ID-Cooling FX 360 INF Pink Review: Stylishly pink, but loud in more ways than one

It’s fair to say most of the PC market is targeted towards male gamers, with most components available in black or white. But today we’re testing something decidedly more colorful: ID-Cooling’s FX 360 INF Pink. As its name implies, this AIO liquid cooler sets itself apart from its competition with a pink and white theme.

While I’ve already reviewed the standard version of ID-Cooling’s FX360 INF, I’ve learned the hard way that even if a product shares the same name, different colored versions can have different performance levels. A great example of this is Cooler Master’s Cryofuze thermal paste. When I tested thermal pastes last year for an update to our best thermal paste, the white variant of the Cryofuze thermal paste outperformed the black version by 2.5 degrees Celsius!

Will this pink-themed AIO make our list of best coolers on the market? Let’s take a look at the specifications and features of the cooler, then we’ll go over thermal performance and noise levels to see where it lands.

Cooler specifications

Packing and included contents

The packaging for the cooler, just like the product itself, is boldly pink. Opening the box reveals the contents, protected by molded foam and plastic coverings, like most other ID-Cooling AIOs.

Included in the box are the following:

• Three 120mm pink-themed fans
• 360mm radiator
• Premium Frost X45 thermal paste
• Mounting accessories for modern AMD and Intel platforms
• Tubing management clips
• Mounting stud installation tool
• Installation Manual

Features of ID-Cooling’s FX360 INF Pink

▶️ Premium Frost X45 thermal paste

The FX360 INF Pink arrives with a tube of ID-Cooling’s premium Frost X45 thermal paste. When I tested thermal pastes last year, the Frost X45 was the best-performing traditional thermal paste!

▶️ Pink aesthetic theme

This AIO is one of the few liquid coolers on the market available in Pink. When I started this review, I looked for competing pink 360mm AIOs, and I could only find two available: ID-Cooling’s previously released Pinkflow 360 (which isn’t widely available) and Vetroo’s V360. So your options are pretty limited if pink is an important part of your cooling plan.

▶️ Cable management clips

Three cable management clips are included to help keep cables and tubing tidy and organized.

▶️ Accessible refill port

I go out of my way to recognize companies when they don’t include a consumer-unfriendly “warranty void if removed” sticker on top of the refill port – an action that’s technically illegal under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in the USA. ID-Cooling includes an accessible refill port without any warnings so that users who wish to service their equipment can do so – though it is hidden behind a sticker. Most users won’t have to do this during the lifespan of the five-year warranty, but it’s nice to have the option should the need arise.

It is hard to see in this photo, but if you look carefully you can see the outline of the screw behind the white sticker.

▶️ Standard 27mm radiator

The radiator included has a standard 27mm thickness, which means it should fit in the vast majority of PC cases without space constraints.

▶️ 120mm AF-127-Pink fans

There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling and noise levels, as well as how the cooler looks in your case.

Despite this cooler having a similar name to the previously released FX360 INF, ID-Cooling’s FX360 INF Pink’s fans are different in more than just color. They have higher ratings for static pressure and airflow – and they’re louder, too!

These fans are 27mm thick and have a quick connect system designed to simplify installation while reducing cable clutter. ARGB accents also live on the sides of the fans.

Testing configuration – Intel LGA1700 and LGA1851 platform

There are many factors other than the CPU cooler that can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system's motherboard can also influence this, especially if it suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU.

To prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, I’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of them showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.

I’ve also tested this cooler with Intel’s latest platform, Arrow Lake and LGA 1851.

LGA 1700 and 1851 installation

The installation of the AIO is simple. These instructions will assume you have attached the fans and radiator to your computer case before proceeding.

1. You’ll first need to place the backplate against the rear of the motherboard.

2. Next you’ll need to take the mounting studs and screw them into the backplate. ID-Cooling includes a tool you can use to make this step easier to complete.

3. Next, you’ll take the mounting bars and place them on top of the studs, securing them with the included screws.

4. Apply the included thermal paste to your CPU. If you have any questions on how to do this properly, please refer to our handy guide on how to apply thermal paste.

5. Place the CPU block on top of the mounting bars, and secure it with a screwdriver.

6. Once complete, connect the PWM and ARGB cables to the corresponding motherboard headers. If desired, use the cable management clips to tidy things up.