Arctic Liquid Freezer III 240 Black

[crazyeyesreaper]

Most of these review samples sent out are 240mm AIOs. I wonder why they're holding back on the 280/360/420 SKUs. I suspect 360+ beats the competition hands-down but why hasn't Arctic served them on a silver platter for maximum exposure?



That's where i was in 2017... in some way or form i still share the same sentiments. But it is what it is, i got SUCKED IN! It's that bloody minimal RGB infinity mirror on the NZXT X62 pump that pulled out the 'kid' in me. No regrets though, much better performance compared to my then ~£40/£50 Cryorig H7 and easily managed 5.0Ghz on a Quad i7-7700K whilst looking real pretty. I recall my wife asking "what is that" i told her the breathing ring light is an alarm and sensor linked to the house security/cam system... she believed me (a great method to justify the silly expense hehe).



GNs vids are always quite long and very technical, a little too techie for my brain. Any highlighted pros and cons we should be aware of?

I was offered whatever version I wanted to test. I opted for 240 as that is still the gold standard for case compatibility. Also the trend of late has been to push 360 / 420 models (most brands want to send the biggest and best glossing over the more traditional options and let the reviews on the higher end units sell the 240s etc. I wanted to see what the 240 could do so that's what I asked for.

 

[Space Lynx]

I was offered whatever version I wanted to test. I opted for 240 as that is still the gold standard for case compatibility. Also the trend of late has been to push 360 / 420 models (most brands want to send the biggest and best glossing over the more traditional options and let the reviews on the higher end units sell the 240s etc. I wanted to see what the 240 could do so that's what I asked for.

I completely agree with your logic on this, this is a niche hobby, and even more niche subset of us want the 420mm, really no audience for that so I don't blame you one bit.

I want the 420mm though personally since my case supports it after all.

I'd really be tempted if it didn't use a proprietary install thingy and had better coverage of paste on the plate.

 

[remekra]

I was offered whatever version I wanted to test. I opted for 240 as that is still the gold standard for case compatibility. Also the trend of late has been to push 360 / 420 models (most brands want to send the biggest and best glossing over the more traditional options and let the reviews on the higher end units sell the 240s etc. I wanted to see what the 240 could do so that's what I asked for.

Could you confirm that you can see the RPM when connected through the cable that provides separate control over fans, pump and VRM fan?

 

[bug]

That's where i was in 2017... in some way or form i still share the same sentiments. But it is what it is, i got SUCKED IN! It's that bloody minimal RGB infinity mirror on the NZXT X62 pump that pulled out the 'kid' in me. No regrets though, much better performance compared to my then ~£40/£50 Cryorig H7 and easily managed 5.0Ghz on a Quad i7-7700K whilst looking real pretty. I recall my wife asking "what is that" i told her the breathing ring light is an alarm and sensor linked to the house security/cam system... she believed me (a great method to justify the silly expense hehe).

Hey, we're all tech enthusiasts here (though sometimes that's hard to tell, seeing how often we post our hatred towards some company), we all buy things most people won't. It's just that for me, water cooling has always seemed more trouble than it's worth. Sure, this looks great and the price is incredible for an AIO. But for some reason water cooling is one thing that never made me go "screw it, I'm in".

 

[DLAV]

Could you confirm that you can see the RPM when connected through the cable that provides separate control over fans, pump and VRM fan?

I can confirm without having this aio. Just google "pwm fan pinout" and you can see arctic has the pwm control and rpm read on the fan headers with only 2/4 wires connected . My first post on this thread was misleading, i hope i corrected myself with clear pictures.

 

[Minus Infinity]

the 420mm does prob gain about 12 celsius cooler across the board with a small bump in fan curve (but nothing too loud) - also the vrm's are cooled better for longevity I guess.

12 celsius is a lot though, but not many places review the 420mm model. or if they do they only do so at stock fan, when really all AIO's need a slight bump in curve to get the air through the radiator properly (imo not science)

420mm though is huge and isn't cheap. How many people need this level of cooling. I mean who would OC these days given they are IMO already OC'd from Intel and AMD past the point of silliness.

 

[Space Lynx]

420mm though is huge and isn't cheap. How many people need this level of cooling. I mean who would OC these days given they are IMO already OC'd from Intel and AMD past the point of silliness.

420mm liquid freezer III only costs 82 euro in Europe direct from Arctic site, and only 96 bucks off amazon usa...

cheaper than a Noctua air cooler.

imo its not about oc'ing anymore, its just about having colder temps, i'd love to see 60 celsius max temp when gaming on a 8800x3d someday

 

[wheresmycar]

You can take the thing apart completely with a screwdriver for maintenance or refills. Overall good quality. The coldplate got 1mm longer fins & different channels. Tubes are more rubberized & flexible. The "fan cap" leaves room for DLC caps down the road. Sadly he didn't take the rotatable angled tube connectors apart. Would have been interesting to see how it's sealed and if it's prone to leaking down the road. But I guess that's a part you can't take apart without breaking.

thanks for the breakdown!

You're the perfect candidate to summarise all of GNs vids... short, sweet and time-efficient

 

[Space Lynx]

thanks for the breakdown!

You're the perfect candidate to summarise all of GNs vids... short, sweet and time-efficient

he didn't mention the cold plate part in the video and that is the biggest issue steve had. its curved wrong and doesn't make pressure contact as well as it should

 

[Ruru]

Also, Arctic specifies the fan noise for the P12 as "0,3 Sone", according to their website, which might be a bit confusing, but is still a valid way of measurement for fan noise.

Arctic's been specifying their fan noises in Sones as long as I can remember. ~20 years ago when ATI/NV Silencers were the thing, they already mentioned the noise level in Sones.

 

[AusWolf]

420mm liquid freezer III only costs 82 euro in Europe direct from Arctic site, and only 96 bucks off amazon usa...

cheaper than a Noctua air cooler.

imo its not about oc'ing anymore, its just about having colder temps, i'd love to see 60 celsius max temp when gaming on a 8800x3d someday

My 7800X3D does 60 °C in gaming under a Dark Rock 4.

8800X3D will never exist, as the 8000 series are the Phoenix APUs. 9800X3D perhaps.

 

[Space Lynx]

My 7800X3D does 60 °C in gaming under a Dark Rock 4.

8800X3D will never exist, as the 8000 series are the Phoenix APUs. 9800X3D perhaps.

9800x3d is what I meant then, I don't keep up with the tech world much anymore

 

[Chomiq]

I want the 420mm though personally since my case supports it after all.

Aren't you selling your PC rn?

 

[Space Lynx]

Aren't you selling your PC rn?

yep, but i will build again, probably in 2025 or 2026, it will be interesting to see reviews of Noctua NH-D16 someday.

 

[Acijn Rhark]

The documents from Arctic itself leave no room for misunderstandings. Beautifully illustrated and excellently explained.

https://www.arctic.de/media/d4/9f/04/1708429821/Spec_Sheet_Liquid_Freezer_III_360_A-RGB_EN.pdf

Liquid Freezer III 360 A-RGB (Black) | Multicompatible All-in-One CPU Water Cooler | ARCTIC

ACFRE00144A | The brand new Liquid Freezer III 360 in the A-RGB version, now available! | New design and better performance | Liquid Freezer III | 23 Years ARCTIC

www.arctic.de

 

[bug]

The documents from Arctic itself leave no room for misunderstandings. Beautifully illustrated and excellently explained.

https://www.arctic.de/media/2f/4f/11/1708429821/Spec_Sheet_Liquid_Freezer_III_360_A-RGB_DE.pdf

ARCTIC | Cooling, Mounts, Equipment | The Cooler Way | Cooler than ever

ARCTIC is a leading manufacturer of low-noise PC coolers, fans and thermal interfaces along with high-quality monitor arms and wall brackets | Fast processing and delivery | ARCTIC Store

www.arctic.de

Maybe the English version doesn't leave room for misunderstandings, the German version certainly does

 

[Acijn Rhark]

Done.

 

[DLAV]

What's that pump readout thing?

 

[remekra]

Installed the 360 version and immediately got hit by pump noise as it was running at 90%. My LF2 was running on one cable so I guess pump was then running on the same % speed as fans so 35-40% thats why I couldnt hear it at all.

Set it to 60% and now I can't hear it. Overall better looking but temps are so far the same.

 

[Acijn Rhark]

https://support.arctic.de/products/liquid-freezer-iii-240/techdocs/LF3%20240_360%20PWM%20Curve.pdf

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 - User Manual

Get your ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 user manual. Detailed explanation with coloured schematics, photos, animations and videos.

support.arctic.de

Liquid Freezer III - Compatibility - User Manual

Get your ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - Compatibility user manual. Detailed explanation with coloured schematics, photos, animations and videos.

support.arctic.de

ARCTIC Fan Settings in UEFI - User Manual

Get your ARCTIC Fan Settings in UEFI user manual. Detailed explanation with coloured schematics, photos, animations and videos.

support.arctic.de

https://www.arctic.de/media/1c/af/b3/1708429821/Spec_Sheet_Liquid_Freezer_III_240_Black_EN.pdf

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 - Documentation

Get detailed documentation for your ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240. All available in downloadable format for your convenience.

support.arctic.de

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 - Customer Support - Customer Support

Get your ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 user manual. Detailed explanation with coloured schematics, photos, animations and videos.

support.arctic.de

What's that pump readout thing?

View attachment 335897

The pump runs at 10% PWM at actual 1000 rpm and ~1600 rpm is displayed e.g. with HWiNFO.

 

[DLAV]

The pump runs at 10% PWM at actual 1000 rpm and ~1600 rpm is displayed e.g. with HWiNFO.

A user would look at any monitoring software and see ~4300rpm at 100%? Something is not right.

​

remekra, what are you reading when you set the pump at 100% and other various speeds?

 

[Acijn Rhark]

That's right.

[Sammelthread] - Arctic Liquid Freezer III Serie 2024

Naja meine LF 2 ist fast nicht zu hören, sehe also keinen Grund zum Upgraden.

www.hardwareluxx.de

The pump is connected to the AiO-, the fans are connected to the CPU-, the small fan to the optional CPU-connection.

Pump RPMs are also read incorrectly for me, both on the board and in HWinfo and AIDA64.

 

[DLAV]

So in reality this is a ~1100-4200 RPM pump. Why present it as "800–2800rpm (PWM controlled)"?

 

[Acijn Rhark]

Buyers of the liquid freezer 3 can confirm this behavior, but only Arctic's technical support can explain the technical background.
So take a screenshot of the diagram, ask the technical support for the reasons for this readout behavior and attach the screenshot to your request.
Then you will probably have an answer to this question in two to three days.

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 - Customer Support - Customer Support

Get your ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 user manual. Detailed explanation with coloured schematics, photos, animations and videos.

support.arctic.de

 

[evernessince]

So I ended up purchasing the 420mm version due to the low price and I can say it does indeed cool very well. With the pump set to 60% and fans set to 50% temps max out at 68c while running an encode on my 7800X3D.

I can definitely confirm the AMD mounting is terrible as GN pointed out. In fact it might be the worst mounting system I've ever used and that's considering I used to have a tuniq tower extreme back in the day that would tear your hand to shreds in order to mount it. 90% of the installation time of this cooler is holding the leafspring down and hopping the screw on the other side doesn't pop out. You can't mount it by slowly walking in each side by alternating screws (as you should do with any other cooler to ensure even distribution of paste), this will almost always result in one side or the other popping out with this mounting system. Also I don't recommend conductive paste at all with this one as the seasawing that occurs due to the leafspring during the installation can cause paste to pump out and down the side of the CPU.

Other than that included accessories are extremely barebones and no manual is included (online only). The mounting gear is not of the highest quality and the radiator I recieved did have some bent fins out of the box. Also a very tiny nitpick but a triangle shaped box is a terrible idea, pita to store.

Overall my early impressions would be a 9/10. Top tier performance at an unbeatable price. That said, whoever cooked the mounting system should not be allowed to cook anymore.