Review on 💦 Phanteks Glacier One 240MPH D-RGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler - White, Infinity Mirror Pump Cap, 2X Silent 120mm MP PWM Fans, 2X D-RGB Halos Fan Frames by Chris Fisher

This cooler offers the second best performance I've ever seen in a 280mm AIO, only surpassed by the Arctic Liquid Freezer II. However, this AIO has a very thick heatsink with large connectors that come out of both the heatsink itself as well as protruding from the pump unit, which severely limits the housing compatibility. In my experience, it outperforms the similarly sized EVGA CLC 280, Corsair H115i, and CoolerMaster ML280. Performance aside, the most interesting part of this cooler is the removable pump damper. I think it has a very attractive design with a neat standard mirrored scrolling effect and the Phanteks logo is printed both ways so the pump can be mounted either way without looking up. -Descent. It reduces the pump noise a bit but limits the rotation of the tubes coming from the pump. So don't expect to be able to line them up perfectly with the installed shock. Also, you should not install/remove the pump cover while the pump is running. I didn't see any mention of it in the manual, but you can hear very well the pump being hit by the magnets in the cap when attaching/removing before fully locking into place. There are no electrical connections that would make this risky, but for the sake of pump longevity I would turn off the machine before removing or reconnecting. The pump itself is a PWM pump fan connector and an RGB connector from the pump cover if you want to use it. No external power supply or complex software required. The only real downside to this AIO is that it is acoustically very poorly controlled. included soundproof cover if you have vents on the side panels. I've never heard such a loud howl from an AIO pump before, but I've worked with two of these units and both get it right. It seems to dissipate fairly quickly if you're running a PWM pump, and I'm comfortable with noise around 85% PWM control (2200rpm out of 2600rpm max). High noise is completely eliminated by about 80% PWM control. The fans that come with the 280mm version are also incredibly loud, with a maximum output of 40dB and a maximum speed of 2000RPM. Their static pressure is pretty high (3.59mm H2O!), and they don't make the high-pitched screech of many other standard AIO fans, but 40dB is pretty damn loud. For comparison: Noctua's industrial fans, which they consider unsuitable for consumer PCs due to their high operating volume, achieve a maximum noise level of 32 dB with significantly higher pressure and higher airflow. about 34 dB, which is much quieter but still a bit louder than really comfortable for a PC sitting on the table next to you. You want a PWM controller to get the fans up to a level you're comfortable with, as does the pump, and Phantek fans tend to work reasonably well at lower speeds. In short, it's actually a pretty good cooler, especially for a first try - the changes they've made to the typical Asetek design are solid, and I really like that it's a software-less option. But its noise profile is immediately extremely obnoxious, and you should expect to take some time to play around with the fan profiles for both the pump and the fans themselves.