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The 240mm AIO liquid coolers present an excellent middle ground for users who want an AIO cooling solution. While not as performant as the 360mm solutions, they are quite close in performance. And they can handle almost every CPU out there. Unless you don’t need a cooling setup for an overclocked 12900K, you’ll most likely be fine with a 240mm AIO. In fact, most cooling solutions could be replaced with a 240mm AIO, and the CPU thermals would stay reasonable.
Another great thing about 240mm AIO coolers is that they can fit into a much larger assortment of cases compared to the aforementioned 360mm coolers. Due to the factors listed above, 240mm AIO coolers have become quite popular in recent years. The 240mm AIO cooler market is teeming with a ton of different models. Finding the best 240mm AIO liquid cooler can be a pain since so many models perform very similarly. If your mission is to discover the best 240mm AIO liquid coolers on the market in the shortest time possible, scroll below and check out our list.
It includes the best overall performers, the best bang for the buck picks, excellent RGB options, as well as a couple of silent coolers. Now, before we begin, we would like to recommend our guide for the best air coolers for Ryzen CPUs to everyone who prefers heatsinks instead of radiators. Next, our best fan control software piece could be a great help to everyone looking to lower the noise of their cooling setup. Finally, read our list of the best airflow PC cases to find a case that will push your cooling setup’s airflow to the next level.
1. Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240: Best overall 240mm AIO liquid cooler
Arctic sure knocked it out of the park with their Liquid Freezer II lineup. The company managed to achieve impressive performance along with excellent noise levels and to combine it all into a solid-looking package that won’t break the bank. In other words, Arctic made by far the best 240mm AIO liquid cooler you can get at the moment.
The Liquid Freezer II 240 is also the best bang-for-the-buck 240mm AIO liquid cooler you can get right now. It’s perfectly suitable for virtually every CPU you can throw at it. Unless you have a 12900K, the 240mm version of the Liquid Freezer II is perfect for an optimal balance between thermal performance and noise levels.
In other words, get this cooler if you want a no-frills solution that can handle most CPUs at base or OC frequencies, and that’s pretty silent while doing that. The downsides include poor availability and inflated price, mostly thanks to the excellent price to performance ratio. Another potential downside is the lack of RGB LEDs, which turns into a plus for many users.
2. Fractal Design Celsius S24: Best budget 240mm AIO liquid cooler
The Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 can be considered a budget AIO cooler, but the current price situation puts it clearly above the budget ceiling. If you want a cheap AIO cooler that performs above its price point, get the Fractal Design Celsius S24.
While it has been outmatched by the super popular Arctic solution, the Celsius S24 still is an excellent AIO cooler. You can pair it with most modern CPUs, and you’ll get an excellent base and OC thermal performance.
3. Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix: Best RGB 240mm AIO liquid cooler
Okay, now that we’ve listed the best 240mm AIO liquid coolers that come without (or with a slight) light show, let’s move on to the best RGB 240mm AIO liquid cooler. Here, we’re looking at both design and performance, and the current champion of the 240mm AIO market is the Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix.
This is one slick-looking cooler equipped with richly lit RGB fans that also has pretty solid performance. The iCUE H100i Elite Capellix is in the middle of the pack regarding thermals, but its noise results make it one of the quietest 240mm AIO coolers on the market.
Combine the two, and you’ve got a capable cooler that can handle pretty much any current CPU, at base or OC frequencies, is extremely quiet, and looks amazing. The price is a bit high but considering the quality of the light show provided, perfectly understandable.
4. Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L V2: Best budget RGB 240mm AIO liquid cooler
The best budget 240mm RGB cooler is arguably the Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L. It’s cheaper than our budget non-RGB pick, while offering decent performance for the price.
It’s nowhere close to the Celsius S24 in both thermals and acoustics. However, the S24 doesn’t come with pretty lights. Overall, for the price, this is an excellent RGB AIO cooler. You can also get the original version of the cooler that costs about the same.
5. Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R ARGB: Best quiet 240mm AIO liquid cooler
And for the end of this list, we’re left with the best quiet 240mm AIO cooler. Before we continue, a word of advice. If you want absolute silence even under heavy loads and you happen to have a high-end, overclocked CPU, get a 360mm AIO. A 240mm radiator is just too small to handle high-end overclocked CPUs quietly.
But if you own something like the Ryzen 5 5600X, last-gen CPUs such as the Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 7 3700X, or non-K Intel CPUs, the Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R is one of the quietest AIO coolers on the market. It matches the latest and greatest Corsair H100i Elite Capellix, which is one of the quietest 240mm AIO coolers around, while costing about 15 percent less.
On top of that, it has a pretty respectable cooling performance, and it is one of the prettiest RGB AIO coolers out there. The price is also perfectly acceptable. A bit high but not as high as on premium 240mm RGB AIOs. All that with a performance that’s in line with most high-end RGB coolers.
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