Review: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 A-RGB (2021 revision)

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Jul 29, 2021.

  1. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    kanenas and Lily GFX like this.
  2. Lily GFX

    Lily GFX Member Guru

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    I use the non RGB 360 one on both 5900X and 3900X so far they been great.
    Cheap, easy to install, perform very well and so far no failing fans either and
    there is not any more noise than when I first installed them.
    Mounting is slightly offset for better cooling on AMD Zen2 and Zen3.
    No software needed just adjust in bios.
    Replacing fans is cheap too if needed. :)
     
  3. AlmondMan

    AlmondMan Maha Guru

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    I have the 240mm non-RGB version. Performs really great. Very affordable too.
     
  4. gx-x

    gx-x Ancient Guru

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    This is the only review online that shows this (well, not this particular one, they used non ARBG ones) AIO not being in top 3, if not the top AIO, regardless of price of other systems.
    I think your test environment is different, cpus are different and so on. Either way:

    : No GN videos on this forum please, thanks.

    is most likely more accurate. H110 for sure is (in AIO terms) much worse than even 280 AC LF 2, let alone 360 one. When you have seen one asetek pump you've seen them all. Taking into account that there is more liquid in this system than in most others (that beat this system in this review) is enough to start seeing red flags here.
     

  5. kanenas

    kanenas Master Guru

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    2 months now I use the liquid freezer II 240 with paste mx-4 and the 5600x has not exceeded 70 degrees Celsius although I have it at 4.9 with curve optimizer, and really this fan that blows the vrm does a good job,i was so satisfied that I went and I got the freezer II 120 for the 2700x I have on the third pc.Great value.
     
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  6. Tsenng

    Tsenng Active Member

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    Hmm the temps under OC is a bit weird for a 360. I have the 280 version on my new Ryzen 5800X and even in this hot summer (Had up to like 26C ambient temp in the room) and cpu at 4.8ghz it does not even break 72C. In "normal temps" like 23ish ambient it never breaks 70C under full load. and it is also super quiet wich is awsome. (this is also paired with a RTX 3080 aircooled card in the cabinet)
     
  7. Mineria

    Mineria Ancient Guru

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    Not to forget that a 6 years warranty comes on top of it.
     
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  8. HARDRESET

    HARDRESET Master Guru

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    Enermax Liqmax III 360 is worth mentioning, my cost was less than a hundred, going two years with no problems at all, used on my 2700X OC and 5950X OC at 4.7 plus 1.3 v wish a review from Mr H in the future.
     
  9. ruthan

    ruthan Master Guru

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    These review need so other chart, its not easily to constantly switching between Noise and Performance chart. We need something like best Performance/Noise ratio chart, because product with best ration is best one..
     
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  10. Ven0m

    Ven0m Ancient Guru

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    Thanks for the review.
    The mentioned Enermax Liqmax III 360 would be good ot have on the chart too.

    My brother has the older non-RGB Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 on his 5950X, and it makes overnight rendering possible. Good stuff.
     

  11. Mineria

    Mineria Ancient Guru

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    I use one for my 5800X, getting approximate 10-15C lower temps at max compared to my previous NZXT Kraken X72.

    @Hilbert Hagedoorn
    AIO and CPU cooler reviews should include both the hottest from the latest Intel as AMD CPU, since there is a difference in how the die is placed these days, offset mounting matters.
    I mean we can ofc. go watch Steve from GN to see the AMD part.... :)
     
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  12. Timur Born

    Timur Born Member Guru

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    The VRM fan is quite audible and quite useless, so it can safely be plugged off. The pump's main problem is a high pitched buzz around 1550+ Hz, plus the pumps housing resonating/vibrating with anything it touches.

    LF II 360 (2020, worse once built in, reports pump RPM):
    [​IMG]

    LF II 420 (2021, better once built in, reports fan RPM):
    [​IMG]

    There also is a jaw harp like noise happening just short of the pump reaching 100% rpm (about 52% PWM on my 360, 56-57% on my 420). This also happens whenever the PWM signal increases or decreases over said range.

    Arctic's fans have several noise profiles, but the main issue is a sinusoidal tone happening in many RPM ranges, worse and slightly higher frequency (~400 Hz) on the 120 mm ones but also present on the 140 mm ones.

    P14 PWM PST:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2021
  13. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    doesn't make any noise what so ever at the correct pwn profile (at idle/browsing loads)

    only Liquid Freezer review samples report pump speed, retail reports fan speed.
     
  14. Timur Born

    Timur Born Member Guru

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    Revision 1 reported pump speed, which is the revision of my 360. When the VRM fan is set so low that it's inaudible then it's even less effective and in a really quiet system this fan is quickly one of the main offenders, plus you have no specific control over its rpm.
     
  15. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Using the 360 version on my Intel I7 5960x @ 4.2+ghz(Prime95/AVX Stable).

    So far, very good Cooler.
     
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  16. Mineria

    Mineria Ancient Guru

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    There are 4 revisions of the none RGB 360 version, I got a rev. 3 with the rev 4 mounting kit which also includes proper standoffs.
    With either one of the 3 recommended PWM profiles the components never get up to that 100% duty cycle, they don't need to either.
    With the second profile my 5800X rarely hits 72C, only thing I hear from my case is the air been pushed trough from all my other fans, I can hear that little fan if I open it and put my ear close to it though.
    I agree with you on that the VRM fan isn't really needed with enough cold air moved in and hot air moved out, could just disable it if it is that annoying.
     
  17. Timur Born

    Timur Born Member Guru

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    At stock settings my LF II 420 (Rev4) runs at 400 rpm while Prime95 Small FFT AVX2 is running on my 5900X. After 6 minutes CPU temp is 60°C (hottest part of hottest core). I run push+pull on the upper two fans and push only on the lower fan (no room in chassis), which may or may not help a bit. Stock is limited to 95 A (TDC) and 142 W (PPT), though, so most other coolers should do just fine, too.

    Overclocking a 5900X is mostly useless from a power vs. performance perspective as diminishing returns kick in fast and hard. Best you can do is to leave everything but Curve Optimizer alone, and even then you risk instabilities. When amperage and power are increase you reach a point where the pump + copper-plate are not able to pull heat away from the CPU quick enough, regardless of pump- and fan-speed.
     
  18. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    These are packaging revisions, not the revisions of the actual pump assembly, there are 2 of these - most reviewers demonstrated the rev that reported pump speed, only GN went back later and did a comparison of the review sample and a newer retail sample and demonstrated differences to the cabling for the vrm fan and that it now reports fan rpm.
     
  19. cucaulay malkin

    cucaulay malkin Ancient Guru

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    the pump is the same tho ?
     
  20. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    "Pump Assembly" ie, the block
     

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