After discovering it at CES 2024 and then after its announcement, here it is in our hands, we’re talking of course about DeepCool’s Mystique 360. After everyone else, the Chinese brand (based in Beijing) offers watercooling kits with screens. Let’s see what it’s like in a full review!
Presentation:
For the moment, this Mystique series is available in just two radiator sizes, with a 360 mm model – the one we’re testing – and a 240 mm reference. These are classic dimensions for today’s all-in-one watercoolers.
Naturally, the brand emphasizes the customization of its kit, made possible by the on-board display. This will be used to display system-related data such as CPU temperature and pump speed. You can also display jpeg or gif images, and customize aRGB lighting. Last but not least, a recording function displays graphs of your system’s frequencies, temperatures and so on.
Otherwise, to guarantee high-performance cooling, we’re treated to a 5th-generation pump. This will operate at some 3,400 rpm while directing the liquid onto a new cold plate. We’re talking here about 0.1 mm-thick micro-channels whose positioning has been adjusted above the processor’s hot zones.
As for ventilation, we find new high-performance FT12 SE fans, again according to the brand. These are made from PBT for greater durability, and offer high air flow and pressure.
On the radiator side, the anti-leak system is still present. It takes the form of a small bag that expands or contracts according to the system’s internal pressure, precisely to prevent leaks.
Finally, there’s the simplified installation mechanism. This should guarantee simple installation with uniform pressure on Intel and AMD CPUs.
As for prices, theAIO Mystique 360 can be found here and there on the net at prices of €210. We’ll have to wait until stocks last to get a better idea of pricing, although the official retail price is €180! DeepCool is therefore very aggressive.
[nextpage title=”The Mystique 360 kit”]
Packaging-wise, there are no major changes, as DeepCool retains its usual packaging. A cardboard box with cyan accents. On the white slide, there’s a reminder of how the anti-leak system works, as well as details of the specifications.
Internally, however, there’s no risk of breakage, as the kit is well protected in white polyurethane foam! Gone are the classic cardboard molds.
The radiator:
The radiator is a classic block for the brand. It is rectangular in shape and black in color. On the edge, we can see a tablet featuring the brand’s logo with a cyan background. In itself, it’s the same radiator as the LT720, making a welcome change from the rounded models with visible rivets found on 7th-generation Asetek kits.
As for dimensions, they’re no different, measuring 120 (W) x 420 (L) x 27 (H) mm. Normally, there will be no unpleasant surprises when you install it in your PC case, unlike an Arctic Liquid Freezer II or III, which has a 38 mm thick heatsink.
Finally, to connect the radiator to the pump unit, there are two hoses, each measuring 41 cm in length. Once again, the finish is not to be outdone, with an attractive nylon sheath. And to keep everything in place, we’re treated to two wide Velcro straps. These replace the LT720’s clips.
The pump unit :
As for the pump block, it offers a rather uncluttered look with its gray frame. In the center, we find the screen, while a DeepCool logo appears at the top. Below, we can see an evasure featuring a squared-off texture with a translucent border diffusing aRGB lighting.
The screen in question is rather large, with a diagonal of 2.8″. The same goes for resolution, with 640×480 pixels. Although the brightness and type of screen are not specified, we do know that it can display 16.7 million colors. Likewise, it is equipped with gyroscopic sensors to determine orientation: portrait or landscape, depending on which way you turn the pump.
In terms of dimensions, this pump unit measures 93 (L) x 77 (W) x 66 (H) mm. It’s still quite imposing compared to others, notably the iCUE Link H150i LCD, for example. But its screen is also bigger. As for the base, it still measures 53 mm square and is held in place by ten star-head screws.
By default, thermal paste is pre-applied, which doesn’t reassure us much. Often, when it’s applied, there’s none in the accessory area, so check. Otherwise, the base is particularly smooth and traces of machining will not be felt under the fingers.
Finally, we’d like to mention the 90° tips, which are also beautifully finished with attractive anodized aluminum sleeves. The same type of spigot can be found on radiator outlets.
Compatibility :
In terms of compatible platforms, DeepCool offers support for :
- Intel: LGA-115x – LGA-1200 – LGA-1700
- AMD: AM5 – AM4
As you can see, compatibility stops at mainstream Intel and AMD platforms. The LGA-2000 is getting seriously old, while AMD’s HEDT processors require wider bases to cover CPUIHS perfectly.
Fans:
On the ventilation side, we have a serious change as the company is ditching its FK fans in favor of the FT12 SE. As you can see, they’re totally unobtrusive with their black frame and blades, and there’s no aRGB lighting here.
The shape of the frame, however, remains unchanged. As you can see, it’s square-shaped, as are its rubber silentblocks . The blades, on the other hand, are nine in number and have a normal curvature.
Connection is via a short PWM cable with male and female connectors for series connection. The aim is to reduce the number of cables in your installation. It’s also worth noting that, by default, the fans are connected to each other while already mounted on the radiator.
DeepCool claims maximum speeds of 2,150 rpm. At full speed, maximum airflow will be 72.45 CFM, while static pressure will reach 4.32 mmAq. Compared to the FK120s, airflow is down, while static pressure is up. Now, what about noise? We’ll have to wait and see.
The bundle:
The accessories come in a variety of small plastic bags:
- Assembly instructions
- Metal backplate for Intel sockets
- Mounting arms and hardware for AMD and Intel platforms
- Warranty guide
- PWM extension cable
- Screws and bolts for mounting additional fans and radiator screws
The accessories section remains complete, allowing you to assemble theAIO without any headaches. What’s more, the additional hardware will enable push/pull configuration mounting. Unfortunately, as we suspected, no additional thermal paste is supplied, which is a shame on a cooling system costing over €200.
Roughly speaking:
DeepCool’s Mystique 360 is beautifully finished, with a streamlined look that will look good in any configuration. The screen is imposing and should be clearly visible. However, the accessory section remains fairly classic, and no additional thermal paste is supplied. In the event of cleaning, you’ll need to buy a new syringe.
[nextpage title=”Installation”]
For installation, you’ll need to keep your AMD backplate, as DeepCool doesn’t supply one. If you no longer have one, a quick trip to eBay should make it easy to find one.
Mystique 360 assembly:
As far as assembly is concerned, the first thing to do is to screw the mounting arms onto the pump block. There’s nothing complicated about this: just take the arms corresponding to your socket and screw them around the base using small Phillips screws.
Next, prepare the motherboard. On an AM5/4 platform, you’ll need to remove the original mounting arms. At the four corners of the socket, we’ll screw in the corresponding spacers. Here, they have a small black plastic skirt.
On the Intel side, remove the multi-socket backplate from the back of the motherboard. Pay attention to the thread spacing: the wider the spacing, the more LGA-1700. The same applies to the choice of spacers, those for the LGA-1700 being ring-shaped.
Finally, we place the pump on the processor. The pump is held in place by four hand screws. However, given the space available, it’s best to use a screwdriver.
[nextpage title=”DeepCool Mystique”]
The software :
Once the watercooling kit has been installed, plugged in and powered up, we need to download the Mystique utility, directly from the kit’s dedicated page on the DeepCool website. Once again, installation is straightforward, as all you have to do is select the installation directory and spam click Next after reading the T&Cs carefully, we trust you ?.
Once you’ve launched the software, you’ll be presented with a straightforward utility comprising three tabs. The first will focus on monitoring your system. In classic fashion, we find the temperature, load, frequency, etc. of our various components.
The second tab presents the characteristics of our machine, including its components and operating system version.
Finally, the last tab lets you customize the display of the LCD screen on the pump’s cover. You can also choose whether or not to leave the gyroscopes active. While the gyroscopes should have no trouble determining the screen orientation in a tower, on a benchtop, the display regularly rotates.
In itself, this software does nothing more than any utility supplied with an AIO with screen. We may perhaps regret the absence of a connection to gif databases such as Giphy, as NZXT’s CAM does. This saves us a search on the Internet.
[nextpage title=”Protocol”]
A small update to our test protocol. We’ve changed the software we were using to stress our configuration. The same applies to the different profiles.
For test purposes, we’ll be comparing the Mystique 360 with other models in 240 mm, 280 mm, 360 mm and even 420 mm:
- iCUE Link H150i LCD (Corsair)
- iCUE Link H170i RGB (Corsair)
- Kraken 240 RGB (NZXT)
- Kraken Elite 360 (NZXT)
- Liquid Freezer II 240 (Arctic)
- Liquid Freezer II 280 (Arctic)
- Liquid Freezer II 420 (Arctic)
- Mystique 360 (DeepCool)
- Pure Loop 2 280 (be quiet!)
- Ryuo III 360 (Asus)
[nextpage title=”Speed and noise”]
Fan speed :
We’re starting from scratch with our series of temperature readings. Let’s specify the fan speeds recorded during our readings (for 12V, 8V, 5V):
Overall, we’re dealing with a watercooling kit with fairly high fan speeds. At full speed, we exceed 2000 rpm, before dropping back to 1600 rpm at medium speed. Finally, at low speed, we recorded 1000 rpm. In short, the FT12 SE fans are quite fast, but what about noise?
Noise :
Despite rather high operating speeds, the kit proves “moderately” noisy at full throttle, recording 46.5 dB under these conditions. Sure, compared to a Liquid Freezer II, it’s still noisy, but not so much compared to a Corsair iCUE Link. Nonetheless, at these lower speeds it remains audible, especially at low speeds where you can hear the pump turning. So remember to limit the speed of the pump.
[nextpage title=”Intel CPU temperatures”]
Processor at 95W :
We start with the 95W profile, a fairly average power consumption, especially when you consider the basic consumption of this 13600K. We’re here to simulate the power consumption of small processors with a reasonable number of cores. In theory, everyone should do well!
With our least stressful profile, our watercooling kit of the day does rather well. As you can see, it comes out on top, with a temperature stabilizing at 52°C with the fan on minimum. In these conditions, it is slightly ahead of an ASUS Ryuo III 360.
130W processor :
Here, we’re taking our readings on a Core i5 13600K, so power consumption reaches 130W. The P-Core runs at 4.5 GHz, the E-Core at 3.5 GHz and the VCore at 1.270V!
Once again, DeepCool’s Mystique 360 demonstrates its ability to cool our processor, this time with a consumption of 130W. It proves formidable at full throttle, where it outstrips the Ryuo III 360 at full speed. At slower speeds, however, it’s only a match for the Ryuo III 360.
170W processor:
Finally, we end our series of readings with our Core i5 13600K, which consumes 170W. To achieve this, we push the frequencies a little further, as well as the VCore, which now rises to 1.350V!
Mounted on a processor consuming 170W, DeepCool’s kit is still very well positioned, doing better than ASUS’ at full speed. It will show a slight degree of shrinkage at low speeds, but that’s all.
Summary:
With this kit, DeepCool offers a high-performance reference that rivals the most efficient kits on the market. Here, it stands up to the Ryuo III 360, which we already found very good.
[nextpage title=”Intel temperature-to-noise ratio”]
On these perf/noise ratio graphs, we remind you that it’s best to be positioned as far to the bottom left of the graph as possible. For ease of reading, the leftmost point symbolizes 12V ventilation, the central point 8V ventilation and the rightmost 5V.
The noise of the kit at low speeds has a significant impact on the Mystique 360, resulting in a high position in the graph as can be seen. However, the kit displays low temperatures, which puts it in the lead.
At 130W, our kit of the day still offers a very aggressive temperature-to-noise ratio. In fact, it offers a ratio equivalent to a large 420 mm kit from Corsair, in this case the iCUE Link H170i RGB.
At 170W, our kit of the day is as formidable as ever, and can still compete with large 420 mm kits… Despite considerable resistance from NZXT’s Kraken Elite 360.
[nextpage title=”Conclusion”]
We’ve come to the end of this test of DeepCool’s Mystique 360. Are we dealing with a successful product? Let’s take a closer look!
DeepCool’s first AIO with display!
Brands are gradually integrating more and more screens into their cooling systems. If DeepCool innovated in this field with its AK Digital fans, the brand is now doing the same for its all-in-one watercooling kits with this Mystique series.
The result is quite convincing, with a beautiful screen that benefits from successful integration. The company even goes so far as to integrate gyroscopes to automatically orientate the display… But these show their limitations when the kit is mounted flat, on a bench table for example. Via the supplied software (albeit a little basic at the moment), you can deactivate them, otherwise you risk seeing the display change orientation regularly.
This screen doesn’t offer anything more than the competition in terms of displaying system info or customized images. It does go one step further in terms of monitoring, with graphics that update in real time.
Otherwise, this is a well-finished AIO that’s easy to install. By default, ventilation is already in place, with fans connected in series like Arctic’s Liquid Freezer.
The accessories section is complete with an additional set of screws for push/pull mounting… But still no additional thermal paste, which is a shame. As for assembly, the kit is easy to install.
Good performance!
As we’ve seen, this DeepCool AIO is clearly up to the task. Thermally speaking, it’s on a par with the Ryuo III 360 kit, which we already appreciate for its performance. This is a pleasant surprise! However, this is accompanied by a significant new noise level, especially at low revs… Not that fans are noisy. In this case, it’s the pump that makes itself heard. In idle mode, don’t hesitate to go to the bios to customize the pump’s speed curve.
As you can see, the temperature-to-noise ratio is very good, although it could do with a little more silence, especially at low revs. Moreover, as we’ve seen, despite its 360 mm format, it can compete with 420 mm kits, notably from Corsair. A good performance/size ratio too.
A strangely affordable price :
At present, the kit is not fully available in stores, so we’ll have to wait a little longer before we see it on our shelves. However, via Monsieur-Plus, which can be found on the CDiscount and eBay marketplaces, it is listed at €210. It remains to be seen whether it retains this price, given that it was officially announced at €180. The price is therefore very good for an AIO offering these features and a screen. In short, a must-have, especially when compared with the competition.
As a reminder, an NZXT kit with screen costs €250 in 360 mm, while Corsair’s price is over €300, and even close to €400 with the iCUE Link series… In short, it’s a good deal all by itself!
DeepCool Mystique 360:
We like:
- Good level of finish
- Careful screen integration
- Quality screen, good brightness, good viewing angles
- Standard ventilation with serial connection
- Easy assembly
- Excellent cooling performance
- Very attractive price!
What we didn’t like :
- Lack of additional thermal paste
- Audible pump
So, what can we learn from this AIO Mystique 360? Quite simply that it buries the competition on the Intel platform. It’s powerful, it’s got a screen and, above all, it’s affordable: €180 officially! Competitors need look no further. The only downside is that the pump is audible at full volume, but a quick trip to the bios takes care of that. As for the thermal paste, given the savings over a Corsair or NZXT kit, you can afford to spend a few bucks on an Arctic syringe, for example. A must-have!
Many thanks to DeepCool!
