XPG Levante 240 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

XPG stands for Xtreme Performance Gear. XPG is an enthusiast gaming brand from ADATA focusing on eSports, PC Enthusiasts, and gamers. XPG’s family of products includes PC Systems, including desktops and laptops, Memory Modules, Solid State Drives, PSUs, PC Chassis, Cooling solutions, and RGB Accessories. Gaming peripherals include gaming mice, keyboards, and headsets. XPG is committed to bringing excellence to its products with reliability, durability, and performance in focus. Their designs have won several IF Design and GOOD Design awards.

XPG is finally releasing its full range of gaming products in Pakistan through its sole distributor PACIFIC Computers. XPG has sent us a couple of products to review before the launch of their gaming products in Pakistan as a part of a marketing campaign.

In this review, we will be taking a look at their Levante series 240mm AIO cooler. This cooler features an Asetek design (OEM) with digital RGB lighting on the block and the fans. We have an aluminum radiator, much like any other Asetek-designed cooler with a sleeved rubber tube. The base of the block is made of copper. This cooler is compatible with Intel LGA 1200, 115x, 1366, 20xx, and AMD AM4 sockets. The salient features include:

• Asetek’s All-in-One water-cooling solution
• Large-diameter copper plate Water Block
• ARGB Sync compatible with most motherboards
• All-Aluminum 240mm Radiator
• Low-Noise Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) Fan Design
• Pre-applied Low-Evaporation Coolant and Thermal Paste
• Hassle-Free Installation and Compatibility

Specifications

Packaging and Unboxing

The cooler is shipped inside a cardboard box with XPG styling all over.

The cooler’s picture is in the mainframe. The light-up fans and block give a hint to the user on how the cooler is likely to look like. It looks much doper than this. The model of the cooler is also printed. The overall design makes the packing box stand out and speak loudly gaining the attention of the seeker.

For the users who would like to know more about the cooler, there is a tabular presentation on the backside of the cooler shows the specifications. The pictures with dimensions are also presented.

The contents are tucked inside an egged carton for maximum safety during traveling. The user manual and sticker sheet can be seen placed on the top.

Accessories

Following are included in the box:

• 1x 240mm Radiator and pump unit
• 2x 120mm Fans
• 1x Intel Backplate
• 2x Dual-Sided Tape
• 1x Intel Mounting Bracket
• 1x AMD Mounting Bracket
• 4x Intel LGA20xx Screws
• 4x Intel LGA115x Screws
• 4x AMD Screws
• 12x Fan Long Screws
• 12x Radiator Small Screws
• 2x 4-pin PWM Extension Cables
• 2x RGB Lighting Cables
• 1x User Manual

Closer Look

Let’s start with reading what XPG is saying about their cooler, “STAY COOL WITH LEVANTE. XPG LEVANTE 240 Addressable RGB CPU Cooler offers superb capability in stabilizing CPU temperature and maintain CPU proper functioning, with XPG ARGB lighting design that creates an additional gaming atmosphere.

XPG LEVANTE 240 Addressable RGB CPU Cooler uses Asetek’s latest cooling solution to ensure CPU temperature management is at the highest quality and result. Its thermally optimized copper plate with a 0.15mm-thin microchannel, providing a large cooling area and boosting heat exchange efficiency.”

Radiator

The XPG Levante 240 is a 240mm CLC cooling solution. It has a 240mm radiator with two digital RGB fans.

The dimension of the radiator is 272 x 121 x 27mm. The thickness of the radiator is 27mm. With 25mm fans the overall thickness would be 53mm. The radiator has 63mm thickness with the barbs which is more than the 53mm of overall thickness with the installed fans. So, keep that in mind. The radiator has a 20 fins per inch one (FPI). There is a gap of 105mm between any two fan mounting holes on the radiator.

The radiator is made of aluminum hence it is lightweight. The blocks on both ends of the radiator are not rectangular and have rounded edges. Fin stack is dense and taking into account the left and right side channels, it has a total of 11 channels for coolant flow.

There are no protective sheets over the fins under the fan mounts. So, take care while mounting the fans as longer screws could damage the fins which would hamper the performance of the cooler. It is recommended to use the supplied long screws to mount the fans on to the radiators.

The label indicates that it is an Asetek design. The pump is drawing 3.9W power.

There is a sticker on the block end of the radiator showing the part no or serial no of the unit with the warning that removing the sticker would void the warranty. The barbs have a nice fitting to them.

The sleeved rubber tubes have a length of approximately 320mm excluding barb.

Pump/Block

The block has a stylish design. The complete block is circular in design with the top section having a rounded and edged design. The block has a size of 86x72x36mm. The circular frame or housing is in matte black color.

The top section of the housing has a diffuser inside forming a triangular design. The center of the triangle has an XPG brand logo with a diffuser underneath. There are digital RGB LEDs in the housing under the diffuser.

The above picture shows the tear-up of the pump housing.

The tubes are installed in a 90° mount on the base of the block to make them rotatable giving the user some room to play with the tubes while installing the cooler for the best fitment.

The circular housing and the overall finishing are showing a good machining job.

There are two cables coming out of the housing from the left side. One is the 3-pin power cable and the other is an RGB cable.

The RGB cable coming out of the block has dual connectors. Both are 3-pin (5V) ones. The 3-pin power cable has a length of approximately 295mm. the RGB cable has a length of approximately 575mm+102mm.

The block has a 53mm diameter copper base plate with pre-applied thermal paste. The Asetek has upped their game with the thermal paste as it matches the performance of the Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste. No information on the pump’s performance specifications is provided except that of the power which is 3.9W.

Fan

XPG has bundled two ARGB 120mm fans with the cooler. Each fan has 7x translucent blades. The center is also in translucent white color for even light diffusion. There is an XPG branded sticker in the center. Each blade has a dual-layer design.

There is a second layer on the trailing side. There are channels on the blades for enhanced airflow. There is another ring in the main housing of the fan’s frame. This creates a dual lighting effect on the fan giving one heck of an AURA of lighting. Each mounting corner has an anti-vibration pad on it.

There are no arrow symbols on any side of the frame. These symbols help the user identifying the direction of airflow and blades’ spin. Overall build quality is good and there is no flex in the frame. The extended portion of the central ring results in an expanded lighting effect from the sides.

There is a 4-arm assembly on the backside. The cables are routed through one arm with a latch. VENTO PRO seems to be the name of the fans given by the XPG. The fans are made in China. The RGB ring extends towards the rear side as well.

There are two cables per fan. Both are flat in design. One has the 4-pin PWM connector as well 4-pin PWM header on the same cable. This cable has 106mm+66mm length.

The other cable is the RGB cable. It has a length of 102+68mm approximately. It has a 3-pin RGB LED connector and a header as well.

Speaking of the specification of the fans, here they are:

Accessories

Let’s take a look at the bundled accessories.

XPG has provided two sets of cables in the accessories. There are two 4-pin Extension cables and two RGB LED Extension Cables.

The 4-pin PWM extension cable has an approximate length of 446mm and is flat in design.

The RGB extension cable is 450+65mm and has a 3-pin connector and header as well as a proprietary 3-pin header.

XPG has provided an Asetek Intel backplate with the cooler. There are two dual-sided adhesive pads for the secure installation of the backplate on the motherboard.

There are two mounting brackets/rings. One is for the Intel platform and the other is for the AMD platform.

Unfortunately, there is no dedicated controller provided with the cooler and I was expecting one in this price range. If you are buying this cooler then make sure you have a motherboard with a 5V digital lighting header otherwise say bye-bye to the lighting show.

RGB Lighting

Here are some pictures for your eye pleasure.

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Installation

We have tested the cooler on the X99 platform using the 2011-3 socket. The installation mechanism is as under:

Install the fans on the radiator.

Install the Intel 2011/66 standoffs.

Mount the Intel ring to the housing of the block. Place the block on the CPU and secure the installation using 4x thumb nuts.

Connect the 3-pin power cable of the pump to the header on the motherboard. Daisy chain the 4-pin PWM connector cables and connect it to the CPU Fan header or any other 4-pin PWM header of the motherboard.

Clearance

There is no clearance issue with respect to the DIMM slots and the first PCIe slot. Make sure your chassis has clearance for 240mm radiator mounting.

Testing Methodology

Following test benches have been used: –

• Asus Rampage V Edition 10
• Intel i7 6850k
• XPG Spectrix D41 32GB @ 2666MHz
• Colorful GeForce GTX 1050Ti Vulkan
• Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
• Cooler Master MWE 650W Gold
• Custom Open Air Testbench

The software used for testing and monitoring include:

• Asus Real Bench v 2.56 (Intel)
• Real Temp GT v 3.70 (Intel)

Here is the settings table for testing:

We are using Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste for coolers testing. Using the same thermal paste for all coolers would ensure the standardization. Delta temperatures are reported on the graphs. The testing is done on an open-air bench system. Once inside the chassis, the temperatures are expected to rise and would largely depend upon the optimal airflow inside the chassis.

Not every run of the stress test may yield the same result. This could well be due to many factors like mounting pressure, thermal paste application, varying ambient temperature. Not to mention the silicon differences even among the same category of the chips. Hence, it is pertinent to mention the testing methodology along with the specifics.

Let’s take a look at the results.

Results

Both Asektek coolers namely ASUS ROG RYUO 240 and XPG Levante 240 are sitting next to each other trailing with a difference of over 1°C from non Asetek coolers from CORSAIR and DeepCool.

On Auto PWM, the Levante fans were doing at 1400 RPM range speed. The cooler does a fair job if not better on Auto settings.

Acoustic

The noise level at 100% PWM duty cycle was measured at 49 dB(A) with an ambient sound level of 34 dB(A).

Conclusion

XPG has marked its entry into the coolers market with its liquid coolers named Levante. These coolers are available in two sizes; 120mm and 240mm. We took a spin on their Levante 240 CPU liquid cooler. The cooler is compatible with Intel LGA1200/1366/115x/20xx sockets and the AMD AM4 socket. This is an Asetek design. The cooling capacity is not mentioned by the manufacturer.

The XPG Levante features an Aluminum radiator measuring 272x121x27mm, where 27mm is the thickness or height of the radiator. With installed fans, the overall thickness of the unit would be 53mm, including the screw heads. We have a dense fin stack with a 20 FPI count. I was expecting fans with a high static pressure rating which is not the case. The Levante has a soft rubber tube with a sleeve. The tubes are flexible and don’t kink. Being an Asetek design, the mounting hardware is the same or similar to what we have been seeing on other coolers, with Asetek being OEM.

The block has a black and gray finish with top housing featuring the white color diffuser with ARGB LEDs underneath. The triangular design on top, coupled with XPG branding, gives one dope look when lit up. The base of the cooler has a copper material with a 53mm diameter. The block itself has a measurement of 86x72x36mm. The tubing on the block is done with 90° barb fittings.

The user can rotate the tubes as per the requirement to some extent. The block does not hinder the DIMM slots or the PCIe slot. There is a 3-pin connector cable to power the pump and an ARGB 3-pin connector and header cable for lighting connectivity. I am not sure which generation of Asetek pump the XPG Levante use. The block has pre-applied thermal paste, and Asetek has upped their game with better TIM.

The XPG has bundled two ARGB LED fans with the cooler measuring 120x120x25mm. They have an airflow rating of 61.5 CFM with an average static pressure rating of 1.42 mm H2O. Their sound rating is 34 dBA, and they use fluid dynamic bearing. There is no life span information provided in the specifications. The speed of the fans is rated at 600~2000 RPM ± 10%. Both fans were doing above the 2000 RPM mark.

Each fan has a 4-pin connector and header cable as well as a 3-pin lightning connector and header cable. The length of these cables is small, giving me the impression that XPG was thinking of installing this cooler near to the CPU Fan header/CPU_Opt Fan header on the top of the motherboard. But they have provided two 4-pin PWM fan extension cables to make up for it. Similarly, they have provided 2x lighting extension cables.

The installation was a walk in the park, as has always been the case for the Asetek design. One thing that this cooler lacks is the provision of a dedicated lighting controller. The way they have implemented the lighting cables on the fans and the water block, the user must have a 5V digital lighting header on the motherboard; otherwise, there is no way out. With such steep pricing, I was hoping for the dedicated controller, at least.

We have tested the cooler on the Intel LGA-2011(3) socket using Intel i7 6850k on Asus Rampage V Edition 10. The cooler has performed well, if not the best, and is sitting next to the ASUS RYUO 240, which is also an Asetek design. Nevertheless, it will handle the cooling task at hand. The XPG is offering 2 years warranty on their Levante coolers. The bundled fans can up the game for the XPG if their air pressure rating is improved.

We are thankful to XPG for giving us the opportunity to review their Levante 240 CPU Liquid Cooler.