Enermax Aquafusion ADV 240 – Pretty liquid cooler with big noise

Pavel Sekerka

1 year ago

Results – 45; 48 and 51 dBA

The Aquafusion ADV 240 is the first AIO cooler from Enermax that I have the pleasure to test. The subject of today’s review is also the interesting white design variant, which in combination with the RGB backlighting of the fans and the infinity mirror effect on the cooler block looks really premium. The price of this cooler comes out to an affordable 105 EUR, which could provide a solid price-performance ratio if it performs well in tests.

Key features

While this cooler also comes in black, today we’re looking at the white variant, which is a nice change for me personally after all the black AIO coolers lately. Considering the simple contours of the cooling block with the pump, the extra white colour enhances the overall impression of a premium product.

The structure of the Aquafusion ADV 240 holds no big surprises. The base of the cooler is a block that houses a pump with a ceramic bearing. I could go on and on about the dual-chamber design of the cooling block or the liquid shunt to reduce flow resistance, but it seems superfluous to me, because in the end it’s all about cooling effectiveness and low noise.

Moreover, the pump does not even have PWM regulation, fortunately it can be easily regulated by voltage. The top surface of the cooling block has an infinity mirror effect with the manufacturer’s logo in the middle and an RGB stripe around the perimeter, and will form the visual centerpiece of the entire build if you use a case with a TG side panel. The contact area of the cooler is copper and large enough to cover all current CPU types (except AMD Threadripper platform) with a margin.

The cooling fluid then flows from the block to the radiator and back via a pair of 400 millimetre long tubes, which are braided with nylon for protection and finished with swivel fittings in the block for easier handling, as is customary with these coolers. You’ll also find a protrusion on the radiator next to the end of one of the tubes that looks like a service port, but this cooler is maintenance free and sealed. It is therefore highly likely that this is just a fill port that is subsequently closed during manufacture.

The cooler’s accessories are not lacking anything essential, on the contrary, you will find a lot of useful little things – the manufacturer has really thought of everything. Apart from mounting frames for supported CPU models, you will find a variety of cables for connecting the RGB backlight of the cooler to motherboards of all manufacturers. If your motherboard does not offer a 5V ARGB connector, you can use the supplied hardware controller.

The user manual could be a bit clearer and the assembly itself could be simpler. For example, the screws for attaching the mounting system arms to the cooling block required quite a bit of force, to the point where I was worried about damaging or shearing off the screw head. Due to the slightly more complicated mounting, I strongly recommend performing the installation outside of a computer case with the motherboard lying on the desk.

Pump, radiator and fan parameters

The Aquafusion ADV 240 does not stand out from other AIO coolers in terms of radiator size, pump block or tubing length. The radiator used is aluminium as usual and its total depth with fans does not exceed 55 millimetres to ensure maximum compatibility with computer cases. The cooler is compatible with all modern CPU sockets except AMD Threadripper platform. The price tag is also acceptably low, so if the Aquafusion ADV 240 passes the tests, we are looking at another AIO cooler with an interesting price/performance ratio.


Cooler	Enermax Aquafusion ADV 240	Endorfy Navis F280
Supported sockets	Intel 115x, 1200, 1700, 20xx; AMD AM4, AM5
Radiator dimensions (H × W × T)	274 × 120 × 27 mm	275 × 120 × 29 mm
Block dimensions (H × W × T)	68.5 × 69.5 × 54.5 mm	76.5 × 76.5 × 48.5 mm
Hose length	400 mm	390 mm
Pump speed	3100 rpm	2600 rpm
Radiator material	aluminium
Max RAM height	no restrictions
Warranty	2 years	3 years
Approx. retail price	€ 105	€ 109

/* Here you can add custom CSS for the current table */ /* Lean more about CSS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets */ /* To prevent the use of styles to other tables use "#supsystic-table-2181" as a base selector for example: #supsystic-table-2181 { ... } #supsystic-table-2181 tbody { ... } #supsystic-table-2181 tbody tr { ... } */

Enermax supplies the Aquafusion ADV 240 with interesting fans with a downsized motor (and thus reduced dead space behind the fan) and the so-called Vortex Frame to improve the aerodynamic profile. The static pressure and airflow values are very impressive indeed on paper. However, I’m afraid this will come at the cost of high noise levels. Moreover, my colleague Ľubo Samák will soon comment on all this in his fan tests. As a nice bonus, the RGB fan cables have the option of serial connection. Just a pity that the PWM cables are not made the same way.


Fan	Enermax SquA ADV	Endorfy Fluctus 140 PWM
Bearing	N/A	FDB
Max. speed	2000 rpm	1800 rpm
Max static pressure	3.6 mm H₂O	N/A
Max. airflow	135.6 m³/h	N/A

/* Here you can add custom CSS for the current table */ /* Lean more about CSS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets */ /* To prevent the use of styles to other tables use "#supsystic-table-2182" as a base selector for example: #supsystic-table-2182 { ... } #supsystic-table-2182 tbody { ... } #supsystic-table-2182 tbody tr { ... } */

Measurement methodology

As a test processor and heat generator, I am now using an Intel Core i7-11700K on the Asus TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi motherboard. 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 setup 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. The coolers are tested at three standardized noise levels (36, 39 and 42 dBA) and finally at maximum speed. The tests are run in two sets according to the heat output of the processor.

The first set of tests is at 125 W, the PL1 processor’s enforced limit. The second set of power draw is then about 205–210 W (4500 MHz at 1.285 V). However, this second level represents a very high concentration of heat per mm² due to the small size of the chip itself. Thus, not all coolers can be expected to pass this set of tests at all noise levels. At the end of the test, the highest temperature achieved is always recorded.

All data regarding CPU temperatures and heat output are obtained from the HWiNFO64 application. The measured values are then corrected against the room temperature as the resulting Delta T value. Any higher value means a processor temperature over 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.

Results – 36 dBA

Why is there a missing value in the chart for some coolers? Because the cooler could no longer handle the load in the specified mode, or because the fan could not be slowed down to the required level, this is typically the mode with the lowest noise level.

Results – 39 dBA

Results – 42 dBA

Results – 45, 48 and 51 dBA

Due to the high noise level at maximum speed, I also added tests at noise levels of 45; 48 and 51 dBA to better demonstrate the relationship between temperature and noise level.

The curve for a TDP of 125 W is not very interesting, as this thermal output is usually not a problem for AIO coolers. But for TDP of 210 W the situation is more interesting. One can notice a bounce when the noise level is reduced to 39 dBA, when the fans are running at about 600 rpm. Here there is probably a noticeable drop in airflow through the radiator compared to the 42 dBA noise level when the speed was about 850 rpm. At the other end of the curve, there is another break in linearity, which can be easily explained by the difference of almost 1000 rpm between the maximum and the 51 dBA noise level.

Results – maximum speed

Conclusion and evaluation

In terms of visuals and build quality, the Aquafusion ADV 240 from Enermax can’t be criticised. The white color nicely accentuates the RGB backlighting of the fans, the infinity mirror effect on the pump block is also very nice and the materials used are generally of a high standard.

However, you just can’t get past the really high noise level of the fans at maximum speed. And unfortunately the same goes for the pump, which moreover cannot be regulated by PWM, instead you are left with DC control.

After setting the pump voltage to about 7 V, the pump is acceptably quiet at around 39 dBA, without adversely affecting the effectiveness of the cooler in any way. Likewise, the fans only need around half of the maximum speed to achieve the optimal temperature/noise ratio.
For more experienced users, tuning the speed is no big deal. But I feel sorry for the average user who will leave the cooler at factory settings and be disappointed by the higher noise level. Which is a shame, because the Aquafusion ADV 240 has real potential to be a bestseller.

It would just be enough not to overdo the speed of the pump and fans. And a three- or five-year warranty as the icing on the cake wouldn’t go amiss here either. Hopefully the next revision will do better, fingers crossed for Enermax.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš


Enermax Aquafusion ADV 240
+ Visually attractive design
+ Interesting price/performance ratio
+ Acceptably quiet after tuning
- Extremely noisy at factory settings
- More complicated mounting system
- Only two years of warranty

/* Here you can add custom CSS for the current table */ /* Lean more about CSS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets */ /* To prevent the use of styles to other tables use "#supsystic-table-2183" as a base selector for example: #supsystic-table-2183 { ... } #supsystic-table-2183 tbody { ... } #supsystic-table-2183 tbody tr { ... } */

Continue: Results – maximum speed