Conclusion
We’ve come to the end of this test of the Pure Loop 2 280 from be quiet! Are we dealing with a successful product? Let’s take a closer look!
The same, but with new fans!
With this new generation of kit, don’t look too hard for novelties, as there are very few of them. In fact, the base remains the same as that of the Pure Loop 2 FX, while only the fans have evolved. Here, we find the brand’s Pure Wings 3 and that’s it. There are no changes to the pump or radiator. The visual aspect remains unchanged, apart from the presence of aRGB lighting on the waterblock.
On the bundle side, you’ll find everything you need to assemble and connect the kit. The splitter will reduce the number of fan sockets occupied on the motherboard, while the brand supplies everything you need to carry out maintenance yourself. Yes, there’s a bottle of liquid to top it up in case you run out of power. It’s nothing new, but it’s always handy.
What about performance?
In terms of performance, we’re back with a standard kit, which isn’t catastrophic, but it’s not exceptional either. On our AMD processor, it does rather well as long as power consumption doesn’t reach 200W. Once this limit is reached, however, the kit clearly shows its limitations, with temperatures so high that it is unable to keep the 7900X cool at low speeds.
On the Intel side, the situation is quite similar, since as soon as you reach 170W of consumption, the competition passes you by. All in all, on large processors, we’ll probably prefer its 360mm counterpart.
Fortunately, noise levels have been kept under control: there’s nothing worse than a noisy watercooler that doesn’t cool down. Here, it’s discreet from mid-range and inaudible at low speeds. What’s more, the pump won’t be heard at all. As you can see, its temperature/noise ratio isn’t ideal for power-hungry CPUs. In this situation, either turn up the fan speed, or upgrade to the next size up: the 360 mm.
Affordable price :
As for the price tag, as we said at the start of our review, be quiet! has positioned its AIO at around €150. In itself, this is a fairly aggressive price, only €5 more than a Liquid Freezer II 280. Compared to the latter, it tends not to stand up to comparison when it comes to high power consumption. However, it does have one major advantage: its reduced size, thanks to a 27 mm thick radiator. It will find its way more easily into your case!
be quiet! Pure Loop 2 280 :
We like:
- The radiator’s finish, as meticulous as ever!
- The filler port, potentially offering a longer service life
- Flexible hoses for easy installation
- Complete accessory kit
- Simple waterblock assembly
- The presence of RGB on the waterblock… For those who like it!
- Attractive pricing
We disliked :
- Flagrant lack of novelty apart from the fans
- Quickly shows its limits on CPUs with high power consumption
- The degraded temperature/noise ratio on high power consumption
Once again we’re giving out a silver award, and this time it goes to the Pure Loop 2 280 from be quiet! With this kit, we find an AIO that will quickly show its limits on a power-hungry CPU with soaring temperatures… It’s always a shame to have rising noise pollution or a CPU that throttles for lack of efficiency. However, it’s priced aggressively, and the rest of the kit isn’t bad, especially as it’s not particularly noisy.
Many thanks to be quiet!
