Cooler Grasp Cooling X: A Highly effective, Compact Liquid-Cooled Gaming PC

	Cooler Grasp Cooling X PC: As Configured – $3,999 Cooler Grasp used its many years of case, cooler, and PSU design expertise to create a customized, compact liquid-cooled powerhouse, with nice construct high quality and a price ticket to match.
	Enticing design Wonderful construct high quality Robust efficiency Compact but highly effective Good thermals and acoustics	Prime I/O lure door can spoil the clear traces Lackluster WiFi Minimal 80% pump velocity makes some noise Upgrading could also be troublesome Some software program setup points

Cooler Grasp Cooling X Packaging And First Impressions

We obtained the Cooler Grasp Cooling X in tip-top form, because of the usage of some modern packaging, with a number of layers and considerate protections. Forward of cargo we enquired about whether or not there could be any checks or upkeep essential once we obtained the Cooling X, however had been assured that it could be good to go straight from the field. This PC took a prolonged journey across the Horn of Africa (essential because of the Pink Sea disaster) and landed in Holland earlier than arriving. Nonetheless, the packaging and its treasured contents had been completely preserved, so far as we may see.

Pulling the system from the field, we had been instantly struck by the stable, weighty really feel of the Cooling X. Getting an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 – each liquid cooled – right into a 14.77 liter (3.9 gallon) chassis was an admirable feat.

As you may see, the entire case is principally a heatsink/radiator for the excessive efficiency elements contained inside. This PC is dense although, as its comparatively small quantity contrasts with its 17.3kg (38.1 kilos) weight. To maneuver the PC round we had been happy that the design integrates a pair of sturdy handles alongside the highest. The symmetric design additionally means these handles work as ‘skids’ or ‘runners’ on the underside, which elevates the bottom of the case above the bottom, which can be good for the (filtered) airflow.

With the Cooling X on a desk we may benefit from the finer factors of the design, and, on the flip aspect, some questions rapidly arose. In all probability the largest shock with the design is that Cooler Grasp discovered it essential to place the motherboard in order that the rear I/O panel faces upwards. Cooler Grasp explains this was a choice based mostly upon optimizing the compactness of the system and “the position of radiator and liquid aspect panels.”

A aspect impact of the 90 diploma motherboard rotation implies that many of the I/O is on the high of the case and a small flip panel must be opened for connecting an Ethernet cable, USB-C 20Gbps, or audio I/O, for instance. There are just a few ports to the higher rear of the case, together with these from the discrete GPU and a trio of USB ports, however most customers will select to go away the highest door completely open out of necessity or comfort. Using a USB hub around the again may imply that the highest door could possibly be closed more often than not, however we left the system as is whereas evaluating it.

Cooler Grasp factors out that it had to make use of plastic for the highest panel to permit the pre-connected Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas to operate correctly. It matched the colour of the chassis completely, however was a disappointing selection given the worth and the premium supplies used elsewhere. Nonetheless, even with a plastic top-panel, we discovered the built-in Wi-Fi efficiency to be sub-par. The included MediaTek Wi-Fi 6E MT7922 (RZ616) card has a poor fame for reliability. Therefore, we most well-liked utilizing the wired 2.5G Ethernet, and likewise discovered {that a} spare USB Wi-Fi adaptor with 6-inch antenna carried out much better.

The Cooling X PC system has a modest quantity of RGB lighting. The facility button and two lighting strips flank the entrance panel and make up the system’s single RGB lighting zone. Cooler Grasp’s software program permits for numerous rainbow and coloration biking results. It additionally permits customers to configure the lighting to alter coloration in response to audio or system thermals. Because the system was equipped, altering the RGB colours and results (or turning it off fully) had been the one performance provided by the Cooler Grasp Heart v1.0.1.0 software program supplied.

Cooling X Software program Expertise

As talked about above, the supplied Cooler Grasp branded configuration software program was fundamental, solely permitting RGB lighting changes. Nonetheless, on establishing the system, we encountered a few points with Wi-Fi connectivity. Relocating this hefty PC and plugging in an Ethernet cable, we acquired the newest drivers from the motherboard vendor (MSI) to attempt to get the Wi-Fi card to attach. MSI’s up-to-date drivers did the job, and whereas we had been at, acquired the newest chipset drivers, BIOS, and so forth.

When all of the updates had been accomplished, nevertheless, Cooler Grasp’s software program did not work anymore, however MSI’s extra superior MSI Heart greater than made up for it with efficiency profiles, fan curves, monitoring, and extra – in addition to the identical RGB management the earlier software program provided. After discussions with Cooler Grasp help, we came upon that MSI co-created the Cooler Grasp software program, however this MSI branded software program and firmware was just a little newer, so we caught with it for the testing interval.

Inside The Cooler Grasp Cooling X

Cooler Grasp says that the Cooling X is not designed to be user-upgraded. However, we had been to get contained in the case, see the way it was put collectively, and take a look at the parts. Opening the left and proper case doorways requires a handful of screws to be eliminated, high and backside, earlier than the doorways hinge outwards.

Even with the case open, it appeared very sturdy and inflexible. Behind the left aspect door you possibly can see the Cooler Grasp pump is connected to the door panel. You additionally get a view of the cooling block connected to the CPU, the RAM sticks, the MSI motherboard heatsinks/fan, the rear-mounted pair of followers and 240mm liquid cooling radiator, and a modular Cooler Grasp SFX PSU with solely the required cables linked (no spare cables had been supplied).

Behind the right-side door essentially the most major factor in view is the graphics card which is essentially coated by a black metallic cooling block, which is connected through black tubing to the pump and right-side door/radiator. Contained in the Cooling X every thing appears very neat, and seems to be thoughtfully designed, identical to the remainder of this PC typically.

Cooler Grasp Cooling X Specs

Cooler Grasp has included some premium parts within the construct configuration we examined. It was outfitted one among AMD’s finest gaming-oriented CPUs with 3D V-Cache (the Ryzen 9 7950X3D), 64GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, and a pair of x 2TB M.2 SSDs. For graphics, the system was configured with a GeForce RTX 4080. A few of you could query the usage of the GeForce RTX 4080 in a system like this, which instructions a big worth premium. After we requested about this selection, Cooler Grasp asserted that the choice to suit the RTX 4080 as a substitute of a RTX 4090 got here all the way down to one among its three pillars – compactness. Utilizing the RTX 4090 would have required a bigger case to accommodate a full-size PSU. Nonetheless, a GeForce RTX 4080 desktop graphics card with 16GB is a really potent board for the professionals, creators, and avid gamers Cooler Grasp is concentrating on with this premium liquid cooled construct.

When the Cooling X was first introduced, many people had been stunned by the preliminary $6,999 checklist worth. The corporate justified this price ticket by highlighting the customized case design and the way every thing was tightly built-in to ship a dependable steadiness of cool, compact, and quiet efficiency. The excellent news is that the present worth for the system has been considerably slashed. The configuration we examined is now $3,999. 

We requested our contact at Cooler Grasp how the worth had come down so sharply, and had been instructed that sure large ticket element costs had come down for the reason that Cooling X was first introduced. Furthermore, there have been design optimizations, manufacturing has ramped significantly, and extra shared Cooler Grasp parts from the agency’s OEM division are additionally getting used. As well as, extra manufacturing has been introduced in-house to Cooler Grasp’s Guishan manufacturing facility in Taiwan.

Now that we have coated what the Cooling X is all about, it’s about time we did some efficiency testing. Benchmarks are up subsequent…