Best budget 360mm AIO?

[GoogalyMoogaly]

So I'm looking to update my old H110i AIO to a 360mm AIO.

I'd like to go with a white one, but it's not a deal breaker. Also they seem to be more expensive.

The Arctic Freezer III seems like the best but the rad is too thick to fit. However given the pricing of the Freezer III I don't wanna pay silly prices (like the H150 prices) for the AIO.

So what reasonably priced 360mm AIO would you guys recommend?

I guess the other option would be to get a Freezer III and get the P12 Slim fans (which does start to bump that price up) but I don't know what screws you would use to attach the slim fans to the rad? Or if the slim fans would be any good on the Freezer III radiator?

Thanks.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

EKWB Nucleus is good. I wasn't particularly impressed with the Arctic Freezer III, as the pump housing gets in the way when trying to use a 4000 series wide GPU vertically. Some cases with more clearance under the usual 7 expansion slots on most cases should be fine, or a slimmer GPU no issues.

I hadn't even considered that with the Freezer III, but I also haven't considered vertically mounting my GPU. But something to keep in mind for sure.

Thermalright Notte 360 seems to get good reviews and slimmer than the Arctic Freezer III

I found a review of the 240 version that said it worked well on Intel but not on AMD (not sure why), but for the minute this would be going in an AM5 system.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Check out the Antec Virtex 360mm, great cooler I use it on my 7800X3D. Temp never goes over 65.

White version coming next month

And what does that do to make it cost twice as much as the ThermalRight Frozen Prism 360mm?

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Just an option for you, all AIOs are similar on the outside.

It's the quality of the fin stack in the main block that really defines the cost (other than higher end models with fancy screens etc) , i don't know the long term quality of the thermalright offerings.

What I do know is the Antec Vortex fin stack is good, especially for long term use.

Some cheap models can have gunk build up because of less quality materials etc. Not saying thermalright will be one, but if a price is usually half of all other brands then you have to wonder how they achieved that price point, and we're corners cut.

That's fair and I've heard it speculated on before too. What has also been pointed out is that at that price you could buy 2 for the same price as some 360mm AIOs, so if you need to replace it you're still not exactly out of pocket. Of course I also have little proof on the quality or long term viability on of an Antec AIO. I mean the Peerless Assassin from Thermalright also seems to have a good price so you'd guess they cut corners on that too but you don't hear many complaints. Arctic Freezer 3 is also pretty cheap, so would assume similar corner cutting there.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Are thermalright cost cutting? or are other OEMs price gouging? That is the £1M question. From the performance and reliability of their products that I own, I have my opinion...

You do have to wonder if it really costs Antec and the others ~£70 to make the AIOs don't you?
Maybe they're all making them for ~£30 or less and what the other companies are actually wondering how Thermalright's shareholders are OK not making ~200% profit on each unit.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Also what about the licensing fees to pay Asetek to use their patent on the CPU block for a AIO - any pump in the CPU block in the block has to pay Asetek for their patent use (if they sell into the US) now I don't know if Thermalright are selling to the USA - the patent is a USA one but if you have to sell in the USA you havew to pay them to cover every single unit you make, regardless of what region it goes too, but if Thermalright don't sell into the US, then they could be circum-venting that patent fee, which I believe Asetek do make a lot of money on. It's an interesting topic

I've seen American review sites (GamersNexus) review it and give a $ value, so it seem like they probably do.
You do have to wonder how they're doing it so cheap, maybe just an early strategy to get a foothold in the AIO market?

And I'm not saying the Thermalright AIO will have as good reliability as the more established manufacturers, but we don't know they wont. Also us customers don't know the longevity of any AIO until it's been on the market for a few years. But by then they're probably not selling it any more or are about to replace it or if it is still going is it competitive with the newer AIO on the new chips? And just because Lian Li (for example) made one or two good AIOs does that mean you can just trust one of the new ones?

So hard to know what to do as a consumer, but that extends beyond AIOs...