LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler Review

We were happy to learn that Germany based computer case, power supply and cooling devices developer LC-Power added Socket AM4 support to their cooling products. We had a chance to test one of their all-in-one liquid cooling solutions, the LC-CC-120-LiCo, which comes with a 120 mm fan and an attractive price tag.

Packaging and Accessories

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Packaging

The white colored box is protecting the contents well. All the included parts were without any scratch.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Installation guide

The installation guide supports only English and German at the moment, but it contains clear, detailed drawings so everything is easy to understand.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – AMD Socket AM4 only kit

This special kit was added to the box separately because it only supports AMD Socket AM4 based boards.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Intel and AMD installation kits

The main installation kit supports all the remaining popular CPU sockets are covered. The included black long screws are to be used for the radiator and fan installation. The thermal paste is enough for multiple installations.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – 120 mm fan

Last but not least, the 120 mm fan sports an LC-Power logo added to the top of the rotor. It is nice to see the 4-pin PWM connector which means that the fan speed can be adjusted based on CPU temperature. The speed range goes from 800 to 2200 rpm (+/- 10%), while the airflow ranges from 20,13 to 86,5 CFM (+/- 10%) accordingly. The noise levels are declared to be between 19 and 35 dB(A).

A Closer Look

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – all-in-one solution

The AIO liquid cooling solution that we received from LC-Power features a closed loop which comes pre-filled and ready to be used, which makes it really easy to install. The thickness of the aluminum radiator is circa 34mm. The included rigid plastic tubes are opaque black and somewhat stiff.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – CPU block

The dimensions of the CPU cooling block is 52 x 58 x 38 mm since it contains a pump too. The copper base is not mirror polished, but rather has a rougher finish to it, yet it has no visible issues. LC-Power declares for the block a 180W cooling capacity, which we think is impressive to say the least.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Fan installed

The overall thickness of the radiator with the fan installed reaches 59mm, but it should not be a problem to install it inside most of the traditional PC cases. Shown in the picture is the fan installed so that way it blows the hot air through the radiator and out from inside the case.

Installation

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Installation

After inserting the long screws into the backplate for the Socket AM4, we used the included plastic holders to lock them in place. Contrary to what we would usually expect, the backplate is not made out of metal but hard plastic instead.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Installation

In order to use the backplate and install the cooling block on a socket AM4 motherboard, you need to remove the standard AMD Socket AM4 mounting set from your mainboard.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Installation

The next step is holding the back plate in place and placing the two metal flat bars onto the long screws. Thumb screws are used to fix the plates in place. Before finally installing the cooler block onto the CPU, don’t forget to apply thermal paste on its heatspreader.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Installation done

When placing the cooling block in place on top of the CPU, you need to be careful in aligning the two black spring-loaded screws on the holding metal brackets. It might seem to be somewhat difficult at first, but once you manage to do it correctly, tighten them gradually.

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Blue LED inside

After connecting the fan & pump plugs and powering the system, we are greeted with a blue LED inside the pump body. The pump is surprisingly quiet and it is not possible to hear at 1m distance. The mainboard correctly reports the pump speed to be at around 7000 rpm.

Test Results

Room temperature during tests was kept stable at around 25C. Different CPU coolers were compared under heavy load conditions and the results were taken after the temperatures were stable. We overclocked the CPU (6C/12T) @ 4 GHz increasing the vcore up to 1.38V VCC. Our test system was as follows:

• ASRock X370 Professional Fatal1ty
• AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• 2 x 8 GB G.Skill Flare X DDR4-2400 RAM
• 2 GB Sapphire HD7870XT VGA
• Lite-On 128 GB M.2 SATA SSD
• Xigmatek Maverick S 600W PSU

LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler – Temps

There are no surprises here. Although this is a liquid cooling solution, we did not expect record results, since after all this is only a single 120 mm fan on aluminium radiator solution. Noctua’s high-end top performer dual tower NH-D15 got lower temps but LC-CC-120-LiCo was better than the other Noctua tower heatsink NH-U12S, something that we still consider to be a good result. On the other hand, the pump and fan noise was never annoying and remained subjectively in the “quiet” level area. Fan speed never exceeded 1450 rpms so this contributed to the quiet operation of the LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo CPU Cooler.

Final Thoughts

The LC-Power LC-CC-120-LiCo, which includes a Socket AM4 installation kit, can be actually defined as a hidden gem thanks to the great cooling performance, quick installation, material quality and quiet operation. Both the pump and fan were quieter than expected even under overclock conditions. The MSRP is 59.90€ and honestly this is a very attractive price tag, compared to similar products.

We would like to thank LC-Power for sending this sample for review.

You can find this product as well other products from LC-Power on Amazon.de: