XSPC AX280 Radiator Review

XSPC AX280 Radiator Review

Welcome to Extreme Rigs’ first radiator review of 2016. Over the holiday season our thermal rig has been chugging away logging data for ten various 280mm radiators and after crunching and sorting the data we are pleased to announce we are ready to start publishing the 280mm radiator reviews.

Today we’ll be looking at a White AX280 from XSPC which is also available in a black finish. The AX280 was released in late 2015 along with the AX140, AX420 and AX560 models. This 140mm fan size AX range adds to XSPC’s successful AX series for 120mm sized fans which has proven popular with water coolers for many years because of the stylish design, quality materials and competitive pricing.

So with this AX280 review we’ll find out if the AX280 keeps the AX series flag flying by taking a close look at it’s construction, analyzing the performance data and comparing it’s results against the other 280mm radiators we have tested.

Firstly a big thanks to XSPC for providing the review sample of the AX280. The support offered by XSPC in supplying review samples is greatly appreciated by Extreme Rigs and ultimately means you the reader can make more informed purchase decisions.

Before we start we would again like to say thanks to Noctua for providing the NF-A14 Industrial PPC-2000 IP67 PWM 140mm fans. We use these fans for all our 140mm based radiator thermal performance testing because they have great static pressure which is required to get the best performance from even densest of radiator cores and of course, their proven reliability.

What’s in the Box?

The AX280 sample arrived in full retail packaging which let’s be honest, is about as plain as it could be without going all “brown box” on us.

The all black box is consistent with a lot of XSPC’s current range, others are in fact “brown box” which we don’t mind, because it’s what’s inside that counts. I’m sure that 99% of buyers don’t mind plain packaging if the associated savings are passed along into the retail price of the item.

It would appear the box’s are printed for the black AX280s, and for the white version a sticker is appropriately placed.

Flipping the lid we see a screw length warning is on the front panel.

Inside we are happy to see the radiator has a bubble wrap sleeve to protect the pain finish from scuffing during transport

BUT we are not so happy with the way the supplied screws are placed on top of the radiator. Even though the the bag of screws is taped to a piece of cardboard and tot he bag inside, we have received radiators in the past with bent over fins with this exact way the screws are “placed” in the box. We don’t think it would take much more time and effort to fold the cardboard in half and place it at the end of the radiator.  Now to be clear, this particular radiator wasn’t damaged in any way by the screws, but we do think some other manufacturer’s have a better packaging setup.  XSPC have responded to this saying that actually that was the old method which resulted in more damage:

“We used to put them at the end in a separate cardboard box, but they caused damage to the end tanks. It’s possible to get damage from the way we ship them, but it would have to be a direct impact on that location. Most impacts are at the ends of the box which is why we don’t put the screws there.”

Extent of delivery as listed by XSPC:

Enclosed:

• 30mm and 6mm 6-32 UNC screws

8 screws of each length are provided, so there are enough to fit the radiator with either Push OR Pull fans mounted to a case panel, BUT NOT Push/Pull.

For a Push/Pull assembly you will need to acquire another 8 x 30mm 6/32 screws which XSPC conveniently sold in 4 packs if you want matching screw sets.

The two sets of hex head screws also have a Phillips Head screwdriver slot which makes for fast and easy installation with a back up in case one or the other ever gets rounded off or you can’t find your screw driver.
The threads are 6/32 UNC which we prefer over a 3mm thread for radiators because it is coarser and more tapered, meaning less chance of cross threading, and (theoretically) able to hold more weight which is of more concern with the larger sized radiators.

The thread length of the longer set is 30mm, but we measure the short screws at 5mm, not 6mm as listed, however 5mm should be long enough for use with all but the thickest of case panels.

The screw fitting warning on the box clearly shows us not to use the 30mm screws when fitting the radiator directly to a case panel. This makes us smile.

So we have been warned!

If using a mounting bracket or vibration adsorbing gaskets choose your custom screw lengths carefully and check compatibility prior to final fitting, and remember to make compensation for the amount of compression when tightening down if foam gaskets are fitted.

Onwards to technical specifications!