Antec Mercury 360 AIO CPU Cooler Review

A Closer Look

The radiator and pump head are very well presented and the hose length is about perfect for any system setup. The hose reinforcement is, however, a little stiff and as such maneuvering, it isn’t easy. Rather than it being a fabric-based protection, it is just a plastic composite sleeve. As such, it is very reluctant to bent or shape as you would like. This is particularly noted during the installation of the pump block which isn’t made easier by it.

The pump block design is very aesthetically pleasing, even without the lighting effects. The brilliant white plastic surround contrasts nicely with the dark black features and this is perhaps best noted when you actually start running it with the LED lighting effects.

As we have seen in the other Mercury designs, the pump block is powered by a USB style interface which connects to your SATA power cables. This is a nice addition when you consider that with 3 fans, your 3 or 4 pin options on your motherboard might be limited. The cable provided gives a nice firm connection and there is no reason to suggest that it should be any less reliable than a standard connector. If anything, it should be quite the contrary.

Contact Plate

With a slight oval design, the contact plate is a decent size. We have certainly seen larger, but this should give you perfect coverage no matter what processor you are running. Fitting the brackets to the cooler is a little fiddly, at least it was on the Intel design, but a good quality well-fitted screwdriver will be your best friend here.

We should note that when removing the protective plastic covering to the contact plate, a slight residue was left on the contact place. As such, although many consider this to be a good choice anyway when the thermal paste is not pre-applied, a light clean is recommended. We would usually write this off as a fault in transit, perhaps with the temperatures. This isn’t, however, the first time we have seen this happen with an Antec cooler. As such, Antec may have a product fault here with the plastic tape covering.

Fan and Radiator

As this is a 360 cooler, the Antec Mercury 360 comes with 3 120mm fans. The designs are nice although the fan’s blades are not as large as we have seen on other designs. We do, however, like the cushioned white trims to the fixing points which should provide some measure against any potential vibration. Although these fans are LED, each of the fans only has 1 x 4 pin output and as such, with the 3-way adaptor included, you shouldn’t have too many problems fitting these and particularly to your motherboard.

Once fitted to the radiator, the aesthetic look is actually very appealing. As per the design on the pump block, the white trim really stands out against the overall black finish which makes them look really good, even when the LED lighting effects are not on.

LED lighting

While the Antec Mercury 360 does not have any RGB lighting, it does have an LED system. While some may consider this just to be for show, it does actually have a practical purpose. In brief, the lighting will reflect the current state of the temperature readings. Despite this, the lighting effects, while not mind-blowing are actually quite pleasant. This is particularly notable on the pump block which, with the Antec logo, does look very impressive.

In terms of the lighting, this does operate based on the current running temperatures. As per the diagram below, if the system is at idle (below 35c) then your lighting will be blue. Green will display between 36C-40C while anything over 41C will display red. While this is a nice concept, to go red at 41C seems a poor choice to me. Many would see this as a warning sign. Given how often we benchmark processors we know for a fact that 41C plus isn’t even unusual in gaming, let alone maximum stress testing. Personally, I think 60C+ for red for have been a better choice.

When operating though, the Antec Mercury 360 is certainly very nice to look at and the LED lighting effects in no way detract from the overall aesthetics. Even people who ardently dislike any form of system lighting couldn’t grumble about it. If, for no other reason, than at least in this situation it does have a practical application. As above, it’s just a shame that you can not customize the lighting to temperature ranges.