Valkyrie DRAGONFANG 360 AIO Cooler Review

While Valkyrie may be a relatively new player in the PC component market, they're already moving in the right direction. I recently reviewed their X12 ARGB 120mm Performance Fans, as well as their SYN360 AIO liquid cooler, and was suitably impressed with both. Now it's time for another high-end cooler of theirs, the Valkyrie Dragonfang 360, and with any look, its cooling performance is as cool as its product name! Just keep in mind, that stock isn't properly available for this cooler just yet, so this is a little bit of a preview of sorts. However, if you want to skip ahead and check for stock on Google, you can do so with this link (which opens in a new tab) here. Valkyrie Dragonfang 360 The Dragonfang 360 comes equipped with a 360mm radiator, supported by three of their latest 120mm PWM fans. These fans are capable of operating between 800-2150 RPM, which tells me they're the same fans we saw on the SYN360 and in our fan review recently. They're powerful fans, if a little on the louder side, but from my experience that's easily tamed by setting your own fan curve or using a PWM limiting cable. The Dragonfang 360 comes equipped with a stylish 360-degree rotatable pump design and built-in ARGB lighting, and it comes in a stunning white design too. Alas, their last AIO delivered very good performance, so let's just dive in and see what this new design can do. Features Cold Plate Material: Copper Radiator Material: Aluminum Tubing Length: 425mm Coldplate Dimensions: 60.2x50.2x2.8mm Tubing Material: FEP Corrugated Braided Sleeve Radiator Dimensions: 397x120x27mm Fan Dimensions: 120x120x25mm Fan Speed: 800-2150RPM± 10% Unit operation: PWM Number of Fans: 3 RGB Type: ARGB Radiator Size: 360 Fan Model: Valkyrie X12 Fan Airflow: 80CFM (Max) Fan Static Pressure: 3.14mmH2O (Max) Noise Level: ≤29dBA (Max) Intel Socket Compatibility: 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1200, 1700, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, 1700 AMD Socket Compatibility: AM4, AM5 Warranty: 5 years What Valkyrie Had to Say "The Valkyrie Dragonfang 360 is extremely easy to install and will perfectly fit your system with its 360 degree rotatable pump cover with ARGB LED lightning. This stylish cooler provides all the necessary components for easy installation to keep your system running smoothly while also giving it an aesthetic boost. An ideal solution for gamers looking to take their PC up a notch." - Valkrie Packaging & Accessories First up, we have the unboxing experience, and with Valkyrie, it really is an experience! The packing is pretty heavy and very robust, which is a good thing, as everything feels very well protected. There's a cool design, and even a window in the box so you can see the pump design. However, rather than opening the lid of the box, you actually slide everything out from the side. This bottom tray contains all three fans, each in its own box, and again, very well presented. There's a handy (removable) keyring on the side for you to keep. However, its primary purpose is as a pull tab to open up the main part of the box. Again, just give it a pull, and it slides out. As you can see, the overall packaging, layout, and protection on offer here are second to none. This is as cool and interesting as boxes get before you move up to something ridiculous like a hard case. A Closer Look The Dragonfang is a great-looking cooler, with a white design and a few silver highlights on the pump, it really pops and should look stunning in any PC system. As you can see, it comes with a slim 360mm radiator, pretty much the same one one the SYN360, but that's not a bad thing, as that was a great-looking cooler too. Again, this cooler has the same thick sleeving on the tubing too, it's high quality and while durable, it still has a good level of flexibility. The key difference between the SYN360 and the Dragonfang is the pump design. The SYN360 has a more premium LCD display built into it, allowing for videos and gifs to be played. However, the Dragonfang goes for a stylish ARGB Valkyrie logo and a circular design. What I love about this one is that the pump top is mounted on a bearing with a weight in the bottom edge, so it doesn't matter how you orientate the cooler mount or your PC, the logo is always facing the right way up like those spinners you get on some fancy alloy wheels. It's a small detail, but one that will have a big impact on the aesthetics of your system. It's also open on the sides, that metal ring is floating on the front! The copper plate on the bottom is nice and large, so dealing with the more prominent AMD and Intel CPUs should not be an issue. It supports all the major sockets too, with Intel's 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1200, 1700, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, and 1700 sockets, as well as both AM4 and AM5 for AMD users. The fans are great, with a high-performance, high-static-pressure design. Rather than ARGB on the fan blades, Valkyrie has equipped them with RGB highlights on the corners. A more subtle, and rather stylish approach that's not as in your face as some ARGB fans tend to be. They also have daisy changing cables too, making for easy cable management 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 Performance Once installed, the Dragonfang really pops, with its ARGB pump lighting and silver highlights providing a stunning display against the white housing of the pump, the tubing and the radiator. Of course, the fans have their own ARGB lighting, but the benefit of these fans is I think they look stunning even without the colourful lighting. It uses a standard 5v header too, so it's easily paired up to your motherboard or RGB controller of choice. Temperatures The performance is excellent right away, strangely the SYN360 performed much better, and I was expecting them to be pretty much identical, but still, I'm happy with the results here and it's on par with other 360mm radiators. Optimising the settings, the performance was the third best we've had to date, which is certainly great to see. The fans are a bit loud though, but as a trade-off, it's because they're pushing so much air, which is why they're able to compete with the Thermaltake 420mm AIO. Acoustics Again, a bit on the loud side here, but this is just when they're left to the default profile we use on our motherboard. With the optimal CPU voltages set right, the fan curve responds much more favourably, coming in at 50.7 dBa. However, as I said in my previous review of the SYN360, the fans are pushing huge amounts of air, and you can dial them back a fair bit before it negatively affects cooling performance. Even at 30% PWM, the temperature only went up 5c, and they were virtually silent. CineBench R23 One thing is for certain though, the performance is great, with our third highest score in Cinebench using stock settings. And again while overclocked, scoring a whopping 27713 points. How Much Does it Cost? Unfortunately, the stock is currently in the process of finding its way to the UK. Valkyrie are actively working on this, so you may find some via Google Shopping Search here. We'll update this as soon as we can, as they're pushing to hit retailers like Amazon, Scan and others very soon. Overview I guess it's not overly surprising that the Dragonfang and the SYN360 performed largely the same. They've both got the same fans, and the same underlying pump technology, and both have the same 360mm slim radiator. That being said, there will be a price difference between the two, and if you want a more premium LCD-display pump design, then the SYN360 is the way to go, with prices of around £180. however, the Dragonfang sticks with a more affordable, but still very much premium looking and performance ARGB configuration, and will be around £60 cheaper. There's a lot to be said about the build quality here, as it is largely excellent, with some great-looking fans, a stunning pump, and even little details such as a fully metal backplate, all of which go a long way to making this cooler stand out. The pump is whisper quiet too, even at high RPM it was never an issue. Now, I have to drag this up again, but the fans are a little aggressive, but I said as much when I reviewed them, and when I reviewed the SYN360. I spoke to them about it, and they're already hard at work creating new fans with a less aggressive fan curve, improved anti-vibration pads, and hopefully, ones that have a lower operating range, as 800-2150RPM is pretty high, when competing brands are using fans that start at around 400-500 RPM. However, I was able to get these fans down to just 30% PWM, and only gained 5c on the CPU temperature, and at that level, it was virtually silent, so be sure to set the fan speeds to suit your needs. Should I Buy One? Valerie is on the right track to become a really great cooling brand. Their unboxing experience may not seem that important, but there's an attention to detail that really makes them stand out to me. I love that you get a little keyring too, not to be too easily sold on shiny trinkets, but well... it worked! The hardware looks stunning too, easily good enough to compete with the best from the rest, and when it comes to performance, it can keep our toasty i9-12900K running great, which is no small feat. Overall, if they can nail down the availability and prices in the UK sooner rather than later, I think they're going to be a big hit with PC gamers!