Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
What to say about the all-new Pure Loop series LCS. I have to say I applaud any company for thinking outside the box and be quiet! certainly did that by placing the pump in between tubing, it's however not entirely their idea though, as Enermax released the LIQfusion 240 a few years ago, showing exactly the same thing. However, sometimes a plan is not well executed, and I mean that in a very respectful but serious manner. At this time, I am not sure if I want to recommend this LCS unit to you. Let's bullet things up and discuss a little.
Acoustics
Be quiet! does a solid job with acoustics at nominal levels. At processor defaults (your average 90 Watt TDP processor), this unit can be called silent as we're hovering at 34~35 DBa here. Of course, you can tweak the fan RPM manually to be a little power and make the unit whisper silent. That unmistakably always comes at the cost of some performance. But that latter one is plentiful as at least this 280mm model has good cooling capacity. Once you start tweaking, the fan RPM needs to go up, there's no getting away from that, and at that stage, you're slowly closing in at 39 Dba depending on your BIOS configuration. It's nonetheless, not the fans' noise that bothers me.
At over 1 meter away from the product, you can still hear the pump. It's not loud or anything, but it's buzzing and resonating intolerably awkwardly. When you place your fingers on the pump, you can actually feel it resonating. The cabling is a little stiff, and as a result, it is resonating through the tubing towards the radiator and even the cooling block to a certain extent. There, with some PCs, that resonating effect will cascade; I do not doubt that when at one point you hear a slight annoying buzz, it's the pump that will be responsible. The problem here is that be quiet! applies 12v at the pump all the time, so literally, it's running 100% all the time, and the dilemma is that you cannot tweak that effect away either as be quiet specifically mentions that the pump and LED ring need to be connected at all times to that 12v SATA connector in their documentation.
Aesthetics
That logo; it is just in your face all the time. Let's do a quick test: look at the above photo, what do you see immediately? Yep. Point made. Apparently, be quiet is under the assumption that they can sell you a product and advertise or brainwash you with their brand all the time. I have no idea who came up with that idea. No Bueno, no go. At least for me, and yes, I realize this is a topic of a subjective matter. Also, the grey faceplate does not match the rest of the LCS's dark theme, and really isn't a fit for modern era PCs where dark and black is the leading aesthetic theme. The second aesthetic fail doesn't show quite well on the photo; the brightness of that white LED ring is severely in your face as well, all the time. Now I can live with the pump's location from a visual point of view, the tubing is sleeved, that all looks nice, but the first two factors I mention here for me would be a no-go in my purchase options.
Usability
Overall it is easy to install with the mounting system, prefilled. It's one of the more relaxed 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 heat pipe coolers with the added benefits of being fairly quiet. Installation is simply a breeze, easy and fast. No skills are required other than the need for ten minutes to install the kit.
Performance
The Pure Loop performance was satisfying, right where I expected it to be for a conventional mainstream LCS unit. Even with a decent tweak on the processor, we've been hard-pressed to pass 80 Degrees combined with 1.40 Volts. Everything below it ran fine, and there's plenty of capacity left for your tweaking efforts. At processor defaults, all registers are nominal, good temps, and low noise (aside from that pump).
Final words
We tell it like it is; we always have and will do that. And I am afraid that we'll not be recommending the Pure Loop series at this time. It's certainly not bad in performance or acoustics; contrary, it's actually quite good for the money. But the paradox is that within that low 35 DBa acoustic spectrum, the pump hardly is bearable to hear as it's there anytime and all the time, that buzzing noise and resonation it makes lifts it to a rather bothersome level. This is something be quiet! will need to look into; I hope this was an isolated issue on my end, though I doubt that. Aesthetics wise, the design could have been great, but the humongous be quiet! logo and far to bright LED ring demolish the looks for me, and yes, that is a subjective statement to make. The color tone of the front plate did not sit well with me either. Pure Loop will be available for purchase starting today at a suggested retail price of $84.90/£82.99/€84.90 (120mm), $94.90/£92.99/€94.90 (240mm), $104.90/£102.99/€104.90 (280mm), and $119.90/£114.99/€119.90 (360mm). These are fair prices, that has to be stated. A 3-year warranty will back these LCS coolers.
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