Be Quiet Silent Loop 3 420mmm CPU Liquid Cooler Review
Cinebench R24 Thermal Test
OC3D CPU Cooler Stress Test
We want to push CPU coolers to their limit, and that requires a workload that will place maximum load on our i5-14600K CPU. Why didn’t we choose an i7 or an i9? The simple answer is that we want to test various CPU Cooler options. If we put the hottest CPU we could in our system, only the best of the best CPU coolers would even pass our testing procedures. Since not everyone uses such a power-hungry CPU, we decided to tone the wattage and thermal loads down by using an i5-14600K. Even so, this CPU consumes a lot of power and generates a lot of heat under all-core workloads.
For testing, we have used Cinebench R24. This is an all-core workload that places heavy strain on all available CPU cores. This load pushes CPU thermals higher than any other and does so consistently. We use Cinebench R24 for 30 minutes to see how hot our CPU gets over that time. If CPU temperatures rise to 100 degrees Celsius or over, that CPU cooler has failed our testing. This is part of the reason why there are more coolers on our higher fan RPM cooler charts. Some coolers will pass our thermal testing at higher fan RPMs but fail at lower fan RPMs.
1000 RPM Performance
At 1000 RPM, be quiet’s new 420mm Silent Loop 3 cooler delivers solid performance numbers. It stands amongst the best coolers on our chart and does so while maintaining strong pricing. There are more expensive coolers on this chart that deliver worse performance.
1500 RPM Performance
At 1500 RPM this cooler continues to deliver strong performance given its pricing. It also gives strong performance given its low noise levels. They don’t call them be quiet for nothing.
Max RPM Performance
At 1950 RPM, the Silent Loop 3 isn’t utterly silent, but is is relatively quiet compared to many of the other coolers on our chart. Once again, be quiet delivers solid performance levels. Yes, this 420mm liquid cooler is large, but it delivers where it counts.
