Lian Li Hydroshift 2 - A Better Cooling Solution?

Sam Thwaytes
Jun 2
10 min read

Lian Li Hydroshift II Uni Fan SL Infinity Wireless O11 Dynamic Evo Mr Matt Lee

How often do we see new all in one CPU coolers come along? It’s pretty regular right? They’re all pretty similar, a pump head to be mounted on the motherboard with tubes going to a radiator, typically mounted above. Some have LCD screens, or an RGB block, perhaps RGB fans on the radiator. Heck, we’ve even seen a pump head with a curved screen wrapping around it - that was pretty cool! Typically the all in one coolers featured on the channel are high class units, well made and highly performant, but this week we’ve managed to get hold of something that is all of those things, whilst being a bit different. The Hydroshift II LCD-C has a very unique feature set, it builds upon last year's Hydroshift, updating the hidden tubes design, but adding a new control system, and a few other nice quirks. We paired it with the new Uni Fan SL-Infinty Wireless fans from Lian Li to create something a bit special. I guess we should get into it!

Cooler Overview

The Hydroshift II from Lian Li hits differently, straight out of the box, ignoring the bells and whistles. We love how clean the design of the water block is. Our sample unit is the white version, but from what we can see in images of the black version, it is aesthetically equal. The water block is a white cylinder topped by a silver disc encased by an RGB ring and finished off by a 2.1 inch, circular IPS-LCD screen.

Attached are, as you may expect 2 pipes for the coolant to flow through, running to the radiator. Lian Li have kept a similar design for this part to the original iteration of the Hydroshift, the coolant piping is supposed to sit at the top of the waterblock, going directly up, then there are brackets which sweep the pipes down the back of the radiator. It keeps the pipes off show, which has previously given a minimalist aesthetic, which regular views/readers will know is right up our alley! The brackets holding the pipes behind the radiator are adjustable, allowing the user to alter where the pipes come out, allowing for them to have a very straight appearance in the finished build. There is one caveat here though, because of hidden pipes, the radiator unit needs greater width inside the case than a standard 360mm radiator. Lian Li recommends that this cooler should only be used in cases which have support of 140mm in the area you wish to put the radiator to make sure there is sufficient clearance.

To make the new release stand out from the previous generation, Lian Li has been working a little design and technical magic to the water block. Firstly it’s ‘cable free’ - of course it isn’t actually cable free, but the power and control cables are wound along one of the coolant pipes. Regardless of the semantics of whether there are cables, this design choice has made it perhaps the cleanest looking waterblock yet, as you can’t see the cables or where they’re connected. To further enhance the seamless design there is included in the box a cover for the mounting bracket, which I was skeptical about, but it does help with aesthetics.

Where the Hydroshift II really comes into its own is in how it is controlled. There are 3 ways to alter both the screen and lighting on show: offline mode, wireless mode and USB-streaming. Both wireless mode and USB-streaming are very similar, allowing control from the Lian Li L-Connect software. Interestingly for full control of the LCD using wireless mode the pump head needs to be connected to a USB header, making it functionally and physically the same as USB-streaming mode. The special part here is offline mode the RGB ring on the pump head swivels to cycle through RGB colours and preset modes for the LCD display. Turn clockwise to cycle between display presets and anti-clockwise to cycle between RGB colours. My favourite part is the feeling of cycling through, there is a ratchet style click with each micro-movement. It’s reminiscent of the bezel on a high quality watch, it doesn’t feel exactly the same as the ring is much larger and made of plastic, but it is extremely satisfying! As a useful addition, the pump is also auto controlled in offline mode, using coolant temperature as the measurement of how fast the pump should spin - a pretty clever way to do it in the absence of other data. Will the average user use offline mode? Probably not, the AIO is most functional when correctly connected, but it is a thoughtful addition and cool party trick nonetheless.

There will be three versions of the Hydroshift II available, we have the fanless variant, which as the name suggests comes without fans.

It’s a choice we respect as it allows the user to have matching fans throughout without having to remove preinstalled fans. There are 2 versions with fans too, for those that want them included, and each had a different RGB signature. The first includes Uni Fan CL Wireless fans, which have an RGB centre and include Lian Li’s wireless RGB tech. The second bundle in 3 Uni Fan TL Wireless which feature edge lighting and infinity displays. There is a difference in spec between them:

Interestingly it is only the most expensive option which ships with the wireless controller, so you’ll need to look at getting one separately. I suppose as I’ve mentioned it, we should have a quick look at pricing:

Hydroshift II LCD-C 360TL (with wireless sync controller) - MSRP $239.99

Hydroshift II LCD-C 360CL (without wireless sync controller) - MSRP $179.99

Hydroshift II LCD-C 360N (without fans or wireless sync controller) - MSRP $159.99

Uni Fan SL-Infinity Overview

It seems to happen 3 or 4 times a year, but Lian Li has yet more fans to release! We will let them off with their constant release cycle though, as their fans are always high quality, and each release offers an aesthetic or technical difference from the last. This time we have an update to the Uni Fan SL-Infinty range. These are typically seen as the top end from Lian Li, with class leading performance and as many different types of RGB lighting as they can cram in. So, what has been updated this time.

Well Lian Li aficionados will already have guessed the technical upgrade, the SL-Infinity range is going wireless with its RGB. I’ve already covered how it works before, but let’s have a quick TLDR:

The fans clip together in a row, as expected from Lian Li, passing fan and RGB signals between fans which are physically connected.
Each bank of fans has a single clip on cable to attach to the end to provide power for both the fan motor and RGB.
Each bank of fans should be connected to a Lian Li fan converter (included with a 3 pack), which takes 3 fan PWM connectors and powers them through sata.
Once powered up Lian Li’s wireless fans will automatically connect to a L-Wireless receiver (included with a 3 pack of fans) which allows RGB and fan speed to be controlled using L-Connect software.
The L-Wireless receiver must in turn be connected to either a USB-A port on the PC or a USB header on the motherboard and a PWM header.

So all in all, there are a lot of cables, but yet it is actually still significantly less than having to find RGB headers for the fans, so it’s a net saving for cable management. Which as a cable master is music to my ears!

The other notable update to the Uni Fan SL-Wireless is to the RGB. The 3 zone lighting remains. Zone 1 is the fan blades and centre infinity mirror, zone 2 consists of the edge lighting around the fan and the outer zone of the side infinity mirror and zone 3 is an independent strip in the middle of the side infinity mirror. So you can have tri-toned lighting for your fans. It’s not really our style, but we know some of you like to go all out with RGB, so you can really go all out with these!

What's new here is there are 2 included designs of the edge infinity mirrors, a more traditional Lian Li design on one side and a new square formation on the other. As the cables connected to the fans are reversible it gives a new aesthetic choice. We’d advise having them all matching, but you could mix and match designs.

As far as performance goes, they look to remain a top tier option. Here’s the performance data for those that want it:

Build Notes

Considering the new hardware on offer, this was going to be an exciting build! Though having built with the first Hydroshift we knew that the aesthetics offered by the hidden AIO pipes came at the cost of it being easy to fit. Here’s a rundown of the parts used, then I suppose we should get into the building experience:

Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X 3D

GPU: ROG Astral RTX 5080

RAM: Manta Xsky 32GB

MOBO: ROG Strix X870-A Gaming Wifi

PSU: Lian Li Edge1300

Cooler: Lian Li HydroShift II LCD-C 360N

Fans: Lian Li Uni Fan SL Infinity Wireless

Storage: Kingston KC3000 2TB

Thermal Paste: Noctua NT-H2

The build itself was pretty straightforward, putting a motherboard together is always the same. The O11 Dynamic Evo is always a pleasure to build with, thanks to its masses of space and will support pretty much all hardware. As I alluded to, the only real niggle came from the Hydroshift II, but it wasn’t quite in the way we expected. Lian Li have changed how the pump is mounted to the motherboard, at least for AM5. This time the mounting hardware is fixed on and then the cold plate is slid on top sideways. Doing this means thermal paste must be spread on the CPU, which we’re not fond of doing, but needs must! Mounting in this way also caused us to deviate from our usual PC building ritual, normally we like to attach the AIO pump before putting the motherboard in the case. Due to the pipes being routed down the side of the radiator and the new mounting mechanism we had to put the motherboard in the case first. I know most do it this way and we’re the odd ones, but hey, we like routine! I also know it’s very much a nit-pick that only those that build PC’s as a profession will really care about too, none of the above really takes away from what Lian Li is trying to do.

Once the radiator was in we were glad the mounting system on the O11 Dynamic Evo allows for the mounting plate to be removed as pipe placement needed to be adjusted slightly. It was easy enough to do, loosen off the mounts, slide them into place and tighten them back up. If you’re using a case which doesn’t have a removable top mounting plate we’d suggest screwing in the corners first, seeing how it sits and readjusting, removing 4 screws to make adjustments is much better than removing all 12.

Once the radiator was in, everything else was pretty plain sailing, all other components fit where they should without any issues.

Once the system was booted, using Lian Li’s L-Connect software was a breeze. It is one of the more consistent RGB/fan control systems that we’ve used, it’s all fairly intuitive and the wireless RGB elements showed up without issue.

Airflow

The Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo, kitted out with 10 of Lian Li’s top tier Uni Fan SL’s, yes please! There was zero doubt going in that this build would perform flawlessly in the airflow department, and we’re pleased to say it did exactly that. Air was rapidly taken and ejected, being spread evenly around the case.

It was also very interesting to see the ROG Astral in action in an enclosed case, we’ve only tested this on an open chassis before now. You can see the smoke being passed through and a little tornado formation on top. The internet does like to worry about this card being loud thanks to the reverse blade fan on the top, and the internet is partially right here, it is…… But only at full speed, and that is something it won’t need to be doing unless it’s being overclocked hard! If you are buying an Astral to push it to its absolute limit we doubt you care about the noise of a fan whirring.

Thermal Performance

Ambient Temp 22.8°C

Cyberpunk 2077

2560x1440

Location: Ghost Town

Quick Preset: Raytracing Overdrive

Frame Generation: Off

81-96 FPS

63°C CPU

52°C GPU

System Power Draw: ~460w

Spiderman Remastered

2560x1440

Very High Preset

230-245 FPS

52°C CPU

57°C GPU

Furmark 2

2560 x 1440

297 FPS

64°C GPU Temp

75°C Hotspot

CPU-Z

Max Temp 60°C

Fan Speed ~1700 rpm

Thermals stayed very steady and entirely in a safe zone under pressure, so it seems the combination of the Hydroshift and the Uni Fans SL Infinity’s was working as expected - not that there was really any doubt!

Noise Testing

As we're testing the full build the results are indicative of that, changing out components would alter results. We use a decibel meter at a distance of 50cm from the PC - which is approx normal seating position in a set-up where the PC is on the desk. The lowest reading available from the device is 30db.

Ambient noise: <30db

Fans at idle: <30db

Fans at 50% GPU Fans 50%: 32-33db (AVG)

Fans at 80% GPU Fans 75%: <47db (AVG)

Roundup

I must admit I started the week thinking ‘not another Lian Li fan release’ but I’ve pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. I tend to stay away from release announcements and such in the PC space and only tend to look at the press packs once my article is done to make sure nothing is missed, it makes sure my opinions are my own. So with that said I was just expecting a fairly mediocre week with incremental upgrades, but the improvements to the Hydroshift have truly impressed me. Is it just another AIO? Well, yes, but the almost tubeless design, classy RGB ring on the pump head and the offline control combined with how satisfying it is to turn the control ring have added up to something which does stand apart. From a performance perspective is it special? Yes, but also no. It performs as well as any of the other top players, and from a physics standpoint it’s difficult to go beyond that without a brand new idea.

As for the Uni Fan SL-Wireless units, we’re pleased Lian Li are carrying on with the wireless RGB. As a solution to cable nightmares it’s good, it doesn’t solve the problem, but it does help a lot! The inclusion of different RGB signatures on each side is good to see, giving choice, but yet not making users decide at the point of purchase. As for their performance, they’ve proven to be everything they should be from a brand known for their fans.

Check out the full build video below.

Blog post written by Sam Thwaytes

Affiliate Links

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MOBO: https://amzn.to/4jtcXhI

PSU: https://amzn.to/3ZGXJhI

Cooler (Uni Fan CL): https://amzn.to/3ZFHLEF

Fans: Coming Soon

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