Valkyrie SYN360 AIO Cooler Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately, I do not have accurate pricing at this time but will update you when UK retail links become available. However, I have been told it’s going to be priced very competitively, so I’m hoping to see something not far over £100, but given the LCD display, I’d still expect the price to be on the premium side of things.

Overview

Valkrie is a relatively new player on the PC hardware scene, but they’re clearly off to a great start. I only have one criticism but it’s one that’s easily not a problem for any user of this cooler. The fans were quite loud at their maximum RPM when I ramped them up and this led to a little unwanted vibrations. There’s nothing wrong with them though, they just have a maximum RPM that I think is a bit on the high side, exceeding 2000 RPM at their 100% PWM. However, from my own testing, set your motherboard or their fan controller to a silent or normal profile, they’ll be quiet as a breeze and still give you basically the same cooling performance.

The installation hardware gets a big thumbs up though, as the fans are daisy-chainable, saving on cable clutter. There’s one of the most comprehensive and nicely designed fan and ARGB hubs included, making life so much easier there. The backplate for the CPU mount is metal, a rare thing for anything outside custom loop coolers. Plus, the brackets and thumbscrews came beautifully packaged, were easy to understand, and I was able to install them easily without looking at the instruction manual, which is as thick as a book in its own right. Valkyrie has thought of the little details extensively here, and it really shows in the final product.

The included pump comes with a vibrant LCD display, with great colours, a good refresh rate, and can be controlled via a Type-C connector. There’s also a microSD card slot on it too, so you can load up the pictures, videos and gifs, and ditch the internal cable if you so desire. Plus, it can be rotated (in software) to present in portrait or landscape, depending on how you orientate the pump.

The ARGB on the fans is great, not blinding and distracting as many ARGB fans are, but instead going for a more subtle lighting effect on the corners, and I really like that. Plus, it doesn’t detract from the awesome LCD on the pump, which is the real start of the show.

Should I Buy One?

They’ve included cable ties, tube retention clips, velcro straps, extra screws, thermal paste, a hub, daisy chain cables and so much more. Valkyrie has gone above and beyond here, and even their unboxing experience is more akin to a high-end Apple product than a CPU cooler… most rivals have boxes that look like egg crates, and while that’s fine, this one really feels like a special occasion. With great thermals, powerful fans, and lots of customisation, it’s clear that Valkyrie is going to earn a lot of attention for this cooler, and rightly so!