ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme Review – Simplification To The Extreme

Unboxing

Meet ROG’s latest-and-greatest AIO: the new ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme. Recent history taught us that the company’s Extreme line of products is all about balls-to-the-wall, no-holds-barred performance and feature set – and right from the packaging, there’s already hints of some really high-end parts packed within the box.

The accessories that comes with the box includes your usual brackets and screws, but there are a few things to note. For one, the parts for brackets in particular is highly simplified; there’s also a pair of cables, while there are none on the fans. Yep, you’re looking at magnetically-attached fans here, but we’ll get into that in a bit.

Walkaround

The AIO pump of the Ryujin III 360 Extreme consists of four elements into one: the LCD display on top, the AIO pump that does the actual cooling, the VRM fan sandwiched in between that provides airflow to nearby VRM heatsinks, and the integrated bracket with screws already pre-installed.

Let’s go through them separately. The display is a 480p (640 x 480) 60Hz IPS panel that supports full color range, which can display animations or telemetry as configured; the AIO pump itself comes with a pre-applied layer of thermal paste protected by a plastic bracket right out of the box.

Removing the display component reveals the VRM cooler, which spins up to 5,100RPM; the golden contacts on the top right is where it connects the display. Finally, you have two cables coming out of this entire unit: the 4-pin PWM takes care of the VRM fan, while USB delivers data to the display.

Moving on to the radiator and fans. Right out of the box, the radiator is also protected by the plastic protective cover – you’ll need to pinch very hard to get the plastic out of it (I recommend using card-like objects to help pry it off).

This 360mm radiator accommodates three ROG MF-12S ARGB 120mm fans (not available separately at this time), which is entirely cable-less and connects via magnetic pogo pins on the sides. It’s also slightly thicker, coming at 30mm thick, which should deliver extra airflow for better cooling performance.

Here’s how the onboard display looks like when powered on – by default, it’ll activate as soon as the power source is connected, but you can disable this through the Armoury Crate software if needed.

Specifications

ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme

Full specifications available in product page.

CPU socket compatibility		Intel: LGA1851/1700/1200/1151/1150/1155/1156 AMD: Socket AM5/AM4
Radiator dimensions		399.5 x 120 x 30 mm
Radiator tubing		400mm sleeved rubber
Fan(s)	Model	3x ASUS ROG MF-12S ARGB Extreme (120mm)
	Size	120 x 120 x 30 mm
	Speed	0~2800 (±10%) RPM
	Airflow	89.73 CFM
	Pressure	5.15 mmH₂O
	Noise	36dBA
	MTTF	Unspecified
Pump/Block	Block Type	Asetek Emma [Gen8] V2
	Size	89 x 92 x 108 mm
	Embedded Fan	VRM cooler 5100 RPM (±10%), 5.53 mmH₂O, 21.08 CFM
	Flow Rate	21.08 CFM
	Noise	Unspecified
MTTF	Unspecified
Onboard display		Magnetically-attached 3.5-inch IPS display 640×480 @ 60Hz, brightness unspecified
Included accessories		12x Case screws 12x Radiator screws 12x Radiator washers 4x Intel bracket collars 1x Intel bracket 1x AMD bracket (2-part) 1x Velcro tape (pre-installed) 1x Magnetic daisy-chain cable (male) 1x Magnetic daisy-chain cable (female) 1x Quick start guide 1x ROG sticker pack 1x ROG VIP card

Test System

CPU	Intel Core i9-13900K
Cooling	ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme Cooler Master MasterGel Maker
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 HERO
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition
Memory	Kingston FURY RENEGADE RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 (2x16GB)
Storage	ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB
Power Supply	GameMax GX-1050 PRO BK (ATX 3.1) 1050W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 23H2

*Note: for comparison purposes, we removed the pre-applied thermal paste that comes with the AIO and replaced it with our standard Cooler Master MasterGel Maker thermal paste.

Installation

Let’s start our installation process with the radiator and fans. To begin, secure the fans using radiator screws and washers. Since you have no cables to worry about, all you need to do is to make sure the pogo pins align on three fans, and they should attach magnetically. Here, pick either of the two cables depending on your installation method – these are female and male connectors that carry the PWM and ARGB signal into one cable that can be easily hidden in the case.

Here we’ll demonstrate the installation for Intel LGA1700/1851 platforms, both of which share the same 78 x 78mm bracket size. Take the Intel bracket and align the standoffs into correct positions – for our ROG Maximus Z790 motherboard, it supports both 75×75 and 78×78 configurations, but we’ll use the 78×78 configuration for this example.

Then, insert the socket collars to hold the bracket in place. Note that this may require significant force, but it’s fine if you can’t manage to insert it all the way as the installation of the AIO pump will take care of that later on. On the AIO pump, make sure to align the screws to correct position by sliding the screw’s position outward for 78×78 configuration. From that point on, it’s simple business: just screw it in (you may need to use some force to overcome the friction of the socket collars), and you’re good to go.

Performance

Given that 360mm AIOs are usually very capable coolers, we’re taking it straight to the limit by subjecting them to 250 watts of power produced by the Intel Core i9-13900K processor. The Ryujin III 360 Extreme pretty much goes toe-to-toe with the Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux, both maintaining low 80s throughout this 10-minute stress test.

Here’s another perspective with the power limits removed, and the Core i9 is allowed to boost as hard as the coolers would allow. Here, the Ryujin III 360 Extreme managed to extract around 10 watts more on average compared to the Cooler Master AIO, with our Ryujin II unit quite a bit behind just barely able to push beyond Intel’s stock power limits.

Comparing the Ryujin III 360 Extreme to its predecessor and our current serving AIO of the benchmark system, ASUS’s own fan designs does fall behind in the noise department, particularly at maximum fan speeds. 55dBA is significantly more noticeable than 50dBA (remember, loudness goes by a logarithmic scale), so that’s one shortcoming for the new Ryujin AIO that you’ll have to deal with.

Software

As usual, the ASUS Armoury Crate takes care of both the display and fan controls of the Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme, though the fan controls itself can be handed off to any host motherboard given that they use standard PWM and ARGB connections. The fan controls for the pump and the VRM fan are separately managed from the radiator fans, and they also operate independently from the auto tuning feature available in our Maximus motherboard.

Verdict

So, here’s the takeaway: the ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme does one thing particularly great, and it’s the installation process. Not often you’ll see the parts being so much simplified for accessibility and aesthetics, and this is one of those coolers that can provide you with one of the cleanest PC builds you can get.

Besides that, the VRM cooler also removes any potential bottlenecks that may occur from overheating MOSFETs, useful if your motherboard has a less beefy heatsink. In our case, it’s not that necessary given just how overbuilt the coolers are on ROG motherboards, but your mileage will certainly vary here.

That being said, it’s not perfect – while the fans have a ton of convenience built-in, the noise performance is something worth improving on. Another big issue I’ve had with the installation, or rather, the removal, is the force required to remove the bracket collars.

Remember when I said you need to use quite a lot of force to fully insert the collars? Pulling them out would be doubly difficult, and I had to resort to disassembling the motherboard entirely to give me enough room to grab them out using a great deal of force. (NOTE: We inquired ASUS on this matter, and they confirmed that Asetek – the company responsible for the pump block – will make adjustments on the collar design to solve this. However, the exact course of action for existing units is still undetermined at the time of publishing.)

So, what does all of this together ask for? The answer is an eye-watering price of RM2,399. If you want a good-looking, easy-to-install, high-performance AIO cooler to maximize your CPU’s potential, this will be a decent choice – if not outright an expensive one.

Special thanks to ASUS Malaysia for providing the ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme AIO cooler for this review.