Installation
As with most AIOs, the installation of the DeepCool Mystique 360 is quite easy. As DIY PC building seems to be getting more popular each and every day, the option of AIO liquid coolers is sure to entice those wanting to have a more advanced build, and easy installation will go a long way towards not scaring off first-time builders. As you would expect, DeepCool has included all of the necessary mounting hardware for a large list of both Intel and AMD processors, as well as a physical installation guide and manual. I have seen quite a few companies move to digital versions of their product manuals, and while I appreciate their reduced waste, I still prefer a physical copy of installation instructions, and was happy to have them for this kit.
Our testing is performed with the fans in a push configuration, and thankfully that is how the fans were oriented from the factory. I love the pre-installed fans that many companies are moving towards, especially when they have already connected the fans to one another – it is such an improvement from having to attach three fans and then connect them all together, and then run that mess of cables to a centralized spot for connecting to your system.
From the factory, the Mystique 360 doesn’t have any AMD or Intel mounting hardware installed, so my first step of CPU block installation was to install the AMD mounting hardware for my Ryzen 7 1800X test system. This is a pretty trivial process that involves mounting two brackets to the ends of the pump housing with their included mounting screws.
Next up is attaching the radiator to the top of my case. As one would expect, attaching the radiator to the case is a simple task. Using the twelve included screws, simply align them with the appropriate mounting points on your case, and tighten. With the fans connected to one another, the only cable that needed to be fed to the back side of the motherboard tray was from a single fan to the included 4-pin PWM extension cable.
In order to install the cooler onto the CPU, I first needed to remove the factory-installed AMD mounting blocks that many other coolers use for their mounting methods.
Adapter fittings are screwed into place, and then the cooler can be placed on top of them, and then finally secured with four additional screws to keep the unit in place. No need for a screwdriver here, as thumb-tight is good enough.
In order to power the Mystique 360’s pump and screen, I needed to connect the SATA power connector to my power supply. This differs a bit from AIOs without screens, as they typically just use a 3 or 4-pin PWM cable for this need. Next I connected the pump’s 3-pin cable to my motherboard for pump speed monitoring, and the USB 2.0 cable to my motherboard’s respective port in order to provide control to the screen.
