Antec Mercury 360

[testman78]

Introduction

There are many incredible CPU coolers on the market these days, and many of them are made by Antec. When it comes to AIO water coolers, they're one of the most popular brands on the market. Their latest model, the Mercury 360 things up in a big way. Promising extreme cooling performance thanks to its massive 360mm radiator and triple fan design. Of course, a bigger radiator is just the start, as it also offers new and improved low-noise 120mm fans, a more powerful pump, RGB lighting, and much more.



Specifications.





Packaging & Contents

The Antec Mercury 360 ships in a dark box with blue and white accents.In addition to a large product image you can see some features.



The back reveals the technical details in numerous languages.




Another product picture is placed at the bottom of the box right next to contact information about Antec.



Inside, the hardware does come in labelled bags. Antec includes all mounting hardware and accessories necessary to setup and run the cooler in your system, including mounting hardware and screws. Inside, there is also an instructions booklet which I found easy to use, as well a tube of thermal paste.




A Closer Look

Once unpacked the Antec Mercury 360, we have an all-in-one kit with a quite original design in terms of base-pump, although classic in terms of tubes and radiator.



The radiator offers dimensions of 384 x 119 x 27 mm, so it requires a chassis with support for radiators of 360 mm.



The radiator, made entirely of aluminum with the logo of antec on one of the ends which gives a pretty elegant touch.



It ensures that it is capable of moving up to 3.5 liters per minute of liquid refrigerant and has a durability of 50,000h that translates into more than the 5 year warranty that they offer running non-stop.



We continue with the tubes, which are just over 30 cm long and arrive with a traditional corrugated design.



They are a little inflexible and it needs some work to accommodate them in the position that we like the most.



The pump/waterblock is quite hefty and features a relatively innocuous Antec logo in the middle. The white top-plate is where the temperature-reactive LED will shine through.



It also happen to feature LED lights which can change their colour according to the temperature of the CPU:



Blue = <48c
Green= 49c-60c
Red = 60c<
This not only gives a touch of color to our configuration, but it is also very useful if we have the tower next door and we do not have a motorization program.



In one of its sides we find the mini-USB connector to feed it.We will have to connect it to a SATA power or a three-pin connector.



The brushed copper base that will help the heat dissipate more quickly.



The Antec Mercury 360 has, as its name suggests, with three 120 mm fans to cool the radiator.They come with a milky white ring on the top and get powered by four pin connections. Then, when the fans speed up to their maximum of 1750 RPM the white ring will turn blue with LEDs that will react to the speed the fans are operating at. With these fans Antec is adding another cool looking LED enabled product in their lineup.



They are generating a sound of low decibels. This is, in part, thanks to the antivibration system mounted by each of the fans and the graphite bearings, which generates less friction and vibration when working at maximum performance.




Installation Process

Installing the Mercury 360 is very simple. Start by positioning the backplate on the motherboard and use the screw pillars to hold it in place.



Now, apply some thermal paste in preparation for mounting the pump.



Position the pump and slide the bracket over the screw pillars. Then, using the included thumbscrews, tighten the pump down onto the CPU.



With that done, connect the pump to the motherboard to then install the fans and connect them to the radiator.



After commissioning, the logo on the pump pulsates blue.



This is what the finished system looks like with a radiator installed in the front.





Installed - Memory Clearance


Even with large heatshink rams installed there's still plenty of clearance between the rams and the pump. Mission accomplished.




Test System & Methology

Test System:

Cpu:Intel Core i7-4790K,OC@4.6GHz
Motherboard:ASUS Maximus VI Gene Z87
Memory: 16GB Mushkin
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 6970
Power Supply: Antec HCG 750W
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Chassis: Dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5



Software:

AIDA64
CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime95-FPU


I am testing the performance as follows:

Ambient temperatures are kept at 23C throughout my tests.
The CPU Fan is set to 100% to eliminate inconsistencies as a result of PWM control.
Idle temperatures are obtained after booting the PC and idling on the desktop for 30 minutes.
Load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95′s Small FTTs test for 15 minutes.



Temperature

Let's have a look at the results for the system in its default non-overclocked state.



Now we'll be testing the temperatures under fully threaded stress. If we set the overclock at 4600 MHz and configure CPU Voltage at 1.3V, these are the results. We see the Antec Mercury 360 retain second place by playing 2C behind the EK Predator 360.




Noise Level

RPM readings show why the Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 manages to have such a quiet noise profile at Low RPM. After 1.35 Volts the fans will start to spin a notch faster and things will become more noisy. Once you start to overclock heavily you will start hearing the cooler under high load and an extreme overclock.




Conclusion

The quality of construction of the Mercury 360 is undoubtedly very good. Antec clearly did a good job of producing this cooler. The quality of the tube introduced in this model was not the best choice, passing the idea of being an inexpensive and of low quality. The system has pump lighting depending on the system temperature. Overall it is easy to install with the mounting system, prefilled. It's one of the most easy and comfortable kits on the market to use and install. The black design will make this kit match up nicely in any PC. It simply is a good alternative to heatpipe coolers whilst offering very nice looks. We like the simplicity, only one wire goes from the water-block to the motherboard, and then the fan just needs a FAN header on the mobo as well. Installation is simply a breeze, easy and fast. No skills are required other than the need for ten minutes to install the kit. The Antec Mercury 360 is ready for overclocking duties, thanks to a 360mm radiator and three 120mm PWM fans. Performance is just 2C behind the EK Predator 360 when the CPU is overclocked in the FPU torture test. Meanwhile, it hits the spot of 51 dBA at full speed in terms of noise. So while it is audible, I would say it is not intrusive by any means. Overall, you could say that it is of good value when compared to the competition.



Antec has a winner on its hands with the Mercury 360. It offers performance similar to premium expandable liquid coolers, but at a far more affordable cost. At just €110, it's priced like a premium closed loop cooler. Those planning to build or use AMD Ryzen systems are also in luck as the Mercury 360 supports socket AM4 out of box. Finally, the 5-year warranty, while not industry leading, is still awesome. Anyway, for those who do not look for much performance, Antec has available the Mercury series in 120 and 240 mm. If you are in the market for an all-in-one liquid cooler that offers amazing features and exceptional performance all around without breaking the bank, do take a good long look at the Antec Mercury 360. That is, if your case can house it.