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It’s not a matter of wanting a gamers nexus level of detail, it’s a matter of noise-normalized thermals being the only review metric that actually matters (the only one that can actually be used to compare performance between multiple products), and it’s missing.
Also, no comment on the "quality" of noise - a while ago, there was the "low hum", "high pitch", ... subjective appreciation of the reviewer. At least the table with "reference noise levels - decibels versus subjective feel" is there.
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"It is large enough for most commercial processors but will not cover a ThreadRipper processor, for which the Freezer II coolers have no stock support for out of the box."
I was looking for 360mm because it was $120 for amazon a week or 2 ago but now they are sold out. But yesterday 420mm was available off amazon for $160 so I grabbed that. Hopefully it'll fit into my Phanteks Pro. Replacing Deepcool Captain 360 from 2017. Kinda an overkill for a 5600x. With Deepcool I'm getting 73C and lots of throttling 5600x @ 4.85Ghz (kryonaut thermal paste).
Update: the 420 cooler came in. It took me over an hour to put in. It almost didn't fit. CPU power was in the way, I had to force it a few millimeters out of the way. I ran 3D mark time spy like I did with 360 Captain and I got 70C vs 73C. Mobo fan curve is set to Performance. It does improve cooling and it takes longer to heat up but it does heat up. I did a stress test with cpu z for a few minutes and it did heat up to 72C. I am OCing 5600x to 4850 with PBO 2. Undervolt curve on 4 cores at - 15 and 2 best cores at - 5. I'm kind of disappointed that the best cooler I can get only delays the heat and not keep the the CPU under 70C. Maybe if I manually OC it will have lower temps. Maybe I didn't put enough kryonut thermal paste. I'll try to re-do it later. I will try to replace the fans with NH U12A 3000rpm fans later.
Surprising that it has become a thickness race already. You still get to claim top performance at x dimensions with a caveat (that it won't fit lol). Thinner fans could help, but that will cost more, and be louder.
It's really more about the pump than the thickness. Other non-asetek pump solutions like the new lian li and EK perform basically the same as the liquid freezer 2. you'd need a really large die and a lot of power pulled through it before the rad became the real differentiating factor.
What would be an interesting test is to see the temperatures with the fans running minimum speeds. I prefer quiet over temps so my 3700X/NH-D14 with 2 fans run at 300RPM-600RPM to keep it around 60c, and only spin up if it goes up to 80c. Been thinking about getting a beefier cooler so I can keep it cooler at the same sort of fan speeds.
Whilst maximum cooling potential is useful for those that can configure the system in a certain way (hide in a cupboard) it is not practical for most people, what would really good is temps and fan speed at a given noise level, such as 30db, 32db and 35db, then, given your personal preference/tolerance you would then buy based on performance at your prefered sound threshold and set fans to an appropriate speed. Using 7 volts an 12 volts is pretty pointless. I have never seen this sort of testing in any review.
Gamers Nexus includes noise-normalized testing in its cooler and case reviews, and has covered most of the Liquid II line. Artic is at or near the top of the GN cheers for thermal/noise efficiency, despite the relatively lower MSRP. The fans of course play a large role in this, which is in line with their near-Noctua results in Optimum Tech's fan roundup.
I've always built my own system, but never understood the appeal of these. They're not quieter than air cooling and they come with a bunch of problems on their own.
They can be quieter than air cooling if you're doing some serious overclocking, not to mention you then avoid having the 1Kg+ of weight you'd need hanging off your motherboard to get similar cooling potential with air alone. It can also allow you to remove the heat directly from the case with the right case design (venting from the top).
I'd agree that it's overkill for the majority of users, though. The last time I used AIO coolers were with adaptors for GPUs, which made way more sense - I could get a combined cooling and noise level combination that was simply impossible with air cooling, but cheaper than a custom loop.
That is not true if you look at any normalized sound testing. In almost all cases a good air cooler will be quieter because you don't have pump noise, and you have less restricted air flow. Noise is going to come from two things, fans and pump. While pump noise may not be loud, it can be annoying. Like a mosquito isn't loud, but killing it makes all the difference in the world.
1st post on a product review since 1997 ish? I can't remember my original user name or password, but keep coming back here a long time. I'm preparing for a 5950x if I can ever find one, so I bought this 420. Love it. Running in a slightly modified Fractal s2 case that I modified to move the 420 closer to the glass side of case away from the motherboard so my mid-height RAM could fit without touching the AIO. Love it! Running on 1700x at 3.8 BOINC load 24/7 it is much quieter as fans sit under 500 rpm for 130w load. At anything but idle this runs much quieter than the single tower Noctua NH-U14s that I had on this before and I have another equivalent on an 1950x sitting in a solid sided Fractal R5. I love the silence and hope it does well on the 5950x at 250W or so.
Hmm interesting. I just this week replaced my Arctic Cooling 240 MK1 AIO with a Noctua NH-D15S. The result was pretty much the same cooling but about 60% less noise. A success in my book. Nice easy installation too. The only change was I used my Grizzly paste rather then the tube of Noctua supplied.
4x120mm fans on the AC AIO down to 1x140mm fan on the Noctua. Not hard to imagine really. The 60% is not a measured figure, shall we say "a lot quieter!"
Except the AC240MK1 is a 240MM AIO which means 2x120mm Fans. He never said he has the 420mm model which is what you are using for an example in your post. Nice try though.
I'm not sure about non-PC radiators but in the PC space, crossflow (or "xflow") refer to rads that have the inlet and outlet on opposite ends. This is single pass. While less performant than dual pass, it's not as bad as you'd expect as it's much less restrictive and will yield a higher flow rate at a given pump speed(/noise level.) The primary use case is for cleaner/less tubing, depending on the case layout.
The alternative is your standard dual pass where the water runs to one end, turns around, and runs across the rad again. Inlet and outlet are on the same end.
At least in the PC realm of parlance, there is no such thing as a "dual-pass cross-flow design."
Yes there is lot to glean from blogs and the feelings of the many. But also a lot o read between the lines and simply cutting through the minutiae. I am just amazed that the AIO manufactures have not come up with any 'new products' and just adding lighting, better hoses, pump head configurations, etc. Todays AIO's are far from where they should be.
Nothing new here of significant new tech. Same old same old. Now Arctic jumping on the crowded bandwagon again with just a simple variation of the product. Artic apparently feels that RGB is a waning issue for enthusiasts? They are probably right to think so? Really hope that with all of the "tech-strides" which are happening, that a much more meaningful progress will be forthcoming in the AIO field. With most new generation CPU's are running hotter and hotter, please give me an additional and constant '15-20' degree drop in temps instead of easier assembly options. Looks like that this new 'Artic Freezer' product is not able to serve-up a minus 20 degrees. Other very disappointment issues have been the included fans by most manufacturers and those being second or even third grade. It's a major somewhat hidden money maker for the manufactures to cheapen-out on this but short changing the enthusiast who essentially is their bread and butter.
Picked up the 280 model. It wouldn't fit my case, and the local Micro-Center didn't have a single one of their dozens of cases that would fit it on top. It came with NO Instructions. After finally finding installation instructions on their web site (look out - they are well hidden and buried deep), I found them to be among the worst installation instructions I've ever seen. This company needs to clean up its act.
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Machinus - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Why no comparisons to the 360, the standard-sized radiator?frbeckenbauer - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Noise normalized testing and a test without the VRM fan enabled are missingTelstarTOS - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
they are ALWAYS missing here.alexane - Sunday, January 24, 2021 - link
easy job online from home. I have received exactly $20845 last month from this home job. Join now this job and start making extra cash online. salary8 . comoRAirwolf - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
If you want a Gamers Nexus review, go watch the Gamers Nexus review.Guspaz - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
It’s not a matter of wanting a gamers nexus level of detail, it’s a matter of noise-normalized thermals being the only review metric that actually matters (the only one that can actually be used to compare performance between multiple products), and it’s missing.Calin - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Also, no comment on the "quality" of noise - a while ago, there was the "low hum", "high pitch", ... subjective appreciation of the reviewer.At least the table with "reference noise levels - decibels versus subjective feel" is there.
willis936 - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
That’s caked into the dBa weighting.AGentleMetalWave - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
The subjective aspect is important too. For example, coil whine can be low dBa but very annoyingscottlarm - Saturday, January 23, 2021 - link
Now you can get every month extra $23k or more easily by doing work in spare time. start you making dollars EWd 0nline just by follow details here... salary8 . comBattleRam - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Is this compatible with TRx40 AMD cpu's?evilspoons - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
On the first page:"It is large enough for most commercial processors but will not cover a ThreadRipper processor, for which the Freezer II coolers have no stock support for out of the box."
WarWolverine - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
I was looking for 360mm because it was $120 for amazon a week or 2 ago but now they are sold out. But yesterday 420mm was available off amazon for $160 so I grabbed that. Hopefully it'll fit into my Phanteks Pro. Replacing Deepcool Captain 360 from 2017. Kinda an overkill for a 5600x. With Deepcool I'm getting 73C and lots of throttling 5600x @ 4.85Ghz (kryonaut thermal paste).Holliday75 - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Yeah the 360's are hard to find. I got lucky and picked one off of Amazon at MSRP a few weeks back.schujj07 - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
In reality all of the Liquid Freezer IIs are hard to find. When you do find them, typically they are selling for over MSRP.nils_ - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
I couldn't find the 420 version in Germany, the 360 was available however. Might just upgrade later.Makaveli - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
lol kinda overkill a 420mm on a 6 core 5600x 65watt tdp chip indeed.WarWolverine - Sunday, January 17, 2021 - link
Update: the 420 cooler came in. It took me over an hour to put in. It almost didn't fit. CPU power was in the way, I had to force it a few millimeters out of the way. I ran 3D mark time spy like I did with 360 Captain and I got 70C vs 73C. Mobo fan curve is set to Performance. It does improve cooling and it takes longer to heat up but it does heat up. I did a stress test with cpu z for a few minutes and it did heat up to 72C. I am OCing 5600x to 4850 with PBO 2. Undervolt curve on 4 cores at - 15 and 2 best cores at - 5. I'm kind of disappointed that the best cooler I can get only delays the heat and not keep the the CPU under 70C. Maybe if I manually OC it will have lower temps. Maybe I didn't put enough kryonut thermal paste. I'll try to re-do it later. I will try to replace the fans with NH U12A 3000rpm fans later.TheWereCat - Sunday, January 17, 2021 - link
I was able to get the 360mm for €90. I replaced the NH-U12A which was the same price. Now I get about 20°C less at also lower noise... 3900X CPU.Showtime - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Surprising that it has become a thickness race already. You still get to claim top performance at x dimensions with a caveat (that it won't fit lol). Thinner fans could help, but that will cost more, and be louder.whatthe123 - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
It's really more about the pump than the thickness. Other non-asetek pump solutions like the new lian li and EK perform basically the same as the liquid freezer 2. you'd need a really large die and a lot of power pulled through it before the rad became the real differentiating factor.Tunnah - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
What would be an interesting test is to see the temperatures with the fans running minimum speeds. I prefer quiet over temps so my 3700X/NH-D14 with 2 fans run at 300RPM-600RPM to keep it around 60c, and only spin up if it goes up to 80c. Been thinking about getting a beefier cooler so I can keep it cooler at the same sort of fan speeds.lorribot - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
Whilst maximum cooling potential is useful for those that can configure the system in a certain way (hide in a cupboard) it is not practical for most people, what would really good is temps and fan speed at a given noise level, such as 30db, 32db and 35db, then, given your personal preference/tolerance you would then buy based on performance at your prefered sound threshold and set fans to an appropriate speed. Using 7 volts an 12 volts is pretty pointless.I have never seen this sort of testing in any review.
Galcobar - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
Gamers Nexus includes noise-normalized testing in its cooler and case reviews, and has covered most of the Liquid II line. Artic is at or near the top of the GN cheers for thermal/noise efficiency, despite the relatively lower MSRP. The fans of course play a large role in this, which is in line with their near-Noctua results in Optimum Tech's fan roundup.bug77 - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
I've always built my own system, but never understood the appeal of these. They're not quieter than air cooling and they come with a bunch of problems on their own.Spunjji - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
They can be quieter than air cooling if you're doing some serious overclocking, not to mention you then avoid having the 1Kg+ of weight you'd need hanging off your motherboard to get similar cooling potential with air alone. It can also allow you to remove the heat directly from the case with the right case design (venting from the top).I'd agree that it's overkill for the majority of users, though. The last time I used AIO coolers were with adaptors for GPUs, which made way more sense - I could get a combined cooling and noise level combination that was simply impossible with air cooling, but cheaper than a custom loop.
Solidstate89 - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
I don't know why you'd make such a blatantly false statement but these AIO coolers are almost always quieter than an air cooler.Dug - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
That is not true if you look at any normalized sound testing. In almost all cases a good air cooler will be quieter because you don't have pump noise, and you have less restricted air flow. Noise is going to come from two things, fans and pump. While pump noise may not be loud, it can be annoying. Like a mosquito isn't loud, but killing it makes all the difference in the world.cellarnoise - Friday, January 15, 2021 - link
1st post on a product review since 1997 ish? I can't remember my original user name or password, but keep coming back here a long time. I'm preparing for a 5950x if I can ever find one, so I bought this 420. Love it. Running in a slightly modified Fractal s2 case that I modified to move the 420 closer to the glass side of case away from the motherboard so my mid-height RAM could fit without touching the AIO. Love it! Running on 1700x at 3.8 BOINC load 24/7 it is much quieter as fans sit under 500 rpm for 130w load. At anything but idle this runs much quieter than the single tower Noctua NH-U14s that I had on this before and I have another equivalent on an 1950x sitting in a solid sided Fractal R5. I love the silence and hope it does well on the 5950x at 250W or so.Dorkaman - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
Hi are the radiator copper or aluminum? Custom looos are usually copper and have considerably better heat sink.jabber - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
Hmm interesting. I just this week replaced my Arctic Cooling 240 MK1 AIO with a Noctua NH-D15S. The result was pretty much the same cooling but about 60% less noise. A success in my book. Nice easy installation too. The only change was I used my Grizzly paste rather then the tube of Noctua supplied.Makaveli - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
I've not had any noise issues at all on a Corsair H150i 60% less noise with a D15S? sounds like that AC 240MK1 AIO is junk.jabber - Sunday, January 17, 2021 - link
4x120mm fans on the AC AIO down to 1x140mm fan on the Noctua. Not hard to imagine really.The 60% is not a measured figure, shall we say "a lot quieter!"
Makaveli - Sunday, January 17, 2021 - link
Except the AC240MK1 is a 240MM AIO which means 2x120mm Fans. He never said he has the 420mm model which is what you are using for an example in your post. Nice try though.jabber - Sunday, January 17, 2021 - link
In that case I have the version with 4 120 fans. The Artic Liqid Freezer 240 with 4 fans.https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/dominic...
So yeah, nice try.
Makaveli - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
I wouldn't expect a 4 fan 120mm AIO to be quiet. A 3 fan 140mm AIO would make less noise than that.brontes - Saturday, January 16, 2021 - link
I'm not sure about non-PC radiators but in the PC space, crossflow (or "xflow") refer to rads that have the inlet and outlet on opposite ends. This is single pass. While less performant than dual pass, it's not as bad as you'd expect as it's much less restrictive and will yield a higher flow rate at a given pump speed(/noise level.) The primary use case is for cleaner/less tubing, depending on the case layout.The alternative is your standard dual pass where the water runs to one end, turns around, and runs across the rad again. Inlet and outlet are on the same end.
At least in the PC realm of parlance, there is no such thing as a "dual-pass cross-flow design."
micoequipment - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
Great Awesome blog. It's so informative and I love this type of blog and articles.Tom Sunday - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Yes there is lot to glean from blogs and the feelings of the many. But also a lot o read between the lines and simply cutting through the minutiae. I am just amazed that the AIO manufactures have not come up with any 'new products' and just adding lighting, better hoses, pump head configurations, etc. Todays AIO's are far from where they should be.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Be specific. What do you think they’re lacking?My view is that they’re being applied to the wrong thing. GPUs need them far more than an efficient CPU like recent Zen.
GreenReaper - Saturday, January 23, 2021 - link
You, uh . . . you know that's a bot, right? ^^'Samus - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
What kind of case will the 420 even fit in?Tom Sunday - Thursday, March 11, 2021 - link
Nothing new here of significant new tech. Same old same old. Now Arctic jumping on the crowded bandwagon again with just a simple variation of the product. Artic apparently feels that RGB is a waning issue for enthusiasts? They are probably right to think so? Really hope that with all of the "tech-strides" which are happening, that a much more meaningful progress will be forthcoming in the AIO field. With most new generation CPU's are running hotter and hotter, please give me an additional and constant '15-20' degree drop in temps instead of easier assembly options. Looks like that this new 'Artic Freezer' product is not able to serve-up a minus 20 degrees. Other very disappointment issues have been the included fans by most manufacturers and those being second or even third grade. It's a major somewhat hidden money maker for the manufactures to cheapen-out on this but short changing the enthusiast who essentially is their bread and butter.JerseySailor - Thursday, May 27, 2021 - link
Picked up the 280 model. It wouldn't fit my case, and the local Micro-Center didn't have a single one of their dozens of cases that would fit it on top.It came with NO Instructions. After finally finding installation instructions on their web site (look out - they are well hidden and buried deep), I found them to be among the worst installation instructions I've ever seen.
This company needs to clean up its act.