If you ever plan on overclocking your PC, you want to make sure that you have a really good cooling system to deal with the extra heat it will generate. Sure, you could cover your case in fans, or you could stick a giant heatsink onto the board, but liquid cooling systems just look so much tidier, and typically, they’re more effective. Knowing this, ASUS has generously provided us with the ROG STRIX LC III 360 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler to install into the benchmark system they are helping us build.

Being an All-in-One (AIO) system, installation is as simple as attaching the radiator to your case, using the supplied screws, picking either the Intel bracket, compatible with LGA 1700, 1200, and 115X sockets, or the AMD one, used with AM5 and AM4 sockets, applying your chosen thermal compound, and attaching the pump to the previously installed bracket.

A single 4-pin Fan/AIO header is all you’ll need to get it up and running from there. For us at MKAU Gaming, it means we’ll be able to swap out motherboards and processors as we see fit, granting us the ability to try out a variety of different setups, but more importantly, it means that you know you’ll be able to install it into your new build without worrying if you’ve bought the right product.

The one thing you may have to be wary of is the size of the radiator. We were supplied with the 360mm radiator, though it is also available as a 240mm, so you’ll need to ensure you grab the one that will fit into your case. Unless, of course, you want to mount it externally on a custom-made bracket. With ours being the 360mm version, it came with three 120mm fans, complete with anti-vibration rubber pre-installed to help prevent excess noise during operation.

While ours was a simple black design, other versions include ARGB Aura Sync-compatible LED lighting. While I do like ARGB, it would be a bit of a waste; I’ve mounted the radiator to the top panel, so I wouldn’t be able to see them anyway.

We don’t completely miss out on ARGB, though, as the water block comes with a magnetically attached pump cover. It features the ROG STRIX eye, glaring menacingly through the case as it cycles through a rainbow of colours, or synchronises with your Aura-Sync compatible devices as controlled by Asus Armoury Crate. The magnetic attachment also means that you can ensure the logo is the right way up, no matter how you attach the pump itself, letting you rotate the outer cap a full 360 degrees, and should you decide to upgrade to the optional LCD cover, you only need to disconnect a single 9-pin USB 2.0 interface cable.

For those more technically minded, the water block features a copper CPU plate and a 7th V2 gen Asetek pump, cycling between 800 and 2800 RPM, give or take 10%. The copper plate will draw heat into the coolant before pushing it through 400mm of sleeved rubber tubing to a 394 x 121 x 27mm aluminium radiator, while the three previously mentioned ROG STRIX AF-12S fans, spinning at up to 2,200RPM, push 70.38cfm of air through the radiator at 36dB(A). For those less technical; it keeps your system cool, and it does so quietly.

While All-in-One cooling systems might not be as fancy as the custom jobs with purpose-bent clear pipes, glowing green coolant, and bubbling reservoir tanks, they are certainly a lot easier to install. If you’re looking at your first liquid cooling system, the ASUS ROG STRIX LC III 360 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler gives you everything you need, and it brings back some of that wow factor without affecting the performance.

The interchangeable pump cover lets you choose between the supplied Aura Sync ARGB ROG STRIX logo or an optional LCD panel, and you have the option to buy the kit with glorious ARGB, but regardless of how you start, you can always expand it out.

Written by: Mathew Lindner