be quiet! Silent Loop 280mm AIO CPU Cooler Review

Introduction

be quiet! is one of the biggest names in the cooling business, offering up multi-award winning air coolers that have long been some of the best performing and quietest coolers on the market. While the company has expanded their ranges over the years to include high-end power supplies and even chassis, they’ve never bothered to follow the trend for water cooling, at least that was true until today.

The new Silent Loop series comes in three sizes, 120mm, 240mm and 280mm, featuring all the usual attention to detail we’ve come to know and love from be quiet! and that gives us a lot of hope that these new coolers will be some (if not the) best coolers in their respective price ranges.

• Innovative decoupled reverse-flow pump runs smoother, quieter and with less vibration than conventional pumps
• Full copper radiator for an impressive cooling performance
• Two Pure Wings 2 PWM fans provide quiet operation with high air pressure
• Customized fan speed thanks to PWM function
• Easy handling due to flexible bend-protection tubes and convenient mounting
• Full copper parts and a refill port extend the product’s life span
• Nickel-plated cold plate allows optimum use of heat-conducting metallic paste
• Compatible with Intel® and AMD™ sockets
• 3-year manufacturer’s warranty
• Product conception, design and quality control in Germany

“Silent Loop delivers high-performance cooling at a minimal sound level, guaranteeing quiet, efficient cooling for overclocked and high TDP CPUs in high-power computer systems. To ensure compatibility with all types of performance-heavy PCs, be quiet! offers three different Silent Loop models” – be quiet!

Equipped with an innovative pump design, be quiet!’s own high-end Pure Wings 2 fans, a good quality radiator and more, we’re expecting great things from be quiet!’s first water coolers.

“be quiet! equips its Silent Loop All-in-One water cooling system with a decoupled pump designed to reverse the cooling circuit. Liquid is drawn in from the outside over the cold plate, then transported through a second layer on the inside of the radiator. This innovative solution operates the pump at a low 2,200 revolutions per minute, noticeably generating less vibration and noise than other conventional AIO coolers.” – be quiet!

As you can see, the dimensions are fairly standard for these radiators sizes, so compatibility should be pretty high with most desktop systems. The fan connects via a 3-pin header, while the fans use a 4-pin PWM connection. Virtually all major socket types from AMD and Intel are supported too, so there are few people out there that can’t enjoy these new coolers.

Packaging & Accessories

The box is typical of the design we usually see with be quiet! with a black box and a stylish photo of the product. You’ll also notice it says premium on the left side, highlighting that this is one of their flagship products.

Around the back, a few technical details on the Pure Wings 2 fans, as well as the reverse-flow pump design.

In the box, you’ll find a multi-language manual, Intel and AMD brackets, universal backplate, all the fitting screws, a fan Y-split cable and a tube of high-quality thermal paste.

There are two Pure Wings 2 fans included in the box, each rated up to 1600 RPM and designed for high airflow with minimal noise. Each comes fitted with a flat black cable and 4-pin PWM header.

A Closer Look

First impressions of the 280mm AIO from be quiet! are overwhelmingly positive, the build quality and design look and feel fantastic. The radiator is a slim type, but still has a good thickness and weight to it, with very nicely finished edges.

The very flexible and thick tubing has a good length to it and comes with a glossy exterior as well as a free-moving metal spring-like coil to give it added protection, while the 3-pin pump header has a black braiding over it.

The radiator comes with mounts on both sides for up to four 140mm fans (2 per side).

What I do love is that the cooler uses large high-quality screw fittings, the kind you would normally see on custom-loop radiator, giving it a premium quality look. Actually, to say it only looks high-quality is selling it short, as it certainly feels it too.

The radiator has a nicely packed fin array, giving it plenty of surface area to shift lots of heat from the unit, while also having decent spacing to allow for lots of air flow.

The pump has a nice low profile design that uses top mounted pipe fittings, which will help avoid compatibility issues with surrounding motherboard components. The top panel has a brushed aluminum finished with a raised be quiet! logo on the top that’s both understated and stylish at the same time.

Again, we see two more high-quality screw fittings, and finally, those cut-away corners to give it a slightly sleeker appearance.

There’s a huge contact plate on the base of the cooler, which will provide ample coverage even on the larger CPU socket types.

What’s always nice to see is that the plate has a very nice polished finish to it, ensuring you get a nice clean contact between the CPU and the pump.

Installation

Fitting the two fans is as simple as you might expect, just grab a screwdriver and use the eight included screws to fit them in your desired configuration. We’ve opted for push configuration, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t mount them as pull.

The Intel/AMD brackets simply push together around the groove on the edge of the pump, locking together in the middle without the use of tools.

The universal backplate is easy too, just pop it on the back of the motherboard and you’re good to go.

This was the tricky part, having to fit a screw, spring, washer and bolt to each corner of the pump, which we highly suggest you do before putting any of the cooler into your system. Once that’s done, however, it’s just a case of screwing it down to your motherboard and into the backplate. Overall, this did take a while to complete and wasn’t as easy as some other coolers on the market, but it’s hardly a Mensa test either.

The low-profile design of the pump, as well as those top mounting tubes means that there are no conflicts with the motherboard VRM coolers or memory slots, which is always a positive thing.

Test System and Methodology

We always use the same test system and tests with CPU coolers that we compare against each other. The full specifications of our test system are as follows:

Test system:

• ASUS P8Z77-V, LGA 1155 socket, Z77 chipset
• Intel Core i5 3570K with Gelid GC Extreme under the IHS
• 16GB Kingston 1866Mhz DDR3
• 128GB Kingston HyperX SSD
• Antec High Current Gamer 620W
• Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0

We’d like to say a big thank you to ASUS, Antec, Kingston, Cooler Master and Intel for providing components that makes this testing possible.

Testing Methodology:

• We always use Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste to make sure testing reveals the efficiency of the tested coolers not the efficiency of the bundled thermal paste.
• Prime 95 is run for 10 minutes and then the average maximum temperatures as recorded by CPUID HWMonitor are noted
• The average temperature across the four cores is taken on our quad-core processor
• Fans are mostly left to operate at default PWM profile speeds and with maximum fan speed for reference.If PWM functions are not supported then fixed fan speeds are used and sometimes a low noise adapter if appropriate/provided. If fixed fan speeds or low noise adapters are used it will be clearly pointed out either on the graphs or in the write-up.
• All default result entries on graphs are for PWM performance unless otherwise specified. A variety of fan speed results are done for a particular product review and then removed from the graphs in future reviews of other products to avoid clutter. If you would like to see more fan speed results for a particular product please check its individual review.
• For watercooling tests all pumps have been operated at 12 volts directly from the power supply
• Delta temperatures are always used (Observed temperature minus ambient temperature) and we keep the ambient at 22 (+/- 1) degrees for all testing . Delta temperatures should correct for any marginal ambient differences between 21-23 degrees.
• Acoustic measurements are taken 10cm horizontally away from the CPU cooler with the VGA fan disabled, hard drive in idle and power supply isolated. These are taken at desktop idle and Prime95 load.
• The cooling performance tests are run at stock 3.4GHz (with Intel Turbo up to 3.8GHz) and overclocked 4.5GHz (1.35v) settings. Voltages are fixed to prevent inaccuracy between comparisons.
• All other coolers in the graphs have been tested under identical settings so are fully comparable.
• Each test is repeated 3 times with 3 remounts for consistency of results
• There is approximately a 1 degree celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software CPUID HW Monitor
• There is approximately a 1.5dBA margin of error with our Benetech GM1351 decibel meter

Software Used

• CPUID HWMonitor
• Prime 95

In all these graphs we may have a few “reference” results of particular products that do not fit within that category for comparative purposes.

Performance

The be quiet! Silent Loop absolutely decimated the heat from the CPU, clocking some of our lowest ever temperatures at just +2c idle and +21c load, which is what we hoped for given the size of the radiator and the high-end build quality.

While overclocked, the be quiet! Silent Loop 280 didn’t perform as well as we had hoped, but that’s not to say it did poorly, far from it. At just +44c over ambient, the 280 is doing a great job at giving us perfectly stable performance while overclocking and we would be happy to run our system at this level 24/7 with no concern. As you can see it’s on par with many other high-quality coolers, but there’s one more trick that makes these numbers even more impressive.

At stock temperatures the Silent Loop is virtually silent, only 1dBa from the quietest coolers we’ve ever tested and on par with a range of air coolers from Noctua, which is mighty impressive; you’ll never hear this cooler at this level!

This is where things get really impressive, the quietest water cooler we’ve ever tested while overclocked! At just 39dBa the Silent Loop could only be heard with your ear next to it, there’s a tiny mechanical noise from the pump which can only be heard with your ear a few inches away from it, there was no water bubbling noises and the fans weren’t exactly working hard either. We tried re-testing with the fans set to turbo, and even then they maxed out at 42dBa, and the temperatures dropped 2c, but I’d take the silent performance over the louder fans all day long.

Final Thoughts

Price

The Silent Loop All-in-One water cooling system is available now for an MSRP of €109.90 / £94.99 (Silent Loop 120mm), €129.90 / £109.99 (Silent Loop 240mm) or €149.90 / £129.99 (Silent Loop 280mm), and each unit includes a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty and should be available at all major retailers from today.

Overview

be quiet! may be the masters of air cooling, but today that all changes as they show their technical abilities can span to the world of water cooling too. We were expecting great things from the Silent Loop today, and we were not disappointed. When it comes to cooling performance, this is one very capable cooler, although we would hope so given that it’s priced around £130 and comes with a huge 280mm radiator. When it comes to non-overclocked CPUs, the cooler gave us exceptionally low temperatures, and while the performance wasn’t as good as some rival AIO coolers while overclocked, the temperatures were still well within a comfortable range for long-term operation.

be quiet! don’t get their name for the best cooling in the business, they get it for being quiet, ain’t that a shocker! The Silent Loop isn’t just quiet, it’s virtually silent and by far the quietest water cooler we’ve ever tested. To get good temperatures at such a low acoustic level just shows the quality of the components be quiet! has chosen for this cooler and that’s going to be a serious factor for anyone building a high-end and overclocked gaming system, who also wants their rig to be as quiet as possible.

Build quality is as good as it gets, as everything feels robust and has a good weight to it. The tubing is flexible, but feels very strong and comes fitted with premium quality screw mounts on both the pump and radiator ends. The Pure Wings 2 fans are already known to be a great quality component and we’ve proven that much today with their excellent performance. What really impresses the most, however, is how quiet the pump was. be quiet! are proud to shout about their pump design, but at the end of the day, it does the job, it makes very little noise and that’s what really matters to the consumer.

The installation process could have been a little easier, and does take a little longer than some other AIO coolers that are on the market, but as I said before, it’s hardly a Mensa test either, and with a little care it pays off, as the low-profile pump and the high-quality screws all compliment the overall aesthetics once it is installed.  The price is quite high, but this is a flagship AIO water cooler with impressive performance, once again proving that you really do get what you pay for.

Pros

• Class-leading build quality
• Phenomenal acoustic performance
• Perfect for overclocking
• Stylish aesthetics
• 120/240/280mm versions available

Cons

• None

Neutral

• Installation may be tricky for inexperienced builders
• OC temps could be lower, but are a happy tradeoff given low noise output

“be quiet! make be new to the water cooling game, but the Silent Loop is one of the finest we’ve ever tested. If you want great build quality, stylish aesthetics, and ultra-quiet performance, the Silent Loop 280mm is the way to go. If this is what be quiet! can do for their first effort AIOs, we can’t wait to see what they come up with in the future.”

be quiet! Silent Loop 280mm AIO CPU Cooler Review