ENERMAX LIQTECH 280 TR4 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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ENERMAX LIQTECH 280 TR4 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review

ENERMAX has been the most aggressive company when it comes to cooling AMD's Threadripper CPU with an easy to use and affordable All-In-One system. Today we are reviewing its THIRD socket TR4-specific AIO. It's previous offerings have been extremely solid and we think that Enermax has stayed on point.
 
Great stuff, and really impressive.

I've thought about swapping out my 480mm top radiator for a for a 560, the sound difference is really amazing for relatively the same performance. Enermax is kicking ass at keeping TR cool
 
Just installed this into my new Threadripper setup last night. Pretty happy with how it works as an AIO Unit.
 
Kind of plain Jane looking, but a good sound choice for thread ripper.

For then price I can't argue.
 
I always love the facts that you guys don't say 5ghz on 4770K is reasonable, that you can do 1.3v vcore 4ghz TR, and so on.
It's a reasonable approach to oc's and performance

And onto this piece, it looks so much more solid than asetek units and has a no bullshit approach to AIO in this RGB era.
 
ole-m said:
I always love the facts that you guys don't say 5ghz on 4770K is reasonable, that you can do 1.3v vcore 4ghz TR, and so on.
It's a reasonable approach to oc's and performance

And onto this piece, it looks so much more solid than asetek units and has a no bullshit approach to AIO in this RGB era.
Click to expand...


That is exactly one of the reasons why I like it. The Enermax logo lights up solid white and that is it. I plan to move the 3 pin power over to a better quality 4 pin molex. From there I might then connect it to Sata power (Via an adapter) unless you guys think that might be an issue?
 
pendragon1 said:
yup it should, 100K hours as per:
http://www.enermax.com/home.php?fn=eng/product_a1_1_2&lv0=109&lv1=118&no=383
Click to expand...

Damn how did I miss that.

Oh yeah I was about to go to sleep when I read the review and realized I could move to an AIO to lower temps by using this instead of the Noctua 14 dual fan.

At least I think I can.

Unfortunately the Coolermaster ML120 review was done with a Ryzen 7, so the Noctua comparison data from that review is not compatible with this review.

What do you guys think... If I plan to run the CPU at high load 24/7 (maybe)... This (280) or air (Noctua dual fan 14)?
 
Is it worth upgrading from an h100i v2? I don’t do any overclocking, but I do lots of video encoding on my 1950x and my temps get to about 60 if I don’t change the cooling profile in the Corsair link software. The h100i v2 gets quite loud at full blast.
 
pendragon1 said:
What are you running? It might, depending on CPU, case, etc.
Click to expand...

A 1950x, in a Fractal R6.

This review suggests strongly that it's a good idea to go go with the AIO. Granted it's comparing the Noctua to a 240, but in the [H] review we see the 280 beats the 240 in temp (barely) but sound (in a big way).

I just hope it runs reliably, I don't want to be messing around with my rig too much.
 
Phixzet said:
A 1950x, in a Fractal R6.

This review suggests strongly that it's a good idea to go go with the AIO. Granted it's comparing the Noctua to a 240, but in the [H] review we see the 280 beats the 240 in temp (barely) but sound (in a big way).

I just hope it runs reliably, I don't want to be messing around with my rig too much.
Click to expand...

if you're not OCing the cpu and your case has good air flow and you install the aio correctly*, it should be able to keep it under 60c for the life of the pump.

*rad higher than pump/block and tubes at the top if front mounting.
edit: Kyle's test cpu was @3975/1.41v and stayed under 70.


Kwincy said:
Is it worth upgrading from an h100i v2? I don’t do any overclocking, but I do lots of video encoding on my 1950x and my temps get to about 60 if I don’t change the cooling profile in the Corsair link software. The h100i v2 gets quite loud at full blast.
Click to expand...
it will be a little bit cooler but a lot quieter. up to you to decide if that's worth it.
 
If you're interested in quiet cooling...

Run, don't walk... To pick up this AIO.

It's interesting because when I initally turned on my high end build (1950x, 64gb, 1080ti)... With this AIO..

My case was completely open. And it was loud. I was worried. that it wouldn't quiet down much when my R6 was all closed up.

However the horrible noise was not the pump.

It was a defective fan. And OMG was it painfully loud. When I unplugged it, silent bliss.

So I need a new fan, but other than that... Oh and unfortunately the pump is 3 pin not four pin. Oh and you can't turn off the glowing Enermax light in the pump...

Other than those issues... Great product. Good temps, but more testing needed before I post my findings. (Need to run Prime for hours still, a half hour run thought looked quite good)
 
Kwincy said:
Is it worth upgrading from an h100i v2? I don’t do any overclocking, but I do lots of video encoding on my 1950x and my temps get to about 60 if I don’t change the cooling profile in the Corsair link software. The h100i v2 gets quite loud at full blast.
Click to expand...
Dude, about 60c under the load you giving it is just fine.
 
Phixzet said:
If you're interested in quiet cooling...

Run, don't walk... To pick up this AIO.

It's interesting because when I initally turned on my high end build (1950x, 64gb, 1080ti)... With this AIO..

My case was completely open. And it was loud. I was worried. that it wouldn't quiet down much when my R6 was all closed up.

However the horrible noise was not the pump.

It was a defective fan. And OMG was it painfully loud. When I unplugged it, silent bliss.

So I need a new fan, but other than that... Oh and unfortunately the pump is 3 pin not four pin. Oh and you can't turn off the glowing Enermax light in the pump...

Other than those issues... Great product. Good temps, but more testing needed before I post my findings. (Need to run Prime for hours still, a half hour run thought looked quite good)
Click to expand...

I just helped a friend build a 1950X with an Enermax AIO and we had a really loud pair of fans, turned out the fans weren't all the way seated to the motors, pressing them down fixed it and now its dead silent.
 
theoretically with more surface area should help. that's pretty easy to cool though my understanding. this not gonna stop it going to 80-85c not at 1.4v. already doing it with slightly warmer ambients...don't run anything super AVX you will probaly throttle it.
 
Is there a mounting kit for Liqtech TR4 so it can be used on other CPUs? Seems it's great performance would be useful on 'normal' CPUs too. ;)

With pump rated at up to 450 L/h, I wonder if pump could be used at lower voltage / speed, like 8v instead of 12v for less noise and still plenty of flow.
 
I have two of these now (280) they are great. Well built, no annoying pump tones, easy install, looks nice and that giant glorious slab of copper to smother TR the way it likes.

Microcenter seems to have these normally stocked, and its the only cooler of any kind in the whole store I saw that fits TR. Not sure why they don't promote or suggest it in a combo, because using the [YetAnotherAsetekRebrander] bracket that comes in the cpu box is doing it a big disservice.
 
I'm guessing the 360 has the same pump as the 240? I only ask because I hard to swap motherboards (ASRock X399 Taichi failed on me) and now my 360 is noisy... like a fishtank. It sounds like someone is taking a shower in the other room or something. I didn't take things fully apart, but I did lay the case on it's side to make it easier to work on. I wasn't concerned about air bubbles, since it's a sealed system.

The only other thing could cause it (besides something going bad... it's only a few weeks old) would be maybe different voltage to the point between the header on the ASRock and the one on my new board (Asus ROG STRIX X399-E Gaming). There are three different headers you can use. After reading this thread, I did what most do and plugged the pump into CPU_FAN and the radiator fans into CPU_OPT:


Could that make the pump noisier?
 
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