Anyone Own The Fractal Design Celsius S36?

[nick name]

I just ordered the Fractal Design Celsius S36 from Newegg.  I was looking at the EVGA CLC 280, but the price went up $20 since yesterday so I browsed some more.  I ended up pulling the trigger on the Fractal Design AIO because of its larger radiator (on which I can use my 6 Corsair 2700 RPM 120mm fans) and because it was a little less money.  Oh, it also has a 5 year warranty like EVGA's.  Now after looking at some reviews it seems odd to me that one Asetek gen 5 pump can be so much better than another.  Is the performance difference between the Fractal and the EVGA, as observed by Gamer's Nexus, really so great?  And I never see anyone mention they use the Fractal Design AIO in forums.  Currently, I use a Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing 360 (with those 6 Corsair fans mentioned) and am hoping there is some temp reduction going from Asetek gen 4 to gen 5 pumps.  But I'm mainly switching because I acquired this Thermaltake AIO second-hand and don't know exactly when it was purchased and can't find out what its warranty period is/was.  Combined with Thermaltake's latest AIO warranty only lasting 2 years I wasn't confident enough to continue using it.  

[nick name]

I guess there really aren't that many Fractal Design S36 owners out there.  

[For Science!]

14 hours ago, nick name said:

I just ordered the Fractal Design Celsius S36 from Newegg.  I was looking at the EVGA CLC 280, but the price went up $20 since yesterday so I browsed some more.  I ended up pulling the trigger on the Fractal Design AIO because of its larger radiator (on which I can use my 6 Corsair 2700 RPM 120mm fans) and because it was a little less money.  Oh, it also has a 5 year warranty like EVGA's.  Now after looking at some reviews it seems odd to me that one Asetek gen 5 pump can be so much better than another.  Is the performance difference between the Fractal and the EVGA, as observed by Gamer's Nexus, really so great?  And I never see anyone mention they use the Fractal Design AIO in forums.  Currently, I use a Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing 360 (with those 6 Corsair fans mentioned) and am hoping there is some temp reduction going from Asetek gen 4 to gen 5 pumps.  But I'm mainly switching because I acquired this Thermaltake AIO second-hand and don't know exactly when it was purchased and can't find out what its warranty period is/was.  Combined with Thermaltake's latest AIO warranty only lasting 2 years I wasn't confident enough to continue using it.  

The differencr is in the fans. This is also mentioned in Gamerd Nexus article.

[nick name]

4 minutes ago, For Science! said:

The differencr is in the fans. This is also mentioned in Gamerd Nexus article.

That's what I am hoping.  As I mentioned -- I am going to run Corsair fans in push-pull so I'm hoping the S36 will exceed the capabilities of the CLC 280.  

[nick name]

It really does seem odd that I can't seem to find any actual users of the Fractal Design S36.  It makes me wonder if there was some review that trashed it that I haven't seen/read  yet.  

[Neo-revo]

5 minutes ago, nick name said:

It really does seem odd that I can't seem to find any actual users of the Fractal Design S36.  It makes me wonder if there was some review that trashed it that I haven't seen/read  yet.  

Jayz2Cents was pushing them awhile back ( more due to sponsorship i think)

 

but  i haven't heard bad things about them

[DailyProcrastinator]

47 minutes ago, nick name said:

It really does seem odd that I can't seem to find any actual users of the Fractal Design S36.  It makes me wonder if there was some review that trashed it that I haven't seen/read  yet.  

Pretty sure the vast AIO market is taken by Corsair, NZXT, and Cooler Master. Most people go for RGB or fancy looking pumps.

[nick name]

It arrives tomorrow.  I am torn if I should even bother testing it with its stock fans or just mount my push-pull setup and then installing.  I love new hardware -- so excited.  

[Neo-revo]

6 hours ago, nick name said:

I love new hardware -- so excited.  

i love the smell when you open new electronics, i sniff the open box and yell 'i have the POWAAAAA'  

Recently was in a warehouse that dealt with electricity ( the big lines from the plant) and  when i walked in was like damn it smells like a massive powersupply

 

figure out if its a pain to move about,. maybe you can put your case on the side, and swap the fans without removing the CPU block

[Velcade]

I use the S36 AIO.  Keeps my OC'd 8700k cool under load.  The only downside is the length of pwm cable on the fans.  Makes it very difficult to run these fans in a push configuration.

[Dedayog]

On 11/4/2018 at 10:59 PM, nick name said:

It really does seem odd that I can't seem to find any actual users of the Fractal Design S36.  It makes me wonder if there was some review that trashed it that I haven't seen/read  yet.  

They didn't get stellar reviews in Gamers Nexus testing, I think.  I bought my TT Water 3.0 because of it's performance on that graphs from GN.  Since I have the R6, I wanted to run the Celsius but didn't perform as well if I recall.

[nick name]

3 hours ago, Velcade said:

I use the S36 AIO.  Keeps my OC'd 8700k cool under load.  The only downside is the length of pwm cable on the fans.  Makes it very difficult to run these fans in a push configuration.

The Corsair fans I use currently have shorter cables too, but I am using two 3into1 PWM cables and one 2into1 cable that goes into a Noctua controller so it works itself out.  

 

Have you ever been curious as to whether you could add a supplemental pump to the loop?

[nick name]

3 hours ago, jstudrawa said:

They didn't get stellar reviews in Gamers Nexus testing, I think.  I bought my TT Water 3.0 because of it's performance on that graphs from GN.  Since I have the R6, I wanted to run the Celsius but didn't perform as well if I recall.

Yeah that's what gave me pause, but I saw some other favorable reviews and one site had it on a graph with my current Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing 360 and it was a little better.  I am hoping it's the fans that make it's stock performance fall behind coolers like the EVGA CLC 280 and I will find out here in a few hours.  

[Velcade]

1 hour ago, nick name said:

Have you ever been curious as to whether you could add a supplemental pump to the loop?

truthfully I've never thought about it.  I have a hybrid gpu and haven't looked into a full loop yet.

 

I'm not sure why these aren't more popular, maybe too plain?  It cools great.  My CPU never gets above 50'C while gaming and when Prime95 testing I saw temps in the low 70'Cs

[nick name]

3 minutes ago, Velcade said:

truthfully I've never thought about it.  I have a hybrid gpu and haven't looked into a full loop yet.

 

I'm not sure why these aren't more popular, maybe too plain?  It cools great.  My CPU never gets above 50'C while gaming and when Prime95 testing I saw temps in the low 70'Cs

I only considered it after I saw complaints about flow rate in one review, but that same review saw better performance from the S36 than AIOs with higher flow rate pumps. 

 

The worst thing about buying from Newegg is that they don't ship during the weekends so you're left with too much time to ponder the wisdom of your purchase.   

[Dedayog]

5 minutes ago, Velcade said:

truthfully I've never thought about it.  I have a hybrid gpu and haven't looked into a full loop yet.

 

I'm not sure why these aren't more popular, maybe too plain?  It cools great.  My CPU never gets above 50'C while gaming and when Prime95 testing I saw temps in the low 70'Cs

Low 70's when stress testing an OC'd 8700K?  They're better than I thought, I get up to 84c when running AIDA64 testing.

[Velcade]

2 minutes ago, nick name said:

I only considered it after I saw complaints about flow rate in one review, but that same review saw better performance from the S36 than AIOs with higher flow rate pumps. 

 

The worst thing about buying from Newegg is that they don't ship during the weekends so you're left with too much time to ponder the wisdom of your purchase.   

I do run the S36 on PWM.  I wonder if your review ran it on auto.  

[nick name]

11 minutes ago, Velcade said:

I do run the S36 on PWM.  I wonder if your review ran it on auto.  

I am fairly certain they used it on PWM and auto in the review.  I only saw one person use it strictly in auto so I gave them a thumbs down on their video.  Felt kinda bad doing it, but it was a poor review.  

[nick name]

Well it looks like the Fractal Design S36 360 is a good 8*C 5*C ~ 8*C cooler than my previous Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing RGB 360 while under load.  

[Neo-revo]

5 minutes ago, nick name said:

8*C cooler

Nice, whats that make out as a temp?

[nick name]

@Neo-revo  I did seven Cinebench runs with the Thermaltake before I swapped it out.  I recorded the highest temps of each run -- which were typically at the very end.  The first run was 75.8*C and the last run was 78*C.  This was running 4.23GHz at 1.381V. 

 

With the Fractal Design the seventh run was 70*C.  

 

Those runs were done with Corsair fans in push-pull at 1500RPM.  The exact same fans for both AIOs.

 

I've also found that under heavier loads the Fractal Design responds much better to higher fan speeds than the Thermaltake.  Using Prime95 small FFTs the Thermaltake would quickly get up to 80*C and continue climbing just as quickly.  No matter the fan speed.  The Fractal Design temp climbs much much more slowly toward that 80*C.  I'm talking several minutes whereas the seconds it would take the Thermaltake to reach and surpass 80*C.  And now that climb can actually be stopped by increasing the fan speed.  

[Neo-revo]

i dont stress test with prime 95 to see temps, i just do real world over testing with games i actually play.  the older the game/ lower the settings the higher the chance i will play at 5960X1080 to see what sort of frames i get,

 

this was idles after my rebuild adding

Spoiler

and these are some temps after a 4 hour session at 1440p Of Dying Light at maxed settings and FOV only thing i turned off was the post processing to make it weird camera film reel replayish feeling.

Spoiler

 

[nick name]

@Neo-revo  Ohhhhh Canada (not singing).  I was like wut when I saw that 17*C.

 

And how old is that Maxtor HDD?  Lol.  

[Neo-revo]

29 minutes ago, nick name said:

Maxtor HDD?  Lol. 

idk, i use them until they die LOL,  any thing that matters gets a ssd though, and everything else just slums it.

 

i have a IDE here that i need to check cause i think it has my music library on it.   from before ituned-out and  spo-tiffy  decided it was better to have you pay for internet all the time rather than own your own copy...

 

but what do i know i grew up with a grey gameboy,  was a kid when Sony still made all the best shit.  And remember booting into DOS and typing C:run windows   and using pre floppy disc(the ones that were actually Floppy)- to play games.  And still use my MP3 since why wast phone battery/data when i have over it all at my tips, with out ads...  Oh and Remember Walkman's?  not the cassette ones, im a lil too old for those, but they were around still.   But i guess i mean Discman's LOL,   but yea... all those CD's

[nick name]

I still have my original Gameboy and yellow Sony Walkman.  You know the the sporty one for those folks that enjoyed music while working out.  And there are a couple Maxtor drives I wish still worked.  I'm pretty sure there is a ton of music from Napster's peak that I couldn't find again after Napster fell and the drive died.  Maxtor drives, come to think of it, are the only ones that ever failed on me.