Over the past few years, as high-end CPUs have become more thermally demanding, cooling manufacturers have released upgraded liquid coolers to effectively dissipate more heat. This summer in particular has seen the release of many impressive liquid coolers from the likes of Cooler Master, DeepCool, and others.
Today we’re looking at the latest 280mm AIO from Lian Li, the Galahad II LCD. It features Asetek’s latest 8th generation liquid pump, plus fans optimized by Asetek for low noise levels. But will it be enough to tame Intel’s i7-13700K and earn a spot on our Best AIO Coolers list? We’ll have to put it through testing to say for sure. But first, here are the cooler’s specifications, direct from Lian Li.
Cooler Specifications
| Cooler | Lian Li Galahad II LCD 280 |
| MSRP | $229.99 |
| Radiator Material | Single Wave Aluminum Fins |
| Pump | 8th Generation Asetek Design |
| Pump Speed | 3600 RPM |
| Pump MTTF | Unlisted |
| Socket Compatibility | Intel LGA 1700/115x/1200 AMD: AM5/AM4 |
| Base (CPU & SSD) | Copper |
| Max TDP (Our Testing) | ~250W on Intel i7-13700K |
| Installed Size (with fans) | 319.5mm (L) x 140mm (W) x 55mm (D) |
| Warranty | 6 years |
Packing and Included Contents
Lian Li’s Galahad II LCD 280 arrives in a very wide box. The shape reminds me of an ultrawide 32:9 computer monitor.
Included with the package are the following:
- Two 140mm fans, pre-installed
- 280mm radiator
- 2.9-inch IPS 480 x 480-resolution display
- PWM & ARGB cords
- Cable management Velcro strap
- Mounts for all modern CPUs
- Pre-installed thermal paste
- Tube of thermal paste
LGA 1700 Cooler Installation
As with other AIOs, I recommend securing the radiator to your computer case before any other steps are taken.
1. Intel users will begin by pressing the backplate against the motherboard and secure it sliding on the standoffs to secure it.
2. Next, take the CPU block and press it against the CPU. Use the included thumbscrews to secure the unit against the motherboard.
3. Now you’ll need to decide how you want to control the device. You can connect the fans directly to the AIO for control via Lian Li’s L-Connect 3 software suite, or you can connect them to your motherboard’s PWM and ARGB headers for a more traditional configuration.
4. Don’t forget to take off the plastic peel on the screen before turning on your computer.
Features of the Lian Li Galahad II LCD
▶ LCD Display CPU block
The most eye-catching feature of this AIO is, as its name implies, the vibrant LCD display panel on the top of the CPU block. It’s a square 2.88-inch (480 x 480-pixel) IPS screen.
▶ L-Connect 3 Software Suite
To utilize the IPS display, you’ll need to download the latest version of Lian Li’s L-Connect software, which also offers (optional) integration to control fan and pump speeds as well as ARGB lighting settings.
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You’ll find a wide variety of customization options for the LCD display offered within the software. You can choose from a variety of effects, and even upload a video up to 3 minutes long. I’ve demoed some of these effects below.
▶ 8th-generation Asetek water pump
The Galahad II LCD features the latest (8th generation) Asetek water pump, which Asetek claims delivers up to a 2°C/100W improvement compared to its previous generation design.
- Upgraded pump utilizes a three-phase motor for higher liquid flow and quieter operation
- Optimized design increases overall surface area and decreases flow impedance
- Under-the-hood enhancements for quieter operation versus previous generations
▶ Copper Contact Plate
This AIO arrives has a pure copper CPU contact plate, its design has been optimized by for the latest Intel and AMD CPUs.
▶ Extra thermal paste
Most coolers come with either a small tube of thermal paste or pre-installed paste, but Lian Li goes the extra mile and includes a small tube of thermal paste, along with what’s pre-applied, to facilitate multiple installations of the cooler.
▶ Velcro straps for cable management
Lian Li includes velcro straps with the AIO, which can be used to manage cables or the liquid tubing.
▶ Rotatable tubing
The tubing of the liquid cooler can be rotated, making installation easier.
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▶ 30mm thick radiator
The AIO includes a radiator 30mm thick. With fans installed, the thickness is a total of 55mm.
▶ Full RAM compatibility
As the AIO’s CPU block doesn’t overhang or interfere with a motherboard’s DIMM slots in any manner, you are free to use any size of RAM, no matter how tall, without any worries of incompatibility.
▶ Two 140mm performance-focused fans
There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling, noise levels, and the unit’s looks. The fans included are listed as “performance” models, which aren’t sold separately at this time. These fans are 9-bladed and optimized for lower noise levels. They come pre-installed, making installation easier and faster.
Additionally, the fans utilize Lian Li’s daisy-chaining system which makes cable management much simpler. The fans can be controlled by the motherboard using the standard PWM and ARGB cable included, or connected directly to the AIO pump for control via the L-Connect 3 software suite.
| Model | Lian Li 140mm Performance fans |
| Dimensions | 143 x 140 x 25mm |
| Fan Speed | Up to 1550 RPM |
| Air Flow | Up to 89.7 CFM |
| Air Pressure | Up to 2.99 mmH2O |
| Bearing Type | Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) |
| Lighting | ARGB |
| MFFT | Unlisted |
LGA1700 Socket Bending
Note there are many factors other than the CPU cooler that can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system’s motherboard can also influence this, especially if it suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU.
In order to prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, we’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of them showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.
Testing Methodology
Modern high-end CPUs, whether Intel or AMD, are difficult to cool in intensive workloads. In the past reaching 95 degrees Celsius or more on a desktop CPU might have been a cause for concern – but with today’s flagship processors, it is considered normal operation. Similar behavior has been present in laptops for years due to cooling limitations in tight spaces.
All testing is performed with a 23C ambient room temperature. Multiple thermal tests are run on each CPU to test the cooler in a variety of conditions, and acoustic measurements are taken with each result. These tests include:
1. Noise-normalized testing at low noise levels
2. “Out of the box”/default configuration thermal and acoustics testing
a. No power limits enforced
b. Because CPUs hit TJ Max in this scenario, the best way to compare cooling strength is by recording the total CPU package power consumption.
3. Thermal and acoustic testing in power-limited scenarios
a. Power limited to 175W to emulate a medium-intensity workload
b. Power limited to 125W to emulate a low-intensity workload
The thermal results included are for 10-minute testing runs. To be sure that was sufficiently long to tax the cooler, we tested both Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE and DeepCool’s LT720 with a 30-minute Cinebench test with Intel’s i9-13900K for both 10 minutes and 30 minutes. The results didn’t change much at all with the longer test: The average clock speeds maintained dropped by 29 MHz on DeepCool’s LT720 and 31 MHz on Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE. That’s an incredibly small 0.6% difference in clock speeds maintained, a margin of error difference that tells us that the 10-minute tests are indeed long enough to properly test the coolers.
Testing Configuration – Intel LGA1700 Platform
| CPU | Intel Core i7-13700K |
| Motherboard | MSI Z690 A Pro DDR4 |
| Case | Be Quiet! Silent Base 802, system fans set to speed 1 setting. |
| Monitor | LG 45GR95QE |
| PSU | Cooler Master XG Plus 850 Platinum PSU |
| SSD | 2TB TeamGroup Z540 PCIe 5 SSD |
No Power Limits Thermal Results
Without power limits enforced on Intel’s i7-13700K, the CPU will hit its peak temperature and thermally throttle with even the strongest of air coolers. For most coolers, we’ll measure the CPU package power to determine the maximum wattage cooled.
Well, that is what I would do for most coolers, but Lian Li’s GA II LCD 280 achieves a level of cooling performance that many competing liquid coolers are unable to achieve – it kept Intel’s i7-13700K under its peak temperature in this workload. As such, I’ve compared the actual temperature of the CPU in this benchmark against the only eleven liquid coolers I’ve tested capable of this level of cooling capacity.
With a result of 67C over ambient, the 280mm version of the GA II LCD performs on par with the 360mm DeepCool LT720 and MSI S360 AIOs. This is an extremely strong result. Only Lian Li’s 360mm GA II Performance and Cooler Master’s 360 Atmos perform significantly better in this scenario.
Thermal performance is important here, but noise levels are also a key part of the user experience. Lian Li’s GA II LCD 280 delivered especially quiet results in this test, running quieter than any of the previously tested coolers. These noise levels are incredibly impressive when you consider the cooler is keeping Intel’s i7-13700K under TJ Max!
Thermal Results with noise normalized to 38.2 dBA
Finding the right balance between fan noise levels and cooling performance is important. While running fans at full speed can improve cooling capacity to some extent, the benefits are limited and many users prefer a quiet system. With this noise normalized test, I’ve set noise levels to 38.2 dba. This noise level is a low volume level (but slightly audible to most people).
Folks who prefer silent performance will love Lian Li’s 280mm GA II. it rose to the top of the charts in this test, tying the 360mm version of the non-LCD GA II for the best performance I’ve ever seen from an AIO when set to run quietly.
175W Cinebench Results
Most coolers on the market are able to keep Intel’s i7-13700K under its peak temperature if the power consumption is limited. So for this test we’ll be looking at the CPU’s actual temperature. Here Lian Li’s 280mm GA II LCD does well, tied with its 240mm sibling for the second-best results we’ve recorded on this test bench, measuring just 49 degrees Celsius over a 23 degrees C ambient temperature.
But as you should know, temperatures aren’t the only part of the story with a reduced wattage workload, noise is equally important. With a measurement of only 41.4 dBA recorded, Lian Li’s 280mm GA II LCD doesn’t get noisy. A result like this means that you don’t really need to tune your fans with this cooler if moderate noise doesn’t bother you.
125W Cinebench Results
The lowest power limit I test with Raptor Lake CPUs is 125W. This is a high enough limit to allow the CPU to maintain its base clock speeds, even in the most intensive tests, and most coolers should be able to keep the CPU below TJ Max – even low-end coolers.
Looking at thermal performance, the result of 37 degrees C over ambient is really good – better than most of the other 360mm AIOs tested here. But really, thermals do not matter much in this scenario. Even Intel’s basic stock cooler can handle a load like this with ease.
Noise levels, rather than CPU temperature, are the most important factor here – and Lian Li’s 280mm GA II ties for the second-quietest results from an AIO in this test.
Conclusion
Lian Li’s Galahad II LCD 280 shows that with the right design, you don’t need a 360mm AIO or a loud cooler to keep Intel’s i7-13700K under TJ Max. Its performance is amongst the best we’ve seen from any AIO, and its limited 280mm size means that it will fit in many cases where a 360mm model won’t. The included LCD display is vibrant and adds eye-catching functionality to the cooler’s aesthetics.
If this sounds like a cooler you’d enjoy, the Galahad II LCD 280 is available for $229.99 USD. That’s on the expensive end of the AIO spectrum. But if the LCD display isn’t your thing or you’re on a budget, the non-LCD versions of the Galahad II are available for $159.99 for the 360mm version and $119.99 for the 240mm model.