INTRODUCTION

     Air vs Liquid CPU cooling has been one of the most heated debates in the PC community for well over a decade now and at least for me things are rather simple. If you don't care about having the best cooling efficiency around (top air coolers are the exception to this), airflow levels are good inside your case, clearance issues are not a thing for you and you don't ever want to concern yourself with even the possibility of a broken pump then air cooling is clearly what you should lean towards. On the other hand, if you're looking for the best possible cooling efficiency, airflow levels are not that great or if clearance issues are a thing, then liquid cooling is meant for you. Looks obviously also matter but there are both air and liquid coolers that look nice so that's really something that comes down to personal preference. The LIQMAXFLO ARGB line of AIO liquid coolers by ENERMAX was unveiled late last year and with me today i have the 360mm model.

   ENERMAX was founded in Taiwan in 1990 and is a world-renowned PC Power Supply manufacturer and maker of award-winning PC components such as chassis, coolers, fans, and peripherals, with recognition from consumers around the world. Our farsighted R&D capability is our key strength and we stick to our spirit of “Technical Innovation” and “Quality First” to create products that unleash the full potential of the system for every PC enthusiast. For more information, please visit us at www.ENERMAX.com

   Unlike most AIO lines the LIQMAXFLO ARGB line of AIO CPU Liquid Coolers by ENERMAX currently includes 240/360/420mm models all of which stand out due to their TDP of 400W, 38mm thick aluminum radiators, 60mm VRM ARGB fan (3000RPM) placed on top of the pump and the bundled coolant (for service purposes). Everything else pretty much remains the same and so once again we find two 400mm long nylon braided rubber tubes, high-performance dual chamber Xtreme ceramic-bearing pump (3-phase, 6-pole motor with a speed of up to 3000RPM -+10%), all-copper base (with shunt-channel technology) and three 120mm ARGB PWM fans (3mm thick blades/1800RPM/58.03CFM/23.46dBA/2.4mmH2O). As expected, both the three bundled 120mm ARGB PWM fans and the 60mm VRM ARGB fan are fully compatible with 3-pin (5V) ARGB sync technologies (ASUS Aura Sync, Razer Chroma RGB, ASRock Polychrome Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion and MSI Mystic Light) but for those who don't own a compatible motherboard ENERMAX bundles a compact RGB control box with their LIQMAXFLO ARGB AIO series. Finally, ENERMAX covers the entire LIQMAXFLO ARGB line of AIO liquid coolers with a 5-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Typically, the front of the box is taken by a large product picture, the company logo and the socket compatibility.

Product dimensions are showcased on the right side of the box.

The specifications table and features of the LIQMAXFLO ARGB line are printed at the rear of the box.

Once again, the AIO and its bundle are placed inside a formed piece of cardboard.

Along with the main unit of the LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360 and its three 120mm ARGB fans inside the box you'll also find a coolant bottle, small thermal paste tube, test PSU adapter, fan y-splitter, 3pin fan to SATA power adapter, three ARGB adapters, RGB control box, backplate, user manual and all the necessary bits to install the AIO on Intel LGA 1150/1151/1155/1156/1200/1366/1700/2011/2011-3/2066 and AMD AM4/AM5 motherboards.

THE LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360

The LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360 looks a lot like most AIO models out there, minus the top of the pump and its radiator.

At just over 38mm thickness the aluminum radiator used with the LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360 is certainly not what we see a lot with AIO models.

18 is the number of fins per inch (FPI) for this radiator.

The empty port located just next to the base of the tubes is not to be used, instead if you need to use some of the bundled coolant there’s another port on the opposite side.

Although not the longest I’ve ever seen used with an AIO the 400mm long rubber braided tubes should be more than plenty for most PC cases.

The top of the pump/waterblock combo features an 60mm VRM ARGB fan together with a magnetically attached cover that has the company logo on it.

You can easily remove the top and orient it however you want.

As usual both tubes rotate at their base to simplify installing the AIO (this time over they rotate around 50 degrees instead of 90).

By default, the medium-sized coldplate comes with several spots of thermal conductive material.

Since I don’t use the stock thermal paste for my reviews, I removed it to check for possible machine marks and as you can easily see there aren’t any.

ENERMAX ships the LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360 with three 120mm ARGB fans (1800RPM/58.03CFM/23.46dBA/2.4mmH2O) which as their strong point have their 3mm thick fan blades and rubber pads on all corners.

With the 120mm ARGB fans mounted onto the aluminum radiator thickness jumps to around 63mm.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Testing complete water cooling kits or individual radiators is no different than testing CPU Coolers and since i want all of you to be able to compare similar products, i created new and separate charts (you can still cross-compare results however since we are using the same test rig). So once again single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of the test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests complete water cooling kits or radiators with bundled fans are measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside that said room. Finally, much like when testing CPU Coolers, it's very important to point out that just because a water cooling kit outperforms another when tested with my test rig (when i test complete water cooling kits) that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

   To successfully record the load temperatures, I’ll be using the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded, I’ll wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can i deliver real world results to all of you based on real CPUs but i can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests (when fans exist in the bundle) are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the radiator. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here, we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   By using a 38mm thick aluminum radiator ENERMAX was able to produce good cooling efficiency numbers at very low noise levels and that’s both good and bad. Personally, I would had used faster fans to produce even better results and for those who wouldn’t need the extra speed I’d bundle a low-noise adapter (just like they did with the Aquafusion ADV ARGB series). That being said with noise levels hardly surpassing 46dBA at full load the LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360 is among the 10 lowest noise models in my charts (and out of a total of 89 that says a lot). At the same time however the 38mm thick radiator may not fit in every single case out there (63mm with the fans) so be sure to check prior to getting your hands on any member of the LIQMAXFLO ARGB series. The fact that the speed of the 60mm VRM ARGB fan is “tied” to that of the pump is actually not an issue since noise levels are not high enough (if they were that would be a different story – still some people would certainly like to be able to adjust its speed). The ability to fill the radiator with coolant if ever needed is also a plus although I don’t expect coolant levels to be an issue for many years to come.

   Currently retailing for just USD127.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 130.15Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the LIQMAXFLO ARGB 360 AIO Liquid Cooler by ENERMAX is priced very well. At the end of the day the LIQMAXFLOW ARGB 360 may not be the highest performance AIO in the market today but it does well, it’s almost inaudible, comes with extra coolant in the box (just in case) and it looks very nice so the Golden Award is in order.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Overall Cooling Efficiency
- 60mm VRM ARGB Fan & ARGB Illuminated Fans
- Low Noise Levels
- 400mm Long Sleeved Tubes
- Easy Installation
- Bundled Coolant
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- 38mm Radiator (Case Compatibility)
- 60mm VRM Fan (Can't Adjust Speed / Tied To The Pump).