Fractal Design Kelvin S36: Review |Test | Specs| Hashrate| Pros & Cons| set-up

Test – Fractal Design Kelvin S36: Review| Specs| Test| Hashrate |Price On Amazon| Set-up| CPU Performance| Config | Advantage (Pros) and Disadvantages (Cons) and other important features that will help you make better decision.

Hello everyone!

We continue the tests of the AIO Watercooling kits, after the Corsair H110i GT (test here) which is a monster of performance to the detriment of noise pollution, it is at Fractal Design that I turn today with the very last S36 of the series Kelvin. Unlike its competitors Fractal Design has chosen another approach, copper radiator (against aluminum for the others) and the possibility of modifying the kit by adding other waterblocks to the circuit (such as a graphics card for example), which is really a very good thing.
Offered at a price of around 135 € the Kelvin S36 is clearly not cheap, but given the size of the machine (36 cm radiator) and the modularity it could be a good alternative to “home made” water-cooling systems. much more expensive, let’s see what he has in his stomach!

As usual at Fractal Design the packaging is rather sober, apart from the blue color there is no extravagance! It includes the brand, the model, a photo of the product as well as the unique marketing touch of 3 words “Powerful.” Quiet. Expandable. », At least we get to the point here!

At the back we find a photo of the waterblock and the radiator as well as a small summary of the strengths of the Kelvin S36 namely a high performance pump, a waterblock and a copper radiator, compatibility with all current sockets and a great modularity.

On the side we find the dimensions of the radiator, as we can see it will not be possible to install it in all the boxes with almost 40 cm in length! A listing of the parts present in the bundle is also included.

When opening the box we find ourselves facing a bag containing the user guide placed on a layer of foam, let’s see what is below!

Now that’s more interesting! We are faced with a great classic here, a cardboard mold in which are all the parts packed in individual plastic bags. One thing is certain, everything is well protected here.

The bundle consists of:

• 1 x Fractal Design Kelvin S36
• 3 x ventilateurs Fractal Design Silent Series HP120
• 1 x adaptateurs 3 x 4-pin PWM -> 1 x 4-pin PWM
• 1 x Intel mounting kit
• 1 x kit de montage AMD
• 1 x thermal paste tube
• 1 x Manuel
• The necessary screws

As we can see the Kelvin S36 bundle is composed of everything that will be necessary for its good assembly but without frills.

Here is the beast! Sobriety is the order of the day, much like the vast majority of AIO water-cooling kits on the market. Overall, the build quality is very good. The only thing that contrasts with the black is the Fractal Design logo written in white, again like the majority of its competition. Let’s see what the beast has in store for us in more detail.

The huge 36cm radiator (39.5cm including the edges) is made up of copper fins which will therefore be more “efficient” than the aluminum fins found in 99% of the AIO Watercooling kits. You can see the holes for the 3 12cm fans which will dissipate the accumulated heat. The build quality is really really good here, there really is nothing to say about it and the use of following makes it quite heavy for a product of this type.

Unlike its competitors and as I said above the Kelvin S36 is modular, therefore the fittings can be unscrewed in order to adapt better when adding another waterblock and / or changing pipes. Again this changes a lot from competitors who only offer fixed pipes and fittings.

Fractal Design has chosen a block including the pump and the square-shaped waterblock, sobriety is once again the order of the day with a glossy black plastic coating above it with the most beautiful effect sporting the brand’s logo. The water block itself is covered in black plastic, unfortunately this one is not as flattering as the rest although it is still of good quality. As for the radiator, the fittings can be unscrewed and it will be possible to change the pipes or connect other elements. To power the pump a black braided cable is present and will plug into a 3-pin socket.

On the side is a screw cap allowing to bleed / fill the circuit, and all without loss of warranty!

The plate in contact with the processor is made of copper, we can see the traces of machining and the finish is not totally mirror type, but this should not affect performance.

The fans present are Silent Series HP 120, rotating at a maximum speed of 1700 RPM for a consumption of 2.16 Watts. The fans are surprisingly heavy and the build quality here is excellent, they really have nothing to do with the entry level fans that you find in a very large majority of competing AIO water cooling kits, a very good one. point for Fractal Design.

Specification: Hashrate – Fractal Design Kelvin S36

As we can see the Fractal Design Kelvin S36 is compatible with all sockets on the market, even the very aging 775 which has not been in circulation for a long time now. The dimensions of the radiator show a beautiful baby 39.5cm long for more than 5cm thick once the 3 original supplied fans are installed, add another 2.5cm for 3 additional fans. As I said above everything is equipped with copper wherever possible, water block and radiator which should improve performance.
Regarding the fans, the Fractal Design Silent Series HP 120 rotates at a maximum speed of 1700 RPM for 650 RPM at the minimum with a maximum sound level of 26.9 dB, they should therefore be particularly quiet in PWM use, as long as they are not running. thoroughly!

The pump is equipped with a ceramic bearing which ensures an increased lifespan, the announced sound level is 25 dB for a consumption of 3.2 Watts, only a test will be able to tell if it is silent or not, we will see that later. !
Offered at a price of around 135 € the Fractal Design Kelvin S36 is not cheap but seeing the technical data, the materials used as well as the ubiquitous modularity it could be very interesting for someone looking for a large radiator and the possibility of customization, if the tests are conclusive!

Let’s talk little, let’s talk well, it’s all well and good to admire the beast but as much as it is necessary to install it, let’s go!
First of all, you will have to start by installing the fans on the radiator, nothing could be simpler, just place the fans and screw them on using the long supplied:

Then you have to take the 2 metal pieces that will be placed on the waterblock:

These two parts are inserted at the level of the waterblock and hold in place thanks to the polarizers, like this:

Once this is done we tackle the screws that will keep the waterblock on the motherboard, first of all you have to take the 4 elements of each screw:

A screw in which we put a spring then a washer, the nut will be placed after the brackets located on the waterblock, like this:

We repeat all this for the 4 sides, once everything is in place, take the supplied fixing plate and put it under the motherboard, be careful to align the holes on the motherboard with the fixing holes, and this does not is not really easy given that these are not fixed on the plate .. Once the operation is done you have to put a little thermal paste of course:

Then nothing could be simpler, just put the waterblock and fix it with the 4 screws:

We arrive at the end, all that remains is to connect the 3 fans to the 3 x 4-pin -> 1 x 4-pin adapter, to plug it into the CPU-FAN socket and of course to connect the pump to another 3 or 4-pin socket, like this:

Well done! The Fractal Design Kelvin S36 is now ready to use, all you have to do is torture it 😀

The test platform

The Fractal Design Kelvin S36 has been tested on the configuration below:

• Processor : Intel Core i7 875K @ 3.2 Ghz
• Motherboard : Asus P7P55D
• Mémoire: Kingston HyperX 4 x 2 Go 1600Mhz
• Disque dur: WD Raptor 150 Go
• Graphics card : Sapphire Toxic 5850
• Power supply : Seasonic X650

Since the Kelvin S36 is an “extreme” water-cooling kit and I still have something to test it on, here is the second configuration on which it will be tested:

• Processeur: Intel Core i7 5820K @ 4,5 Ghz 1.28V
• Motherboard : Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5 (tested here)
• Memory : Corsair Vengeance LPX 4 X 4 GB 2666 MHz (tested here)
• Disque dur: WD Raptor 150 Go
• Graphics card : Sapphire Toxic 5850
• Power supply : Seasonic X650

With this configuration it should have enough to dissipate the heat, and to complete it all I still had to put two of his comrades to the test, nothing better than the boss of the coolers I named the NH- D15 as well as the very powerful Corsair H110i GT! In this way we will see how the 3 monsters behave on a “big” processor.

The test protocol

The core i7 875K has been slightly overclocked to 3.2Ghz. The temperatures under load are an average of all the cores for 3 tests of 30 minutes on OCCT, the temperatures at rest were taken after 15mins on the desk (still an average of the 4 cores). All the tests will be done with the fans managed by the motherboard, once in “PWM” mode and once with the fans fully in order to see the kit’s capacities at maximum.

The AIO Watercooling kit has been tested against:

• Antec H20 1250 (tested here)
• Cooler Master Nepton 240M (tested here)
• Corsair H75 (tested here)
• Corsair H110i GT (tested here)
• be quiet! Dark Rock 3 (tested here)
• be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 (tested here)
• be quiet! Pure Rock (tested here)
• Noctua NH-U14S (tested here)
• Noctua NH-D15 (tested here)

Core i7 875K @ 3.2GHz

The temperatures

The battle is very close here, the Corsair H110i GT was the first to dethrone the “small” Noctua NH-D15, and well the Fractal Design Kelvin S36 does even better by scratching another 1 small degree on the Corsair while falling to 44 ° in 12V! In PWM, the temperature rises only marginally with 46 °, which remains at the level of the Corsair and the Noctua! The other coolers or AIO watercooling kit in the comparison unfortunately do not keep pace.
Once set to 5V on the other hand we can see that the air flow is not really huge and the temperatures rise to 54 °, which is still very good but should undermine the Kelvin S36 when the “big” The overclocked i7 5820K will be there.

Noise pollution

Warning: Part to be taken with a grain of salt, unfortunately not having access to the appropriate equipment and using an android application to take the readings The measurements below are only indicative! The readings were taken 15cm from the cooler.

Here the opinion is rather mixed, not by the noise pollution of the fans which are really irreproachable, especially for original fans but by the pump which is clearly and distinctly audible! The 38 dB read in 5V or PWM come only from the pump, which is a real shame because the Kelvin S36 could be really quiet with another pump. Be careful, however, it is not noisy, especially compared to a Corsair H110i GT whether in quiet mode or worse in performance mode, but it will be audible, especially at rest.
Now let’s see how the little monster does with a bit more hairy and overclocked processor, I named Mr Intel core i7 5820K @ 4.5 Ghz.

Core i7 5820K @ 4.5GHz

The temperatures

Well it’s confirmed, the Fractal Design Kelvin S36 once again takes the first place! With 63 ° in PWM and 59 ° in 12V, it does better than the Corsair H110i GT which was the previous record holder! As I said above on the other hand in 5V the fans do not turn quickly enough to evacuate the heat the temperatures soar to reach 78 °, it will be therefore preferable to let the motherboard manage the ventilation, in the event of extensive overclocking .

Noise pollution

Warning: Part to be taken with a grain of salt, unfortunately not having access to the appropriate equipment and using an android application to take the readings The measurements below are only indicative! The readings were taken 15cm from the cooler.

The noise pollution in 5V does not change of course by remaining at 38 dB, in PWM on the other hand and given the increase in heat to dissipate the noise level goes from 38 dB for the Core i7 875K to 43 dB for the Core i7 5820K and in 12V nothing changes with 49 dB. Here we are still far from the Corsair H110i GT which displays 45 dB at minimum and a huge 64 dB at maximum, despite the noise of the pump the Kelvin S36 remains really a better choice if noise pollution is to be taken into account.

Here we are at the end of this test, what about Fractal Design Kelvin S36?
Fractal Design gives us here an AIO watercooling kit that wants to be out of the ordinary with the possibility of modifying the circuit by adding elements where the competitors do not allow any modification, a 360mm copper radiator, as much to say that nothing but nothing. with this it stands out very widely. The build quality is very good, apart from the plastic around the waterblock which is a bit “cheap”, a special mention for the fans which are really very well finished and well above a very large majority of the fans included in the models. Competitive AIO kits.

In terms of performance Fractal Design signs here a kit that really has nothing to envy to others, on the contrary because it takes the first place here, especially when it is responsible for cooling a processor consuming more than reason, thank you to the huge dissipation surface of the radiator!

But then, is everything perfect? Well no because a little thing comes to mar the picture, the noise of the pump! Unfortunately the latter is really not the quieter and alone covers the noise generated by the fans (to a certain point), it is a real shame because with a quieter pump the general noise level would be very much appreciated.

Offered at a price of around 135 € the Fractal Design Kelvin S36 may seem expensive but we must not forget that it offers an all-copper radiator and a modularity that will allow to add for example a waterblock for graphics card, in the end this will be much less expensive than going directly to “home made” water-cooling. It will be able to cool a large overclocked gamer config without the slightest problem, for a gamer configuration without overclock or a moderate oveclock there are much cheaper solutions.

Advantages

• Performances
• Modularity
• Copper radiator
• Very good quality fans

Disadvantages

• Noisy pump unfortunately
• Pay attention to the size of the machine
• Price

A big thank you to Fractal Design who allowed me to do this test.

Where to find the Fractal Design Kelvin S36?

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