German company Arctic has been a mainstay in the PC cooling space since its inception in 2001. MX thermal pastefans, and a custom Accelero GPU cooler.
It’s been years since the Arctic impressed us with its low prices Freezer 34 Esports Duo Air conditioner. Unlike the entry-level Duo, Arctic’s Liquid Freezer II 360 AIO is the company’s highest performing and most expensive cooler, priced at his US$140. Can Intel’s Core i9-13900K handle the heat and earn our spot? best aio cooler list? We will test it and find out. But first, here are the specs for the cooler, straight from the North Pole.
cooler specs
| cooler | Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 A-RGB |
| Manufacturer’s suggested retail price | $140 USD |
| Radiator dimensions | 398(L)×38(W)×120(H)mm |
| Radiator material | aluminum |
| Socket compatibility | Intel 1700, 1200, 115X, 2011-3*, 2066* *Square ILM |
| AMD AM5, AM4, AM3(+) | |
| base | copper |
| Maximum TDP (our test) | ~290W |
| guarantee | 6 years |
Packing and inclusions
Arctic’s Liquid Freezer II 360 comes in a fairly large box, with plastic and cardboard used to protect the contents.
Package includes:
- 360mm radiator
- CPU block with VRM fan
- Pre-installed with three 120 mm fans
- Mount for all modern CPU sockets (including AM5 and LGA1700)
- A small tube of thermal paste
install
Installing the Liquid Freezer II 360 was very easy. First, attach the studs to the CPU backplate and secure them using the O-rings. After pressing the backplate onto the motherboard, the standoffs need to be screwed on. Next, apply the included thermal paste from the syringe onto the CPU, install the CPU block, and secure it with the included thumbscrews.
image 1 of 3
Features of Liquid Freezer II 360
(Optional) RGB controller with software support
Arctic’s Liquid Freezer II A-RGB comes in two versions. One comes with an ARGB controller ($10 more expensive) and the other does not. If software ARGB support is important, choose a model that includes an ARGB controller. The sample you sent us was of the latter, so we haven’t tested the software. For more information on the software used to control the ARGB controller, please refer to the ARGB controller documentation. arctic website.
Proprietary CPU block with VRM fan and quiet pump
Arctic’s Liquid Freezer II incorporates a small fan on top of the CPU block to help dissipate and cool the VRM surrounding the CPU. The CPU block does not interfere with RAM slots, so using this cooler is fully compatible with RAM.
While most liquid coolers on the market today are based on Asetek designs, the Liquid Freezer II features an in-house designed pump by Arctic for quieter operation and higher efficiency. Like the fan, the water pump is his PWM controlled to regulate speed. This reduces power consumption and noise levels under light workloads.
Thick premium class radiator
The radiator included in the Liquid Freezer II has high fin density and is very thick, 1.5 inches or 38mm to be exact. This is good for cooling by allowing more liquid to be used in the circuit, but it also increases the overall cooling surface area. However, adding a fan also means you’ll need a case with a wider clearance of about 2.5 inches.
image 1 of 2
Arctic P12 Fan
Coolers are more than just heatsinks and radiators. Bundled fans have a big impact on both cooling and noise levels. The Liquid Freezer II includes he three 120 mm P-series fans, pre-installed on the radiator for your convenience. These fans are designed for focused airflow and high static pressure for efficient cooling despite air resistance. It’s clear that the design works, as you can see in a quick test.
| model | Arctic P12 |
|---|---|
| size | 120×120×15mm |
| fan rotation speed | 200-1800RPM |
| air flow | Up to 48.8 CFM |
| air pressure | 1.85mm H20 |
| Bearing type | Fluid dynamic bearing |
| lighting | ARGB |
test method
With previous generation CPUs for coolers, it was fairly easy to keep the flagship i9 processor well below TJ max (the maximum temperature the CPU can sustain without throttling) under demanding workloads, but with the Core i9-13900K This is no longer realistically possible. Extreme cooling (or enabling power capping). Peak CPU temperatures have been a source of concern in the past, but enthusiasts should learn to accept high temperatures as ‘normal’ while running demanding workloads on Raptor Lake and Ryzen 7000 CPUs. there is.
The latest AMD and Intel CPUs are designed to run fairly hot without problems, up to 95 degrees Celsius for AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs and up to 100 degrees Celsius for Intel’s Core i9-13900K. Similar behavior has been standard in laptops for years, due to the cooling limitations of cramped chassis.
Additionally, Intel’s i9-13900K specifically supports Adaptive Boost Technology (ABT). This allows the CPU to dynamically boost to higher all-core frequencies based on available thermal headroom and electrical conditions. This allows multi-core loads to run up to 5.5Ghz with the required amount of heat dissipation. This feature works in an aggressive hot-seeking manner. If the chip detects that it is operating below the 100°C threshold, it will increase performance and power consumption until it hits the safe 100°C limit, maintaining higher clocks (and providing better performance). increase).
The increased cooling challenges with Raptor Lake meant that we had to change some of the ways we test coolers. Some coolers were able to pass the Cinebench R23 multi-core test with Intel’s 12th Gen i9-12900K when the power cap was lifted (although only the most powerful models were able to pass that test ).
Since the Raptor Lake 13900K aggressively tunes in a way that seeks the best safe temperature, we instead look at total benchmark scores and sustained clock speeds to compare performance.
Asus’ TUF Gaming Z690 Gaming Plus WIFI motherboard and Cooler Master’s HAF 700 Berserker computer case are used to test Intel’s i9-13900K CPU. Case fans are limited to 35% speed. The motherboard’s default fan curve is used for the CPU cooler fan.
In addition to testing Cinebench with no power cap applied, we also show the results of limiting the CPU power consumption to a more reasonable 200W. We also show the results at 125W for those who prefer very quiet cooling at the expense of some performance. For both of these results, we show the traditional delta result versus ambient temperature.
We also provide sound level measurements recorded using a PSPL25 sound meter for all three power levels tested, comparing the noise produced by each cooler in different scenarios. We expect most coolers to run effectively and quietly at 125W. You will notice that the noise level graph starts at 36 dBA. This is the noise floor in our test environment. Anything lower than this cannot be measured with typical background noise. Note that noise measurements are logarithmic. So the difference in cooler noise levels is more important to the human ear than these graphs suggest.
LGA1700 socket bend
Keep in mind that besides the CPU cooler, there are many other factors that affect cooling performance, such as the case you use and the fans attached to the case. Your system’s motherboard can also affect this. Especially if the socket is bent and the cooler makes poor contact with the CPU.
To prevent bending from affecting the cooling results, Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame was attached to the test rig. If the motherboard is subject to bending, the thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected by this issue. We tested the Raptor Lake CPUs on two motherboards. One of them showed a significant thermal improvement after installing his Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, while the other motherboard had no difference in temperature at all!For more information see this contact frame review Please refer to the.
test configuration
| CPU | Intel i9-13900K |
| Tested comparison air cooler | cougar forza 50 |
| Deep Cool AG400 | |
| Deep Cool AG620 | |
| Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth | |
| SilverStone Hydrogon D120 ARGB | |
| Thermal Light Assassin X 120 R SE | |
| Thermal light AXP120-X67 | |
| Compare tested AIO coolers | Deep Cool LT720 |
| Enermax Aquafusion ADV 360 | |
| Fractal Celsius + S36 Prisma | |
| MSI MAG Core Liquid P360 | |
| SilverStone VIDA 240 Slim | |
| motherboard | Asus TUF Gaming Z690 Plus Wi-Fi DDR5 |
| sheep | Important DDR5-4800 |
| GPUs | Intel ARC A770 LE |
| case | Cooler Master HAF 700 Berserker |
| PSUs | Cooler Master XG Plus 850 Platinum PSU |
