Best AIO cooler 2024

If you’re on the lookout for the best AIO cooler for your needs, then you’ve brought your web browser to exactly the right place. We’ve picked  out the very best CPU liquid cooler models from our extensive review catalog, so you can buy the right CPU cooler for your setup, whether you’re after something compact or a massive cooler that can cope with the most power-hungry of CPUs.

Here are the best AIO coolers in 2024:

1. be quiet! Silent Loop 2 120mm – the best 120mm AIO cooler
2. Antec Vortex 240 ARGB – the best cheap 240mm AIO cooler
3. EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB – the best 240mm AIO cooler
4. Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30 – the most powerful 240mm AIO cooler
5. NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB – the best AIO LCD cooler
6. Thermaltake TH420 V2 ARGB Sync – the best 420mm AIO cooler

1. be quiet! Silent Loop 2 120mm

The best 120mm AIO cooler is the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 120mm.

be quiet! Silent Loop 2 120mm specs:

Pros

• Excellent cooling
• Quiet pump
• Included RGB controller

Cons

• Comparatively expensive
• Pump is 3-pin rather than 4-pin
• Noisy fans at full speed

If you don’t have room to mount an expansive radiator in your PC case, perhaps if it’s a mini-ITX model, then you can still get a fair bit of cooling power from a 120mm AIO cooler, and the be quiet! Silent Loop 2 120mm is the best example we’ve tested. It has two 120mm fans in a push-pull configuration, on either side of the 120mm radiator, so there’s plenty of airflow.

It managed to keep a 16-core Intel Core i9-12900K CPU in check in our tests, and it has a quiet pump as well. It’s not the cheapest option available, but it’s the best choice if you want decent CPU cooling from a 120mm fan mount. The RGB lighting looks subtle and classy as well.

See our full be quiet! Silent Loop 2 120mm review for a more detailed rundown.

2. Antec Vortex 240 ARGB

The best cheap 240mm AIO cooler is the Antec Vortex 240 ARGB.

Antec Vortex 240 ARGB specs:

Pros

• Very quiet pump
• Great-looking RGB lighting
• Easy installation
• Fantastic price

Cons

• Fans get noisy at full speed
• Cooling abilities could be better
• No control software

We’re amazed that you can get a cooler of this standard for such a cheap price, but the Antec Vortex 240 ARGB manages it. Despite having a price of just $85, this handsome 240mm AIO cooler not only has great-looking RGB lighting on the pumps and fan rings, but it also has some decent cooling power.

It managed to keep our Core i7-13700K and Ryzen 9 7900X under control during our testing, and it has a quiet pump. To top it all off, it’s even easy to fit. If you can’t spend more than $100 on your CPU cooler, this is the 240mm AIO model to get.

Read our full Antec Vortex 240 ARGB review for more information.

3. EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB

The best 240mm AIO cooler is the EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB.

EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB specs:

Pros

• Great lighting and cooling
• Easy installation process
• Daisy-chained lighting and PWM cables

Cons

• Comparatively expensive
• Might not fit all mini-ITX motherboards
• Pump lighting can’t be daisy-chained to fans

You might know EK from its super-stylish custom water-cooling gear, but it also uses its liquid cooling expertise to produce some superb AIO coolers, and the EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB is a fine example. It offers superb CPU cooling performance, its pump and fans are quiet, and its daisy-chained fan cables stop your case from being overrun with wiring spaghetti as well.

Check out our full EK Nucleus AIO CR240 Lux D-RGB review for more detail about this cooler.

4. Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30

The most powerful 240mm AIO cooler is the Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30.

Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30 specs:

Pros

• Fantastic fans
• Amazing cooling power
• Good looking RGB lighting on pump unit

Cons

• Expensive
• Gets noisy when you run it at high speeds

The Phanteks T30 120mm fans are the star of the show here, with their great build quality and high airflow. When it comes to the Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30, these fans have also been mounted to a 38mm-thick radiator, giving this 240mm AIO model loads of cooling power. It gets noisy when you run it at full speed, but if you want the most cooling power possible from a 240mm cooler, this is the one to buy.  

Read through our full Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30 review for more information.

5. NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB

The best AIO LCD cooler is the NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB.

NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB specs:

Pros

• Fantastic looks
• Superb cooling
• Low noise
• Customizable LCD

Cons

• Takes a while for fans and pump to spin up
• Have to deal with lots of cables
• Very expensive

LCDs are the latest addition to AIO coolers, and while they’re largely superfluous when it comes to cooling, they give you a great way to customize your PC’s interior. As well as offering a fancy LCD on the pump unit, the NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB is also available in black and white versions, so you can match it to your PC’s interior.

It’s not just a pretty face either – the Kraken Elite 360 RGB proved itself to be extremely powerful in our CPU cooling tests, and it’s quiet as well. If you have the money, and room for it on your case, this is the best AIO cooler you can buy at the moment.

Read our NZXT Kraken Elite 360 review for the full lowdown.

6. Thermaltake TH420 V2 ARGB Sync

The best 420mm AIO cooler is the Thermaltake TH420 V2 ARGB Sync.

Thermaltake TH420 V2 ARGB Sync specs:

Pros

• Superb value for money
• Excellent cooling
• Gorgeous RGB lighting

Cons

• Case compatibility limited by massive radiator size
• Doesn’t support AMD Threadripper CPUs
• Have to deal with lots of cable mess

We’re amazed at the value on offer from the Thermaltake TH420 V2 ARGB Sync. This colossal brute of an AIO cooler offers the most powerful CPU cooling we’ve seen from an AIO cooler, but it still only costs $140. With a huge radiator at its disposal, plus three 140mm RGB fans, this cooler gives you loads of thermal headroom if your case can accommodate it. The RGB lighting on the fans and pump unit looks good as well, and you can fine-tune it to run at low noise levels while still maintaining great cooling.

See our full Thermaltake TH420 V2 ARGB Sync review for the complete lowdown.

How we test CPU coolers

In order to test AIO coolers fairly, we measure the CPU temperature with CoreTemp, before subtracting the ambient air temperature from this figure. This gives us a delta T result, which enables us to test in a lab that isn’t temperature-controlled.

To load the CPU, we run the Prime95 smallest FFT test with AVX instructions, and take the temperature reading after ten minutes. We use an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X to test AM5 cooling, and a Core i7-13700K to test Intel LGA1700 cooling. For more details, see our How we test page.

AIO cooler FAQ

What is an AIO cooler?

An AIO cooler uses liquid coolant to shift the heat away from your CPU, and pass it through an actively-cooled radiator. It will have a plate made from a conductive metal, such as copper, which makes full contact with your CPU’s heatspreader via a layer of thermal paste. This plate is then actively cooled by the pump cycling liquid coolant through a waterblock directly above the plate. The plate will contain bumps and edges to disrupt the liquid as it passes through the block.

The pump cycles the coolant through the whole unit, so the hot coolant goes from the pump/waterblock unit and is then passed into a radiator. This is actively cooled by fans, which push the hot air from the radiator out of the vents in your case.

The larger your radiator, the greater your cooling capacity. Likewise, larger fans, and more of them, produce more airflow than smaller fans, or you can run them at slower speeds to produce less noise, while still getting the same airflow. This is why a 420mm radiator is cooler and quieter than a 120mm model. Unless you’re limited by the room in your case, we recommend going for at least a 240mm model for a Ryzen 7 or Core i7 CPU, and a 360mm AIO cooler for a Core i9 or Ryzen 9 processor.

What does AIO stand for?

AIO stands for ‘all in one’, which refers to the pump, radiator, waterblock, and tubing being supplied together in a single unit, sometimes called a sealed loop. This is unlike a custom water-cooling system, where you choose these parts and link them all up separately.

Is a 120mm AIO cooler powerful enough?

With a small radiator capacity, a 120mm AIO cooler needs plenty of airflow for it to work effectively, which is why versions with two fans in push-pull configuration are generally much better than versions with one fan. Also, bear in mind that the limited radiator capacity will mean a 120mm AIO cooler will have to spin up its fans for longer than on a 240mm model when it gets hot, so it can deal with the heat.

Our 120mm AIO cooler tests have shown that you can cool a high-end Core i9 CPU with a two-fan 120mm AIO cooler, but you’re much better off using one of these coolers on a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 CPU. The only reason to use a 120mm cooler is if you’re short on space in your case – otherwise, we always recommend going for at least a 240mm model.

That brings us to the end of our roundup of the best AIO coolers, and we’ll keep this guide regularly updated as we review more liquid CPU coolers in the future. If you want to look at other CPU cooling options, make sure you also check out our guide to the best CPU cooler, where we also take you through air-cooled and low-profile options. If you’re planning to build a new PC, make sure you read our guide to the best gaming CPU, where we run you through all the best options at a range of prices.