Page 4 - Conclusion
Fractal Design as a company rarely makes big leaps or giant changes, but they deliver continued improvements and refinements. As such, our Fractal Design Radius 240 RGB Black today brings further refinements and polishing as an AIO cooler. From the packaging, you can see the company has streamlined the process with its fans and thermal grease in place out of the box. Everything is wrapped for protection but ready for installation. The radiator looks standard while the EPDM tubing is braided to hide some cables. The two Dynamic 3 - 12 RGB fans are mounted and offer good air movement while glowing brightly with their eight RGB LED lights. In addition, the water pump and CPU combination block is topped with another glowing area. The overall design of these parts is clean and without unnecessary frills. Installation is extremely easy for the first time with everything already in place, and just a matter of mounting the combination block to the backplate and installing the radiator. In use, the Radius 240 RGB Black performs admirably with solid temperature numbers without getting too loud. Its pump and fans are audible at maximum load, but it quiets down nicely in daily use. The Adjust Pro web utility is also intuitive to use. There are still some things I would like addressed, such as including a tube of thermal paste for multiple installs, reinforcing the tube to avoid kinking, and using a water pump with a longer MTTF. At launch, the MSRP of the Fractal Design Radius 240 RGB Black is $90, which is reasonable, while other options in the lineup vary from $80 to $100, depending on the size and configuration. If you are looking for a tidy but capable AIO cooler, the Fractal Design Radius 240 RGB Black is an appealing option.
Fractal Design provided this product to APH Networks for the purposes of evaluation.
APH Networks Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks, but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Networks Numeric Rating is 7.5/10
Please note that the APH Networks Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other publications.
The Fractal Design Radius 240 RGB Black is a desirable liquid CPU cooler that offers robust performance in a polished package.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Installation and Test Results
4. Conclusion
