INTRODUCTION

   Up until roughly 2 years ago i never would had thought that the day would ever come when I’d install a custom water cooling kit (loop) in our primary test rig and never look back to the usual CPU Air Coolers and the nowadays more common All In One liquid cooling solutions. However that day did come when we received the excellent XSPC Raystorm 750 RX360V3 WaterCooling Kit a few months back which surpassed every single cooling solution to have ever passed from our Intel Core i7 3930k test rig. I do understand people who are not willing to take their first steps into this still "niche" market because of the cost, the time one needs to spend mounting a complete kit and the rare dangers of that (although I’ve never encountered that issue) but trust me when i say that the end result is more than just worth the extra money and time (at least for those who can afford it). Phobya much like XSPC is also in the job of making high-end watercooling components and kits and since many of you asked today with us we have their latest 360LT Pure Performance Watercooling kit.

   The Phobya brand is a coalition of many manufacturers under one name. This cooperation has developed and produced many innovations in the water-, air- and passive cooling sector. Numerous accessories for improvement of your computer, both in the performance sector and optically, have been developed. Phobya products are for those who want more from their system!

   To create the 360LT Pure Performance Watercooling Kit Phobya gathered some of their very best components/products to date including the G.Changer 360 V.2 triple radiator, CPU Cooler UC-2 LT waterblock, Balancer 250 black nickel edition reservoir, DC12-260 12 Volt Pump, three G-Silent 12 120mm LED fans and 1 liter of their ZuperZero Clear coolant. Tube reservoirs may not be something new since they've been around for quite some time now but the 360LT is actually the first kit we've gotten our hands on that comes ready with one of those and although on one hand that means it doesn't take up one of your precious (maybe) front 5.25" optical drive bays on the other it also means it needs to be mounted separately from the pump something which may end up requiring more interior space. Of course our primary goal is to find out how the 360LT compares to all the other Watercooling Kits we've tested to date and that's what we're about to do.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Phobya sells their 360LT kit inside a large black box that has the list of features and bundle contents listed at the front in the form of drawings.

A more detailed list of components is placed on a sticker found on the right side of the box.

The Phobya logo (basically a lake monster) is placed at the rear of the box.

Each component has its own box (even the coolant) so nothing wrong here.

According to Phobya inside the box you will find the G.Changer 360 V.2 triple radiator with its fan and case mounting screws (an Allen key is also included), CPU Cooler UC-2 LT waterblock with a thermal paste tube and its Intel LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011 mounting hardware, Balancer 250 black nickel edition reservoir with two plastic holders and two screws, DC12-260 12 Volt Pump with two mounting brackets and a vibration absorbing pad, three G-Silent 12 120mm 1500RPM LED fans with their case screws, Fan y-splitter, 1 liter of their ZuperZero Clear coolant, ATX bridge plug, 8 compression fittings (1 has an 90 degree angle), 3m Masterkleer PVS tubing (13/10mm - 3/8"), some Phobya stickers and printed installation instructions. Now the reason we said according to Phobya is because in the end the LGA2011 mounting screws along with the radiator case mounting screws and the installation instructions were nowhere to be found. Luckily we were able to use the screws from the Alphacool kit but that's obviously not the best start.

THE PHOBYA 360LT KIT

The G.Changer 360 V.2 is a 60mm thick triple fan steel/copper radiator that measures 397mm in length and 124mm in width.

Compared to the RX360 V3 radiator from XSPC it may not be as long but it's thicker (60mm vs 56mm).

The fins are made out of copper and as far as we can tell their quality is excellent (5FPI).

As you can all see the radiator features four G1/4 ports at the rear (for the tubing) and one G1/4 port at the front (used to empty the radiator).

The DC12-260 12V pump shipped with the 360LT has a 50.000 hours lifespan and can push up to 600 liters of liquid per hour.

With a diameter of 50mm and a height of 250mm the Balancer 250 is very easy to mount pretty much anywhere inside a case.

The Balancer 250 can hold up to 275ml of coolant and has a total of four G1/4 ports at the bottom (for tubing) and one G1/4 port at the top (you can use that to empty or fill the reservoir or you can just unscrew the top all together).

Phobya packs their UC-2 LT all-copper waterblock (although the top cover is made out of plastic) with the 360LT kit.

Black tubing may look nice overall but if you decide to use UV reactive coolant with the kit and you have UV lights installed in your case this isn't ideal (if you don't care about those things however black is better since clear tubings change color in time).

The G-Silent 12 are 120mm LED fans that can spin up to 1500RPM (+-10%) to produce airflow of up to 57CFM with just 25dBA of noise.

Read and black sure looks nice when put together but looks aside let's see how the 360LT performs.

INSTALLATION - FINISHED LOOKS

As usual we started with the waterblock installation (lucky for us we were able to use the Alphacool mounting screws).

The 900D has plenty of room at the top so installing the Radiator was our second step.

Because of its layout it's not very easy to mount the tube at the rear of the case but we did find it very easy to mount on the drive cage as you can see (the pump went right beneath it).

Even while turned off the 360LT looks great but once turned on the LEDs from the 3 fans make things much better.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Testing complete water cooling kits or individual radiators is no different than testing CPU Coolers and since we want all of you to be able to compare similar products we created new and separate charts (you can still cross-compare results however since we are using the same test rig). So once again single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of our test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests complete water cooling kits or radiators with bundled fans are measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. When testing complete water cooling kits we use the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Finally much like when testing CPU Coolers it's very important to point out that just because a water cooling kit outperforms another when tested with our test rig (when we test complete water cooling kits) that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests (when fans exist in the bundle) are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the radiator. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   When i informed some people (industry contacts) a while back that we were expecting a complete watercooling kit/loop by Phobya i didn't receive the best response since many of them told me that Phobya products are not quite on par to others from more well established manufacturers like XSPC, Alphacool and EKWB so although i always like to make up my own mind regarding a product that did raise some flags. Well after having tested the 360LT by Phobya quite thoroughly and for roughly 3 weeks now i see that my information was wrong (or was perhaps right for other models by Phobya i really can't say) since not only the quality is high but also because we were impressed by the looks and performance of the kit. XSPC with their RayStorm 750 RX360 V.3 kit still leads our charts with a very small gap from the Phobya 360LT kit but performance aside both kits are more than enough to cover even the most demanding users. Another positive thing about the 360LT kit is the pump since it's inaudible even from just 50cm away so that was a pleasant surprise after the somewhat loud Laing pump of the Alphacool kit.

   Right now the 360LT Pure Performance Kit by Phobya retails for 174.99Euros by Aquatuning Germany but unfortunately we were unable to locate it for sale in the USA so unless we missed something the only way out is getting it from the EU. That being said the price tag is a little higher than what we had hoped for (still less compared to the Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 360 DDC/XT Watercooling Set) but the 360LT does very well in terms of performance and looks better than most similarly priced kits out there. As for the missing hardware parts we were assured that this was an isolated incident so we will not be deducting any points for that (still if you receive the same kit and you are also missing those parts feel free to email us so we can change our conclusion). In all the Phobya 360LT watercooling kit is a very good choice for enthusiasts, professionals, gamers and even just very demanding users alike and that's why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Excellent Performance
- Inaudible Pump
- Tube Reservoir
- 3x120mm Fans
- 1 Liter Coolant Fluid Included (More Than We Needed)
- Long Tubing Included
- Easy Installation
- Finished Looks
- Price (Compared To the Competition)

CONS

- Price (For Some)