be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360mm

[testman78]

Introduction

be quiet! is a top-tier manufacturer of a tremendous number of PC products. They are not a brand that just pads shelves with products as many of their offerings have won numerous awards from reviewers and readers alike. You could say that be quiet! has earned its popularity by following through on its mantra of "no compromise silence and performance" . Considered on par with Noctua in regards to quality and performance, it's not hard to guess that their latest products will once again be quite impressive. With be quiet! being a brand that prides itself on noise and performance that can sometimes be a difficult combination to successfully marry. This is particularly seen in high-performance coolers which have been designed with overclocking in mind. With the Silent Loop 2 360mm though that is exactly what be quiet! is suggesting it is capable of, but who are we to take their word for it? We, therefore, put the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360mm under the scrutiny of our testing. Can this really deliver a top performance while being 'whisper-silent' at the same time? Let's find out!



The Be Quiet Silent Loop 2 is available in various formats. There are the following versions:
Silent Loop 2 120 mm
Silent Loop 2 240 mm
Silent Loop 2 280 mm
Silent Loop 2 360 mm (which we are testing today)
The Silent Loop 2 360mm has the following specifications:





Packaging & Contents

If you have ever owned a product from be quiet!, then the Silent Loop 2 360's packaging will no-doubt look familiar to you. The Silent loop 2 360 comes in subtle black packaging, with a moody illustration of the cooler on the front.



On the back of the box you will find the key features in four sections. This is generally quite detailed and does including pretty much all the information you could want.



On the right side of the box, you are given some technical specification on the cooler itself.



On the left side of the box some more info in many languages. There is a QR code, which, when scanned, takes you directly to the product page of the Silent Loop 2.



Inside it's business as usual with egg box card surrounding the contents, each of which is individually wrapped in plastic bags. It's a small thing that can make a big difference when it comes to assembly. Particularly separating the Intel and AMD bracket for the water block. Three fans are included, and these are from the Pure Wings 3 family - be quiet! says they are specifically designed for radiators, so hopefully they will offer good performance and low noise levels. The radiator is further protected by an additional layer of cardboard which is good to see, especially since we have seen damage occurring to AIO radiators in shipping recently.



As the cooler does not have a pre-applied thermal paste, it does come with a tube of be quiet's! own.



In addition to this is also has some cable ties and a three-way 4-pin PWM fan splitter cable to make sure you should have no problems connecting all 3 cooling fans to 1 single motherboard connection.



The actual installation hardware arrives in labelled bags, something regular readers will know I very much appreciate. You get fittings for a whole host of AMD and Intel CPUs.



A full set of short and long screws for mounting fans.



Here is the manual RGB controller and SATA power adaptor.



You could hook up the system towards your 5v aRGB connector on your motherboard.



The bottle of coolant that comes with the Silent Loop 2 360mm is ready mixed and ready to use, it is a water and Propylene Glycol mix which is typically used in AIO liquid coolers and has a capacity of 100ml. Over time your cooler will lose liquid and, as such, if you keep this handy, you can top it off as and when needed.



be quiet! also include a comprehensive installation manual with the Silent Loop, with very detailed instructions and clear images to explain the installation process, not something that can always be said of AIO installation manuals.




There is also a three-year manufacturer's warranty.




A Closer Look

The first thing you'll want to have a look at is the water block and radiator. For the 360 cooler, this is, after all, one of the main features you purchased it for. With the water block in a aluminum finish and the radiator in a matt-black finish, both look very stylish and highly presentable. In addition, the hose cables are very strong and coated with a protective sleeve to ensure no damage or pinching could possibly happen.



be quiet's Silent Loop 2 360mm, like many other liquid coolers before it, uses an aluminum radiator. The Silent Loop 2 360 is equipped with a model whose dimensions are 394 mm long, 120 mm wide and 52 mm thick, fans included. The rad is spray painted in matte black.




The exchange surface has 18 fins per inch.



Integrated into radiator tanks are two fill ports. Normally AIO manufacturers would apply a warning sticker to the fill port which would void the warranty if removed. be quiet! encourages the user to remove the fill port to top up the system every two years to prolong the coolers lifespan.



Total tubing length is approximately 400mm with an outer diameter of just under 13mm. Reinforced rubber tubing is covered by braided sleeving to give it a premium look which is typical of modern AIO closed-loop coolers.



Note that they are quite rigid and rather restrictive to handle.



The brushed aluminum sheet pump itself has a stylish design with a dusty look. The only thing we have on our minds besides is be quiet! the logo, which of course can shine. The square block measures 63mm in sides and 55mm in thickness. This is a three-chamber model, having a 6-pole three-phase motor and the insulation of which has been pushed to limit the vibrations generally perceptible on this kind of equipment. The second of its three chambers offers enough space for the coolant to spread out and thus reduces turbulences before it leaves the pump unit.



It will run at 2800 rpm according to the technical sheet and can be supplied with a voltage between 9 and 12V.



A three-pin fan plug is present to power the pump.



The Silent Loop 2 360mm deploys a nickel-plated copper cold plate. The base of the CPU block is equipped with a protective sticker covering the thermal transfer plate. Unlike most AIO closed loop coolers with bare copper thermal transfer plates, the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360mm is equipped with a nickel-plated copper base without any pre-applied thermal compound.



The cooler comes pre-supplied with 3 Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM High-Speed fans. These carry the 'Silent Wings' technology which is designed to give optimal airflow while keeping noise to a minimum. In terms of looks, these are certainly fantastic looking. The Silent Wings 3 120mm spin at 2200 rpm and will circulate up to 73.33 CFM.




The 9 blades with the contoured tips and anti-vibration pads at the four corners, while supposed to promote high air and low noise, simply look great. It's a little touch as well, but I always like that be quiet! take the effort to ensure that the stickers are all placed in the same place. Therefore, when the cooler is off, or if you're just looking to take a snazzy photo to show it off to your friends, they all match the same direction.




Installation Process

Fitting the three fans is as simple as you might expect, just grab a screwdriver and use the eight included screws to fit them in your desired configuration. We've opted for push configuration, but there's no reason why you couldn't mount them as pull.



Our CPU cooler test system is Intel Z170 based, therefore, we will be following the relevant Intel 115X socket installation procedure. When installing the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360mm, users will need to first prepare the backplate. Slide the screws into the right slot on the backplate to then use the rubber o-rings to secure them. At this point, you can position the backplate on the motherboard.




Next, use the standoffs to secure the backplate to the motherboard to then secure the mounting arms to the standoffs. At this point, you can apply some thermal compound in preparation for mounting the pump.





Remove the protective sticker from the base of the CPU block, lower down the CPU block aligned with the mounting screw holes and tighten the screws to fix the CPU block in place. be sure to tighten the screws evenly and progressively for optimal CPU block to CPU contact. For connections, each fan plugs into a fan port. You also need to connect the waterblock to circulate the liquid inside the circuit.



When fitted to the motherboard you have a nice solid design that looks bold and professional.



We find a slight overlay ARGB LED that offer multiple lighting options for stunning visual effects ARGB LEDs offer multiple colors and modes to individualize the look of the Silent Loop 2 360mm. The illumination can be synced with the ARGB adjustments of the motherboard. You can optionally use the wired ARGB remote controller to switch between modes and colors.



The be quiet! logo particularly is a nice touch with it being nice, bold and clear without it being obtrusive. The white illumination of be quiet! sign can be turned on and off for an external appearance of any taste.




Test System & Methology

Test System:

Cpu:Intel Core i7-6700K@4.8 GHz.
Motherboard:Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z170
Memory:16Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666Mhz
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC2
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNova 1200 P2
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Boot Drive: SSD 850 PRO 2.5" SATA III 2TB
Chassis: Dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5
Windows 10 64-bit




Software:

Speedfan
CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime 95

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 Prime 95′s for 30 minutes.



Performance

The Stock results below put the Silent Loop 2 360mm in pole position with a CPU load temp of 50C. Needless to say, this leaves us pretty excited for the rest of our testing.



Next up was the overclocked stress test. Once again we are just floored by the results of the Silent Loop 2 360mm. This cooler is really living up to everything we expect a 360mm cooler should. Boasting results of only 57C for the CPU.



Overclocking at 4.8GHz didn't slow the Silent Loop 2 360mm down much either, and the sheer size of the cooler and its TDP capabilities make light work of our CPU. It is, almost as cool as some big custom loops at full load, which is just phenomenal and we can't think of any CPU that wouldn't benefit here.



Our final test is a sound check. Compared to other 360mm AIO's, which offers lower levels of performance, it is significantly quieter. Furthermore, the pump is dead silent, without any perceptible high pitch "whining" noise that plagued earlier AIO cooler designs.




Final Thoughts

The be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360mm is an exceptional offering. Not only is it the quietest 360mm closed-loop cooler I have tested to date, but it does so while offering top cooling performance. Granted, part of its performance is due to its 360 mm radiator and new pump. The new pump design is stunning and much more compact and sleek looking than their previous models. It?s also much quieter. With the extra surface area, it manages to come over just a few degrees Celsius of other top performance 360mm AIO's. Not to mention that it does so while being quieter. As you can see this test boasted a result of a max reading of 46 dBa. In our opinion a fine number(for 360mm AIO) that shouldn't affect your decision to buy this outstanding unit. Of course, that quickly translates to absolutely incredible performance, rocking temperatures that are almost as low as some custom loops at full load! It also delivered our lowest idle temperatures to date. I really like the overall appearance of the Silent Loop 2. The matte black and brushed aluminium colour scheme works very well and gives the cooler a neutral look that should fit in well with most system themes. The build quality also seems to be of a high standard, typical of be quiet! products and the cooler is backed by a three-year warranty. Installation was simple with no major issues. There were only a few extra steps with this build to ensure proper functionality. Including some extra thermal paste and coolant would really help out when it comes to switching systems or just simply readjusting in certain situations. This is an RGB cooler, yet it's quite limited in that it's just the pump. We would also like to see the Silent Loop 2 upgraded to include RGB fans just to give the build that extra pop. Adding more RGB is subjective, that's just my two cents. The sTRX4 mounting kit does not come standard and should be available as an option by this summer. Of course, not every chassis can support a 360mm AIO, but for those that can, it's sure to look great.



Obviously, this isn't going to be a cheap cooler, but with an MSRP of $159.99. The performance is obviously superb and short of investing in a custom loop, you're not going to beat it in a hurry. As such, it is hard not to be impressed. Here we have a top-performing cooler, that looks good and is easy to install, and isn't earth-shatteringly loud. Good job be quiet!, the Silent Loop 2 360mm is well-deserving of our "Outstanding" award.