While doing the requisite homework for this review, I was looking at when Phanteks first got into the custom watercooling game (2016) and when this Glacer C350i CPU water block was announced as a retail product. It just so happened to be a year ago to the day I am writing this that the product was released at the same $79.99 price point, and things have not changed in the year since for Phanteks or the general market as a whole. AMD's socket sTR4 came in, and with it came some new, large CPU blocks, but the Intel socket blocks have been more or less on standby, which helps Phanteks' case here (pun unintended). No price changes throughout means that what held true at launch is still valid here - the Glacier C350i could do with a price cut to bring it on par with other acrylic/acetal top options, but it's also not out of the norm for the range of options available today, especially when you look at the entire package.

From the luxurious packaging to the good build quality, integrated RGB lighting, and mix of acrylic top and aluminum side covers, Phanteks has ticked a lot of good points off the list. Installation in particular is among the best in terms of it being extremely easy to do and replicate consistently, providing good contact with CPUs (at least in my case) and a precise, tool-less mounting experience that will be appreciated by everyone. The Viton O-ring is just a marketing tick in terms of practicality, but the other claim of low flow restriction is true as a result of a large cold plate with wider microchannels than is the norm.

This is not to say there is nothing wrong here. The lower flow restriction is still potentially due to the hybrid mix of the old-school design of coolant flowing through a port, passing through the fins and exiting through the other, and Phanteks adding in a barrier in the middle to force coolant through the fins vs. over them. There is a small gap between the fin stack and cold plate through which some of the coolant can still go without hitting the fins, but the large cold plate coupled with the tall fins does enough to compensate for this. Phanteks did possibly lose out on some thermal performance improvements here, and I would have liked to see what they could have achieved with the split central-inlet flow design here.

As it stands today, Phanteks is happy enough with the design to let it remain. Indeed, at CES 2018, they even showed off upcoming acetal top versions of the Glacier C350i, which means they are willing to support the design for another year at the very least. Fans of the brand would appreciate the option to have a Phanteks water loop in a Phanteks case, with CPU and GPU blocks controlled as one in terms of the integrated lighting, and in a world where aesthetics, pricing, and installation often are just as important a factor, if not more so, than flow restriction and thermal performance, this checks off enough boxes to merit a recommendation.