Id-Cooling FX360 INF Closed-Loop CPU Cooler Review

While Id-Cooling’s DX360 Max left us scrambling to explain how a 38mm cooler with 26mm fans could be only 58mm thick, its FX360 Inf is far more straightforward: An unremarkable 119x360x27mm radiator core / frame is capped at the ends with 36mm (combined) of tanks and topped with three 120x26mm fans to fit into a 120x396x53mm space. Add 2mm for the thickness of screw heads if required for your installation.

A cooler this big should logically cost more than $80, so we were keen to find cost cutting but were instead treated with a light show that adds to the manufacturing cost of this incredibly-priced kit. Of course Id-Cooling didn’t throw in a $10 ARGB controller, but most of the boards we’ve tested over the past several years have had several of those headers built in. Failing to connect the standard ARGB cables to something will prevent the ARGB from lighting up, so that those who want to go dark and stay dark can just leave those disconnected.

The kits includes two sets of AMD mounting brackets, an Intel dual-pattern bracket and CPU Socket support plate, four nuts and standoffs to attach any of those brackets to the motherboard, a tubular socket to help in hand-tightening the standoffs, a tube of thermal paste, an adapter cable with PWM fan and ARGB input, three screw packs, three clips for pairing coolant lines, three ARGB fans, and the radiator/pump/tubing assembly.

Powered by a three-pin fan connector, the pump is capped with a mirror-faced Id Cooling logo (above) and interfaces the CPU via a copper cold plate (below). The mirrored finish gives the light-up logo an “infinity mirror” effect when lit, and the copper base is almost as smooth and flat as that mirror. Logo lighting comes from an ARGB input, and the plug loops to an ARGB output to allow a second device to use the same signal.

A seven-pin proprietary cable connects each fan to standard PWM and ARGB motherboard headers though an included adapter cable.

FX360 Inf Installation

We decided to mount the pump’s bracket horizontally in today’s installation, which meant using the longer of the two sets of AMD adapter brackets to bridge the gap. Installing these required us to remove the clip-on cooler brackets that came installed on our motherboard, screw Id-Cooling’s standoffs into the same screw holes, top the standoffs with Id-Cooling’s brackets, and attach those brackets to the standoffs with Id-Cooling’s knurled nuts. While AMD motherboards are factory equipped with a socket support plate into which the standoffs are secured, Intel users must add the support plate that’s included with this cooler.

We didn’t need Id-Cooling’s coolant line clips to keep our installation looking clean, but they’re in the kit just in case you do. Our photo angle is a little too straight to give a good indication of the pump cover’s infinity mirror effect.

System Configuration
Case	Thermaltake Ceres 500 TG ARGB
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 7900X: 12 cores/ 24 threads, 64MB L3 Cache O/C to 5.00 GHz at 1.25 V Core
Motherboard	ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi, BIOS 1.18
RAM	Sabrent Rocket SB-DR5U-32GX2 64GB DDR5-4800
System Drive	HP SSD FX900 M.2 1TB NVMe SSD

Test Results

Id-Cooling’s $80 FX360 Inf is the weakest of any 360mm-format closed-loop coolers we’ve tested, but not by much: Even the $200+ iCue Link H150i RGB comes out only 7% ahead.

The comparison gets even more interesting when we include noise levels, as the expensive model that ran 7% cooler is an astounding 35% noisier than the FX360 Inf. Though wealthier builders who struggle to buy anything less than the most powerful component, defining the overall performance of each cooler by its temperature-to-noise ratio puts the FX360 Inf in the lead.

And now we remember back to when we said that the FX360 Inf is only $80…in case you haven’t been following the market, that makes it the cheapest cooler that we’ve tested in this format. Even without considering the significance of its cooling-to-noise win, its cooling-to-price ratio tops…everyone.

We normally apply nothing more than our stamp of approval to a product whose leadership leans on value, but the FX360 Inf is so much more than a top-value part: It’s also a top performer, at least in regards to cooling-to-noise. It’s that low noise that places it among the best coolers we’ve tested.

Id-Cooling FX360 INF
Pros:	Cons:
Best cooling-to-noise Best cooling-to-price Cheap, defeatable ARGB	Shorter 3-year warranty (DX Max has 5y)
The Verdict:
It’s not the most powerful, but the FX360 Inf is by far the quietest cooler we’ve tested, and it comes at an ultra-low price.

Get it at Amazon

(click for availability)