be quiet! Silent Loop 3 360 AIO Review
Earlier, I tested the Silent Loop 3 420mm AIO, featuring Silent Wings 4 High-Performance fans. I wanted to try the mainstream variant, which is 360mm. be quiet! has furnished one unit for review, and this is what this article is all about.
Like the 420mm, the 360mm variant also comes equipped with an AMD Threadripper mounting kit. This cooler is compatible with Intel LGA 115x/1200/1700/1851 and AMD AM4/AM5/TR5/sTRXS4/TR4 sockets. be quiet! has used a triple-chamber pump design with a large-sized cold plate having a large, dense fin stack for enhanced cooling.
This cooler comes with Silent Wings 4 PWM HS fans. This cooler has an MSRP of USD 164.90 and Euro 164.90 with 3 years warranty. There is only 10 bucks difference between 360mm and 420mm which is somewhat surprising.
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Specifications
Packing and Unboxing
The cooler is shipped inside a cardboard box with a be quiet! standard theme design.
The inner container has the cooler and accessories.
The following are provided:
- 1x Intel Backplate
- 1x set of Intel Mounting Brackets
- 4x Intel Backplate Screws
- 4x Locking Washers / O-Rings
- 4x Intel Spacer Nuts
- 4x Mounting Brackets Fastening Screws
- 1x AMD TR4/TR5 Mounting Bracket
- 1x set of AMD AM4/AM5 Mounting Brackets
- 4x AMD Screws
- 4x AMD Spacers
- 12x Radiator Screws
- 12x Fan Screws
- 1x Thermal Paste Tube
- Zip Ties
- Refill Coolant
- 1x 3-way PWM Splitter Cable
- 1x User Manual
- 1x Safety Paper
The user manual is illustrative and provides guidelines for installing over the supported sockets.
Closer Look
Let’s take a look at the unit, starting with the radiator.
The aluminum radiator has a black finish and has a dimension of 397x120x52mm (with the fans). The radiator itself has a dimension of 27mm. It has 12 channels for coolant flow. FPI count is 20. The gap between two opposite ends holes on the main frame is 105mm. I did not see any bends or broken fins.
Looking at the tube side of the radiator, be quiet! has used black clamps to cover the tube’s connection with the fittings. You can see a sticker showing the serial number of the unit.
There is a refill port on the near block of the radiator. It has a screw plug that can easily be removed using a Philips screwdriver. There is also a 100ml coolant bottle provided in the box. This provision enhances the service life of the unit.
There is no branding on the side frame of the radiator. be quiet! uses a rubber tube with a nylon braided mesh sleeve. The length of these tubes is 400mm, and they are somewhat flexible. The complete black assembly makes this cooler an ideal fit for a neutral or black themed build.
It is time to take a look at the Block.
This cooler has a distinctive, stylish yet bold and aggressive look on the pump housing. The complete assembly is made of ABS material and is black in finish. There is no branding on any side of the housing.
Looking at the top of the housing, you can spot the diffuser under the line pattern. This is A-RGB backlighting. There is a central cover partitioning the running of diffuser lines. It has be quiet! branding.
This cover is removable, so you can install the block in any direction with the peace of mind that be quiet! branding will face upright.
Looking at the backside of the block, the tubes are installed over two 90ᵒ fittings. This means you can adjust the tubes to some extent as per the requirement. There are two single flat cables coming out of the housing.
There is a 4-pin PWM connector that powers the pump. The pump is rated for 3500 RPM speed. The other connector is a 5V, 3-pin A-RGB one to power the A-RGB LEDs. The pump is dampened and uses a 6-pole motor. Be quiet! has used a three-chamber design for the pump housing.
Two screws are pre-installed on the block. This is a two-point mounting mechanism.
The copper base is nickel plated, and it measures approximately 54×41 mm. You can see an offset design towards the base. There is a sticker pasted over the base. Don’t forget to peel it off. The cold plate has a large size now, and it has a high-density fin stack that would help improve the cooling performance.
It is time to check the Fans.
This cooler comes with three Silent Wings 4 PWM High Speed fans. be quiet! has reduced the tip clearance of blades with respect to the frame. This would help maintain high pressure while delivering the air flow. Each fan has 7 blades with a textured surface in an altered layout.
The center of each fan has a large diameter. The main frame is circular with detachable mounting corners. The funnel design is now on the backside of these fans, unlike the front, provided on the Silent Wings 3 fans.
The backside has a 4-armed assembly. These arms are in a curved layout to direct the air flow. These fans use Fluid Dynamic Bearings with a life span of 300,000 hours. The Pro version of these fans comes with a speed slider.
These fans have a unique feature in which the user can swap the anti-vibration mounts depending on the required mounting. However, the fans with the cooler come with radiator corners. These complete the square outlook and serve the anti-vibration purpose.
I am showing the fan with the mounting corners removed.
The frame of the fans is sturdy. Arrow markers are showing the direction of airflow through the fans and the direction in which the blades spin.
Each fan is powered by a 4-pin PWM connector. be quiet! has used standard connector housing, unlike the ones on the original fans that have enlarged housing for better handling.
Installation
I am not covering the installation details any longer. Please refer to the user manual. I only report my observations recorded during the installation. This cooler retains the be quiet! mounting provision as on the previous generation. Installation is simple and I did not observe any concerns.
Clearance
This unit has an overall dimension of 397x120x52mm with installed fans. Make sure your PC Case has support for a 360mm size cooler.
A-RGB Lighting
This cooler uses a standard A-RGB connector on the pump housing, making it compatible with RGB sync technology of motherboard manufacturer,s including:
- ASUS Aura Sync
- ASROCK-Polychrome Sync
- GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0
- MSI Mystic Light Sync
The cooler is tested on ASRock X870E NOVA WiFi, and it was responding well to the changes in the RGB Polychrome app.
Testing
The following configuration is used for thermal testing:
- AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
- ASRock X870E NOVA WiFi
- GSkill TridentZ NEO RGB 32GB 6400MHz CL30 DDR5 kit
- ASRock Phantom Gaming RX 7600 Graphics Card for Display
- BIWIN Black Opal X570 Pro 4TB Gen5 NVMe SSD
- Be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W Platinum PSU
- Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition
Here is the settings table for testing:
| Settings | PBO Enabled |
| Clock (MHz) | Auto |
| Voltage (V) | Auto |
| Thermal Paste | Noctua NT-H2 |
| Thermal Paste Application | Dots Method |
| Test Run Time | 30 minutes |
| Idling Time | 10 minutes |
| All Fans Speed | 100% PWM Duty Cycle |
| Pump Speed | |
| Stress Software | CINEBENCH R23.2 |
| Monitoring Software | HWINFO64 |
I am reporting absolute temperature in the graph because the room temperature was 22°C to 23°C throughout the day. The testing is done on an open-air bench system. Once inside the chassis, the temperatures are expected to rise and would largely depend upon the optimal airflow inside the chassis.
Result
The cooler has a competitive performance and sits closer to its big brother, 420mm. Although I must say, better coolers are available at better prices with better warranty periods.
The fans of Silent Loop 3 360, while operating at full speed, were doing 43.4 dB(A), which is a tad elevated value at a room sound level of 35 dBA.
Conclusion
Silent Loop 3 is a new generation from be quiet! that leverages the Silent Wings 4 fans. The new series uses a revamped pump design with cold plate to deliver high performance while the fans do the rest of the work on a standard radiator.
I have tested the Silent Loop 3 360mm this time. It is compatible with Intel LGA115x / 1200 / 1700 / 1851 and AMD AM4 / AM5 / TR5 / sTRX4 / TR4 sockets. There is no support for Intel LGA20xx. The radiator has a dimension of 397x120x27mm without fans. The radiator is made of aluminum material and has 20 FPI with 12 channels. It has a refill port with a screw plug for easy handling and servicing the loop for durability.
be quiet! use rubber tubes with nylon braided mesh sleeve. These tubes run to a 400mm length. The connections use black clamps for concealment. The pump is rated for a maximum of 3500 RPM. It is PWM regulated.
The pump housing has a different outlook. It has an enlarged rectangular look. There is a diffuser over the top under the line pattern. This design looks good in person. Be quiet! has wisely made the top cover removable so that the orientation of the cooler remains independent of the be quiet! branding.
The unit has a nickel-plated copper base measuring 54x41mm approx. be quiet! has used three three-chamber design with a 6-pole motor for the pump. The cold plate itself has a large size with more surface area, using high high-density fin stack combined with a new jet plate to improve the coolant flow and maximize the cooling performance.
This cooler comes with three Silent Wings 4 PWM High Speed fans. These are flagship fans from be quiet! at present. The feature removable mounting corners as per the required installation and have a reduced tip clearance from the frame to provide sustained high pressure while delivering the airflow.
Their speed rating is up to 2500 RPM. The airflow rating is 76.7 CFM at 12VDC. The air pressure rating is 3.96mmH₂O at 12VDC. Be quiet! uses Fluid Dynamic Bearings with a life span of 300,000 hours. These fans are PWM regulated.
Now coming to the installation of this cooler, it is no different than the Pure Loop 2 360 or Silent Loop 2 360 coolers. I have tested this cooler on AMD AM5 socket. It requires 10 items to install the block over CPU in 3 steps.
B#be quiet! Silent Loop 3 360 has MSRP of USD 164.90 | Euro 164.90. This is 10 bucks less than the 420mm variant. This is still a high price tag, but the bulk of it is coming from the fans. The thermal and acoustic performance of this cooler is good. This cooler comes with a 3-year warranty.
Pros:
- Excellent Thermal Performance
- Refreshing Block design
- Vivid A-RGB lighting on the pump top
- PWM-regulated pump
- Compatible with Intel LGA1700/1851 sockets
- Compatible with AMD AM4/AM5 sockets
- Compatible with AMD TR5/sTRX4/TR4 sockets
- Refill Port
- Coolant bottle
- Noise
Cons:
- 3-Year Warranty
