MSI CoreLiquid I240 and I360 review: Quiet power

Maximum Noise Levels

The maximum noise levels for the I240 and I360 AIOs are middle of the road. At 47.4 dBA, the 360mm model runs a little louder than I’d prefer. The smaller 240mm unit has a more tolerable peak noise level of 44.9 dBA.

You may notice that the chart above starts at 35dBA. First, this is because noise level measurements are logarithmic. A person with typical hearing will perceive a doubling of noise for every 10 dBA increase, but the impact can vary from person to person.

Second, 35dBA was chosen as the “zero” because it is the lowest level my noise meter can accurately measure. This is also low enough that other case or component fans are likely to be loud enough to drown out the noise of the CPU cooler.

CPU Thermal results without power limits

Without power limits enforced on Intel’s i7-14700K, 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. 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.

In this test, the 240mm I240 was on par with Montech’s Hyperflow ARGB. With an average of 256W during the course of testing, it handled a few watts more than iBuyPower’s AW4 240mm AIO. More importantly, it sustained this level of performance while running half as loud as the competitors mentioned.

It is important to note that the results of this test can vary significantly depending on the ambient temperature of your environment. At my typical testing ambient temperature of 23 degrees C, both the 240mm and 360mm models of this MSI cooler “fail” this test and as a result their results are measured by CPU package power.

In colder temperatures, even the 240mm is capable of “passing” this test and keeping the CPU under its peak temperature. For example, at 15.5C (60F) the CPU's average temperature is only 85.1C, and even at 21.5C (70.7F) the cooler is able to maintain a toasty average temperature of 93C.

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. This level of noise is a low volume level, but slightly audible to most people. MSI’s I360 did especially well here, tied with Valkyrie’s SYN 360 for the second-best noise-normalized result I’ve recorded using this system. The 240mm version also did well, outperforming both of the 240mm AIOs I’ve tested it against.

165W CPU + 275W GPU results

I’ve recently updated my testing methodology to better represent the scenarios a user might actually encounter in real-life use. The first of these new tests is designed to emulate, though not perfectly, a CPU-intensive game with a full GPU load. MSI’s I240 and I360 AIOs performed reasonably well here, with average temperatures of 73C and 71C, respectively.

What’s more, the noise levels of both units were better than all competitors,save for Arctic’s Liquid Freezer III.

110W CPU + 275W GPU results

Our second round of CPU + GPU testing is performed with a lower CPU power limit and, in theory, it should be similar to games that are moderately intensive for a CPU. There’s not as much of a thermal difference between AIOs in this scenario.

That said, MSI’s I360 has the second-best thermal performance I’ve recorded thus far in this test. The 240mm model performed on par with the competitor’s thermal results in this test.

120W Noise Levels

With my previous testing methodology, I used to record the temperatures and noise measurements using a 125W CPU-only test and I would emphasize how temperatures do not matter in this scenario.

The temperature of the CPU in this scenario is largely irrelevant, but the results for liquid coolers are similar to those reported above in the 110W + GPU tests if you are particularly concerned about this information.

Noise levels were moderately low at 40.3 dBA for the 360mm unit, quieter than most (but not all) competitors. Depending on your sensitivity to noise, I would consider this a moderate-to-low noise level. Ideally, I would prefer to have fans running at less than 38.2 dBA in this scenario. The 240mm version performs closer to my ideal noise level in this situation – running at only 38.9 DBA, quieter than the competing 240mm AIOs I’ve tested it against.

Conclusion

MSI’s I240 and I360 AIOs provide strong thermal performance, paired with moderately low noise levels, and with this release MSI has rectified the two biggest complaints I’ve had about their past products. These AIOs do not require use of MSI Center, and they no longer include “Warranty void when removed” stickers. These are good AIOs that will satisfy the needs of most users.