the coolers should increase.


Conclusion / Summary

EK Waterblocks delivers with the AIO Elite a very high quality revision of the already popular “normal” EK-AIO and can avoid major points of criticism, away from a pile of plastic waste. But the six fans seem a bit exaggerated with the 27 mm radiator, I would have preferred a thicker version. The difference in operation with three or six fans is – at least with the CPU installed here – rather limited. Nevertheless, she can secure one of the first places without becoming deafeningly loud. The proud 5 year manufacturer’s warranty also shows that one has confidence in one’s own product. the purchase seems to be possible again only in the EK-Shop, at German dealers these AiO are listed again still the predecessor series.

If you have the space in the case or need a few new case fans, you can take them without hesitation. Provided the required change, if the cooler makes it to the store. Soon.

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