ID-Cooling Auraflow X 240 RGB CPU Cooler Review

A Closer Look

Fans

When I unbox a cooler, the first thing I tend to do is get the fans out. They do, after all, have to be fitted to the radiator as a such, you want to make sure you have them out, ready, cables untied and set for screwing! In terms of the fan design, in truth, there isn’t a particularly large amount to discuss. We have seen many ID-Cooling fans in the past and these look barely any different. They are, of course, RGB capable so the show doesn’t begin until they are plugged in.

Despite that, there are skill points worth highlighting. For example, the lightly ribbed effect on the fan blades should provide some interesting RGB lighting effects. In addition, a closer look will show just how tight the fans are to the perimeter of the casing. This should provided the maximum potential coverage allowed by 120mm fan designs.

Pump Head

The pump head carried a nice circular design. You will note the ID-Cooling logo and ring surrounding the top. While this looks nice as it stands, this will form part of the RGB lighting effects to the pump head when it’s all plugged in and running.

The contact plate is fantastically huge. Given that this cooler is compatible with the AMD TR4 socket (Threadipper) though, this is hardly surprising. Whatever processor you use though, you should find that this provides excellent coverage to maximise that all-important heat dissipation.

For more details on the pump specification, you can check out the facts/figures provided by ID-Cooling below.

Radiator

The radiator design to the Auraflow X 240 is if we’re honest, fairly standard with nothing in particular to grab your attention. The design of the radiator vents are a little different, but certainly nothing we haven’t seen before. This isn’t incidentally a criticism. I mean, how pretty can you made a radiator look?

In terms of design features, the only thing that does get your attention is the ID-Cooling logo to the side. In fairness, while this is nice and clear, it is also understated and does not detract, but at the same time, doesn’t really add anything to the overall aesthetics either.

The pipes leading from the pump to the radiator are comprised of a woven plastic compound. ID-Cooling calls this ‘premium sleeved tubing’ and while that might be technically accurate, it’s a little more romantic that we would be about it. While it is certainly very strong and durable, it is certainly not very flexible. As such, when trying to install this, you may have more than a few grumbles at the fact that the tubing is, perhaps, a little too resistant to moving around.

We’re all for strong and durable tubing. In an AIO system, it’s very important. This does, however, go a little too far than necessary.

RGB Lighting Controller

Although the Auraflow X 240 does come with sync capable attachments, you are provided with a manual controller for the RGB. It’s an option we always like to see with such coolers as although sync capable motherboards are getting more common, they are not necessarily ‘the standard’ in terms of ownership. At least, not yet.

The manual controller is nice with the functions clearly displayed and a nice responsive feel to the button presses. In addition, and in fact on the whole, the cabling quality feels nice. The lengths are good and excluding some very bizarre system or chassis design, you should have no problems handling your cable management here.

If we were to have a grumble, however, it would be on the connection for the manual controller. The pump head itself has powered off a SATA adaptor. This is fairly common today. Most the time it’s either this or a USB port. When it comes to the manual controller, however, this only comes with a Molex adapter. Now, as much as Molex’s might still be provided on a power supply, they haven’t been ‘standard’ for at least 5 years now. Would it really have killed to make this a SATA power adaptor as well? I don’t think so.

As such, this design choice may have you going back into your bag of PSU connectors or working a Molex into your cable management system. Not really ideal.

Overall Design

When it’s all put together, the ID-Cooling Auraflow X 240 has a nice strong aesthetic. Yes, it might mostly be black (with the exception of some white trim), but it all has a very neat and tidy presentation about it.

The white fan blades really set themselves off nicely against the overall black design. Even, dare I say, the stainless steel screw attachments make it look good. It’s a little touch that adds to the overall design.

As this is an RGB cooler, you can, of course, be a little forgiving about the aesthetics when the lights are off. With the Auraflow X 240 though, I personally think it looks very professional. While the RGB option is there, I don’t think at the time time that you’re over a barrel to use it and even if you didn’t, I think it looks pretty good.

When the lights are turned on though, the Auraflow X 240 gives a more than impressive display. It is, perhaps, a little disappointing that the lighting effects are not a bit more vivid. On the whole, though, it is hard to find any fault with this cooler in terms of the aesthetics.

With the design and aesthetics though, it’s time to get down to some of the practicalities of this cooler.