INTRODUCTION

   It may be a fact that current cooling technologies have been maxed out in terms of efficiency but if there's one thing the industry clearly does very well that's to squeeze every bit of performance from just about anything by simply improving aspects of it. Take AIO CPU coolers for example, since the very first models made their debut roughly a decade ago the industry has introduced numerous changes/improvements to further optimize their cooling efficiency. This means that pretty much everything from materials used and part designs (internal) to pump positioning and number of fans used has changed over the years. The latest Lumen series of AIO CPU Water Cooling Systems by Fractal Design also tries a couple of new things and today with me i have both the S24 and S24 RGB variants.

   Fractal Design is a leading designer and manufacturer of premium PC hardware including cases, cooling, power supplies and accessories. Based in Gothenburg and with offices in the US as well as Taiwan, Fractal Design has gained a global reputation for innovative design, elegant aesthetics and solid build quality. Fractal Design products are available in over 45 countries worldwide, and are still growing.

   Just like with some other AIO models in the market today both the Lumen S24 and S24 RGB AIO Water Cooling Systems by Fractal Design basically consist by 5 parts, dual 120mm fan aluminum radiator (27mm in thickness), high-RPM ceramic bearing pump, 400mm long low-permeability rubber tubes (nylon braided), waterblock complete with ARGB lighting (6 ARGB LEDs) and a copper plate and two Aspect 12 PWM rifle-bearing fans (RGB for the S24 RGB). So basically, these two AIO are identical, minus the RGB Aspect 12 PWM fans used with the S24 RGB that is which are compatible with all the major motherboard sync technologies like ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASRock Polychrome Sync and Razer Chroma RGB (as is the waterblock). What sets the entire Lumen series apart most AIO models currently in the market is the positioning of the pump which instead of placing just over the waterblock Fractal Design has squeezed inside the fins of the aluminum radiator. Now i am not entirely certain as to the benefits of doing that (my first guess would be lower temperatures in the pump which could in turn result in improved cooling efficiency and life?) but I’m sure Fractal Design had their reasons so let's see what these two can do.