Fractal Lumen S24 RGB AIO Liquid Cooler Review

A Closer Look

As a fully assembled product, the Fractal Lumen S24 RGB carries a very strong, sleek, and professional aesthetic. This certainly looks like an AIO that has been designed to do a job and be very good at it too! As this is an AIO cooler, however, there are clearly a number of key individual components that have gone into the overall design. Let us, therefore, take a closer look at some of them!

CPU Block

The CPU block looks like an exceptionally clean and tidy design. Being quite notably slim (in terms of not standing very tall), while we already know that some of the ARGB action happens here, it still manages to present itself with a sleek aesthetic style even with the lighting currently off.

As noted above, the CPU block is certainly not a chunky creature (unlike a lot of AIO designs) and, as such, we shouldn’t see this posing any problem whatsoever in regards to system compatibility and specifically so with RAM. Better still, to get the best out of the ARGB lighting effects, the cap itself can be removed and rotated at 90-degree angles meaning that you can pretty install this any way up you like and still have it performing as intended.

Contact Plate

Rather than providing you with some thermal compound in a tube (that you have to install yourself), the Fractal Lumen S24 RGB comes ready pre-applied out of the box. The placement and quantity seem entirely adequate for both Intel and AMD processors. For those of you inexperienced with CPU cooler installation (and the ongoing and heated debates about the best thermal paste application method/s), this should be exceptionally helpful.

The contact plate is fantastically large meaning that, with the exception of HEDT models such as the AMD Threadripper, this should provide excellent coverage for your CPU. Coming in a highly polished copper design, the quality of the components used here is beyond question, and, all going well, this should translate to some very promising CPU temperature results in our testing.

Radiator

The radiator for the Fractal Lumen S24 RGB is, unlike many other AIO coolers, actually quite interesting. No, we’re not just dealing with a generic black rectangle here! – The main power input (for the water pump) is located on the back of the radiator and while this might seem like a bit of odd placement, on a more practical level, this does make ‘hiding’ the power supply cabling massively better. With it standing slightly proud of the radiator fins too, this means that it shouldn’t have a significant impact on the overall airflow.

Some branding is present on the front edge of the radiator and, in terms of size and placement, this definitely adds to the overall aesthetics of the design.

It should also be noted, because I think this is always an important and unstated point regarding AIO coolers, that the hose linking the radiator to the CPU block is of an exceptionally generous length. Being around 2-3″ longer than you see on most other models, while it might make things a little more ‘cluttered’ in more compact case designs, for those of you with larger cases (with a very specific mind of where you’d like to install the radiator), this should help practically guarantee that you can install this (chassis pending) anywhere you like with plenty of ‘slack’ leftover!

Fans

As this is a 240mm AIO, it should come as no surprise to find that you are supplied with 2 x 120mm cooling fans. Maintaining the sleek black aesthetic, with off-white blades to really let that ARGB pop, they certainly appear to be a quality choice for this cooler.

A closer look reveals them to be a Fractal own design and this is certainly promising as it would suggest that these models have been very specifically chosen to compliment the overall performance of the Lumen S24 RGB. Again, this is more than indicative that some exceptionally decent performance scores will be on the way in our testing!

Overall

So, as a whole and individually, the Fractal Lumen S24 RGB certainly looks to be a very potent creature indeed. Not only does it tick all the right boxes in terms of design and aesthetics, but it appears that there has been no compromise whatsoever to ensure that, test results pending, that this will truly represent a high-performance AIO cooling solution.

Speaking of aesthetics though, we haven’t mentioned the ARGB yet. When switched on, it’s certainly a decent performance with it being bright, bold, vivid, and offering users a decent selection of functionality. – The only mild criticism I would make is that when compared to the masses of other ARGB lighting cooling products, the Lumen S24 RGB doesn’t really offer anything particularly new, innovative, or interesting. It almost feels like that they had an amazing AIO design, and then decided to put some ARGB on it almost as an afterthought. It’s good, just not great.

The only real key point to highlight in the design of the ARGB lighting is the CPU block which, as we mentioned earlier in our review, can be removed and rotated at 90-degree angles meaning that no matter how you install this on your PC, you shouldn’t have any problems getting this the ‘right way up’ within literally seconds.

Putting the rather, dare I say, ‘average’ ARGB lighting to one side, however, the Fractal Lumen S24 RGB certainly seems to present itself as a high-quality cooling solution that should, all going well, translate into some excellent levels of performance. How good (or bad) is it to actually live with and use though? It’s time to take a look at the installation method and see if we’re happily installed within 10 minutes, or pulling our metaphorical hair out (because I’m already very bald) after 30!