Final Thoughts
Fractal Design has presented their brand new all-in-one liquid cooling series the Celsius. These days all of these all-in-one coolers are very much a like, but Fractal Design has done some things with the Celsius to separate it from many of the other coolers out there. First they have installed a fan hub on the radiator itself. The whole idea behind this is no cable running from the block all the way up to your fans. This does make sense, and will work in many cases, but I know people who typically route their fan cables back behind their motherboard tray so they are out of the way as it is. With Fractal Design’s implementation these cables are always going to show. Secondly Fractal Design has actually installed real metal fittings on this cooler, the first time we’ve seen this on an all-in-one unit.
Let’s talk about performance. We did not have a large test group (only 4 total coolers), but the Celsius S24 did pretty well. It performed pretty much the same as the NZXT Kraken X52, which also has a 240 mm radiator. Out of our test group the cooler was definitely the quietest. This has a lot to do with the fans as well as the sound dampening layer around the block.
One big thing that I feel that is missing from this cooler is software. There is no USB connection to enable software controls. The cooler operates on either an automatic mode where it optimizes both fan and pump speed, or PWM mode where the fans and pump follow the PWM signal from the motherboard. This means (if you motherboard supports it) you can fine-tune the speeds. While this does offer you some “control” it is not the same as having a dedicated application where you can set different modes, change the pump and fan speeds independently and monitor temperatures.
This cooler is pretty plain as well. So there are no RGB LEDs on this cooler or any lighting in general. This is something I guess we just expect these days, it would have been cool to have a Fractal Design logo that lit up on the block or something like that.
Fractal Design is bringing the Celsius S24 in at $109.99. This is a good price given the coolers features. To compare, the NZXT Kraken X52, which performs about the same, is $149.99. Although the Kraken does have that cool infinity display on the block as well as software controls.
I think the Celsius S24 is a good cooler, but I feel it falls into the “basic” category as it does not have software control or any lighting. Being in that category it does however has a good price as well as good performance. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Fractal Design Celsius S24 Liquid CPU Cooler a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Good overall performance
– Very quiet
– Uses real metal fittings
– Can be expanded
– Price
Cons:
– No software controls
– No lighting
