Introduction

I've covered over 20 brands in the DIY PC watercooling space thus far, and well over 50 radiators in that time. In fact, my very first watercooling product review here was of a radiator from Hardware Labs well over five years ago. Somehow the Raijintek brand has never had an entry despite it expanding from strength to strength and getting a global reseller network on board, too. It's time to change that with the first of several Raijintek product reviews coming up courtesy the brand having arranged a collection of parts for TechPowerUp!


I still am in the middle of a big radiator test schedule, so having Raijintek's debut in the watercooling category begin with its most popular radiator makes sense. Titled the Calore Elite CA series, I have the CA360 representative. This is a 27 mm thick radiator to accompany the 65 mm thick Calore C360D, and there are even a couple of Raijintek radiators with RGB LEDs. The company aims for the Calore Elite CA360—henceforth simply referred to as the Raijintek CA360 for convenience—to offer good value for money as it participates in an extremely competitive market segment that has not really had anything noteworthy debuting in a while. Today, we find out whether Raijintek can turn the tide, and we begin this review with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

I've been so used to minimalist, monochrome packaging for radiators that the colors of the product box for the Raijintek CA360 radiator almost took me by surprise. It certainly catches the eye if chancing upon it in a brick-and-mortar store, with the company logo and product name on the front along with a render of the radiator and explicit 27-mm thickness mention. This continues on the back, but with product specifications, contact information, and relevant retail labels—all on an external sleeve over a plain black inner cardboard box, which has two side flaps to keep the contents in place.


Opening the box, we see the radiator safely packed inside bubble wrap and the various accessories either on top or alongside. There are three 120 mm square rubber gaskets in a move I haven't seen in a long time. These can help with a more uniform seal of the fans on the radiator frame and add a plenum effect, thus reducing dead spots in airflow due to the fan hub itself. Additionally, a plastic zip lock bag on the side contains the installation hardware, although I would have rather seen it on the other side of the foam sheet in the box to prevent any damage to the radiator. Raijintek uses Phillips head M3 screws and provides a set of twelve 8 mm and 30 mm long screws for fans to be installed in either push or pull, and in either intake or exhaust in conjunction with the case or radiator mount. It would have been nice to see M4 threading here, which is not as relevant on this thin radiator as it would be on thicker ones.