The SilverStone KR01 low-profile air cooler had served me well for the last 18 months. But it didn’t keep my AMD Ryzen 7 2700 processor, overclocked to 3.7GHz, as cool as I would like. My kneecaps got toasty underneath my desk every time I played FortNite or transcoded 4K video. I recently replaced the KR01 with the Be Quiet Pure Loop All-In-One (AIO) 240mm liquid cooler. Idle temps dropped from 45C to 36C and load temps dropped from 85C to 55C. My kneecaps are no longer toasty.
Specs, Prices & Features
Be Quiet announced the Pure Loop AIO in early September for release in early October. Available in 120mm, 240mm, 280mm and 360mm radiator sizes. Prices are $85 USD to $120 USD and has a three-year warranty. I ordered the 240mm version for $95 USD from Newegg.
The Pure Loop has several unique features.
- A fill hole and a bottle of coolant to top off the radiator every two years for the next 12 years. Most AIOs have sealed loops that will eventually fail from leaking or the pump dying.
- An inline pump on the tubing near the radiator. Be Quiet took that approach to avoid paying a patent fee for having the pump on the cold plate.
- A band of white light illuminates the Be Quiet logo on the cold plate. This will be perfect for lighting up the dark interior of my case.
Front Mounting Woes
Since my ATX case, Cougar MX330-G, has a 5.25” Blu-ray burner installed, I didn’t have the clearance to top mount the radiator. Top mounting isn’t ideal since the fans would push hot air from the GPU through the radiator. The ideal configuration is to front mount the radiator to draw cold air from outside the case.
I popped the Arctic F12 120mm fans with their rubber mounts out of the recessed space behind the front mesh panel. I wanted to mount the Be Quiet fans by using the long screws to go through the fan mounting holes, the frame, and into the radiator. Unfortunately, the screw holes in the frame were also recessed and the long screws weren’t long enough to overcome that small gap.
I ended up mounting the fans to pull air through the radiator on one side and used the short screws to mount the radiator to the frame. I’ll show how I mounted the Be Quiet fans in the recessed area with an old school hack and suggest several possible mounting alternatives in a future video.
Idle/Load Temp Testing
For the before and after temperature tests, I’m using Handbrake to transcode a 4K video clip and HWInfo to monitor temperatures. Each test ran for 15 minutes.
- For the SilverStone KR01 low-profile cooler, idle temp was 45C and load temp was 85C.
- For the Be Quiet Pure Loop AIO liquid cooler, idle temp was 36C and load temp was 55C.
A 9C drop for idle temp and 30C drop for load temp. That’s an impressive difference between a $25 USD air cooler and $95 liquid cooler.
NOTE: Not a paid promotion. I bought the Be Quiet Pure Loop AIO liquid cooler from Newegg with my own money. Be Quiet provided no editorial guidance for this review.