Lian Li GALAHAD II LCD 280mm AIO Cooler Review

When it comes to Lian Li, I think it's fair to say they have a great reputation for high-quality products. From their time as a workstation case manufacturer that carved things out of unpainted aluminium to their modern more gaming-focused steel and tempered glass efforts, they've always had some great products to showcase to the world. They've slowly been branching out into other PC components too, such as coolers, and with the Lian Li GA II LCD 280mm, they're going right for the heart of the enthusiast market. Sure, it won't come cheap, but for those wanting a powerful, stylish, RGB and LCD-equipped liquid cooler, it's certainly ticking all the right boxes. These new coolers feature the latest Asetek 8th Generation pump designs, which feature a 3-phase motor for improved flow and lower noise, which are both obviously always welcome improvements. Lian Li GALAHAD II LCD A new performance-engineered pump featuring a 3-phase motor for higher flow and quieter operation at 3600 RPM Larger diameter rubber tubes, larger HEX tubes and tanks, as well as wider and smoother flow paths in the pump to reduce impedance A newly designed square cold plate optimized for the latest Intel and AMD processors Optimized HEX designs that increase overall surface area and, at the same time, reduce air flow impedance Under-the-hood system enhancements resulting in even quieter operation versus previous generations The main selling point, however, is the GA II LCD features a 2.88" LCD screen with an impressive 480x480 resolution. That may not sound like much, but it's a lot of pixels for a small display, so the quality should look pretty sharp. Furthermore, it's available as 280mm and a 360mm radiator design, in black, and white, with ARGB fans or with SL Infinity Fans, so Lian Li are certainly covering all their bases here. Packaging & Accessories As you can see, the box is pretty cool, with some colour graphics, and a clear photo of the cooler that showcases that lovely LCD-equipped pump. Down the side, there's lots of lovely graphics, detailing the fans, pump, tubing and so much more. And it's all really nicely packaged too, with everything wrapped, and protected by two or more layers of durable cardboard to keep it safe in transit. A Closer Look The 280mm model looks fantastic, and before you think I've skipped ahead and started assembling it, think again. This is one of the few coolers I've ever seen where the fans come pre-installed. Even the Intel bracket is pre-installed, so for me, this is going to really speed up the deployment time quite a lot! The fans on this model are ARGB, with nice and thick frosted blades that will capture the light from the LEDs built into the motor housing in the centre. The fans have anti-vibration mounts on both sides too, so if you did need to move them to a pull rather than push configuration, you still get that benefit. They're also tightly fit, with enclosed edges and snug frames, which will help further improve the static pressure they can produce. The tubing is very nice too, thick, durable and flexible, and I like the glossy finish to it too, it looks more premium. And it gets even better, as the fittings are raised from the radiator, and then put on rotatable 45-degree connectors. This means the tubing is more easily directed the way you want it to, and just easier to manage overall. On the pump side, you again get rotatable connectors, allowing for easy installations. The radiator looks great, with a nice clear aesthetic and squared ends and side panels. There's a good density of fins and heatpipes too, and again, with the fans pre-installed, it's pretty much ready to drop right into my test system. The Intel bracket is pre-installed, but there's an AMD kit included in the box should you need it. There's pre-applied thermal paste too, which further speeds up the installation process. Of course, I'll be removing that to use the same paste we always do for review, to keep testing fair. The pump is pretty much a cube, but it looks very neat and tidy too. It has a couple of ports on the side for dealing with the display connectivity too. The LCD is massive, at least, relative to the size of the pump, and should certainly take centre stage when it's powered up. The contact plate is pretty large too, so dealing with any of the large Intel or AMD processors should prove a problem. Powered up, the RGB is vibrant with some really great colours from those larger 140mm fans, and the LCD pump has a really bright display too, which is great. Don't worry about the orientation either, you can rotate that, and apply gifs, jpg, mp4, or system performance information to it as you see fit. The display is a 2.88" IPS panel with a 480 x 480 resolution. That mind not sound like a high resolution, but it's plenty for a small display, and the resolution looks really sharp and the colours look stunning too. The L-Connect 3 software is feature-packed, allowing all the fan and pump controls you need, as well as RGB controls. However, best of all, it makes customisation of the display superbly easy too, with videos, images, overlays, texts, times, and more. You can trigger certain colours and effects based on various system stats too, making it reactive. You can even use screen recording to capture clips from YouTube, movies, games or whatever you like, which is awesome. The clip then opens in an editor to allow you to fine-tune the loop, crop, colour, rotation and more. What's even more amazing is you can upload up to a 2GB file into the editor, and up to 3 minutes of video. Test System & Methodology Idle tests are recorded after 10 minutes of the system being left alone after boot with no additional background processes or software running. All load tests are performed in Cinebench R2, first using a single speed run to generate the Cinebench R23 score, then a 10-minute loop to determine the overall all-core average load temperature for the relevant cooler. Clock speeds are left at the default factory settings provided by the CPU and our NZXT Z690 N7 motherboard. Optimised settings lock the CPU P-Cores to 4.9Hz and the E-Cores to 4GHz at a voltage of 1.3v. Fan speeds for the case are set to 30% at all times. Pump RPM is fixed to 100% for liquid coolers, and CPU cooler fans are left to the motherboard "automatic" and "normal" profile unless otherwise stated. Acoustics are measured from 2ft above the NZXT H7 Flow PC case, using a decibel meter, with all side panels and filters in place on the case and as stated, the case fans are left at 30% (just to the point where they become comfortably audible over ambient), to represent a real-world usage scenario. We are no longer testing coolers on an open-air test bench for this reason. As of 20/07/2023, all coolers featured on these charts were retested to reflect our improved methodology, and as such, reviews prior to this date can not be fairly compared to the new results. However, we have been periodically retesting older coolers, which is why you may see their performance figures here, and why they may not align with previous test results from the same product in their respective reviews. Test system: NZXT Z690 ATX Intel Core i9-12900K @ stock and & 4.9 GHz all P-Core 4 GHz E-Core 1.3v Aorus RTX 2080 16GB Crucial DDR4 4400 MHz XMP 512GB NVMe SSD Thermaltake Tough Power 750W NZXT H7 Flow RGB Case All testing is conducted using NT-H1 thermal paste We want to thank Gigabyte, Noctua, Crucial, Intel, Thermaltake, NZXT and more for providing us with the above testing equipment and their ongoing support. Testing Methodology We always use Noctua Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste to make sure testing reveals the efficiency of the tested coolers not the efficiency of the bundled thermal paste Cinebench R23 is run for 10 minutes to calculate “load” results Multiple readings are taken with the average of the package temperatures calculated for our recorded result Fans are left to operate at default PWM profile speeds unless otherwise stated For water cooling tests, all pumps have been operated at 12 volts unless otherwise stated Ambient temperatures should be between 21-23 degrees in all our tests unless otherwise stated Acoustic measurements are taken 60cm vertically away from the CPU cooler Stock tests are performed using “out of the box” settings for the CPU All coolers were tested under identical settings unless otherwise stated. There is approximately a 1-degree Celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software CPUID HW Monitor There is approximately a 1.5dBA margin of error with our Benetech GM1351 decibel meter In all these graphs we may have a few “reference” results of particular products that do not fit within that category for comparative purposes. Software Used CPUID HWMonitor Cinebench R23 Unigine Superposition Temperatures The GALAHAD 280mm AIO performed great in our stock test, with our lowest idle temperatures to date, which is awesome, and some very competitive load temperatures too. However, with a little optimisation and overclock, I shed a whopping 10c from the load temperature making it one of the coolest AIOs we've tested to date. Acoustics The fans are whisper quiet, very nearly the quietest we've ever had. In fact, if you're running this stock, I'd suggest cranking the fan's RPM up a bit as this will greatly improve the cooling performance. Even when overclocked, the temperatures were insanely good despite the rather quiet fans. I tested again with the fans pushed up higher, and you can shave another few degrees from your temperatures without compromising on the acoustic that much. CineBench R23 The Cinebench score was very good, right in line with what we would expect to see from our i9-12900K. However, despite how quiet this cooler is, optimisation saw a huge increase in the score, taking it to a much more impressive 27399 points, which is among the best we've gotten so far. How Much Does it Cost? As I said on the first page, this is a premium AIO CPU cooler, so as you might expect, it does come with a premium price tag. The Lian Li Galahad II LCD 280mm I reviewed today costs $229.99 for either the black or the white version. Obviously, you can get similar performance for half that investment. However, you're paying extra for the RGB, and mostly for that trick LCD display, even if those things do not really contribute to improving the performance, the performance itself was hardly lacking anyway. It's also available as a 360mm version for $249.99 or with the flagship SL-Inf fans in a 360mm form factor again for $289.99. You can check for up-to-date stock and prices on Amazon here. Overview This cooler is obviously pretty expensive, but honestly, in terms of features and specifications, it's actually cheaper than many big-name rivals. For example, the equivalent cooler from ASUS or NZXT is actually $299.99, so getting this powerful 280mm cooler for just $229.99 could be seen as a bit of a bargain really. When it comes to features, Lian Li has gone all out, and I can certainly appreciate that the extra investment is going towards that. The LCD is one of the largest, highest-resolution and best looking in its respective class, and offers a lot of cool customisation options. The RGB fans are Lian Li's own design and I'd regard them as premium quality in every respect. Most notable is just how damn quiet the fans are, putting them alongside the likes of the best Noctua fans in terms of acoustics. The 45-degree fittings on the radiator also make the tubing very easy to position. Some blocks tend to pull or bend the tubing excessively depending on the size of your case and installation position. However, with these fittings, you have a lot more flexibility and there's less stress put on the tubing regardless of orientation. I love that the Intel bracket was pre-installed, albeit I'm aware that's an extra step for AMD users, and the thermal paste being pre-installed, and the fans already fitted to the radiator certainly make this one of the fastest AIO cooler installations I've ever had the pleasure of doing. Despite its enthusiast nature, it's a very beginner-friendly design. Should I Buy One? Performance is king, not aesthetics, at least as far as I'm concerned. This is by far one of the quietest coolers on the market today, yet it managed to tame our toasty Intel Core i9-12900K with ease. If you're looking to deal with high TDP processors, high overclocks, or just want to keep your acoustics down, you'll find everything you need right here. The addition of a great design and that LCD display only makes it look cooler, even if it does make it more expensive, I'd still say it's great value for money.