Thermal Performance

Everything needed—monitor, peripherals, motherboard w/CPU and GPU, radiator, PSU, and so forth—is placed in a sealed, climate-controlled box at 25°C +/- 0.05 °C. Each radiator is connected by Koolance QD3 quick disconnects for easily changing the fans and radiator. The flow rate is held at 1 GPM constant flow rate. The CPU, an Intel Core i7-4770K at 4.6 GHz and 1.3 V, is held at a constant load using a custom Intel XTU profile, and the GPU, an EVGA GTX 780 Ti Classified under load from Unigine Heaven 4.0 at 1080p with extreme HD settings, is overclocked and overvolted in such a way that the total system power draw is 550 W as measured by an external power meter. It's older hardware now used simply for a consistent source of heat into the loop rather than getting discarded as e-waste!

A near-constant heat load into the liquid loop by the addition of the CPU and GPU helps quickly achieve stable liquid-loop temperatures as measured by three separate in-line temperature sensors hooked up to an Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT. The tubing and fittings are insulated by a sleeve heater, but its heat function is not utilized. Every single measurement is done twice as a means of verification. Any possibility of running a fan outside of its static maximum RPM is minimized as much as possible by using a comprehensive series of separate fans (Noiseblocker eLoop, B12-1 through B12-4) to cover a broad RPM range while minimizing fan speed variance and, thus, airflow. The results below are the ∆T (coolant temperature - ambient temperature) in degrees Celsius.


The Raijintek CA360 isn't going to win any performance awards, with thermal dissipation no different from most such 30-mm thickness radiators from yesteryear. It starts off weak courtesy the louvered fins that aren't conducive to lower airflow, putting it quite a ways off from the class leader that is the Black Ice Nemesis GTS. The louvered fins and higher fin density eventually help at medium-high airflow regimes. Scaling is thus average, but doesn't last long because of the physical limitations of the thinner form factor. The newly released Alphacool HPE-30 at 30 mm thick and ultra-thin XSPC TX360 at just over 20 mm thick more or less end up being boundary conditions for the Raijintek CA360's performance metrics here.


While this may seem obvious enough to most people, Raijintek including gasket spacers meant I had to do a couple of tests with them to show you how much of a difference they can provide. In this case, it was arguably not as much as I thought, but that is more a limitation of the core geometry and how well it scales than anything else. Regardless, there is extra performance on hand for no additional cost, but at the expense of more space taken up by the radiator. I'd certainly recommend it since the screws are long enough to still catch a couple of threads, although I would get slightly longer screws if a long-term build.