The be quiet! Light Loop 360mm AIO cooler is an efficient cooling block that offers impressive cooling, incredibly quiet operating decibels and beautiful ARGB illumination. Equipped with three of be quiet!’s signature Light Wings LX fans and an impressive pump control system, the Light Loop 360 is ready to take on the most high-performance tasks with ease.
As with all of the be quiet! components we’ve brought in for testing, such as the excellent Dark Rock Pro 5 Cooler, the Light Loop is well-designed and well-constructed. The cooling radiator is of a pretty standard design, typical of most modern 360mm coolers, with one distinct feature. It includes a refill port on one side, allowing for easy refilling of the cooler with the included bottle of coolant, prolonging the life of the cooler. It’s a nice addition and speaks to be quiet!’s commitment to its products.
The cooling block, which includes the jet plate, pump and cold plate, along with a beautiful ARGB-enabled cover shroud, offers a unique and compact system that easily mounts to the included bracket system. The three 120mm Light Wings LX fans that attach to the radiator carry the same ARGB-enabled system as the cooling block, providing a unified and beautiful RGB solution.
As with previous fans used in be quiet! components, such as the Light Base 900 FX Case I reviewed last month, the Light Wings LX fans are exceptionally well built and run impressively quietly. The plastic blades of the be quiet! Light Loop 360mm AIO cooler are comprised of a material that feels sturdier than most PC case fans I’ve worked with, and the motors offer some impressively smooth glide action that results in a near-silent mode of operation.
Wrapping up the included components is an ARGB-PWM-Hub that allows for the synchronization of up to 6 ARGB-enabled components. While not necessary for the installation of the cooler, its inclusion is very much appreciated as it makes routing cabling and controlling ARGB a simple affair.
The radiator and cooling block, which measures 397 x 120 x 52mm and 75 x 94 x 82 (HxWxD), respectively, fit quite well in any mid-tower case. Installing the AIO is quite an easy affair and took about a half hour total from unboxing to powering up. Attaching the fans to the radiator is straightforward, with all the hardware needed included with the cooler. Once attached, the whole assembly is mounted to the case with ease.
“The plastic blades of the be quiet! Light Loop 360mm AIO cooler are comprised of a material that feels sturdier than most PC case fans I’ve worked with…”
Installing the cooling block is also one of the easiest I’ve mounted in a system in recent memory. This can be attributed to its design which specifically allows for a significant amount of clearance around it, making screwing it to the mounting bracket exceptionally easy. In fact, once the brackets were in place on the motherboard, two mounted tension screws were quickly fastened into place. Connecting the ARGB and PWM cables is just as easy, thanks to the aforementioned hub.
As for socket compatibility, be quiet! offers an impressive amount of support with the Light Loop 360mm AIO cooler. On the Intel side of the fence, the Light Loop will work with 1851 / 1700 / 1200 / 1150 / 1151 / 1155 socket boards. AMD, likewise, is supported for all AM5/ AM4 boards, making the Light Loop easy to pair with. Thankfully, be quiet! was kind enough to include two bracket systems to accommodate both Intel and AMD boards, meaning you don’t have to worry about ordering the wrong version of the cooler.
As for performance, the Light Loop does not disappoint. As the company’s name suggests, the Light Loop is impressively quiet even under heavy load, topping out at just under 37 dB at full RPMs. On the note of running at full speed, other than when doing stress tests, I never noted the Light Loop sustaining full RPMs on the radiator fans. Everyday tasks, including gaming and video editing, never saw the RPMs bump much above 1600 for any significant amount of time.
This consistently slower fan speed on the radiator seems to be attributed to the incredibly efficient cooling block. The block includes a variable pump that can adjust speeds between 1500-2900 rpm, giving it lots of range to push cooling fluid over the CPU quickly. This, in turn, reduces cooling time as cool liquid is more quickly cycled through to the CPU.
“One of the most impressive elements of the be quiet! Light Loop 360mm AIO cooler, though, is how consistently it cools the CPU.”
The included jet plate assembly also helps increase the flow speed of the liquid, again increasing flow rates. Additionally, the cold plate has a dense fin-shaped stack for quicker heat dissipation, working in tandem with the components mentioned above. Finally, to keep the dBs down, there is an integrated circuit in the motor designed to minimize variable speed adjustment noise. All of these components work together to create an impressively efficient and quiet cooling system.
One of the most impressive elements of the be quiet! Light Loop 360mm AIO cooler, though, is how consistently it cools the CPU. In games testing, for example, over an hour-long session, the CPU temps never verified more than 1.4 degrees on average. I found this type of behaviour to be consistent across testing. From rendering to stress testing, the Light Loop managed to keep the CPU temperatures consistent. In regards to performance and build, the Light Loop offers consistently solid cooling and quiet noise at a price point of $189.90.
As for fan control and ARGB, be quiet! doesn’t have any in-house software to manage the system. Instead, it has worked to make the Light Loop compatible with a host of existing software and easily integrates with your current setup. In testing, the system was immediately recognized by Armoury Crate, Gigabyte Control Centre and SignalRGB. Thanks to the included hub, managing ARGB is simple, no matter the software you choose to use.
The be quiet! Light Loop 360mm is a great AIO that provides excellent cooling and impressive noise reduction. Its price tag is $189.90, which is lower than other premium AIOs while offering more value thanks to the refillable radiator, cooling liquid and ARGB-PWM Hub in a single package. It’s also beautiful to look at in the system, thanks to its clean lines and stand-out ARGB. If you’re in the market for a new AIO, I would recommend considering the Light Loop 360mm from be quiet!.
- Stylish ARGB cooling block features lots of illumination options for stunning visual effects
- 3 Light Wings LX PWM high-speed fans for colorful and vibrant cooling
