Cougar Helor 360 Review: Big AIO Cooling With Bigger ARGB Splash
Revered for its aggressively-styled line of gaming-ready cases, mice, keyboards, power supplies, and headsets, Cougar’s Helor 360 adds a large 360mm radiator to its recent line of liquid cooling solutions. Paired with synchronized, addressable-RGB options that illuminate across both the pump unit and a trio of 120mm cooling fans, its flagship Helor 360 offers competitive performance amidst a market flooded with familiar names and logos. Currently priced at $160, the Helor 360 pivots itself around as a great performance value.
market today, the Helor 360 comes sensibly packaged with enough mounting hardware and shared components to minimize waste of unused kit. While Cougar utilizes its own custom aRGB connectivity, it also provides common 3-pin and 4-pin RGB connection cables to support motherboard or stand-alone PC lighting controls.
A nifty RF remote is included to help manage various preset lighting effects by those who opt to only use Cougar’s included lighting hub, and it even ships holding a fresh CR2025 battery. Packets of thermal compound and a small bottle of coolant to top off the system (should that be needed) round out the accessory parts list.
Adorned by a clear plexi top donning the Cougar logo and direct view of the pinwheel flow meter contained within, lighting modules inlaid around the perimeter of the flow meter fill the top of the Helor 360’s pump housing with the rich glow of the user’s chosen color palette as it is diffused through the coolant. The inclusion of the threaded fill port fitting on the side of the housing allows for simple access to top off the liquid level using the included 100mL bottle of coolant, which is a feature not seen on many sealed AIOs.
The base of the Helor 360 gleams in nickel-plated copper which is milled to a soft finish. Coolant tubing boasts handsome, braided nylon sleeving which runs the entirety of the tubing and then terminates beneath a pair of 90° swivel fittings at the pump housing. Integrated mounting ears built into the base of the CPU block are reinforced with gussets seen from the top of the unit.
Cougar ships the Helor 360 with a fairly standard 360mm aluminum radiator and a trio of nine-bladed Cougar Vortex Omega 120 fans trimmed which are rated at 78.4 CFM @ 1800 RPM. Each fan houses ten RGB LEDs which results in a saturated glow throughout the partially opaque fan from hub to tip. Anti-vibration rubber mounting tabs at each corner assist in managing unwanted noise.
Installation of the Helor 360 is simple and minimal, assuming your case supports large, 360mm radiators. As with nearly all aRGB/RGB devices, the management of cables and the Cougar lighting hub will require additional attention during planning and mounting of the unit. With the Helor 360 in place, the aRGB lighting bathes the interior of the chassis with the chosen lighting scheme. While the 90° swivel fittings allow for moving the cooler about as needed for installation, the 400mm of length on the tubing runs could be just a bit longer to allow for more mounting options and overall flexibility.
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