FSP AE36 AIO CPU Cooler Review

1. FSP AE362. Intallation: AM53. Test Results4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

With an MSRP of around £85 USD the FSP AE36 is classed as a budget AIO so we didn’t expect it to light up the charts with amazing thermals or have the most cutting-edge features. However, even for a budget AIO, the thermal performance is quite underwhelming and it is very basic in terms of the design. The aesthetics might appeal to some with the ARGB infinity mirror display, but we think this is now quite a dated look and not something that impresses us in 2025.

That said, the installation process is very easy with the universal style mount and the standard wiring, so even a DIY novice should have this installed in no more than 20 minutes. The wiring connectors with standard 4-pin PWM and 3-pin 5V ARGB connections are inserted directly to the motherboard and require no additional hubs or software to work, which is a bonus.

Although the infinity mirror ARGB pump top cover isn’t our cpu of tea, the lighting effects are OK. The fan blades illuminate with RGB lighting and there isn’t too much light bleed from the individual LEDs, it's pretty well diffused. The lighting colours are bright and again very easy to control and customise using motherboard RGB software or by a standalone controller if you prefer.

The build quality of the cooler is fine, the black coating on the radiator looks smooth and even, tubing is covered with premium braided sleeving and the plastics on the pump housing are of a decent quality. The fans use daisy chain wiring and have covers that clip to the frames to hide cables, so cable management is easy and the system looks neat with the cooler installed.

However, the thermal performance is disappointing; in all our tests the cooler comes bottom or very close to the bottom of the charts. The noise output with the fans at max speed is also quite high at 54dBA – you can of course tune the fan curve to suit your preference, however turning fan speed down will decrease performance. So even though the FSP AE36 is a relatively cheap AIO at around $85, it's not a great budget option and there are plenty of budget coolers out there that not only outperform it, but they are quieter and some are even cheaper too.

At the time of this review the FSP AE360 is not available in the UK but you can pick it up in the U.S. for around $85 MSRP.

Pros:

• Easy installation.
• Requires no hubs or software to work.
• Budget price.

Cons:

• Thermal performance is underwhelming.
• Infinity mirror design looks dated.
• Quite loud at max fan speed.

KitGuru says: Even though it's quite cheap, thermal performance and noise levels let this cooler down when compared with similarly priced competition.

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