Enermax Liqmaxflo 420mm AIO CPU Cooler Review

Test System Specifications:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX
• Memory: 32GB Kingston Fury FK560C36BBEAK2-32 DDR5-6000
• Graphics card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X
• Storage: 500GB Corsair MP600 PCIe Gen4 NVME M.2 SSD
• Power Supply: Seasonic Prime TX-1000
• Chassis: Open Test Bench
• Thermal Compound: Arctic MX-6
• O/S: Windows 11 Version 22H2

Testing Methodology:

We are primarily focussing on the performance of each cooler at 100% fan speed and also when locked to 40dBA noise output. We will focus on cooling performance using a manual overclock with all-core frequency and VCORE locked to 5.2GHz/1.3v and Precision Boost Overdrive performance.

• The test data is logged using HWINFO and the final 10 minutes of the data is calculated to find the average CPU temperature and CPU clock multiplier (PBO Test) and then plotted in the charts.
• For testing, we use a 30-minute looped run of Cinebench R23 and record the steady-state CPU temperature at the end of the test. This ensures that the CPU has had ample time to warm up and reach a steady state under all of the coolers.
• The ambient is maintained at 19-21 degrees Celsius. Where there is variation beyond this temperature range, we add extra repeated tests to ensure consistency. However, this is well controlled now with A/C.
• We also test each cooler with at least two fresh installs (typically three) to mitigate the likelihood of poor mounting spoiling results.
• Ambient temperature and humidity are controlled via a mini split air conditioning system inside the test room. Ambient temperature is maintained between 19-21C, Temperature delta figures are shown in the charts (ambient temperature is deducted from the measured component temperature).

Test Results:

Acoustics

Enermax Liqmaxflo 420 is one of the quieter AIO coolers that we have tested, this is often the case with 140mm fan coolers as the larger fans can rotate slower but move more air than smaller 120mm fans which keeps noise down. Sometimes this can be at the expense of cooling performance though so we will see next if Enermax has the best balance of noise versus thermal performance.

Thermal Performance

The surface area of the 420mm radiator shows its strength here. With the fans at maximum RPM, the Enermax Liqmaxflo 420 produces excellent thermal performance, only beaten by the DeepCool Mystique 360 which has much faster running 120mm fans but a smaller radiator and is significantly louder than the Liqmaxflo.

Reducing fan speed to hit the 40dBA max target only slightly affects the Liqmaxflo 420’s thermal performance. With that huge 420mm radiator it can keep up with the top-performing coolers that we have previously tested, so far it's looking good for the Liqmaxflo 420.

The PBO performance of the Liqmaxflo 420 is also very solid. It's able to hold an average clock multiplier of 51.3X while the average CPU delta is at 70°C, all while cooling 199W package power which means it sits just out of the top 5 but performance at the top is extremely close in this test, so overall it's a good effort from Enermax.

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