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CPU-only thermal results without power limits
Without power limits enforced on Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K and i7-14700K CPUs, the CPU will hit its peak temperature (TJ Max) and thermally throttle with even the strongest of air coolers and even most liquid coolers on the market. For the best liquid coolers on the market, the results of this test will be shown using the CPU’s temperature. However, when the CPU reaches its peak temperature I’ve measured the CPU package power to determine the maximum wattage cooled to best compare their performance. It’s important to note that thermal performance can scale differently depending on the CPU it’s being tested with.
Looking at the results here with Intel’s “Raptor Lake” Core i7-14700K, the thermal performance of the FX360 INF Pink has improved versus the standard version. The pink version is able to keep the CPU under its peak temperature, whereas the standard version was incapable of passing this test.
Switching to Intel’s “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra 9 285k also shows thermal improvements, though not quite as impressive as with “Raptor Lake.” It is important to remember that CPU coolers can scale (and perform) differently depending on the CPU they’re paired with due to differences in manufacturing processes and the location of hotspots on the CPU.
To achieve these levels of thermal performance, the fans of the pink AIO reach up to 49.8 dBA. This is much louder than its predecessor, which only reached 44.4 dbA! I don’t understand why ID-Cooling lets these fans run so loudly, especially since – as the next section will show – they perform well even when limited to low noise levels!
CPU-only thermal results with noise normalized to 38.9 dBA
Finding the right balance between fan noise levels and cooling performance is important. While running fans at full speed can improve cooling capacity to some extent, the benefits are limited and many users prefer a quieter system.
With this noise-normalized test, I’ve set noise levels to 38.9 dBA using the i7-14700K system. This level of noise is a low volume level, but slightly audible to most people. There was a small, but noticeable improvement compared to the original FX360 Inf, gaining 4W of cooling power here.
253W results
My recent reviews have focused more on tests with both the CPU and GPU being stressed, but many of y’all have indicated that you would like to see more CPU-only tests. In response, I’ve started testing Intel’s “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra 9 285K with a 253W limit. My current results for this test are limited, but this will grow as I have time to test more coolers.
Testing with the default power limits of 253W shows extremely good performance, with the INF Pink being beaten only by Thermalright’s Grand Vision 360!
135W CPU + 290W GPU results
Testing a CPU Cooler in isolation is great for synthetic benchmarks, but doesn’t tell the whole story of how it will perform. I’ve incorporated two tests with a power limit imposed on the CPU, while also running a full load on MSI’s GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16G VENTUS 3X.
The CPU power limit of 135W was chosen based on the worst CPU power consumption I observed in gaming with Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K, which was in Rise of the Tomb Raider.
In this test, the pink version of ID-Cooling’s FX360 INF performed on par with the original model. However, the acoustics were disappointing, running louder than any other cooler we’ve tested in this scenario.
85W CPU + 290W GPU results
Our second round of CPU + GPU testing is also performed with Arrow Lake. The power limit of 85W was chosen based on typical power consumption in gaming scenarios using the Core Ultra 9 285K CPU. This should be fairly easy for most coolers, the main point of this test is to see how quietly (or loudly!) a cooler runs in low-intensity scenarios.
With a CPU temperature of 51 degrees C, the pink version of the FX360 INF slightly outperformed its predecessor in thermal performance. However, that victory came at the cost of noise levels. While a measurement of 41.4 dBA isn’t loud per se, it is the noisiest result we have recorded in this test thus far.
Conclusion
ID-Cooling’s FX360 INF Pink is one of the only pink AIO options for a 360mm cooler. This is basically the only model that’s currently widely available for purchase. The thermal performance of this product is strong, and actually one of the best on the market.
But if I were to make any changes to this cooler, I would reduce the maximum speed of the fans. They run louder than they need to, and there’s little point to running them at higher volume levels. If it were up to me, I’d also change the pink to less of a hot pink and more of a pastel hue – and reverse the colors, so that pink is the main color instead of an accent. But hey, at least there’s an option for those who want some prominent pink in their next gaming PC. And ID-Cooling didn’t skimp when it comes to temperature-dipping performance.
