be quiet Light Loop IO LCD 360mm Liquid Cooler Review
Conclusion
A solid cooler with solid pricing
While LCD-clad CPU liquid cooling solutions are widely available, there is no shortage of cooler options that ship with poor software. Yes, be quiet’s software is not perfect; it is better than what most brands have delivered with their first LCD-enhanced liquid coolers. While we think the app could be a little more intuitive, if you take the time to learn how it works, you will be rewarded with a versatile cooler with a ton of customisation options.
Cooling-wise, we have the solid results that we expect from be quiet. We also have a pump that makes remarkably little noise, even when running at its full speed. There are plenty of CPU liquid coolers on the market with loud pumps. This is especially true for coolers with LCD screens. Adding hard, flat electronics is perfect for spreading noise and vibrations. It’s good to see that be quiet is living up to the “quiet” part of its name.
The only major annoyance for us is that the PWM mode of this cooler only enables unified control of this cooler’s pump and fans for motherboard-based controls and other external control options. The lack of separate PWM pump and fan controls is disappointing. This means that fan speeds rise with pump speeds, and that external apps log pump speeds, not fan speeds. That said, this is a non-issue if you plan to use IO Center for fan control, or want to use one of be quiet’s pre-configured cooler profiles. For people who want to control all of their fans using a single 3rd party app, this limitation will infuriate you. If you aren’t one of those people, this is a quibble that is easily ignored. For us, this was an annoying issue, as it isn’t compatible with the standard fan control methods we use for most CPU cooler reviews.
Solid Linux support
One of the best aspects of the Light Loop IO is its support for web-based controls. This allows this cooler to be controlled using Chromium-based browsers on Windows and Linux. MacOS is also supported, though this support is primarily for be quiet’s keyboards and mice. After all, you can’t install your own CPU cooler on a modern-day Mac, at least not without a lot of modding.
The only downside of the IO Center web app is that it is not as feature-rich as the dedicated app. Technical restrictions limit the full capabilities of IO Center’s web version. That said, these limitations are better than having no web-based app option. Without the web app, there would be no Linux support. Furthermore, there would be no options outside of be quiet’s dedicated Windows app. By offering users both a dedicated app and a web app, be quiet is offering users the best of both worlds. The choice is between a more feature-rich dedicated app and the option to avoid the app with a web-based alternative (that also supports Linux).
What we have here is a strong LCD-clad CPU cooler with solid pricing. While we think that some options within be quiet’s software could be more intuitive, this could be easily solved with future updates. That said, be quiet’s software is solid, and while it has limitations, it is no bad software. We’ve seen much worse from other brands.
The be quiet Light Loop IO LCD is a strong performer and a solid overall offering. At £179.99, this is a CPU cooler worth considering, assuming you want an LCD screen on your CPU cooler.
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