Gadgetory

(speaks in Japanese) - Welcome back to today's review of the ROG Ryujin 360 all-in-one liquid CPU cooler from ASUS. Or ah-zoos, for the old-school people out there. And, straightaway, this is the best CPU all-in-one cooler that I've had on the bench here, but at the same time, I'm conflicted as well, because it's also the most expensive by a long shot! Currently in America, this thing costs $320. If you're in Australia, it costs $399! So basically 400 Aussie dollars. So it is very expensive. But with that said, let's take a look at the cooling performance, the features, and also how well it can cool an Intel i9 9900K at 5 Gigahertz, which in its own right puts out 200 watts of heat! (techno music) Welcome back to Tech Yes City and right here, we have the flagship of the three new-released CPU coolers from ASUS, and that is the Ryujin 360. We've also got the Ryujin 240 and the Rio 240, which we actually took a look at, at PAX Australia. If you guys haven't seen that, I'll put the video up here for you. But what it's got now is an OLED screen, at least on the Ryujin models, where you can customize that with a JPEG, or if you've got an ASUS motherboard, you can then have it read out things like temperatures, duty, and also voltages. So it does serve a purpose for practicality and not just bling. But on the note of features and bling, we'll talk a little bit about that later because the most important thing with a CPU cooler is the performance, and I am glad to say that this thing does perform very well. It did beat out all the other liquid coolers that we have here on the test bench, at least tested with the 9900K. The H115i Platinum was my previous favorite, but when we tested this at the same ambient temperatures on the same settings, 25 degree ambient temperature, this scored, out of the box, 93 degrees maximum after 10 minutes of AIDA64, and then on the maximum fan settings, it scored 91 degrees. So out of the box, this thing is tuned to give you, in my opinion, the best performance, as well as the best noise levels. So I was surprised to see that it was pretty quiet on load, but it was scoring some very impressive temperatures. When we also put the thermal imaging camera up to the radiator itself, the temperatures going in were a little bit over 30 degrees, temperatures coming out were very cool. So the radiator itself is doing a good job with those three Noctua fans of definitely cooling down that water as it comes in and then goes back out to the CPU cooler. Also, looking at the block itself, it comes pre-applied with thermal paste. I did change this over to Gelid GC Extreme and noticed only a 1 degree drop in temperatures, so the pre-applied thermal paste is actually very good out of the box; you won't have any hassles. It also comes included with installation kits for both Intel and AMD CPUs, both on the AM4 and Threadripper lines, as well as the Z390 and X299 lines. So it's got all those high-performing CPU models covered, also with the hoses on the side, they're actually quite thick, they're braided, and they won't interfere with RAM clearance as well, since they do come out at a 90 degree angle out of the block. But I will say that the block itself is quite massive, especially when you put the included magnetic cover over the top. So in this case, ASUS are mounting the Asetek pump in the block itself, and then you've got that OLED screen as well as the RGB bling. Moving onto the software, in order to configure things, they come included with the LiveDash, all the ASUS AI suite. If you've got an ASUS motherboard, you can install the ASUS AI suite and get the extra features like the temperature and voltage readouts. If you're using another motherboard, then unfortunately you can't get access to those readouts. So I would like to see ASUS change that around instead of locking it to the ecosystem. But you can use the LiveDash features with other motherboards, and that will enable you to put a custom logo in, as well as change the RGB lighting to a variety of different effects, my favorite being the cycling, just slowly cycling through all the different colors. Also if you are mounting this cooler upside-down, you have the option to rotate the image 180 degrees as well as if you don't like RGB or images at all, you can turn the OLED screen off individually as well as the RGB lighting. So with the Ryujin 360, it does have the performance, however, it does have a hefty price tag, so if you're a potential buyer, that's something you've gotta weigh up. Do you want the best out of an all-in-one? I mean, for some of this money, I'm sure you could probably put together a custom water loop as well. So it is getting into that territory of being quite expensive, and there may be custom options you may wish to consider, but at the same time, it does look very neat, and it does perform very well, so ASUS do have that going for them, as well as the software being pretty simple and easy to use too, So you shouldn't have any problems setting this thing up. Also, one thing I will critique is that the noise levels on this cooler were a little audible as opposed to, for instance, the H115i Platinum, both out of the box and on load, that was just whisper-quiet, I couldn't hear that pretty much at all. The Ryujin is slightly audible both on load and idle out of the box with the auto settings. So, in this case, both the H155i Platinum and the Ryujin 360, for example, have a SATA connector for additional power to the pump, as well as providing power to the fans with three PWM controllers that come included. So if your motherboard doesn't have enough fan headers, and you want those out-of-the-box, stock, low-noise fan profiles, you can just use the included connectors and call it a day, which in the case of the 9990K at 5 Gigahertz, this cooler did a very good job. Anyway guys, that's about it for today's review with the Ryujin 360. If you enjoyed it, then be sure to hit that like button. But in a nutshell, very good performance, comes with a three year warranty, but does have a very hefty price tag. And I'll catch you in another tech video very soon. Peace out for now, bye. (techno music)