WHEN YOU THINK about creating
a new build, you may naturally
concentrate your efforts on the
most interesting parts, such as the
processor or graphics card. While
these are two of the most important
components for performance, it’s no
good running a zippy PC if it heats your
case up like an oven. An AIO cooler is vital
to keep everything running smoothly and
temperatures as low as possible whilst
maintaining those performance speeds.
The ROG Ryujin II 369 AIO is ASUS’s
flagship cooler designed to keep even the
hottest performing machines running
nice and cool. If you are tight on space,
there is also a smaller 240mm version.
It's an impressive component, but should
it become a part of your rig?
Design-wise, this is a sweet-looking
AIO cooler. Beginning with the star of the
show, the CPU pump head features an
LCD panel, but not just any old panel—
this happens to be the largest LCD on
any AIO cooler on the market. Though it
could be seen as a little gimmicky, this
is ASUS's flagship model so naturally,
it features all the bells and whistles. So
what can you use this panel for?
First, it can be used as a showpiece
item to make your rig stand out. The
screen is customizable with some
pretty neat uploadable images and
animations, though more practical
uses include system monitoring. It is
connected through ASUS’s Armoury
Crate application and can display
temperatures, voltages, frequencies,
or fan speeds. This is all pretty crucial
information and it’s handy to just
glance over at your case and make sure
everything is running smoothly.
The screen can also display similar
data but from AIDA64. This AIO comes
with a one-year subscription to the
AIDA64 Extreme software, one of the
best industry-leading programs for
system information.
A cooler too
hot to handle
ASUS ROG
Ryujin II
360 AIO
9
VERDICT ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 AIOICE COLD Largest AIO LCD
display; embedded 60mm CPU
fan; Noctua fans.
IN HOT WATER Bulky CPU block; pricey.
$310.00, http://www.asus.comSPECIFICATIONSCooling type Liquid Cooling System
Pump 7th gen Asetek pump
Radiator size 360mm
Fans 3x Noctua NF-F12
InductrialPPC
2000 PWM,
1x Pump embedded fan
Fan size 3x 120mm, 1x 60mm
Fan speed 450-2000rpm
Socket support Intel LGA 1150, 1151,
1152, 1155, 1156, 1200,
1366, 2011, 2011-3, 2066
AMD AM4, sTR4, sTRX4That’s not quite it for the CPU pump,
though. It has another nifty trick up its
sleeve. Embedded in the pump housing
behind the LCD screen is a hidden 60mm
fan, ensuring there is more than enough
airflow to the CPU socket. Besides
this fan, ROG Ryujin II 360 comes with
three Noctua Industrial PPC-2000 PWM
radiator fans. These are top-tier fans
costing around $30 a piece, so it’s good
to see that the flagship model from ASUS
has these included.FAN CULTURE
Also included in the box is a fan
controller hub, which is a nice addition.
This features four RGB ports and four
fan ports. Unusually, they aren’t split
traditionally, with one side for RGB and
the other for fans. Instead, one side has
a fan port with three RGB ports, and the
other side has three fan ports with one
RGB port. We’re nitpicking here, but we
found it a little odd. Regardless, at least
they included this controller in the box.
Finally, we have the radiator which,
as the name implies, is a pretty large
360mm rad. If you are using this with a
demanding system, this is a great size to
keep things nice and regulated. Tested
with our Intel i9-12900K CPU and an ASUS
ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080, it handled
everything we threw at it with plenty of
headroom for comfortable overclocking
potential. It ran quietly in our large
Corsair 7000D Airflow case, even under
some stressful gaming conditions. We
achieved temps of between 104°F and
122°F (40-50°C) which we were happy
with considering the quiet fan noise.
The question of whether you should
buy one depends if your case is large
enough to fit this in comfortably and yourrig requires as much cooling as possible.
If you’re rocking some of the latest Intel
or AMD CPUs with a hefty GPU, this
will make an awesome addition to your
system to keep things under control.
On the other hand, it could be overkill
for your PC. If you have a less demanding
system that could be kept cool by a
smaller AIO then as awesome as it is, we
can’t recommend spending over $300 on
this cooler—unless you think it's worth
adding to your setup for that gorgeous
screen alone. Overall, it’s a great AIO
that can handle demanding competitive
gameplay and productivity-based tasks
with some pretty neat features thrown
into the mix too. –SAM LEWISFEB 2022 MAXIMU MPC 89