be quiet! Light Loop 360 White Review

Introduction

be quiet! Showcased new products at Computex 2024 and other tech shows down the road. They finally released their new generation of water-cooling products. Light Loop is the name of the new category so we don’t have Pure Loop 3 or Silent Loop 3 revision.

I am taking a look at the Light Loop 360 White AIO in this article. This cooler is available in 240mm and 360mm size. Black and white variants are also available. This cooler is almost white from head to toe and finally, we are seeing a fully A-RGB illuminated fans from be quiet! These are Light Loop LX fans which is another new generation of fans from the manufacturer.

This cooler is compatible with Intel LGA 115x/1200/1700 and AMD AM4/AM5 sockets. be quiet! has done some homework and redesigned the jet plate, cold plate, and pump to meet the extreme thermal requirements of modern CPUs. be quiet! has also bundled a 6-port hub.

The Light Loop 360 in white is currently available on Amazon US for $164.90.

Dimension

Light Loop Specifications

Packing and Unboxing

The cooler is shipped inside a cardboard packing box. be quiet! has retained its standard theme on the packing box. There is an inner container in which the contents are tucked safely. There is a radiator and 3x fans in the box as well.

The following are provided:

• 1x Backplate
• 1x set of Mounting Brackets for Intel Sockets
• 4x Intel Spacer Nuts
• 4x Mounting Brackets Fastening Screws
• 4x Intel Backplate Screws
• 4x O-Rings
• 1x set of AMD Mounting Bracket
• 4x Backplate Screws
• 4x AMD Spacer Nuts
• 12x Radiator Screws
• 12x Fan Screws
• 1x Thermal Paste Tube
• Zip Ties
• Refill Port Covers
• be quiet! Stickers
• 1x Refill Coolant

be quiet! has provided an illustrative guide for the installation of this cooler on supported sockets.

be quiet! has provided:

• 1x 6-port Hub
• 4x Screws for a standard 2.5” size mounting
• 1x 3M Self-Adhesive Double Sided Pad

Closer Look

Let’s take a look at the unit starting with the radiator.

There is a white spray painted aluminum made radiator. It has a dimension of 397x120x27mm which is standard. This measurement would be 397x120x52mm with the 120x25mm fans. The fin count is 20 FPI hence we have a dense fin stack for which high pressure fans are required. There are 12 channels for the flow of coolant. A gap between two opposite end holes on the main frame is 105mm. I did not see any bend or broken fin.

Looking at the tube side of the radiator, be quiet! has used white clamps to cover the tubes connection with the fittings. You can see a sticker showing a serial number of the unit.  There is another port that has a large size cover. Although there is no warranty void sticker over it, I would suggest not tampering it as it could lose the vacuum pressure of the loop.

There is a refill port on the far block of the radiator. There is a white cover over the port. be quiet! has also provided spare covers in case a refill is needed. There is also a 100ml coolant bottle provided in the box.

There are stylish line patterns on the side frame. There are two be quiet! branded sitckers. I think they are meant for this side mounting though I am not sure. The near block has 14mm length whereas the far block as 22mm length. This 22mm length is probably to accommodate the refill port.

Be quiet! uses rubber tube with white nylon braided mesh sleeve. The length of these tubes is 400mm and they are somewhat flexible.

It is time to take a look at the Block.

Be quiet! has come up with a distinctive design on the block. We have a large size diffuser with 16 A-RGB LEDs underneath. This diffuser is designed in a heatsink pattern. The block has a dimension of 75x94x82mm. The lower chamber housing is made of ABS material and it is white as well.

Two spring-loaded screws are pre-installed on the block. As you can see be quiet! is still using a 2-point mounting mechanism on this cooler which is what I saw on the Pure Loop 2 360 and Silent Loop 2 360.

Looking at the top of the main block, you will see be quiet! branding. This sticker is fixed and it has implications regarding the orientation of the block. be quiet! should have come out with either no branding or a rotatable mechanism.

Looking at the backside of the block, the tubes are installed over two 90ᵒ fittings. This means you can adjust the tubes to some extent as per the requirement. There are two single flat cables coming out of the housing.

The pump is PWM regulated for which there is a 4-pin PWM connector. The pump is rated for up to 2900 RPM. There is a standard 3-pin, 5V A-RGB connector for the block illumination.

The copper base is nickel plated and it measures 55x55mm. There is a sticker pasted over the base. Don’t forget to peel it off. The new metal jet plate helps increasing coolant’s flow. The cold plate combined with a high-density fin stack increases overall cooling performance. The motor of the pump has a progressive IC that reduces switching noise.

It is time to check the Fans.

The new fans called Light Loop LX fans are a new generation from be quiet! There are 9x frosted blades in each fan with same layered stripes over each blade for improved airflow. There is a ring around the blade assembly. There is a gap between the ring and the mounting corners. I am not sure about its purpose.

Looking at the backside, you can see a 4-arms assembly. They are rounded and sloped to help distribute the air in a circular pattern. The four anti-vibration pads on each side are integrated inside the main frame. These fans are made in China.

The frame of the fans is sturdy. There are arrow markers showing the direction of airflow through the fans and the direction in which blades spin. Each fan has 16 A-RGB LEDs. There is be quiet! branding as well on the frame.

The fans are powered by 4-pin connectors and they are PWM regulated. They use rifle bearings and motor is a 4-pole designed. Be quiet! has used standard 3-pin, 5V, A-RGB connectors on the fans. The salient specifications include:

Fan Dimension	120x120x25mm
Fan Speed	2100 RPM at 12VDC
Fan Noise	36.8 dBA at 12VDC
Fan Air Flow	61.8 CFM at 12VDC
Fan Air Pressure	2.51 mmH₂O at 12VDC
Fan Bearing	Rifle
Fan Motor	4-Pole Motor

A-RGB Hub

Let’s take a look at the provided hub. Since there is no daisy-chain mechanism or PWM Y cables provided on this cooler, you absolutely need this hub. Personally speaking, I don’t like this dependency on one particular item that much.

There are two 4-ports on one end. One port is labeled RPM. You must connect one cable on this port as it will regulate the speed of all connected fans and pump from this port’s PWM signal.

There are three connections on this end. The hub is powered by a SATA connector. There is a standard 4-pin PWM connector from this hub that needs connection on the motherboard and then there is a standard 3-pin A-RGB connector that also needs to be connected to the motherboard.

There are three 3-pin A-RGB ports and 2 4-pin fan ports on each side of the hub.

There are a total of three connectors as mentioned above.

Installation

I am not covering the installation details any longer. Please refer to the user manual for that purpose. If you are used to be quiet! ecosystem then this cooler is no different than the other be quiet! coolers when it comes to the installation. In that sense, there is no observation about the installation. However, the total number of items required for mounting hardware installation should be reduced.

One thing that I noted on the AMD Mounting Brackets is the marking and double holes. 8 and 0 are labeled on these holes. These brackets follow offset mounting. In 0 you will install the block in a regular manner whereas in 8 you will install the block in an offset by 8 which I presumed is -8. This reminds me of the Noctua offset brackets for the AM5 platform.

Clearance

This unit has an overall dimension of 397x120x52mm with installed fans. Make sure your PC Case has a support for 360mm size cooler.

A-RGB Lighting

This cooler uses standard A-RGB connectors making it compatible with RGB sync technology of motherboard manufacturers including:

• ASUS Aura Sync
• ASROCK-Polychrome Sync
• GIGABYTE RGB Fusion 2.0
• MSI Mystic Light Sync

The cooler is tested on AORUS MASTER X670E and it was responding well to the changed in RGB Fusion 2.0 app. Here are a few pictures.

Testing

The following configuration is used for thermal testing:

• AMD Ryzen 7950X
• GIGABYTE X670E AORUS MASTER
• Kingston Renegade Fury 32GB 6400MHz CL32 DDR5 kit
• ASRock Phantom Gaming RX 7600 Graphics Card for Display
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVME SSD
• be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W Platinum PSU
• Praxis Wetbench

Here is the settings table for testing:

Clock (MHz)	Auto
Voltage (V)	Auto
PBO	Advanced
PPT	200000mW
TDC	480000
EDC	640000
Boost Clock Override	+75Hz
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit	Auto
Thermal Paste	Noctua NT-H1
Thermal Paste Application	Dots Method
Test Run Time	30 minutes
Idling Time	10 minutes
All Fans Speed	100% PWM Duty Cycle
Pump Speed
Stress Software	CINEBENCH R23.2
Monitoring Software	HWINFO64

We are reporting delta temperature in the graph because room temperature varied from 20.9°C to 22.8°C throughout the day. The testing is done on an open air bench system. Once inside the chassis, the temperatures are expected to rise and would largely depend upon the optimal airflow inside the chassis.

Result

I am seeing a competitive performance from the be quiet! Light Loop 360 White cooler. The overall noise levels are decent if not silent.

Conclusion

be quiet! is back with a new generation of water coolers named Light Loop. These are high-performance water coolers (coming from our testing) and definitely making waves in the market. There are 240mm and 360mm versions available in black and white colors. I have tested a Light Loop 360 white edition.

Speaking of socket compatibility, this cooler is compatible with Intel LGA115x / 1200 / 1700 and AMD AM4 / AM5 sockets. There is no support for Intel LGA20xx so if you are on that platform, this cooler is not for you. The radiator has a dimension of 397x120x27mm without fans. The radiator is made of aluminum material and has 20 FPI with1 2 channels.

be quiet! has used rubber tubes with nylon braided mesh sleeve. These tubes run to a 400mm length. The connections use white clamps for concealment. The pump is rated for a maximum of 2900 RPM speed. It has a progressive IC motor to reduce the noise vibration.

The block features a new look with a 360ᵒ A-RGB backlighting on the top using a large size heatsink styled diffuser. There is a fixed be quiet! branding over the top of the diffuser. This fixed branding would limit the orientation of the block. The block has a dimension of 75x94x82mm and houses 16x A-RGB LEDs making the total count of LEDs to be 64.

The unit has a nickel plated copper base measuring 55x55mm. be quiet! gone back to the drawing board and come out with redesigned cold plate with high density fin stack combined with new jet plate to improve the coolant flow and maximize the cooling performance.

Say hello to Light Loop LX fans which is a new generation of fans. Finally, I have seen a fully A-RGB illuminated fan from Be quiet! There are 3x 120mm A-RGB LX white fans provided with this cooler. Their speed rating is up to 2100 RPM. The airflow rating is 61.8 CFM at 12VDC. The air pressure rating is 2.51mmH₂O at 12VDC. Be quiet! uses Rifle bearings and using 4-pole motor design. These fans are PWM regulated and use standard 3-pin, 5V A-RGB connectors for lighting control. Each fan has 16 LEDs.

Now coming to the installation of this cooler, it is no different than the Pure Loop 2 360 or Silent Loop 2 360 coolers. I have tested this cooler on AMD AM5 socket. It requires 10 items to install the block over CPU in 3 steps. be quiet! has introduced offset mounting for AM5 platform. The AMD mounting brackets have double holes labeled 0 and 8. Using 8 labeled mounting holes, you will get a better cooling performance.

be quiet! Light Loop 360 White has MSRP of USD 164.90. be quiet! has a made a solid performance punch in the face of the competition although the overall noise performance could be bettered. This cooler comes with a  3-year warranty.