Fractal Design Lumen S28 RGB AiO Review – More colorful, but also better?

1 - Einführung und technische Daten 2 - Optik und Haptik 3 - Methodik, Ergebnisse und Fazit

Methodology

A Ryzen 5 3600 has to be cooled at factory settings, in addition 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport (2x8GB) DDR4 memory on a MSI B550 Tomahawk (BIOS 7C91vA3). The Asus ROG Strix GTX 1060 6GB is running in zero-fan mode for the CPU stress tests only for the image output, and a Fractal Design Ion Gold 750W serves as the power source, all housed in the Thermaltake Core P3 as an open benchtable.

All records are logged with HWInfo64 v6.30-4240 – 2000ms logging, the specified temperature is derived from the sensor CPU Die (Average). The load of Prime95 produces an average of 88 watts of CPU package power. Since I don’t have air conditioning, the values in the graphs are the delta between room temperature and CPU temperature.  This allows all cooling systems to be compared fairly, even if the ambient temperature is different.  The thermal paste supplied with the cooler or pre-applied is used in each case.

I determine the sound level with a Voltcraft SL-200 meter at a distance of 40cm, which works in 125ms cycles in Lo mode. The room was measured at 33.2 dB(A), an external sample table is helpful for the breakdown.

Benchmarks

First, let’s take a look at how the water cooling system performs at maximum pump RPM and gradually increasing fan RPM:

And on the next run, I set the fans to a fixed speed and gradually run the pump faster:

The following is an overview of the results and a comparison with the competition:

Here you can find detailed reviews of the other AiO watercooling systems compared here:
> Review Deepcool Castle 280EX
> Review SilentiumPC Navis EVO ARGB 240 V2
> Review be quiet! Silent Loop 2
> Review EK Waterblocks EK-AIO Basic 240 / 360

Summary and conclusion

In a direct technology comparison to the already tested Celsius+ S36 Prism, the successor series has become a bit more “boring”. Fan lift on the radiator and optional automatic control by turning the pump block are gone, but full 5 year manufacturer warranty remains. The Lumen S28 is also not particularly quiet, but fortunately not loud either. At low fan speeds, the pump stands out, and due to its position in the radiator, it should also always remain a bit more audible than other AiO water cooling systems.

It is also noticeable that the pump integrated in the radiator is not quite in the middle under the fan motor, or is slightly larger than it. So this blows in a small area on the cover and not through cooling fins. However, this does not seem to cause any great loss in cooling performance, which is great. A proud 2°C less than the other 280mm AiO is a respectable lead. The price is more in the upper mid-range, but that’s also where the competition is. Without the RGB fan, there is then a bit of a discount again, so the new Lumen series is well worth a look for those interested, with a possible street price still coming down. As a technically and qualitatively flawless AiO water cooling I can recommend it in any case already.

The test sample was provided by Fractal Design without obligation. There was and is no influence on the tests and results. There was also no compensation for expenses and no obligation to publish.