The ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 is a prime example of the company's continued effort to take things to an extreme. Not content with the small OLED display built into the previous Ryujin series of coolers, they opted to go big rather than go home. The new 3.5" LCD display offers bright, crisp visuals and can be used to monitor various things when paired with AIDA64 Extreme, such as FPS, GPU clock, CPU clock, etc. On top of that, it can be used to display custom graphics. If you're looking at adding custom images or GIF files, you can have up to seven of them with a maximum file size of 16 MB. To be blunt, the LCD is the main focal point, and while not a new feature, ASUS certainly took it a step further, and it's likely why you are considering the Ryujin II 360 to begin with. The Noctua fans are also a great addition from a build quality and performance standpoint. They add to the overall quality feel of the product and are likely one of the reasons ASUS backs their latest AIO with a six-year warranty. That said, ASUS does need to improve the packaging because my review sample's radiator took a few bumps during shipping and had many, albeit only slightly, bent fins. While they can be bent back, it's a pain, and to be honest, for the price point of the cooler, the end-user shouldn't need to worry about whether it's going to arrive in good shape or not.

When it comes to pure performance, the ROG Ryujin II 360 is a mixed bag. I wouldn't say it's terrible as it easily handled the OC tests on both platforms. The problem is that it couldn't beat many other 360 mm AIO coolers and barely edged out 280 mm and even 240 mm offerings on AMD. On Intel, things were considerably better, but even so, I was hoping for more consistent results. ASUS opting to use Noctua IndustrialPPC fans was a fantastic decision, as good fans can shave off a few degrees, but they are not a panacea, and even with top-quality fans, the ROG Ryujin II 360 doesn't quite excel. With the converted price being so high for the ASUS AIO, the more affordable options have an insurmountable advantage on the value front. For example, the Lian Li Galahad 240 offers far better bang for the buck as it's extremely close in terms of performance while also being less than half the price. Suffice it to say, the ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 is placing all its eggs in one basket with the LCD display. If you really want it, the price tag likely will not deter you, but for those on the fence, other options will likely be more attractive.

Sadly, the LCD display also means you are stuck with software bloat and the use of connectors that, while not proprietary, might as well be. Pump power is delivered via a micro-USB cable that connects to the fan hub. If the fan hub ever dies, you are out of luck. While the warranty is fantastic and gives some peace of mind, the design remains a weak point as far as I am concerned. Another weak point is the embedded fan which does cool the area around it and provides ventilation for the LCD components but doesn't kick in until temperatures are quite high. This is a mixed blessing. At lower loads, the fan will not spin or will be at a low enough RPM to be very quiet; however, if the CPU does get hot, the embedded fan is the biggest contributor to noise when the CPU is being pushed hard. Even so, you can, at least over the ASUS software, set custom profiles for the pump, radiator fans, and embedded fan, which lets you find your own sweet spot. However, ASUS does not use core temperatures to dictate the fan RPM, instead opting for CPU package temperatures or something similar. This needs to be changed, or at least allow the user to select a different sensor. Why, you ask? Because on the Intel side of things, core temperatures will spike long before the CPU package. For example, in a test where the CPU cores peaked at 78°C, the package temperature was only reading 64°C, which means the CPU could hit a thermal throttle point momentarily before the fans ramp up. Thankfully, that is something that can be addressed with a software update. It should also be noted that on less power-hungry processors, these issues may never present themselves, which is something to consider if you're using a six or eight-core CPU as opposed to the ten and twelve-core processors used in today's review.

Overall, the ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 is a good all-around performer that looks to appeal to a very specific customer. As such, if you want an all-in-one liquid cooler with an LCD display, by all means, ASUS has you covered, but if you were expecting better performance, especially for the price, you might want to look elsewhere, in particular if using an AMD processor.