Test setup and results …
Cooler Test Setup …
For Practical testing, we mounted the Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux watercooler on our proven AM4 test system, which consists of the following components:
ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
Crucial 2x4GB DDR4-2400
Cooler Master Testbench v1.0
The following OC tools were used for the measurement: Prime95 and SpeedFan
The room temperature during the test was a summery approx. 24°C, slightly higher than usual.
As always, the Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux competes against our reference, the Noctua NH-D15. If you want, you can also take a look at our Review of the Thermaltake Toughliquid 360 ARGB Sync AIO, for example, which was reviewed under the same conditions but at about 21°C room temperature and compare the results.
We first preheated the water cooling for 30 minutes so that the results were not distorted by initially cooler water in the circuit, then loaded the CPU with Prime95 for 30 minutes each and noted the temperatures.
As with other 240mm or 360mm AIOs, the Cooler Master Toughliquid PL360 can show its strengths rather in the lower noise level against the Noctua NH-D15. Here, the air cooler with its many heat pipes seems to be able to dissipate the heat more effectively. However, the pure temperature results are still very good, especially since you also have to consider the summer room temperatures.
The pump runs so quietly at 12V that you can hear a whirring sound with your ear in the immediate vicinity, but we could not capture it on video with our equipment. What we did test, however, is that you can still regulate the pump to 60% for the last dB without worrying. It only costs a 2°C higher CPU temperature. However, pump throttling is not necessary from our point of view!
Cooler Master has done a very good job here with the revised pump.
The fans are also tuned quite quietly and are not particularly loud even at 100%, and the noise is also very pleasant in terms of sound over the entire speed range. Thus, a cool and quiet system can be built overall.
In order to better assess the fans, we have, as always, created a video in which we regulate the speed range once completely up and down again.
Now we come to the optical criteria of the AIO water cooling.
Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux Lighting …