So you just upgraded to the latest Intel 12th gen or AMD CPU but your CPU did not come with a cooling solution or your cooling you had won’t work with these latest sockets? Well, then you need to look at the Aorus Waterforce x 240 AIO from Gigabyte. It sports an LCD display that can turn almost a complete 360 (It can turn up to 330 degrees which is more than some other brands’ LCD displays).

Unboxing the Aorus Waterforce X 240 was a real pleasure, instead of compressed cardboard they used proper foam insulation to make sure that the cooler stays in its place. In the box, you get all your brackets for AMD(TR4, AM4, sTRX4) and Intel(2066, 2011, 1366, 115x, 1200 & 1700), some installation instructions and they even included some of their own thermal grease(if in case you don’t have your own and it is a massive tube).  I was impressed by the size of the tube that you get with the cooler, as I am so used to the small tube that you used to get with coolers (was enough just for one application).

Gigabyte went with a thicker diameter tubing for the cooler, whereas your other AIOs use a 5.8mm tubing the Aorus Waterforce X 240 uses a 7.8mm tubing. This in theory would allow for more water to flow between the radiator and the water blocks pump. I did find that when installing it in the Cooler Master chassis that I had on hand that it took a bit more maneuvering to get the radiator and block to play together due to the more rigid tubing and size. Luckily the Waterforce X 240 has enough length so that you can mount your radiator in the front of your case or in my case(and why I had to play with it a bit more) at the top of the case.

The Aorus Waterforce X 240 also has a very unique feature that I loved is that the cabling for the aRGB fans (fan connector and aRGB header connector) is routed to the one side, making cable management so much better compared to other AIOs. The other thing about the Waterforce X 240 that was weird and a joy is that instead of having many cables that normally run out of your AIO block, you only have one small USB-A that you connect to your motherboard’s spare USB header. At first, I was very wary of this, because how is the Motherboard going to know that you have a cooler on your CPU as there is no 4pin PWM cable for the motherboard? Thanks to the Aorus Engine and Windows 10 in general you don’t have to worry at all. The other thing that I loved about the cabling of the Waterforce X 240 is that you can connect more than just the 2 aRGB fans to the unit thanks to a separate cable that extends the aRGB.

Speaking of the fans on the Aorus Waterforce X 240, this unit uses 2 120mm fans that are based on the in house design that pushes more air through the radiator. Gigabyte used a graphene nano lubrication that would make the fan more silent but keep the same life expectancy as a normal ball bearing sleeved fan, and I did find that the Waterforce X 240 cooler was quieter than the AIO I was using (and that was with the case open with no panels on). When under load the Waterforce X 240 does get a bit louder but not that loud as the fans max dB rating is 37dB (a whisper is classified as 30dB).

After a few hours of playing intense games and not so intense games, the Aorus Waterforce X 240 settled on an avg idle temp of 27-28degrees. When loading up Need for Speed Heat, the Avg temp the AIO reaches is about 65 degrees with it sometimes hitting almost 70degrees. While games like Warhammer and Starcraft 2 the avg highs that I reached were about 50 degrees. When I fired up Halo (first time playing Halo….) I got an average temperature of 65degrees when playing some of the heavier levels.

I have to also talk about the LCD (a huge 6x6cm LCD!) on the Aorus Waterforce X 240, this is what I would say is the centrepiece of this whole AIO (actually for your system). The screen on the unit can actually turn a full 330degrees, not via software but actually by turning the head itself! For all the other AIOs that I have seen so far, you can only turn their display output via their respective software. The head of this unit even has a microSD slot so you can put on, even more, custom Videos/GIFs/JPG (again a feature that is unique to the Waterforce X series), as the main storage is limited to how much you can put on it.

Overall I am very impressed with the Aorus Waterforce X 240. It performs very well under load (especially on the Intel i7-12700K that I tested it with), the fans on the unit are also fairly quiet and it looks so good! It normally retails for about R3899 and I do think that it is a worthwhile upgrade for anybody that is upgrading their current systems or just looking for better cooling. If you are going for a show type build(lots of nice RGB and cable tucking) then this would be a must buy. Add a GPU like the Aorus Master series cards and you have a real show stopper. Another benefit to the Waterforce X 240 is that it comes with a 3-year warranty, this is really great especially if you spend more than 3k on an AIO. The Aorus Waterforce X 240 will take anything that you can through at it and keep it cool.

Specs

Radiator & Block

Dimensions : 277 x 119 x 27mm
Pump Dimension : 82 x 82 x 74mm
Radiator Material : Aluminum
Block Material : Copper

CPU Socket

Intel 2066, 2011,1366,115x,1200,1700
AMD TR4, AM4, sTRX4

LCD Display

60 x 60mm Full Color LCD

Fan

Spec : 2 x 120mm ARGB Fan
Speed : 800~2500 RPM +/-10%
Bearing type :Sleeve (Graphene Nano Lubricant)
Air Flow : 16.92~60.07 CFM
Air Pressure : 0.25~3.14 mmH2O
Life Expectancy : 73,500 Hours
Noise Level : 7.9~37.6 dBA

Software

RGB FUSION 2.0 support
AORUS ENGINE support
* For the product to fully function, user must install and run both the AORUS ENGINE and RGB FUSION 2.0 software

Warranty

3 Years