Swedish company Fractal Design is best known for computer cases like our favorite cases of 2022. fractal northBut the company also makes liquid coolers, case fans, and even power supplies.
Here we look at one of the company’s strongest all-in-one cooler offerings, Fractal’s Celsius + S36 Prisma. The Celsius series cooler is equipped with an integrated fan and his ARGB hub, allowing users to connect the fan directly to the radiator to reduce cable clutter. It has two modes of operation. There’s an “auto” mode that’s optimized for quietness, and his PWM mode that maximizes cooling capacity.
Today’s CPUs raise the bar for cooling, but the Celius+ S36 Prisma cools Intel’s i9-13900K and our best cooler list? To say for sure, we need to do some testing. But first, here are the cooler specs straight from Fractal.
cooler specs
| cooler | Fractal Celsius + S36 Prisma |
| Manufacturer’s suggested retail price | $199.99 USD |
| Radiator dimensions | 123×30×403mm |
| Radiator material | aluminum |
| pump speed | 800-2800 RPM in normal use, 3500 RPM in thermal protection mode that activates when liquid temperature exceeds 60 degrees Celsius |
| Socket compatibility | Intel: LGA 1700, 1200, 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011, 2011-3, 2066 |
| AMD: AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, AM4, AM5, FM1, FM2, FM2+ | |
| base | copper |
| Maximum TDP (our test) | ~303W |
| guarantee | 5 years |
Packing and inclusions
Fractal’s Celsius+ S36 Prisma comes in a fairly large box with a plastic cover and cardboard to protect the contents.
Package includes:
- 360mm radiator
- CPU block
- 3x 120mm fans
- Mount for all modern CPU sockets (including AM5 and LGA1700)
- Information, support and installation guides
- two clips
- Pre-applied thermal paste
install
Installing Fractal’s S36 is mostly straightforward, but there’s one step that can easily ruin your fan. You might think installing the fan is the easiest part of installing a cooler, but if you approach fan installation like you would any other cooler and don’t follow Fractal’s instructions, one of the cables can become a nuisance. state. The position of her one of the other fans.
I’ve seen multiple photos of people (and even a few reviewers) installing fans incorrectly and causing the above problem. Fractal designed this AIO of his to have minimal cable clutter, so the installation is a little different.
The video below is from an older S36 model and shows how to properly install the fan on this cooler.
After securing the fan, attach the radiator to the case. Then press the backplate onto the motherboard and slide the standoffs to secure the backplate. All that remains is to press the CPU block onto the standoffs and secure with the included thumbscrews.
Features of Fractal’s Celsius+ S36
Silent profile mode
Celsius+ has two operating modes, Auto and PWM, which can be selected by testing the CPU block. In automatic mode, the fan will always run quietly. Despite this mode’s quiet profile, the Celsius+ S36 managed to cool an impressive 267W in automatic mode. This cools more watts in quiet mode than most air coolers can handle at max fan speed!
Full copper CPU plate
Fractal’s Celsius+ S36 Prisma’s CPU contact plate is made of copper and comes pre-installed with thermal paste.
ARGB and PWM hubs to minimize cable clutter
The Celsius series coolers are equipped with an integrated fan and ARGB hub, allowing you to connect your fan directly to your radiator and reduce cable clutter. The hub is on the side of the radiator, between the tubes to the CPU block.
Medium thickness 360mm radiator
The S36 Prisma features a 360 mm radiator with a thickness of 30 mm. It’s not the thickest (or thinnest) radiator we’ve seen so far, but it should be compatible with most cases with room for three 120mm fans.
3x Prisma AL-12 PWM ARGB fans
Coolers are more than just heatsinks and radiators. Bundled fans have a big impact on cooling and noise levels. Celsius+ S36 Prisma includes 3x Prisma AL-12 PWM ARGB fans. Fractal touts the following features in these fans:
- Aerodynamic status struts with embedded wiring reduce noise and turbulence
- Trip Wire technology introduces a micro-turbulent layer to improve blade efficiency
- Integrated anti-vibration corners made of high-quality synthetic rubber
- LLS (Long Life Sleeve) bearings provide long life and quiet operation.
- 6 RGB LEDs mounted on an individually addressable hub
- Specially designed fan blades and outer ring create an even glow
| model | Prisma AL-12 PWM ARGB |
| Size | 120×120×25mm |
| fan rotation speed | 500-2,000RPM |
| air flow | Up to 85.71 CFM |
| air pressure | 2.78mmH2O |
| Bearing type | long life sleeve |
| lighting | ARGB |
test method
With previous generation CPUs for coolers, it was fairly easy to keep flagship i9 processors well below TJ max (the maximum temperature a CPU can sustain without throttling) under demanding workloads, but current generation CPUs ( and especially 13900K) without extreme cooling (or with power capping enabled).
Peak CPU temperatures have been a source of concern in the past, but enthusiasts should learn to accept high temperatures as ‘normal’ while running demanding workloads on Raptor Lake and Ryzen 7000 CPUs. there is. The latest AMD and Intel CPUs are designed to run fairly hot without problems, up to 95 degrees Celsius for AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs and up to 100 degrees Celsius for Intel’s Core i9-13900K. Similar behavior has been the norm in laptops for years due to cooling limitations in tight spaces.
Additionally, Intel’s Core i9-13900K supports Adaptive Boost Technology (ABT), which allows Core i9 processors to dynamically boost to higher all-core frequencies based on available thermal headroom and electrical conditions. can. This allows multi-core loads to run up to 5.5 GHz with the required amount of heat dissipation. This feature works in an aggressive hot-seeking manner. If the chip detects that it is operating below the 100°C threshold, it will increase performance and power consumption until it hits the safe 100°C limit, maintaining higher clocks (which provides better performance). increase).
The increased cooling challenges with Raptor Lake meant that we had to change some of the ways we test coolers. Some coolers were able to pass the Cinebench R23 multi-core test with Intel’s 12th Gen i9-12900K when the power cap was lifted (although only the most powerful models were able to pass that test ).with most liquid coolers all The air cooler I tested “failed” that test because the CPU hit TJ max in this scenario.
On Raptor Lake’s 13900K, not a single cooler has been able to keep the CPU below its max TJ in this test. Instead, look at total benchmark scores and sustained clock speeds to compare performance.
Asus’ TUF Gaming Z690 Gaming Plus WIFI motherboard is used to test Intel’s i9-13900K CPU. Cooler Master’s HAF 700 Berserker Case fans are limited to 35% speed. The motherboard’s default fan curve is used for the CPU cooler fan.
In addition to testing Cinebench with no power cap applied, we also show the results of limiting the CPU power consumption to a more reasonable 200W. We also show the results at 125W for those who prefer very quiet cooling at the expense of some performance. For both of these results, we show the traditional delta result versus ambient temperature.
Sound level measurements recorded using a PSPL25 sound meter are provided for all three power levels tested to compare the noise produced by each cooler in different scenarios.Most coolers are effective at 125W expected to run quietly.
LGA1700 socket bend
Keep in mind that besides the CPU cooler, there are many other factors that affect cooling performance, such as the case you use and the fans attached to the case. Your system’s motherboard can also affect this. Especially if the motherboard is bent, the cooler will have poor contact with the CPU.
To prevent bending from affecting the cooling results, Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame was attached to the test rig. If the motherboard is subject to bending, the thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected by this issue. We tested the Raptor Lake CPUs on two motherboards. One of them showed a significant thermal improvement after installing his Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, while the other motherboard had no difference in temperature at all!For more information see the contact frame review Please watch.
test configuration
| CPU | Intel Core i9-13900K |
| Tested comparison air cooler | cougar forza 50 |
| Deep Cool AG400 | |
| Deep Cool AG620 | |
| Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth | |
| SilverStone Hydrogon D120 ARGB | |
| Thermal Light Assassin X 120 R SE | |
| Thermal light AXP120-X67 | |
| Compare tested AIO coolers | Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 |
| Deep Cool LT720 | |
| Enermax Aquafusion ADV 360 | |
| Fractal Celsius + S36 Prisma | |
| MSI MAG Core Liquid P360 | |
| SilverStone VIDA 240 Slim | |
| motherboard | Asus TUF Gaming Z690 Plus Wi-Fi DDR5 |
| sheep | Important DDR5-4800 |
| GPUs | Intel ARC A770 LE |
| case | Cooler Master HAF 700 Berserker |
| PSUs | Cooler Master XG Plus 850 Platinum PSU |
