Sapphire Nitro + S360-A in review – GPU manufacturer tries its hand at CPU water coolers

When you hear the name Sapphire, you usually think of well-cooled AMD graphics cards, in connection with water cooling, perhaps of the RX 6900XT Toxic that we tested here. But of CPU coolers? But it is precisely in this segment that they are now trying to make a name for themselves, because the popular Nitro + lineup now also has two AiO water cooling for the processor. And the following article reveals how they performed in the test.

Packaging and scope of delivery

While the shipping box is still quite unspectacular and provides information about the content in a practical and sober manner …

… you then pull out the marketing guns for the text on the inside and fire continuously from buzzwords on the already convinced buyer. If anyone has an idea what you’re getting at with “moto-inspo”, please leave a comment.

Now that we have left this part behind, things are looking promising again. The AiO is presented in the usual cardboard shell and was additionally bagged again, the fans are also covered with paper protection.

And Sapphire can come as a surprise here, because I have never seen such care for the radiator before. On the outward-facing side, three additional spacers or protective covers made of plastic have been clamped into the brackets.

The holes suggest that one has also thought of the particularly inattentive customers. This significantly reduces the performance of the cooler, but increases the chance of survival in the worst case.

In the accessories we then find the usual range of mounting material, screws and a proprietary splitter cable for fans and lighting. Once again, there is no tube of thermal paste.

Assembly and installation

As – fortunately – with so many modern coolers, the existing backplate of the mainboard can remain on for the AM4 socket on the S360-A. This is only extended by four stand-off screws, on which the water cooling then takes place. Finally, the necessary contact pressure is created with four thumbscrews and the AiO is ready for use.

Specifications

Here, as always, the overview of the technical details, for more information you can visit the manufacturer’s product page.