Performance
All tests were performed on the Intel i7-11700K 8-core processor, ASRock Z590 Extreme motherboard, HyperX Predator 16GB DDR4-4600 memory kit, and ASRock RX 6800 XT 16GB graphics card.
There are three tests. The first is 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.
The i7-11700K is a new CPU, and I’m sure that our readers wish to see how popular 360 AIO coolers can handle its heat. The CPU was working at its rated frequency. However, to keep it at the higher frequency for longer, we had to unlock power limits and their duration and set a fixed voltage of 1.30V. The default Intel settings cause the CPU to limit the frequency and voltages, giving hard to compare results. At fully automatic settings, the voltage would go down to around 1V, and the frequency would balance between 3.6GHz and 4.6GHz, depends on many factors. This is how Intel handles the ridiculous heat generated by this processor. Either way, let’s take a look at our test results.
The EOS 360 RBW performs well. If we keep the CPU at automatic settings, we wouldn’t see more than a high 70°C. However, most interested in liquid coolers with 360mm radiators are also thinking about overclocking or at least manual settings with balanced, higher performance and lower noise. Certainly, Raijintek delivers high performance and low noise, which is hard to match by the most popular CPU coolers. The best performing and significantly more expensive coolers are about as good for the i7-11700K CPU.
The EOS 360 RBW could keep our fully-loaded processor at about 92°C. As I mentioned, all that at manual settings. Software like hwinfo64 was showing around 270W when the CPU was loaded with AVX tests. It’s hard to transfer heat from this tiny CPU die. Even though coolers are supposed to handle even 350W+, no popular cooler can keep 265W+ Intel Rocket Lake CPU below 90°C. It’s probably one of the reasons why sales of these processors are not going as Intel planned, and we can already see price drops.
The overclocking wasn’t possible because of higher voltage requirements, above 1.35V, which causes that the CPU is reaching the throttling point, so already 100°C+.
