Enermax is a manufacturer of PC components founded in Taiwan in 1990. The portfolio includes PC power supplies, cases, keyboards and other peripherals. However, the main focus is currently on the development of visually appealing and powerful cooling components for PC systems. These include AiO water cooling systems, CPU coolers and case fans. The portfolio of AiO water cooling systems was expanded by the manufacturer in fall 2023 to include the LIQMAXFLO and LIQMAXFLO SR series. We are testing the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 today.
Behind the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 is an AiO water cooling system with a 360 mm radiator, which is designed to impress with its excellent cooling performance. The manufacturer names the 38 mm thick and refillable solid radiator, three 120 mm fans with stronger fan blades and ARGB lighting as well as an additional 60 mm fan on the pump block for cooling the RAM and voltage converters as the main features. Furthermore, the newly developed pump with dual-chamber design and patented Shunt Channel Technology is designed to operate smoothly and with high performance. The Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 is already available at a price of € 99.90 *.
Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 review: Technical details
General specifications
| Weight | 1.7 kg |
| Compatibility AMD | AM5 / AM4 / AM3 / FM2 / FM1 |
| Intel compatibility | LGA 1700 / 1200 / 115x / 2066 / 2011 / 2011-3 / 1366 |
| Cooling capacity |
400W |
| Price |
€ 99.90 * |
Radiator specifications/ heat sink specifications
| Type | Soldered radiator |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 400 x 120 x 38 mm |
| Radiator material | Aluminum |
Fan specifications
| Number of fans | 3 |
| Fan designation | Enermax UCSFARGB12P-LMF |
| Bearing type | hydrodynamic sleeve bearing (HDB) |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 120 x 120 x 26.8 mm |
| Fan speed | 500 ~ 1800 rpm |
| Noise level | 15~23.46 dB(A) |
| Max. Volume flow | 98.59 m³/h |
| Max. Air pressure | 2.4 mm H2O |
| Lighting | 12x addressable RGB LED (per fan) |
| Rated voltage (fan) | 12 V |
| Rated voltage (LEDs) | 5 V |
| Rated current (per fan) | 0,08 A |
| Rated current (LEDs) | 0,4 A |
| Nominal power (fan) | 0,96 W |
| Fan connection | 4-pin PWM |
| LED connection | 4-pin (5V-D-coded-G) |
Pump specifications
| Dimensions | approx. 80 mm x 70 mm x 65 mm |
| Cooling plate material | Copper |
| Pump speed | 1200 ~ 3000 rpm |
| Rated voltage (pump) | 12 V |
| Nominal voltage (LEDs) | 5 V |
| Rated current (pump) | 0,43 A |
| Nominal power (pump) | 5,16 W |
| Pump connection | 4-pin PWM |
| LED connection | 4-pin (5V-D-coded-G) |
| Tube length |
400 mm |
| Fan speed (VRM fan) | 500 – 3000 rpm |
| Rated current (pump) | 0,24 A |
| Nominal power (pump) | 2,88 W |
Packaging & scope of delivery
Enermax packs the LIQMAXFLO 360 in a large cardboard box with a colorful print. The colors black and red dominate. The packaging also contains numerous pictures of the compact water cooling system as well as a list of the most important features and a table with all the relevant technical data. All information is written in English.
Inside the cardboard box, Enermax wraps the radiator and all accessories in additional cardboard and plastic elements to prevent damage during transportation. In addition to the radiator, the scope of delivery includes three 120 mm fans with ARGB lighting, all mounting accessories (backplates, screws, spacers, etc.), connection cables, an ARGB controller, mounting instructions, a tube of thermal paste, a bottle of coolant and a power supply adapter for filling.
Design & workmanship
As with the LIQMAXFLO SR 360, Enermax has also designed the radiator of the LIQMAXFLO 360 to be very simple and unobtrusive. It consists of black painted and soldered aluminum fins, which are surrounded by a matt black frame. At 38 millimeters, its depth is well above the average for typical AiO water cooling systems. You can also see the product name in silver on both sides. However, the most interesting feature can be found at the rear end of the radiator. This is where Enermax has placed a screw that can be opened to refill the radiator.
Enermax has chosen black plastic as the main material for the housing of the pump block. However, the 60 mm VRM fan in the upper area, which is covered by a magnetic or rotatable ventilation grille, is particularly striking. The fan blows cold air to the voltage converters and RAM via side ventilation slots. The CPU heat is absorbed via a copper base plate with factory-applied thermal paste, a pump with ceramic bearings and a two-chamber system. The pump and VRM fan are controlled via a single 4-pin PWM connector. So if the pump turns faster, unfortunately so does the fan.
The connection between the radiator and the pump block is made via black, textile-coated hoses that are around 400 millimeters long. Together with the rotatable joints on the pump block, this provides enough space for flexible installation even in larger housings. Enermax secures the ends of the hoses with sleeves or shrink tubes made from a stable rubber. However, this makes the solution a closed system in which the cooling circuit cannot be extended. In addition to the hose connections on the radiator, a valve for pressure equalization can also be found.
The supplied fans are of the type Enermax UCSFARGB12P-LMF and come with a black frame and a milky white rotor blade with five fan blades. The frame width is 120 millimetres and the frame height is an unusual 26.8 millimetres. In addition, all eight corners have rubberized surfaces for decoupling. The fans are connected to each other via a proprietary 8-pin daisy chain cable, which is split into a 4-pin PWM and 3-pin 5V ARGB cable using the supplied adapter. The manufacturer specifies a speed range of 500 to 1800 revolutions per minute.
Fully assembled, the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 has a total weight of 1.7 kilograms. This makes it 400 grams heavier than the LIQMAXFLO SR 360. The increase in weight is due to the thicker radiator and the slightly higher amount of coolant required. The 38 millimeter thick radiator also increases the overall depth of the LIQMAXFLO 360 to a total of 65 millimeters. This makes the combination quite bulky and you should check before purchasing whether this water cooling system really fits into the case or can lead to problems with very long graphics cards.
In terms of build quality, we could not find any defects or problems. The fan, radiator or pump unit showed no processing or paint defects. There were also no bent fins or unsightly scratches.
Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 test: Assembly
A test system mounted on a benchtable is used for the review. This allows us to rule out factors such as heat build-up in the case. The test system consists of the following components.
- AMD Ryzen 5 1400 @ 3.8 GHz at 1.175V*
- ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus*
- Crucial Ballistix Sport LT gray 32 GB DDR4-3000*
- Corsair Force Series MP510 960GB Nvme*
- Gigabyte AORUS GTX 1060 6G*
- LC-Power LC550 V2.31 Platinum Series 550W*
Enermax uses an identical mounting system for the LIQXMAXFLO 360 as for the LIQMAXFLO SR 360. The compact water cooling system can be connected to the mainboard using a backplate and a modular mounting frame on the pump block. It is attached using spacers and spring-loaded screws.
For our AMD system, we start by preparing the mainboard and removing the two plastic brackets of the AMD retention module. We then had to screw the plastic spacers into the retention module. It is important to ensure that the spacers have differently dimensioned threads on both sides.
The next step is to prepare the pump block. To do this, attach the corresponding metal mounting frame to the pump block by simply sliding it into the corresponding guide rail on the cooling block. The frame then engages automatically at a certain point. As thermal paste is already applied to the radiator base at the factory, this step is not necessary. However, for reasons of comparability, we have removed the thermal paste and applied the Arctic MX-4.
Finally, the pump block is screwed evenly to the spacers using four spring-loaded screws and the radiator is placed and secured in the housing. Depending on the orientation of the pump, the cover can then be rotated so that the manufacturer’s lettering is in the correct orientation. Overall, the mounting system used is well thought out and enables the compact water cooling system to be attached quickly and easily. The installation instructions also clearly describe each individual installation step, should any questions arise.
Cooling capacity and volume
As already shown in the previous chapter, we use an AM4 system based on the Ryzen 5 1400 and the ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus as test hardware. The Ryzen runs at 3.8 GHz at 1.175 V. To heat up the processor, it was loaded with Prime95 for 30 minutes. The temperature of the CPU was then read out with the CPUID hardware monitor. The room temperature was always around 20 °C during the measurements.
| wdt_ID | CPU-Kühler | Temperatur 50% PWM (in °C) | Temperatur 100% PWM (in °C) | Minimale Lüftergeschwindigkeit (in U/min) | Lüftergeschwindigkeit bei 50% PWM (in U/min) | Lüftergeschwindigkeit bei 100% PWM (in U/min) | Minimale Pumpengeschwindigkeit (in U/min) | Pumpengeschwindigkeit bei 50% PWM (in U/min) | Pumpengeschwindigkeit bei 100% PWM (in U/min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 123 | Thermaltake TH280 V2 ARGB | 46,60 | 45,90 | 550 | 1.200 | 1.800 | 680 | 2.100 | 3.200 |
| 124 | Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240 Atmos ARGB | 50,40 | 46,50 | 560 | 1.340 | 2.270 | 1.965 | 6.620 | 10.230 |
| 125 | be quiet! Pure Loop 2 240mm | 50,70 | 46,70 | 800 | 1.070 | 2.080 | 4.150 | 4.700 | 5.530 |
| 126 | Alpenföhn Panorama 2 | 76,00 | 66,80 | 450 | 1.450 | 2.720 | |||
| 127 | Alpenföhn Brocken 4 | 53,60 | 49,60 | 410 | 870 | 1.610 | |||
| 128 | AMD Wraith Stealth | 95,00 | 76,00 | 800 | 1.430 | 2.630 | |||
| 129 | Corsair A115 | 49,40 | 46,90 | 190 | 920 | 1.560 | |||
| 130 | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE | 49,50 | 47,50 | 350 | 1.050 | 1.680 | |||
| 131 | Thermalright Assassin X 120 SE | 53,60 | 50,60 | 340 | 1.070 | 1.690 | |||
| 132 | DeepCool Assassin IV (Silent) | 51,40 | 48,70 | 500 | 860 | 1.330 | |||
| CPU-Kühler | Temperatur 50% PWM (in °C) | Temperatur 100% PWM (in °C) | Minimale Lüftergeschwindigkeit (in U/min) | Lüftergeschwindigkeit bei 50% PWM (in U/min) | Lüftergeschwindigkeit bei 100% PWM (in U/min) | Minimale Pumpengeschwindigkeit (in U/min) | Pumpengeschwindigkeit bei 50% PWM (in U/min) | Pumpengeschwindigkeit bei 100% PWM (in U/min) |
As can be seen in the table and diagram, the CPU of our test system reaches a maximum of 47.5 °C (at 50% PWM fan and pump speed) and 44.6 °C (at 100% PWM fan and pump speed) under full load. This puts the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 ahead of all air coolers and, at maximum speed, even at the top of our table. Enermax itself specifies a cooling capacity of up to 400 watts for this compact water cooling system. This means that even heavily overclocked processors or all current high-end CPUs should pose no problem for the LIQMAXFLO 360.
Thanks to the wide fan and pump speed ranges, the BIOS/UEFI can easily be set to anything between “silent”, “audible” and “clearly audible”. In contrast to the LIQMAXFLO 360, we were fortunately unable to hear any background noise from the 120 mm fans this time and even at maximum speed they were clearly audible, but not necessarily annoying. However, it is also unpleasant that the VRM fan and the pump cannot be controlled separately, as the VRM fan can also be heard much faster than the pump. A separation would have enabled a better balance between performance and volume.
Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 test: Lighting options
The Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 has two ARGB areas that can be controlled via the mainboard. Enermax places the LEDs in the hubs of the fans (radiator fans, VRM fans). They are controlled via the mainboard using a 3-pin 5V ARGB connection. The cable also has a Y-switch, which can be used to connect additional fans or ARGB strips. Unfortunately, we find that the pump connection cable is very short. If the mainboard does not have a suitable ARGB connection, Enermax includes a small ARGB control unit that has a small range of lighting modes and can be connected directly to the power supply.
Finally, a few impressions of the activated lighting.
Conclusion of the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 test
Overall, the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 convinced us. It has an appealing ARGB illumination but an otherwise quite simple visual design. There are also small refinements such as the magnetic and rotatable pump cover, which prevents a misaligned manufacturer’s logo, as well as the refillable radiator including the supplied coolant. The latter is also 38 millimetres thick and therefore enables a cooling capacity of up to 400 watts. We were also impressed by the overall build quality and the simple but solid assembly of the compact water cooling system.
There are only a few negative aspects to the Enermax LIQMAXFLO SR 360. We were particularly annoyed by the fact that the VRM fan and the pump cannot be controlled separately. The generally quite quiet pump is quickly drowned out by the volume of the then audible VRM fan at higher PWM values. We also found the ARGB connection cable of the pump block to be too short.
With a purchase price of € 99.90 *, the Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 is only slightly more expensive than the LIQMAXFLO SR 360. Considering that the LIQMAXFLO 360 has three ARGB fans and a thicker or refillable radiator, this compact water cooling system is the better choice of the two from our point of view and overall a recommendable product. However, the lack of separation between the pump and the VRM fan is still impractical.
Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360
Design
Workmanship
Mounting
Performance
Value for money
92/100
The Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 offers a solid overall package of performance, appearance, workmanship and installation. However, the lack of separation in the control of the pump and VRM fan could be an exclusion criterion.
