The Fractal Design Celsius S24 & S36 AIO Coolers Review
by E. Fylladitakis on June 2, 2017 8:00 AM ESTTesting Results, Maximum Fan Speed
Starting things off, let's take a look at cooler performance with the fans at their full, 12 V fan speed.
Our concurrent testing of the two Celsius variants gave us some very interesting results. With their fans running at their maximum rated speeds, the performance of the Celsius S24 is not record-breaking, yet it definitely is competitive, especially when taking the lower noise figures into account. The average thermal resistance of the Celsius S24 is 0.082 °C/W, which is slightly higher than that of most other dual 120 mm fan coolers, but our sound pressure meter was also recording only 38.7 dB(A) at the time of the test, which is the lowest figure that we have recorded up to this date from any comparative AIO cooler.
| Core Temperature, Constant Thermal Load (Max Fan Speed) |
Comparing the performance of the Celsius S24 to its larger S36 is not as straightforward as most people would assume. Despite its significantly greater mass, the S36 delivers virtually the same performance at lower load levels. As the load increases, the performance gap between the two coolers widens slightly, but only at very high power loads does the S36 display a true performance advantage. Ultimately, the average thermal resistance of the Celsius S36 is slightly better, at 0.0797 °C/W, but only because of its ability to handle very high thermal loads more efficiently. Meanwhile, the noise level rises to 40.6 dB(A), diminishing the thermal performance gains even further.
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dave_the_nerd - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
So when do they sell one of these bundled with a Node 804?Akkuma - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
The Arctic Liquid Freezer 240 & 120 seem to be the current bar for AIO. The price is better, the performance is better, and the sound profile seems better.jabber - Sunday, June 4, 2017 - link
Yeah I have the Arctic 240 and its great. Lot of kit for the money. One of the best around. I had put my old Corsair H50 in to try cooling my new 5820k rig but it just didnt have enough cooling power for that. Would have been nice to have had the Fractal option this time last year though to put in my new Fractal case...CompLuva - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
I just got the s24 and my experience so far is that when the fans are at 100%, it's very loud. I can't compare to other AIOs since this is my first, but my old system which used a 120mm NFP12 Noctua was virtually silent at 100%. I know that's not exactly apples to apples, but still this thing is quite loud when at 100%. It also spins up and down a lot and the noise when doing that is pretty loud and noticeable too. The other issue with it is that since it uses it's own fan controller, I can't tell if the readout I'm getting in BIOS is for the pump speed or fan speed. I think it's for the pump since it'll read out 2800 and the fans are only 2000 rpms.CompLuva - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
I retract my comment about the noise. I changed the positioning of the fans and radiator and it's much quieter now. I had the fans mounted to the case and then attached to the radiator. Turns out that small amount of space from the case mounting was causing a bunch of noise. Now I mounted the fans directly on the radiator and it's super quiet even at 100%. Very happy now. I've running 7700k @ 4.8 and 1.3v and max out at around 68-70 degrees when stress testing.Still can't see the fan speed though due to the integrated fan controller.
*zSnowz* - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
How reliable are these AIO coolers? I worry about leakage. How often do AIOs leak?maximumGPU - Saturday, June 3, 2017 - link
it's *very* rare. Quality has gone up a lot in the past few years.verl - Saturday, June 3, 2017 - link
The biggest worry for an AIO is how long the pump will last for. I think most ppl hit the 3-4 year range.Makaveli - Saturday, June 3, 2017 - link
^^^^ ThisThe H55 on my 7970ghz has been there for about 4 years now and the pump is alot noiser now than it use to be so it will almost be time to replace it.
nekronimus - Wednesday, October 18, 2017 - link
There's a 5 year warranty on the S24/S36 as a whole. If you modify the loop i.e. detach any hose, you "only" have warranty on the individual parts. That's logical 'cause if say you drain and refill it and it performs bad it means you did a bad job at refilling, fractal can not held accountable for that.