Performance
All tests were performed on the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, one of the more demanding processors on the market. Additional components contain ASUS Strix B550-I Gaming motherboard, Ballistix MAX RGB 32GB DDR4-4000, and ASRock RX 6800 XT 16GB graphics card. Even though you can see photos in the case, it was open with a graphics card on a longer riser, so it won’t block the airflow. Results inside a closed case will be presented soon in the Streacom DA2 V2 ITX case review.
There are three tests. The first is simply called Idle, so an operating system without additional load besides standard processes in the background. The second test is based on the PCMark 10 Extended benchmark, which simulates daily work. The last one is a high CPU load tested with AIDA64 with AVX instructions.
Now I back to what I mentioned before, so a bit misleading results. As far as in the table you can see the temperature in each test, then it doesn’t mean it tells everything about the performance. We could observe that the Noctua NH-U9S couldn’t keep the CPU clock as high as other coolers, and the CPU frequency was more often going 100-200MHz lower than on other coolers. The CPU was trying to balance the heat, voltages, and frequency to keep it around 80° C. Both other coolers had no problems with that so that we can compare them directly.
The LIQMAX III ARGB 240 performs well, and I’m actually surprised it could come so close to the Noctua NH-D15S, which is usually much better than all smaller AIO coolers. The next step will be 360mm AIO which I expect to be a couple of degrees better than the Noctua as we could compare that in the past during Enermax AQUAFUSION 360 tests. We will, of course, present it to you soon.
Going back to the LIQMAX III 240, I’m satisfied with the results. The cooler isn’t large but handles high series processors without issues. It’s also not loud, achieving about 36dB during work when our room’s noise can be measured at about 32dB.
During most tests, the cooler wasn’t forced to run with fans at their maximum speed. Fans were keeping around 800-1200 RPM while gaming. I find the LIQMAX III an interesting option for all those who want a well-performing AIO with a 240mm radiator and ARGB illumination.
Below are additional photos of what we will present in a couple of days. Here the Enermax LIQMAX III cooler runs in red in an ITX case. Stay with us to see more of this build.
