Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
In terms of overall design, the XPG Levante 360 looks quite standard, and for those who are familiar with all-in-one water coolers, yes, this is made by Asetek. As far as the water block, radiator, and fans are concerned, this product is not significantly different from other all-in-one liquid CPU coolers. It is an extended version of the Levante 240. If you look carefully though, you will find the Levante 360 has a unique water block design just like its 240mm variant. The base of the water block is round, while the top evolves to a triangle. There is also an XPG logo on top of the water block. If you have the Levante 360 properly installed in your computer, the XPG logo and the surrounding triangle on the water block will be lit up through the addressable RGB LEDs, which is pretty neat.
The magic of cooling a CPU using a water cooler is realized by the movement of liquid. Inside the water block, there is a pump. The speed of the pump motor is adjustable thanks to its 4-pin PWM connection to the motherboard. Users should not hear too much of the pump motor noise since it has a sealed plastic cover. The liquid inside carries away heat generated by the CPU at the water block and pumped to the radiator though the sleeved tubes. Once the liquid is cooled down by the radiator, it goes back to the water block through the sleeved tubes. Note the liquid goes along the fins of the radiator, which have a large surface area with the atmosphere for heat evaporation. The fans attached to the radiator induce air flow to speed up heat dissipation. Normally, for air coolers, the heat exchange happens in the middle of the computer case, while the water cooler allows heat exchange to take place by the side of a computer case. In other words, water coolers can transfer the heat using the tubing system instead of relying on the airflow inside the case for improved efficiency and effectiveness. For the Levante 360, the sleeved tubes are 400mm long. I would say this product can fit most of the mainstream mid-towers on the market, and thanks to the sleeved finish, it looks good and the chances of the tube being damaged is reduced.
Now, let us focus on the all-aluminum radiator on the Levante 360. The 360 in the product name suggests that the radiator has a size of 360mm, which means it can hold three 120mm fans. The radiator is made out of aluminum, which strikes a great balance between thermal conductivity and weight. In terms of the size, the radiator of XPG Levante 360 measures 394mm in length, 120mm in width, and 27mm in thickness. The measurements are standard for a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler. The build quality of this radiator is pretty good. There was no sign of damage on the fins except for a small bent area out of the box. The paint looks to be in good condition as well.
Let us move on to take a look at the water block of the XPG Levante 360. XPG made the contact area with your CPU copper. The contacting surface looks like a copper shield after the protection film is removed. Personally, I really like seeing the pure copper color on the base, but in practicality, nickel plated is better in the long run since nickel is more resistant to corrosion. What we cannot see from the outside is the 0.15mm micro channels at the back of the copper base. According to XPG, these micro channels are thermal optimized to improve heat dissipation. With the help of the pre-applied thermal paste, heat can be efficiently transferred from the CPU to the AIO cooler.
To attach the water block to the motherboard, a bracket with four holes is used. The bracket can be separated from the water block, hence users can use this product for both Intel and AMD CPUs. The water block has two sets of cables, one is to connect to the 4-pin PWM header on the motherboard, and the other is for ARGB LED lighting. The top of the water block will have ARGB LED lighting effects once it has power. In terms of size, the water block is 86mm in length, 72mm in width, and 36mm in height. It is worth mentioning that the water block of this product is pretty much the same as the XPG Levante 240.
The three fans of the XPG Levante 360 are vibrant dual-ring 120mm ARGB LED fans with fluid dynamic bearing and 4-pin PWM design. Thanks to the addressable RGB LED lighting, these fans can display any color combination by the use of the included ARGB LED controller or compatible motherboard. All of the lights in the Levante 360 water cooler are connected using 3-pin LED cables. To reduce vibrational noise, rubber pads are used around the mounting holes. For the fan blades, a ribbed edge can be found to cut down the turbulence noise. In terms of cooling performance, the included fans of the Levante 360 can produce up to 1.42mmH2O air pressure and 61.5CFM airflow. These figures are the same as the fans included with the XPG Levante 240.
Installation of the XPG Levante 360 was definitely a pleasant journey for me. Before I put everything in my computer, I took a while to look into the online installation manual. The bracket needs to be installed onto the water block for both Intel and AMD platforms. The mounting bracket on the water block is attached using screws. It is worth noting the bracket for the water block installation is made out of metal. Therefore, it is strong enough to withstand some over-tightening of screws, although I would not try to damage it intentionally.
On the other hand, there is a black colored plastic backplate with foam pads that needs to be installed behind your motherboard. Users do not need to worry about the damage that could be caused by pressing the backplate on the motherboard, but this comes at the expense of quality. This is because a plastic backplate can be damaged if you are not careful with how tight your screws are. From the above picture, we can see the backplate blends well with my motherboard and chassis. Of course, this only happens if you have a black colored PCB motherboard and computer case.
After the backplate is in position, the CPU water block can be screwed on. There are also three positions to screw on the mounting hardware. If you are confused by those positions, just take a look at the installation manual. In my case, I just used the holes in the middle, which is for Intel LGA 115X. According to my installation experience, the CPU block fits precisely. After the installation of the CPU block, the next step was to mount the radiator. For this particular computer case, the top panel was the ideal place for it. After all the hardware were installed, the last step for me was to connect the power cables to spin the motors and all the control cables for the addressable RGB LEDs. With the provided fan power cable, the three fans only need one fan port on motherboard. However, with three ARGB LED fans, one ARGB LED water block, and one ARGB LED control box, the lighting wiring was a little bit complex. All the connectors of Levante 360 were easy to use, but the users will definitely need to do some planning to hide as many of the cables as possible.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
