W
e liked a number of features found
within the be quiet! Silent Loop 2
when we first took a look at it a
couple of issues ago. It has powerful Silent
Wings 3 fans that boast a speed rating of
2,200rpm, giving it more scope for high-end
cooling than slower fans when it’s needed.
What’s more, these fans proved to be barely
any louder than the far slower-spinning fans
on the Antec Neptune 240 in action.
The Silent Loop 2’s tri-chamber pump is
also exceptionally quiet, and uses an enlarged
cold plate in order to improve performance
on CPUs with large heatspreaders, such as
AMD’s Threadripper chips.
There are also two interesting inclusions in
the form of a fill port and coolant bottle. This is
still an all-in-one liquid cooler, but rather than
being sealed with maintenance completely
off the table for the end user, be quiet! instead
allows you to top up the coolant if needed,
perhaps if the coolant level drops due to
evaporation, which can happen slowly over
time through the tubing.
This ability should allow the cooler to stay
quiet and prevent it from running dry, which
are common issues with old AIO liquid coolers
after they’ve been used for a while.
While the fans lack RGB lighting, the
pump does have a bit of lighting in the form
of an illuminated RGB logo, which can be
controlled using a 3-pin RGB header on your
motherboard or with the included controller.
However, the box is otherwise empty of
BE QUIET! SILENT
LOO P 2 /£116 inc VAT
SUPPLIER aquatuning.co.uk
accessories, other than a fan splitter cable,
which is a little disappointing given that the
Antec Neptune 240 includes full RGB lighting
and a fan and lighting hub for £30 less.
Meanwhile, other coolers include screws
for installing additional fans, which are again
absent here, although the included fans are
admittedly quite powerful.
Installation isn’t tricky, but it does involve
dealing with far more components than the
other coolers on test, with CPU backplate pins,
securing tags and thumb screws all needed
in order to mount the pump. The end result is
also quite plain-looking, especially compared
with the Lian Li Galahad 240mm, which costs
£6 less.
The be quiet! includes a tube of thermal
paste, though, and performed reasonably well
when pitted against our Core i9-11900K, with
a CPU delta T of 66°C. That’s reasonable, but
only the Alpenföhn Glacier Water 240 ARGB
was warmer at 70°C, with all four of the other
coolers on test performing better – the Lian Li
Galahad 240mm shaved 6°C off the load delta
T at 60°C.
The be quiet! Cooler had fewer issues in our
AMD system, where it was within 2°C of the
best result achieved by the Corsair iCUE H100i
Elite Capellix and Lian Li Galahad 240mm. It
had some of the lowest noise levels on test
too, and it easily has the quietest pump.Conclusion
With an exceptional noise-to-cooling ratio,
but with the ability to ramp up performance
when needed, the be quiet! Silent Loop
2 is recommended for those who want
minimal aesthetic fuss, low noise and good
cooling, although you do pay a premium
compared with the likes of the Antec
Neptune 40, which costs nearly £40 less.
However, the Lian Li Galahad 240mm is
our top pick in this price range, costing less
money, offering fantastic RGB lighting and
performing slightly better too.SILENT
+^ Good noise to
cooling ratio
+^ Refillable loop
+^ RGB lightingSILENCED-^ Performance isn’t
exceptional
-^ Bland design
-^ Competition looks and
performs better
VERDICT
A decent low-noise cooler for the cash, but
you can get more for your money elsewhere.COOLING
34 / 40
DESIGN
19 / 20FEATURES
10 / 20
VALUE
14 / 20OVERALL SCORE
77 %
COOLING
36 / 40
DESIGN
19 / 20FEATURES
10 / 20
VALUE
14 / 20OVERALL SCORE
79 %
FITTING
EasyFITTING
EasyLGA 1 2 0 0AM 4SPEC
Intel compatibility LGA115x,
LGA1200, LGA2066, LGA2011
AMD compatibility Socket AM4, AM3/+,
AM2/+, FM2/+, FM1, TR4/TR4X
Radiator size with fans (mm)
120 x 274 x 52 (W x D x H)
Fa ns 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 38.3dBA