Sapphire NITRO+ AIO 240 & 360mm CPU Cooler Review

Sapphire certainly isn’t a brand that you would associate with AIO liquid cooler designs and there’s a good reason for that. You see, until now, they’d never actually released anything for that particular market before. Well… That’s actually not technically correct. You see they did release an air cooler once before. Albeit we daresay that many of you were probably not aware of that since it happened quite a few years ago.

Yes, Sapphire is, without a doubt, certainly better known for its graphics cards. In a sense though, their continued development in that area has led here to something of a logical progression with the release of their NITRO+ AIO CPU coolers. – Sapphire’s first-ever AIO liquid CPU cooling solution!

Sapphire NITRO+ AIO CPU Coolers

The Sapphire NITRO+ is a new AIO liquid CPU cooling solution, and, for all intents and purposes, represents something of an off-shoot of the development made on their AIO cooled graphics cards. In terms of specifications, however, while Sapphire might technically be new to the world of AIO liquid coolers, they certainly seem to have gotten things off to a good start here. Not only is the NITRO+ available in both 240mm and 360mm variants, but as one of its key features, the cooler utilises ASETEK’s latest 7th-gen pump design offering a significantly greater level of high-performance thermal control.

Through development with this, the Sapphire NITRO+also features ‘out of bounds temperature sensing’. A first for AIO liquid coolers that looks to determine the performance level required from it not just from the CPU temperatures (as is standard for AIO’s), but also the active temperature of the liquid itself!

Put simply, while this might be Sapphire’s first effort, it’s already looking to swing for the fences with some impressive features that, all going well, should result in some excellent levels of cooling performance! – With both the 240mm and 360mm models in our hands, therefore, it would be rude of us to not check them both out!

Just as a quick disclaimer before we look at the features and specifications, we should note that we will essentially be covering both of the models together for this review. They are, after all, pretty much the same with the only key difference being (if you haven’t been paying attention) that one is a 240mm design and the other is a 360mm. Put simply, writing two separate reviews felt like a bit of a waste of both our and your time. – Rest assured though, when it comes to the testing we’ll be clearly highlighting both the temperature and acoustic performance for each model so you can not only see how well they do but also how they stack up against each other!

Features

• Brand New Unique Organic ‘Spider’ Pump Cap Design
• SAPPHIRE NITRO+ HYBRID Fan Blade Design & Performance
• ARGB on Pump CAP and Radiator Fans
• User Controlled PUMP and Fan Speed
• ARGB Pass-Through Connector for 3rd Party Devices
• Supports Intel LGA 115X/1200/20XX Socket and the latest LGA 1700 (Intel 12th Gen/Alderlake)
• Supports AMD AM4
• User Controlled Pump and Fan Speed Customization
• High Quality EPDM Tubes with Nylon Mesh Sleeves
• ARGB Pass Through Connector for maximized PC aesthetic customization
• ASETEK 7th Gen Pump for maximal thermal performance

Technical Information

For more in-depth specifications, please visit the official Sapphire website via the link here!

What Does Sapphire Have To Say?

“The radiator fans on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AIO CPU Coolers are fitted with the innovative NITRO+ Hybrid Fan Blade. A traditional axial fan is quiet but lacks the air pressure to push down the air to the components. A blower fan has strong air pressure but is noisy at high speed. The NITRO+ hybrid fan design combines the strengths of both by improving the downward air pressure of the axial fan design while keeping the fan noise low. During SAPPHIRE’s internal testing, there is a 4°C and 5dBA improvement compared to other fans.

Both the radiator fans and the pump are equipped with ARGB controllable and customizable through the motherboard. The frame of the “spider” pump cap design as well as the iconic NITRO+ eyes will light up with ARGB once the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ AIO CPU Cooler is in use. The ARGB Pass-Through Connector enables users to connect an additional ARGB device to further expand and customize the gaming PC to the aesthetic of their choice.

During operation under light load conditions on the CPU, pump and fan speeds are adjustable. Users can adjust the speeds of the pump and the fan to ensure a quieter experience and a customized speed resulting pump and fan longevity. The AIO EPDM tubes are coated with Nylon Mesh Sleeves as an effective way to reduce the evaporation rate of liquid to a minimum, and avoids damage caused by friction or collision for high quality of life.”