Arctic Liquid Freezer Ii Aio Watercooling With 240mm Radiator and 2x 120mm Static Pressure Fans
Arctic cooling's Liquid Freezer Two came right in fourth dimension for Window pane 2 system builds toward end of 2022, simply that was when we were in the middle of upgrading our testing methods. If you'd like to read how we arrange this testing, you can tick this link. We also have got a video version available. We won't personify reproducing the method information on this Page as it'd beryllium redundant.
The Polar zone Liquid Freezer II 280 is what we'Re reviewing, although variants at 120, 240, and 360 are also prominently featured online. As a quick informative, we almost unilaterally reject 120mm closed in-loop liquid coolers along the basis of horrible performance to price. They for the most part exist for system integrators surgery for unscheduled SFF PCs that preceptor't have the physical space for a tower of whatever kind. As for the rest, the 240, 280, and 360 serial are worth consideration. The 280 Arctic CLC is priced at around $95 at time of composition, which makes it one and only of the best-priced options along the market (if performance is well behaved, and read on for that). The closest competitors in price would be the EVGA CLC 280, made away Asetek, or mayhap some of Cooler Get over's units, made by Tank Master. Arctic claims to have designed its own pump solution and says that it has utilised a partner to manufacture it, but we'll teach more nearly that when we do our video recording snag-down in the next few days. Virtually liquid coolers actually come from only a few companies: Asetek (the largest), CoolIT (growing in the consumer space), Apaltek, Dynatron, and any number of other smaller suppliers. There's not much diversity overall, and that often substance there's not much change in performance from one competitor to the next. It primarily comes down to fans, LEDs, warranties, and things like that.
Cold has differentiated itself as much as it could, including the inclusion of a bittie 40mm VRM fan atop the pump. That feature, as we'll discuss later, is screen of a gimmick but too not, in that it does study (it's just not realistically wholly that useful in most utilization cases). In instances where you'd really need that VRM buff, you probably should just use a better cause, motherboard, or add more fans to the second of the case. Either way, it does work, and that's something we'll exemplify nowadays.
3950X – 35dBA
Our next chart will atomic number 4 of the VRM fan performance, just we'll start with the one everyone is used to. For this unrivalled, we're using a 200W workload with the AMD R9 3950X, which is to a greater extent useful for stressing the differences in luxuriously-end coolers. This test is equalized to 35dBA in order to take down the athletic field so that coolers can't just brute-force their way to the top, like the EVGA CLC 360 would do at its 60dBA. Note that we coiffe non change the fans – we use the coolers stock, just set to the same noise level.
The Liquid Freezer II ends up as the top-performer on the bench when noise-normalized to 35dBA across the board. The Arctic Swimming Deepfreeze results were benched 6 multiplication all, with and without the VRM fan, and with 2 sets of re-mounts. The deviation rivulet-to-run was under 1-degree, and then consistency was nifty. The 52-degree payload event has the Runny Freezer Deuce about 2 degrees cooler than the X62 at the same resound level. It's outdoing the X72 and CLC 360, which both struggle at these lower racket levels because they have too some fans at too small of a size, then they lose pressure. The NH-D15 is outdone aside about 6 degrees Celsius, which is enough to allow around additional overclocking headroom.
At the $95 price, Arctic is kicking everyone's ass. The NZXT Kraken X62 isn't anywhere close in pricing, and although the newer X63 is $10 cheaper at $150, its performance isn't overmuch different. The Corsair A500 gets inhumed even deeper than it was at launch. The NH-D15 operating room Assassin Trey still have uses, mostly connate those discussed in the publicize vs. clear content, but other CLCs will mostly precipitate to LEDs or warranties. The Liquifiable Freezer ISN't sooner or later tried for reliability, and that's a huge component of coolers that we can't speed for a review.
VRM Rooter
The next test volition constitute for the VRM fan. For this, we're going to start with an overlay demonstrating the linelike feet per minute flow, often known as FPM or LPM, as metrical with a hotwire anemometer at the edge of the human body for the cooler. The measurement is taken at an angle toward the VRM heatsink. We measured at a few points and low-level a few conditions.
For this image, the VRM fan was enabled and the radiator fans were injured, as was room AC. The FPM baseline was 0 – meaning air was all but literally not affecting in the room, or at least in the area of the terrace. The VRM rooter was the only spinning fan. North of the socket, aligned with the big top-essence of the ice chest and center of the fan starting, the FPM measured between 190 and 212. It fluctuates as was common with pure air movements. The northwest corner of the cooler, measured at the top-left piece of tail of the mount, measured at about 197FPM toward the VRM. The top-left broadside measured at 422FPM, every bit we seemed to find the take slant at which air exits the chassis the fastest. The mid-left side fell to 96FPM, as we were at the edge of the chassis maiden.
For reference, this cover will show off the baseline numbers with radiator fan measurements in the top-center spot. The following measurement is at 100% radiator fan speed, with the radiator adorned approximately 1cm aside from the edge of the board. This is a similar outstrip to what you'd recover in a great deal of cases, with fans blowing toward the motherboard. In that configuration, linear feet per microscopical flow is some 266-275. With the radiator fans blowing and the VRM fan forth, measured along the other side of that congealed VRM heatsink, FPM predictably drops to 64-66. This is obviously still plenty high on the other side of the heatsink – north of 400FPM, actually – and then it's non like all temperature reduction has vanished. That said, if you front-mount the radiator, having the VRM fan on the block could be slightly beneficial in scenarios where an overly hot configuration is used.
The VRM buff intelligibly does something, and temperature improvements bequeath follow the many even FPM along either side of the VRM heatsink, but we besides want to glucinium clear that a pinch-affixed radiator would also benefit the VRM. This is something we feign in our tryout setup.
VRM Thermals
Fourth dimension to move to VRM thermals. Earlier putt this chart up, a few main points: First, this is all relative, so our measurement points aren't configured to test the motherboard, but rather to trial run the cooling capabilities of the Mainframe ice chest on top of it. We'Re taking VRM measurements at points that will work better for testing cooler impact, since we don't care active relative VRM carrying out from one board to the next. Second, we'll show the numbers with the radiator decorated to the side of the bench. That's how we tested all the liquid coolers as yet, as IT is more suchlike to a top-mounted radiator in a caseful. This way there's always airflow terminated the VRM heatsink in all the CLC tests, whereas testing IT on the table, away from the VRM, would suggest of Arctic's VRM fan having a high relative impact since you'd be fetching away whol cooling other than. We sustain these numbers too, but let's center on 3950X OC numbers racket at 35dBA radiator winnow speed first, with the Arctic VRM fan at 100%. The test is also tough to standardize since every motherboard will have different heatsinks and placement, so although you lav mostly extrapolate out a hierarchy, it's non absolutely same to every configuration. And again, please also think back that case shape is the single most impacting to VRM thermal performance outside of the VRM design and chilling solution. What we're saying is that this test wish create an objective hierarchy, but that in all reality, a pair off degrees here-and-there from the cooler South Korean won't really matter a lot when considering the VRM is unlikely to melt itself in the majority of instances.
Here's the chart.
The Arctic Liquid Freezer's VRM fan is both a gimmick and not a whatchamacallum. It's non a widge because it actually works: The round top result is with the VRM fan on, measuring at 34.7, 38.3, and 28.4 degrees all over close for our three measurement points. The Liquid Freezer with the VRM rooter off loses a a few ranks, consistent across all 12 total psychometric test passes for this one graph (and we have around 24 prove passes for the other 3 configurations we ran). The event falls from 28.4 for VRM2 to 33.6, a vary of about 5 degrees Celsius, and from 38.3 to about 42.6 on VRM1. So yes, it works and is therefore not a complete gimmick.
Simultaneously, it's non actually relevant. It doesn't hurt to be ice chest, but this one feature shouldn't be the tipping point between you buying the ware and non. If it's between this and another ice chest, and you by and large have your eye jell on the other one for visual operating room compatibility or warranty reasons, don't let the VRM lover sway the decision. If your board is going to run so hot that you need an extra 5-degree reduction, it's plausibly time to find some other board or case solution altogether. That said, this does melt off temperature and it does work, and in cases that are really hot and closed-off, with a 3950X or high-power cow dung, with overclocking, and with a VRM which is undercooled and overheated, this would be a value add. We just don't think that's leaving to be very vulgar, and piece it gets kudos for doing a skillful job and chart-top-flight, we don't think IT should be the deciding factor in the purchase.
Time-to-Liquid ecstasy
This next graph is quick. This is our time to unfluctuating state at a resound-normalized 35-dBA, or the sentence at which we strain chemical equilibrium. Liquid coolers take longer to get through vestibular sense than air coolers every bit a result of their water capacity that soaks rapid heat changes better. Big air coolers experience well-marked advantages, generally the install-and-forget gain, but also reach unagitated state in just 90 seconds of a thermal consignment. Liquid coolers afford longer periods of low thermals for bursty workloads, which john as wel help with wet fan speed changes. That's discussed in the former video, but the Arctic cooler is the spick-and-span state. We ground the Liquid Deep-freeze II 280mm CLC stretch steady state in approximately 311 seconds, Oregon about 5.2 minutes. That's a longer catamenia than the Kraken X62's 260-second interval (4.3 minutes), which is uncomparable of our bench-toppers currently. The X72 and EVGA CLC 360 do peaked here, for the most part because the noise necessary is low enough piece the fans are small and plentiful sufficiency that they struggle to reach the motionless pressure required to vie with the 280 CLCs. The CLC 360 takes the longest to reach steady-going state because information technology's burning therein exam, then it becomes a affair of the liquid temperature running higher than the Kraken operating room Polar zone series. That's why IT has an star next to information technology – the data isn't immediately comparable, since liquid temperature is inferior in control at this lowset of a static pressure.
3950X – 100%
Our side by side chart continues with the 3950X 200W load, but allows all the coolers to track down at 100% fan speed during the test. This doesn't act upon the phonograph needle a good deal for Icy, which seems to top-out in its efficiency at around 1200RPM rather than its maximum 1600RPM. The results were +/-1C A usual, but our average ended up at 50.9 degrees over close. That's not enough of a change, so at that place's board to reduce randomness level without much loss of overall performance. At the 1610RPM hie, the Arctic cooler ran at 42.5dBA at the normal 20" outdistance. This puts it about equal in thermal performance to the NZXT Kraken X62 and X72, which run approximately 51-53dBA, or a perceived noise increase to the human ear of about 2x. Again, that's perceived to the human ear, non acoustic power, which is a diverse scale. Either way, Gumshoe's solution is significantly quieter at the same carrying out. The EVGA CLC 360 shows that we're not limited by our test judiciary, but too that achromatic engine levels of noise are needed to drive the temperature down farther.
3800X – 35dBA
Moving briefly to the 3800X, we have to issue a reminder that this CPU is tested with completely different voltage and overclock settings, not to mention the fact that it's physically a several CPU, so these results are non directly comparable to the 3950X results. The 3800X was intended to be our standardized platform before we got to these high-end coolers, the charts level-off a bit with the jumbo air coolers. As discussed in two recent cooler videos we did, that's because the heat load isn't adequate and the gap between coolers begins to shrink. This is why the NH-U14S does so wellspring proportionate to the blown-up bare coolers.
For the Polar Freezer at 35dBA, we see a 51-degree consignment temperature, putting the tank fair-minded below the Kraken X62 while remaining significantly cheaper. Idle temperatures also plot the lowest, not that this is particularly functional, and that's partly because of the VRM fan slightly reducing wake in the sphere of the socket.
3800X – Frequency
For tests which leave the frequency to automobile but control the voltage, we alternatively report connected frequency kind of than thermal outcome. Note that the best frequency doesn't signify it's the coolest – it becomes more touchy, since absolute frequency jumps some earlier, and because a better cooler means Precision Boost 2 will kick into higher oftenness, which creates more heat. For auto frequency and normalized to 35dBA, the Liquid Deepfreeze II chart-tops with the 3800X at 4253.5MHz all-core ordinary, followed closely by the self-aggrandizing aerial coolers. The NH-D15, Dark Rock 4, and Deepcool Assassin Ternion are all within error and try variableness, as is the A500. Gaining an extra 50MHz over a high-end atmosphere cooler is about the dispute you can expect if you'rhenium not planning to overclock. It's not like-minded that's active to equate an FPS vantage that's noticeable to the human optic, and IT'll only help yield times exceedingly marginally – we're talk seconds on the hour, possibly adequate half-a-minute on the hour. Information technology's not worth stressing about, but IT's another limited welfare of having a best cooler.
Surface Levelness Try out
Our side by side exam is for the levelness of the coldplate surface, measured with specialised precision instruments for testing we debuted in our Corsair A500 survey. This testing helped show where the A500 went wrong, and IT was in the levelness of the coldplate, causing large gaps that required more TIM to fill than was reasonable for a $100 product.
This shows the delta in height, metric in microns, from a calibrated 0-point. The A500's box plot shows the largest range, illustrating the dynamical system levelness that hurt its performance, while the Deepcool Bravo III and original Wraith coolers have approximately of the champion levelness. The Arctic Liquid Freezer II averaged most 8-10 microns depth from the 0-point, with minimums and maximums at 2 microns and 48 microns. The Liquid Freezer II has a couple deep points in the coldplate, only is overall finisher to the diplomatical end than the unlevel destruction.
Installing & Climbing
Our last point is along induction and mounting computer hardware. Coolers typically differentiate themselves away falling into one of two categories for facilitate-of-installation: You can either install it single-handedly Beaver State you need three workforce, a forehead, and some tape to install information technology. Liquefiable coolers typically fall into the easier bivouac, especially Asetek's, and that's because the mass happening the socket isn't as trying for the add-in, and thusly it's easier to just seat a span of threaded crownwork screws onto a backplate to hold it all in situ, then drop down a tank and set up some more crownwork screws.
The Arctic Liquid Freezer is not one of those. It's non the worst we've worked with – that'd be either the Antec Kuhler 1250 or the be quiet! Dark Rock-and-roll serial – but it overlooks some basal solutions. The Arctic Freezer requires the AM4 mounting plate, evenhandedly stock for most CLCs, and uses just four screws through the track that hop on according to the socket. In terms of hardware required, this uses some of the least. There's also nothing to hold the plate in place while installation the screws, and those screws install at an angle that's potentially annoying for paste spread. You'll need incomparable hand over to hold the backplate in situ, another to hold the cooler in situ, and another to install the screws. We realise that most of our viewers only have ii hands and are unable to deploy their twenty-five percent-dimensional abdominal hands, so although we could do this, we wanted to keep information technology realistic for the audience. Employed alone, we plant the easiest way to set u it was to tape the backplate in place temporarily, so use the requisite two hands to spatial relation the cooler and install the screws. Tape can be remote after. Whatever AM4 plates are unenviable, so that'd likewise lic. If you sat the motherboard flush against the hold over, that'd besides simplify things. We put to work on test benches and don't unseat the motherboard for cooler installing, so this isn't absolutely representative unless you install the board in the case ahead the cooler, in which case you'd see a similar annoyance. This should only be a problem if you postulate to mount your radiator prior to mounting the cooler, and that'll depend on the case.
Non a big cheese since laying the board flat on the table bypasses it, simply this could constitute even easier if Arctic refined the solution with cap screws. Connected the installation front, buyers should also be aware of the abruptly cables for the fans. They can cost connected to the splitter cable (which is sleeved aboard the tubes), but we prefer conjunctive our fans directly to the motherboard to exercise more mastery complete the fans. This is well solved with some 4-pin-to-4-pin extension cables.
Conclusion
The nature of a recapitulation cycle (piece a product is relevant) typically dictates that there's No means to realistically psychometric test for endurance or age. We can revisit in the future if needed, but that's the only interrogation point left after the review process: Glacial's pump design is new, something we'll look at in our tear-inoperative telecasting orgasm leading shortly, and a unused design means we have no reference degree for survival and dependability. In general, liquid coolers outlive the usable life sentence of the scheme, and potentially two systems, merely those that fail do so in a much Thomas More visible or catastrophic forge. Failures are overall rare, however, and that's always important to note. We'll send you to our Air vs. Liquid cooler content for much of an explanation along this front.
Rubber's Liquid Freezer II 280 kicks everyone's ass when information technology comes to closed-loop semiliquid cooler thermals on these charts. It loses the RGB LEDs of the NZXT Kraken X63 or X62, but it's also between $50 and $70 cheaper while offering (technically) better performance. The public presentation delta ISN't meaningful in almost all instances, but the Leontyne Price delta certainly is. If you're non the type who cares about a heap of RGB LEDs, then a mete out of money keister Be saved by going with Arctic's superior chilling solution. Big air coolers are still close by in performance, so for builders who birth their heart attack the Genus Noctua NH-D15 or similar, those coolers aren't invalidated by the Arctic solution. They're familiar by it, technically, but not by a margin which is worth heavy advisement.
Arctic has assembled, til now, a good product. We need to see how IT does farsighted-term, as Enermax has scared us away from fresh recommendations on thermals alone. We would advocate the Rubber Liquid Freezer 2 280 as a go-to solution concluded competing liquid coolers, based on thermal and acoustic execution, although we'd too note that most verified (e.g. Asetek, CoolIT) coolers will execute similarly. If you want RGB LEDs, you're mostly just stipendiary more for them, but should Be in the ballpark for performance.
The video last (above) contains some additional thoughts for those still uncertain.
Editorial, Testing: Steve Burke
Video: Keegan Gallick
Arctic Liquid Freezer Ii Aio Watercooling With 240mm Radiator and 2x 120mm Static Pressure Fans
Source: https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3571-arctic-liquid-freezer-ii-cooler-review-benchmark
