PCCooler DS360 BK Liquid Cooling System Review

The PCCooler DS360 BK liquid cooling system is supplied in a box made of medium-thick corrugated cardboard.

The installation instructions are made in the form of an accordion book with high-quality printing. The main information is presented in the form of pictures, which eliminates the need for translation.

The system is completely sealed, filled and ready for use. The pump is combined with the heat sink into a single unit. A copper plate is directly adjacent to the processor, which acts as the sole of the heat sink. Its surface is smooth, ground and slightly polished, with a bulge in the center, having a difference of about 0.5 mm.

The copper plate measures 56 x 56 mm, and the inner area limited by the screw holes measures about 45 x 45 mm.

The thermal paste comes in a small syringe, which is less convenient compared to a pre-applied layer. Its volume is enough for exactly one use, and at best for two, if the processor cover area is small and the paste is used sparingly. In all tests, high-quality thermal paste from another manufacturer was used.

Looking ahead, we will show how the thermal paste was distributed after all the tests on the Intel Core i9-13900K processor:

The thermal paste was evenly distributed in a thin layer over the entire surface of the processor cover, and its excess was squeezed out along the edges. Tight contact is observed in the central part and covers a significant area. (The distribution of the paste, naturally, changed when the pump was removed from the processor.)

The decorative casing of the pump has a rather complex design.

The case is equipped with a backlight with several addressable RGB LEDs controlled via a three-wire interface, as well as an illuminated logo and an LED display that receives data via USB. The display shows the current temperature of the processor.

For this indicator to work, you need to install the DS360 Digital program, which allows you to configure the parameters via a menu accessible by clicking on the icon in the system tray.

The pump power cable is 35 cm long, the backlight cable is 46 cm long plus an additional 10 cm to the feed-through connector, and the USB cable for connecting to the motherboard connector is 47.5 cm long.

The hoses are elastic, but flexible enough, and are covered with a slippery plastic braid. The outer diameter of the braided hoses is about 12.5 mm, and their length along the flexible part, excluding the crimping sleeves, is 36.8 cm, which is not very much. The L-shaped fittings at the pump inlet rotate, making installation easier. The kit includes two brackets for fixing the hoses and giving the system a neat look.

The radiator is made of aluminum and covered with a matte black coating, which is quite resistant to damage. The maximum thickness of the radiator together with the fans is 54 mm.

The lugs in the corners of the fan frame are equipped with vibration-insulating rubber pads, which in an uncompressed state protrude approximately 0.6 mm relative to the plane of the frame. According to the developers, this should reduce vibration by isolating the fan from the mounting point. However, if we take into account the ratio of the fan mass and the rigidity of the pads, it becomes clear that the resonant frequency of the design is too high, which practically excludes effective vibration isolation. In addition, the mounting sockets into which the screws are screwed are part of the fan frame, which allows vibration to be transmitted through the screws directly to the radiator. As a result, such lugs perform a rather decorative role.

The fans installed on the radiator are connected in series via feed-through connectors (the cable length to the connector is 4.5 cm, and from it to the power connector is 9.5 cm). The last fan is connected to a 50 cm long extension cable. This connection method ensures neat assembly of the system and minimizes the number of wires and connectors that require laying inside the case. However, replacing the fans with models with a conventional connection will disrupt this scheme.

The weight of the system with fasteners for LGA 1700 is 1812 g. The fasteners are made mainly of hardened steel, including the frame for the back side of the motherboard, and are covered with a durable galvanic or paint coating.

A good result is a monotonous increase in fan speed when the fill factor (FF) changes from 20% to 100%, which provides a wide adjustment range. However, when the FF decreases to 0%, the fans do not stop, which may be important for those planning to create a hybrid cooling system that operates completely or partially in passive mode at low load.

Adjustment via voltage variation allows for stable fan rotation within a narrower range. They stop when the voltage drops to 2.7–2.8 V and start at 3.0 V, allowing them to be connected to a 5 V source.

The pump rotation speed can also be adjusted by changing the supply voltage.

In this test, all cores of the Intel Core i9-13900K processor were running at 4.1 GHz. During the load tests and noise measurements, the fan speed was varied using PWM, with a duty cycle of 100% to 20% in 5% increments. The pump operated at 12 V.

In this test, the Intel Core i9-13900K processor did not overheat (at 24 degrees Celsius) at the fan speed achieved with the fill factor reduced to 20%, which corresponds to about 490 rpm. The maximum consumption, according to monitoring, was about 217 watts, and according to the processor power connectors — 271 watts. For comparison, the base power of this processor is only 125 watts, and the standard maximum short-term (turbo limit) is 253 watts.

The noise level of this cooling system varies widely. It depends on individual characteristics and various factors, but in general the noise starts from 40 dBA, which is quite high for a desktop system. The noise level from 35 to 40 dBA can be considered tolerable, while the noise below 35 dBA will not stand out much against the background of typical silent PC components, such as case fans, power supply fans, video cards and hard drives. The level below 25 dBA can be considered relatively silent. The background noise level was 16.1 dBA (the value recorded by the sound level meter). The pump works quite quietly, creating a noise of about 21.3 dBA.

Let's try to move from the test bench conditions (24 degrees Celsius) to more realistic scenarios. Let's assume that the temperature of the air taken in by the cooling system fans can increase to 44 °C (this is a completely realistic scenario, for example, when the liquid cooling system is set to blow out of the case with a powerful video card). At the same time, we want the processor temperature under maximum load not to exceed 80 °C. Given these conditions, we will plot the dependence of the real maximum power (designated as Pmax, previously the designation Max. TDP was used) on the noise level.

Taking the noise level of 25 dBA as a criterion for conditional silence, we can estimate the approximate maximum power of processors corresponding to this level. For the Intel Core i9-13900K processor, this value is about 220 W. If we ignore the noise level, the power limits can be increased to about 248 W. Let us recall that this occurs under conditions when the air for blowing the radiator is heated to 44 °C. With a decrease in air temperature and / or an increase in the maximum permissible temperature of the processor (up to 100 °C is permissible for it), the specified power limits for silent operation and maximum power will increase.

To properly understand the conclusions, it is important to consider the following:

The main purpose of testing is to evaluate the cooler's cooling capacity (CAC). The processors used in the tests serve only as a heating element to determine the conditional thermal resistance of the cooler in various modes. The power (heat dissipation) of the processor is regulated depending on the capabilities of the cooling system and can be both lower and higher than the standard operating modes of the processor. The key point is the absence of processor overheating in the entire range of the cooler's cooling capacity, as well as a significant difference in the change in processor temperature.

Based on the PCCooler DS360 BK liquid cooling system, you can create a relatively silent computer (noise level of 25 dBA and below), equipped with an Intel Core i9-13900K processor, provided that the consumption of this processor under maximum load does not exceed 220 W, and the temperature inside the case does not rise above 44 ° C, with a maximum processor temperature limit of 80 ° C. Increasing the cooling air temperature, increasing the processor temperature limit (up to 100 °C) or less stringent noise level requirements will allow increasing the power limits. The backlight on the pump will add aesthetic value to the interior of the system unit, and the display on the pump will help quickly assess the system status. Also worth noting is the high quality of workmanship, hose braiding and convenient organization of electrical connections.