In my 8 years of testing PC cooling gear and over 17 years of experience using various cooling products, seldom has it happened that I have come across a cooler that got my praise for almost doing everything right. In this preface, the DX360 Max from ID-Cooling has exceeded my expectations given what is on the table of this cooler.
This cooler is intended for maximized cooling performance by the manufacturer and to achieve that they have used a 33mm thick radiator, unlike a standard 27mm thick radiator. They have mentioned the radiator thickness of 38mm but the fin stack assembly stands at 33mm. The near and far chambers are at 38mm. This increases the surface area. In the past I have seen many manufacturers attempting this but with little to no success. ID-Cooling did right with the pump and fans.
DX360 Max is a perfect recipe for what a good cooling solution should be comprised of. Enough with the praise, let’s move on. This cooler is available in 240mm and 360mm sizes. It is based on ID-Cooling’s seventh-generation pump and powerful DF125 fans.
This cooler is compatible with Intel LGA115x/1200/1700/1851 and AMD AM4/AM5 sockets.
Specifications
Also Read: DeepCool LQ360 Review – Is It a Competition Killer?
Packaging and Unboxing
This cooler comes in a cardboard box with a stylish ID-Cooling design theme on the outer shell made of paperboard material. I appreciate the bold color scheme on the packing box giving a hint of something special inside the box.
The cooler is held in a thick black Styrofoam-padded carton, which is the same as I have seen on many of their coolers.
Let’s see what is provided in the box.
- 1x Cooler with preinstalled fans
- 1x Intel Backplate
- 2x Sets of AMD Mounting Brackets
- 1x Set of Intel Mounting Brackets
- 4x Thumb Screws
- 4x Standoff Screws
- 1x Locker Tool
- 3x Clips for tubes
- 1x Frost X45 Thermal Paste Tube
- 1x 3-way Slitter Cable
- 12x Radiator Screws
- 1x User Manual
DX360 Max Closer Look – Radiator
ID-Cooling has followed the latest trend and installed DF-125 fans over the radiator. The fans have a square design with a stepped inlet design.
These fans are not RGB/A-RGB, so we only have a small-length power cable with a 4-pin PWM connector. The fans are daisy-chained and the 3-way PWM extension cable comes pre-installed as well.
The extension cable has a 4-pin PWM connector.
The radiator is made of aluminum and measures 400x120x38mm. Adding 120x25mm fans would make the overall height of this cooler 58mm (approximately). Why is this thickness not 63mm? The actual thickness of the fin assembly is 33mm. The near and far chambers are 38mm thick.
This extra thickness gives this radiator more surface area compared to standard 27mm thick radiators. This extra thickness would also mean that you need high-performance fans to deliver ample airflow while maintaining static pressure.
The radiator has a 20 FPI count and 12 channels for the coolant flow inside the radiator. There is a gap of 105mm between two mounting holes on opposite ends.
They have used metallic clamps to conceal the connection between tubes and barb fittings. A serial number sticker is also printed.
I am showing the side view of the unit. There is no branding on the radiator frame. ID-Cooling uses premium rubber tubes with nylon braided sleeves. The tube length is 465mm.
You can see that both ends have more thickness or height compared to the fin stack area. Also, both ends have the same width.
Also Read: Ocypus Iota A62 White Air Cooler Review
Pump / Block
Let’s take a look at the design of the pump block on the DX360 Max.
The pump housing is made of ABS material and ID-Cooling has deviated from a traditional circular or ring design. It is a good step. The dimension of this housing is 73x72x58mm. The top is where the simplicity merges with the goodness of A-RGB backlighting. There is a stripe design with straight or simple stripe lines combined with complex lines making one hell of a good outlook.
ID-Cooling has done a good overall job in the design. Though there is no brushed aluminum material used here, the outlook looks well synchronized and uses polished materials.
Looking at the backside of the housing, you can see the 90ᵒ fittings with tube connection. The tube connections can be rotated to adjust for any user requirement. Two flat cables come out from a side of the main housing.
ID-Cooling has used standard 3-pin, 5V, A-RGB connectors for backlighting on the DX360 Max AIO.
There is a 3-pin DC cable to power the motor of the pump. The pump is rated for 2900 RPM ±10%. It is rated for 5.4W using 0.45A at 12VDC. This is a rather high-power draw. The pump uses ceramic bearings and it uses a three-phase, six-pole motor. This is a seventh-generation pump from the manufacturer.
Two spring-loaded screws are pre-installed on the mounting plate or frame on the base.
There is a stylish line pattern on the front with ID-Cooling branding.
The copper base has a protective cover that needs to be peeled off during the installation.
DF-125 Fans
ID-Cooling has deployed three DF-125 non-RGB fans with this cooler. Each fan has 9x blades. These fans have stepped inlet design on the frame border near all mounting corners. These reduce the tonal intake noise, enhances air flow (from laminar to turbulent), and increases suction capacity. The center has ID-Cooling branding. Mounting corners have anti-vibration pads.
The frame on these fans has a square shape. There are no arrow markers.
There is a 4-arms assembly on the backside. The blade assembly is within a ring frame inside the main frame. This creates a seal that avoids the air leakage. The fans are made in China and they use Hydraulic bearings. They are rated for 0.18A at 12VDC each drawing 2.16W.
Each fan has a 4-pin PWM connector to power the motor.
There is also a 3-pin socket on each fan to daisy-chain them.
The specifications include:
| Model | DF-125-K |
| Dimension | 120x120x25mm |
| Speed | 0 to 2150 RPM ±10% |
| Airflow | 85 CFM |
| Static Pressure | 2.83 mmH₂O |
| Noise Level | 32.5 dB(A) Max |
| Current | 0.18A |
| Voltage | 12VDC |
| Power | 2.16W |
DX360 Max Installation
We are not covering the details of installation. I only report if there is any issue or observation recorded during installation. ID-Cooling has streamlined their mounting hardware which has resulted in a simplified installation by eliminating the need for dedicated hardware items for different sockets.
ID-Cooling has provided two sets of AMD mounting brackets that allow the users to orient the block in any direction they want. In my recent take on Ocypus Iota L36 and GameMax Iceburg 360 Digital White (My Review on Tech4Gamers) coolers, this has been my complain that orientation of the blocks is fixed which is not user friendly.
A-RGB Lighting
This cooler uses standard connectors which makes the A-RGB lighting compatible with the RGB sync technology of the motherboard manufacturers. I have tested the cooler on GIGABYTE X670E AORUS MASTER motherboard and control the lighting using the RGB Fusion 2.0 app. It was working flawlessly. Here are a few pictures.
Thermal 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 | Stock |
| Thermal Paste Application | Stock |
| 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
ID-Cooling DX360 Max has good performance on AMD. Although it is not a top performer, as it is number three on the list, a $90 cooler is giving the competition a run for its money.
The story changed when we tested the cooler on the Intel platform. It came out top on the graph outclassing the competition.
The overall noise level on this cooler with fans at full speed is 44.5. This is a high noise output. The Zero RPM support on the fans would come to some help. I suggest using Auto PWM on these fans and forget
Also Read: Valkyrie A360 ARGB White Review
Conclusion
Say hello to DX360 Max from ID-Cooling. It is among a few coolers that can easily move you with their sheer performance. This cooler is available in 240mm and 360mm sizes. ID-Cooling has kept the overall theme on this cooler to be neutral/all-black. The fans are non-RGB and the only area that has A-RGB backlight is over the pump housing.
The DX360 Max is compatible with Intel LGA115x/1200/1700/1851 and AMD AM4/AM5 sockets. This cooler is not compatible with the Intel LGA20xx socket. The complete assembly is black. The main feature highlight of this cooler is the 38mm thick aluminum radiator. This radiator stands at 400x120x38mm. However, there is a catch. The main fin stack assembly area is 33mm thick.
Both chambers/blocks are 38mm thick. So, technically it is a 33mm thick radiator. This raises a clearance challenge in the PC Case. The usual height of this cooler with 120x25mm fans is 58mm, unlike 52mm standard height on the other AIOs. Keep that in mind when considering this cooler.
The radiator has a 20 FPI count and 12 channels for coolant flow. The cooler has rubber tubes with nylon braided sleeves 465 mm long. ID-Cooling has provided 3x clips for clean tube routing and management.
The block has a beautiful and stylish outlook. It has a stripe-line design over the top, which is A-RGB backlit. This is something different and refreshing. ID-Cooling has kept it to a minimalist design and focused more on performance.
ID-Cooling has employed a 7th-generation pump that uses a 3-phase, 6-pole motor and ceramic axis on its DX360 Max AIO Cooler. The rated speed of the pump is 2900±10% RPM. It is rated for 0.45A at 12VDC taking 5.2W power. The pump is not PWM-regulated. I wish they had made it PWM-regulated! The copper base does not have a pre-applied thermal paste. Frost X45 is a high-performance thermal paste from ID-Cooling and this cooler comes with this thermal paste. ID-Cooling wants to provide the best possible experience for the users.
Since we have a thick radiator with more surface area, we need high-performance fans. ID-Cooling has covered this aspect using DF-125 non-RGB, high-performance fans. These fans support Zero RPM mode. You need a supporting motherboard with a BIOS feature to enable this function.
Each fan has 9x blades. They are rated for a maximum of 2150 RPM ± 10% speed, generating 85 CFM airflow while maintaining 2.83mmH₂O static pressure. Their noise rating is 32.5 dBA. They use Hydraulic bearings. These are PWM-regulated fans. ID-Cooling has provided a PWM extension cable.
Hats off to ID-Cooling for coming out with a simplified and streamlined mounting hardware (x24). Say bye bye to dedicated mounting items for each socket type. Instead, they have provided 4x standoffs regardless of socket type. The dual-sided threaded design is efficient. Installing this cooler on AMD socket requires 10 items. 11 items are required on Intel platform. The block can be installed in 3 steps on AMD platform and 4 steps on Intel platform.
Now coming to the real question of how good this cooler is, this cooler is a beast to say the least. Recently I have tested 3 coolers from ID-Cooling and my general impression is that these coolers perform better on Intel compared to AMD. I can be wrong but trend is telling me otherwise. This is why I have tested this cooler on Intel platform as well.
The DX360 Max has top-notch performance on Intel. I must say ID-Cooling is killing the competition here. How? A 90-buck cooler sitting at the top of our graphs! This is not all, as ID-Cooling is offering a 5-year warranty. The performance on AMD is still fantastic, by any means.
This cooler has won our Must Have, Editor’s Choice, and Value awards. DX360 Max is now my daily driver on the Intel test bench.
Pros:
- Excellent Thermal Performance
- Unique design on pump cover
- Subtle A-RGB Lighting on
- 33mm thick radiator (read details)
- 38mm thick radiator assembly
- DF-125 Fans
- Easy Cable Management
- Intel LGA1700/1851 Compatible
- AMD AM5 Compatible
- Streamlined and Simplified Mounting Hardware
- Easy Installation
- Price
- Warranty
Cons:
- Noise
The ID-Cooling DX360 Max has a perfect recipe to give competition a run for their money be it the performance, pricing, and warranty. But it does so by running loud. A 90-dollar cooler with 320W true cooling potential has my praise and ID-Cooling is damn good at when providing a high-performance cooler in a cost-effective manner.
