EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux White – Simply gorgeous liquid cooler

Results – 42 dBA

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Key features of the cooler

The full name of this cooler is EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB White, but you will surely forgive me if I reduce this little tongue twister to EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux in the following text. The fact that this is an AIO is probably clear to everyone at first glance, the D-RGB also does not need much discussion and the White designation serves to simply distinguish it from the basic black version of this cooler. Design-wise, the EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux is not much different from most other AIO coolers on the market, but there are a few interesting details that set it apart from its rivals.

As is usual with the vast majority of AIO coolers on the market, the foundation here is a cooling block with a pump that ensures the circulation of coolant through the entire loop. The pump can be controlled via PWM and with a reasonable speed curve setting you can achieve very quiet operation. The top cover of the cooling block serves as a diffuser for the D-RGB LED array underneath, and thanks to the magnetic mounting combined with the symmetrical shape, it can be rotated in 90° steps so that the manufacturer’s logo is always oriented in the correct position. It’s only a minor detail, but it’s the attention to detail that separates the mediocre stuff from the high-end stuff.

   

The cold plate of the cooling block is made of copper and a layer of thermal paste is applied from the factory to make the installation of the cooler as easy as possible. Liquid flows through the loop via a pair of tubes that are attached to the cooling block using a pair of 90° swivel fittings for easier routing of the tubes in your build. These fittings have a nice stiff action, so it’s not too easy to change their position by pulling on the tubes. The length of the tubes is 400 mm and their surface is protected by a very durable nylon braid, which also improves their appearance.

   

The liquid flows through tubing into a 27 mm thick radiator, where it is cooled by a trio of fans. The radiator is “only” aluminum, but this is completely standard in AIO coolers today, finding a copper radiator in an AIO is practically impossible. One of the interesting details on the radiator is the plastic cover where the tubes attach to the radiator, which not only serves as a protection for them from excessive stress at their attachment point, but it also gives the radiator a uniform look as this cover blends in with the supplied fans. To accentuate the overall aesthetics of the cooler, the two longer sides of the radiator are fitted with a decorative brushed aluminum cover, making the D-RGB backlighting of the entire cooler stand out even more. You will not have missed the emphasis on the main design themes of the radiator, which are elegance, simple lines, clean look and attention to detail. Thus, I cannot rate the visual aspect of this cooler as anything but perfect in all respects.

   

The supplied fans are equipped with the EK-OmniLink (micro-fit 8-pin) connector, which unifies the routing of PWM and RGB signals and also allows the fans to be connected in series, making cable management much easier. In the cooler’s accessories you will of course find an adapter to connect the fans to the standard PWM and D-RGB headers on the motherboard.

You get the impression of a luxury product as soon as you open the box. The cooler is safely packed in a generously sized protective foam package and the first thing that greets you is a bright orange paper envelope with the words “Welcome” which contains a very detailed and well-designed manual along with other accompanying documents. This envelope is then complemented by a box of the same color with the manufacturer’s logo, where you will find very neatly stored parts for mounting the cooler along with screws for attaching the fans to the radiator of the cooler, or for mounting the radiator to the computer case.

   

There is also a tube of spare thermal paste or the aforementioned cable adapter for the EK-OmniLink connectors on the fans. You will also find a special tool for easier tightening of the mounting posts to the backplate under the motherboard. That way you won’t risk the skin on your knuckles in a futile battle with the sharp edges of the aluminum power delivery coolers around the CPU socket.

   

In the package you can also find a pair of mounting frames for AMD or Intel processors. To mount the cooler on Intel processors, you can also use one of the two supplied backplates for LGA 115x/1200 and LGA 1700 sockets. The installation of the cooler itself is very easy, which is helped by the well-designed and clear user manual.

   

Pump, radiator and fan parameters

The EK Nucleus CR360 cooler is not particularly different from its rivals in terms of dimensions. So you shouldn’t run into any unexpected incompatibility issues with your computer case if it supports AIO coolers up to 360mm in size. The cooling block and pump are also quite compact, so you shouldn’t even have to deal with fittings on the cooling block conflicting with oversized aluminum power delivery coolers around the CPU socket. Finally, a nice bonus is the five-year warranty, showing that the manufacturer really trusts its product.

The manufacturer has equipped the cooler with a trio of FPT series fans, which boast impressive maximum airflow and maximum static pressure ratings. However, after my experience with EK’s older fans, I fear that this will be offset by higher than average noise levels, which could be a definite disadvantage in our tests with standardized noise levels. However, the fans are very well made in terms of materials, they are robust, and the ability to daisy-chain all the cabling is a useful detail to avoid a messy jumble of cables in your build.

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Testing methodology

As a test processor and heat generator I use the Intel Core i7-11700K on the Asus TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WIFI motherboard. I always use the thermal paste that comes in the package because it is also part of the equation for the efficiency of the cooler. So each cooler is tested as supplied by the manufacturer. The entire build is mounted on a Streacom BC1 frame with no fans to provide airflow. Acoustic shielding (acoustic foam on OSB boards) is installed around the test rig to eliminate ambient noise. The Voltcraft SL-100 calibrated noise meter is placed perpendicular to the cooler in a fixed position relative to the motherboard at a distance of approximately 35 cm from the processor socket.

   

Stress tests are performed using Prime95 with a duration of 30–35 minutes. Coolers are tested at four standardized noise levels (39, 42, 45 and 48 dBA) and at maximum speed. I did not measure the data for the 45 and 48 dBA noise levels initially, they were only incorporated into the methodology later. Because of this, results for these noise levels are only available for some (usually newer) coolers. The tests are run in two sets corresponding to the thermal output of the processor.

The first set of tests is at 125 W, the forced PL1 limit of the processor. The second set is then at a power draw of about 210 W (4500 MHz at 1.285 V). However, this level represents a very high heat concentration given the overall small die area. Thus, not all coolers can be expected to pass this set of tests at all noise levels.

The highest temperature reached is always recorded after the test. All data regarding temperatures and thermal output of the processor are obtained from HWiNFO64. The measured values are then adjusted against the temperature in the room as the resulting Delta T. The test success limit is set to 75 °C. Any higher value means a risk of processor temperature above 95–100 °C and a risk of thermal throttling. Therefore, if the cooler does not pass the load with a Delta T value below 75 °C, such a test is marked as a failure.

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Results – 39 dBA

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Results – 42 dBA

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Results – 45 dBA

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Results – 48 dBA

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Results – maximum speed

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I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Spectral analysis of noise

Spectral noise analysis cannot be missing either. This is a simple analysis at noise levels of 39 dBA, 45 dBA and at maximum speed of the cooler. For the analysis I use the UMIK-1 microphone from miniDPS in conjunction with True Audio’s TrueRTA application. The resolution of the analysis is 1/24 of an octave and the shape of the spectrogram is an average of 100 samples acquired over 20–30 seconds.

Out of interest, I also added spectrograms of the cooler in combination with a trio of Noctua NF-A12x25 chromax.black fans, with which I ran a second set of tests with the cooler at 210 W TDP, because I was a bit disappointed with the acoustics of the supplied fans. With the high-end “sterrox” fans there was not only an improvement in the sound of the cooler, but logically also better results at normalized noise levels. The supplied EK-Loop FPT 120 D-RGB fans do achieve high static pressure and high flow of volume of air per unit of time, but this is at the expense of acoustic optimization, making the fans quite noisy in the upper speed range.

I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.

Conclusion and evaluation

EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB White is simply a beautiful cooler. Quality workmanship, attention to detail and elegant design will impress you very well, as is typical of EK products. However, what is also fairly typical of EK is the somewhat pointless overlooking of acoustic optimization of the supplied fans. This can be seen quite clearly in the tests and acoustic spectrograms, where I swapped the supplied EK-Loop FPT 120 fans for the acclaimed Noctua NF-A12x25 fans, which are still among the absolute top of their class.

However, if you tame the supplied fans to somewhere in the 40–60% PWM duty cycle range, they are acceptably quiet without sacrificing the overall efficiency of the cooler. I would just strongly recommend avoiding their maximum speed.

The price of the EK-Nucleus CR360 is a bit higher than high-end air coolers, but its certainly acceptable considering its very good design, overall efficiency, abundant accessories and length of warranty. It can thus deservedly take home the Approved editorial award.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

• Contents
• Key Features
• Measurement methodology
• Results – 39 dBA
• Results – 42 dBA
• Results – 45 dBA
• Results – 48 dBA
• Results – maximum speed
• Spectral analysis of noise
• Conclusion and evaluation