Fractal Design Celsius+ S36 Prisma – Scandinavian minimalism

Results – medium rpm

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Key features of the cooler

The Celsius+ series of coolers from Fractal Design includes a total of six variants depending on the size of the radiator and the fans used. Today we will focus in detail on the highest-end model on offer, i.e. the S36 Prisma.

The heart of all coolers from the Celsius+ series is the Asetek pump, which takes care of the circulation of liquid in the loop. The liquid then flows through hoses into a large radiator, where it is cooled by three 120 mm fans. In addition to cooling the radiator, the fans also offer ARGB backlighting.

Unfortunately, the radiator itself is made of aluminum, as is currently the case with the vast majority of AIO coolers. I see this as a missed opportunity to stand out from the crowd of generic coolers, especially considering that Fractal Design has in the past offered copper radiator coolers that were also cheaper.

The hoses that connect the cooling block and the radiator are 400 mm long and are equipped with a braid for higher durability and a more attractive appearance. Their connection to the radiator block is solved by means of rotating adapters, which is useful for easier handling and simpler for routing the hoses inside the setup.

The contact surface of the cooling block is made of copper and is already provided with a thin layer of thermal paste from the factory. However, my test sample had already been installed in another setup, so unfortunately you will not find the mentioned layer of paste in the photos. In addition, the package is somewhat incomprehensibly missing a tube with additional paste if you would like to reinstall the cooler to another processor or reapply the paste as part of maintenance. Therefore, make sure that you install the cooler correctly on the first try.

The upper surface of the cooling block is made of tempered glass for a more attractive appearance, which is unfortunately a literal magnet for fingerprints and dust particles. Along the edge of this glass there is a thin strip of ARGB backlight.

The cabling of the Celsius+ S36 Prisma is quite ingeniously designed. Two cables under the braid of hoses are run from the cooling block to the radiator, where the hub is located. You can connect all three fans to this hub. Then just connect a single cable from the cooling block to the motherboard and you can control the speed of the pump and fans at the same time.

The ARGB backlight for fans is solved very similarly. The cables on the fans allow connection in series and you can also use the connector in the hub on the radiator. Subsequently, it is enough to connect a single cable from the block to the connector on the motherboard and thus ensure the synchronization of the fan backlight and the cooling block. This solution is therefore very elegant and practically eliminates the risk of a messy ball of cables in your setup.

The cooling block with the pump has one more practical feature. The rotary switch can be used to switch the cooler from Auto mode to PWM mode. Auto mode, as the name suggests, takes care of regulating the speed of fans and pumps without the need for user intervention according to the temperature of the liquid inside the loop.

However, if you want to control the cooler fan speed yourself, just turn the switch to the PWM position and you can now adjust the speed curve yourself. The user mode is additionally equipped with a limiter against overheating. The fans and the pump cannot be regulated below the level of 15% PWM. An additional level of security is provided by the fluid temperature sensor. When this temperature reaches 55 °C, the speed curve rises sharply to the maximum pump speed at 60 °C.

The accessories of the cooler are quite poor considering the price. Here you will only find the mounting kits for installing the cooler on all current processor sockets except TR4/sTRX4. The installation of the cooler itself is very quick and easy. The package also includes a set of screws and washers for mounting the fans to the radiator, or for mounting the radiator to the computer case. Unfortunately, you will not find any tube of thermal paste here. There is only a pre-applied layer on the base of the block, which is simply incomprehensible with a high-price cooler.

Specifications of the cooler and fans

Interestingly, I compared the Celsius+ S36 Prisma with the recently tested AIO cooler MPG Coreliquid K360 from MSI. The dimensions of the radiator are very similar, which is understandable when in both cases it is a radiator for three 120 mm fans. However, the dramatic difference is in the size of the block. The cooler from Fractal Design does not offer any LCD panel or fan, so the dimensions of its cooling block are pleasantly compact.

Interestingly, I compared the Celsius+ S36 Prisma with the recently tested Prisma AL-12 PWM ARGB fans, which make up practically a third of the price of the entire cooler. These are 120 mm fans optimized for high static pressure. However, I am afraid that it is at the cost of high speed, and therefore also at the cost of higher noise, which we will see in the tests after all.

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Test methodology

The Intel Core i7-5820K in the ASRock X99 Taichi motherboard serves as a heat generator. The whole rig is placed on a Streacom BC1 benchtable without fans that would provide airflow. Stress tests are performed using the Aida64 Extreme application with a duration of 45–60 minutes. The coolers are tested at three speed levels (800, 1,200 and maximum) at a processor clock speed of 4,200 MHz with a voltage of 1.150 V. This is followed by another series of tests at 4,500 MHz with a voltage of 1.350 V. The processor power draw at these clock speeds is approx. 150 W and 200 W, respectively. The second set of tests therefore represents a really high load and it cannot be expected that the tested coolers will be able to cool the processor at all speed levels.

At the end of the test, the highest temperature reached is always recorded. All data regarding temperatures and power draw of the processor are obtained from the HWiNFO64 application. The results are then corrected for ambient temperature as the final Delta T value. The test success limit is set at 80 °C. Any higher value means the processor temperature above 100 °C and a risk of thermal throttling. Therefore, if the cooler does not pass the stress test with a Delta T value below 80 °C, such test is marked as failed. Noise is measured using a calibrated sound level meter Voltcraft SL-100 at a distance of 50 cm from the cooler.

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Results – maximum rpm

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Results – medium rpm

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Results – low rpm

It can already be seen here that the high amount of waste heat in combination with the low speed means that most coolers are not able to prevent the processor from overheating and subsequent throttling. This is not unexpected, it is simply the physical limit of the cooler and does not mean that it is of poor quality.

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Results – correlation of the temperature and noise level

Due to the higher noise at maximum speed during standard testing, I performed additional testing again to better demonstrate the relationship between cooling performance and fan noise. The results are similar to the MPG Coreliquid K360. While the temperature curves are quite flat with respect to the fan speed, the noise curve is quite steep at higher speeds.

So again, we come across the limits of the cooler somewhere around half the maximum fan speed. Any further increase in speed has only a minimal benefit for cooling, while the noise level of the fans increases rapidly.

We have another flagship among all-in-one liquid coolers, this time from Fractal Design. We will focus in detail on the cooler Celsius+ S36 Prisma, which offers a pleasantly minimalist design with a pinch of ARGB lighting. And due to the size of the cooler, high cooling performance can be expected. The question remains, above all, whether it is not at the cost of too much noise, and also whether the cooler can defend its high price.

Conclusion and summary

What the Celsius+ S36 Prisma definitely cannot be blamed for is the solid cooling performance. However, given the size of the radiator, it would be disappointing if this were not the case. In addition, if we compare this cooler with top air coolers, we will come to the conclusion that the overall cooling effectiveness is not that high considering the size of the radiator.

The used fans are also quite noisy at higher speeds. In addition, higher speed levels bring only a minimal decrease in temperature. It seems optimal to manually regulate the cooler in the range of 30% to 60% using PWM, while still providing solid efficiency at relatively low noise.

The visual design of this cooler is very elegant, especially the cooling block has a pleasantly minimalist appearance. As a bonus, you will also find an attractive light show provided by the fans. I also really appreciate the presence of the hub directly on the radiator. This hub virtually eliminates the hassle with cables. I would like to find a similar element in most all-in-one liquid coolers.

However, I do not understand the absence of extra thermal paste in the package. I consider this to be an unnecessary cost saving by the manufacturer, especially with the premium cooler, which is to serve as the flagship of the whole series. However, higher cooling performance, lower noise and a rich accessory selection would certainly suit the flagship. With such an expensive product, I simply expect a perfect solution in all respects, which I unfortunately did not see.

• Contents
• Key features
• Test methodology
• Results – maximum rpm
• Results – medium rpm
• Results – low rpm
• Results – correlation of the temperature and noise level
• Conclusion and summary