ID-Cooling Auraflow 240 Liquid Cooler Review

Mike Sanders / 6 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The ID-Cooling Auraflow 240 cooler retails for around £70. In terms of pricing that is definitely towards the low-end for 240 coolers. As such, if you’re looking for something with a lot of lighting effects with your syncronised capable motherboard, this is definitely one of the best options in terms of price. A slight caveat to that though is that for performance, you can do better for around the same money, albeit with a lot fewer bells and whistles.

Overview

In terms of presentation, assemble and lighting effects, the ID-Cooling Auraflow 240 is a nice option to consider. I had no trouble putting this together and once fitted I liked how it looked. The RGB lighting effects are impressive, but that’s where we do come to a major stumbling block. To truly get the most out of this cooler you must have a sync compatible motherboard.

Unlike many other models, this doesn’t have a manual switch controller and as such, if you don’t have the necessary motherboard you will be stuck with the default setting and for a cooler that perhaps has its lighting effects as its biggest quality, this is definitely a factor you have to consider.

Build Quality

Everything feels nice and substantial and despite some concerns you may have over the RGB lighting being more for show than for durability, everything looks good. The mounting system worked fantastically and entirely as described within the manual and after that everything worked like clockwork. I’m certainly not saying that it’s foolproof, but if you pay enough attention to the manual, it really is hard to go wrong.

Once fitted, everything runs as it should, which is what you would of course expect, but the whole simplicity of the fit speaks of a good design.

Fans

This cooler comes with 2 of ID-Coolings own fans. As we have seen from prior testing, they are neither overly impressive in performance or noise. That being said the RGB lighting does make them very aesthetically pleasing once fitted. In addition, the noise levels are not so intrusive to interfere with your general work. This is particularly given that most people will have this in an enclosed case. They might, however, get a bit vocal if you decide to crank things up.

Performance

As a general 240 cooler, the ID-Cooling Auraflow does a more than competent job. If you are, however, looking for a top performer this isn’t it. On neither temperatures nor noise did this product shine. On the other hand, however, the RGB effects were excellent. It’s slim margins, but that is just enough to make this product pass the mark as an overall. The price factor should also be one of the major considerations when it comes to performance. The old adage is that you get what you pay for. Strictly in terms of cooling and acoustics, that very much is the case here.

Should I Buy One?

If you are after a cooler that does a decent job and looks good while doing it then yes. It’s hard to deny that the cooler itself looks good. Particular when in combination with the RGB effects, it’s certainly impressive. If you are, however, planning to push your system regularly to the limits, we would suggest that this isn’t the cooler for you. If the performance factors were a little better, we would have no hesitation in recommending this cooler. Based on what it did return though, we would suggest that for the price, this gives a decent offering. Do not, however, expect much beyond that.

In terms of bang for buck on an overall scale though, the ID-Cooling Auraflow 240 is a solid contender for your next system. Better still if you love your RGB lighting effects!

Pros

Problem free installation and one of the nicest mounting plates we have encountered.
The presentation is excellent, particularly with the RGB lighting effects.
The information provided before purchase is excellent. Everything you could need to know is printed on the box for you.
For a day-to-day cooler, this is certainly one of the best looking.
The supply of the Molex adaptor and twin 4-pin adaptor is a nice touch that competitors rarely bother with.