Deep Dive! Does your cooler size REALLY matter?!

[@Jayztwocents]

Hey everyone, minor correction. The radiator is 38mm thick, not 45.... Wouldnt be a Jay video if I didnt get something wrong... Also, the reason I didnt use noise levels is because I lack a good db meter, however its something I plan to add to the future. It wont be SUPER accurate since we dont have a sound chamber but it should still give us some sort of data. Our recording room is fairly sound isolated from the environment so we should be able to minimize sound pollution. Its something I plan to start including in some way.

[@surfacingcom]

I though this was going to be a commentary on Battleship power creep in WoWs.

[@tacklenutfishing2339]

Great analysis mate. I would have liked to see what difference in temperature the fan made on the cpu socket and the VRM’s, possibly ram modules as well if any..? Run tests with fan and without… Just a suggestion. In my opinion, a very interesting subject. Cheers

[@TKIvanov]

Pretty sure other AIOs aint 30mm either. They're 27mm IIRC

[@SimonZerafa]

Is it just me or are the Amazon links not working? 🫤🤷‍♂️

[@SquishedTia]

Perhaps you could ring Steve and see if he'd be willing to do a short vid on sound testing with these. It'd be interesting to hear the accoustics in that setup. I'd be most interested in the 240 vs 280 vs 360 vs 420 accoustic profiles.

[@ARCTIChannel]

Thank you so much for the incredible review! We’re thrilled to hear that our Liquid Freezer III impressed you and that it even exceeded your expectations. Your detailed analysis and insights are invaluable, and we’re excited that you highlighted the aspects we worked hard on. Your feedback means a lot to us, and it’s great to see our work being recognized by someone as knowledgeable as you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!! ❄

[@ryancox3834]

A company every brand should aspire to be 🤙

[@Thebul500]

This video made me consider to get one!

[@prometheus9038]

@@Thebul500 do it! I have a 280mm artic freezer II and my 5900x rarely goes above 60c

[@martissxx]

i got arctic liquid freezer II 420 and its amazing you did great temps are amazing on 13900k it is great product thanks for making it happen. :D

[@cuteshadow]

Got a LF2 and im really happy with it, only one O-Ring vulcanisation recall was "scary" As it was "send in for free, or we gve you all the parts for diy" Yet that worked nicely and runs smooth. So yeah my next cooler is most likely a Arctic again. :)

[@Heapfael]

The cooling area of a 280 is about 91% of a 360, which people always underestimate. Width matters :-)

[@larrycampbell6133]

Width matters - sounds like something my wife would say 😂

[@elibolton6235]

yeah, and I like 140mm fans more because they don't need to spin as fast (and loud) to move the same amount of air.

[@timur7381]

Girth matters

[@peterpeter5666]

thats what she said

[@hiru92]

larger area better

[@markmcguire7977]

Been watching your videos for a while Jay. I am noticing a much higher overall production value and care and effort going back to your videos. I know you had the bad health spill and everything that was going on, and i kept watching because you are very entertaining, but recently it seems with your energy coming back, so has the overall quality of your videos. I wanted to let you know its noticeable, and its great to see you getting back into this. Thank you for the years of entertainment.

[@Jayztwocents]

I appreciate that! Its funny what having blood that works will do for the body and mind! haha

[@markmcguire7977]

@@Jayztwocents Absolutely. Just wondering when the gaming mats might be back so I can pick 1 up? I love your design on it, finally has the money to get one so once its back in stock.

[@retrosean199]

I'd say the fact that Jay bought these and was pleasantly surprised makes this an even better review.

[@Jayztwocents]

I have no REGERTS.. (sic) - I do have some gripes that I should have pointed out, such as the tubes only go one way and can interfere with some m.2 slots in PCIE Slot 1

[@VincentAndre_HK]

@@Jayztwocents just ask our customer supports for that, we'll send you a M2 Pro cooler ;)

[@pb5109]

I've had the 420 AIO for over 3 years, AMAZING product. There is one thing that you need to keep in mind, this AIO is HUGE, it does not fit in most cases. One thing missing from the review is noise... with the 420, I can game with the fans at such low speed that they are whisper quiet. You literally cannot hear the fans at all.

[@TheKims82]

Liquid Freezer III was released earlier this year

[@pb5109]

@@TheKims82 I had the Arctic Freezer 2. STILL AMAZING, pretty much same cooling performance, but added RGB on the 3

[@Simhero]

How about pump noise? It usually annoys me more than fan noise

[@Japieeh]

@@Simhero at least for the Liquid Freezer III 420 it comes with a seperate cable that splits the pump header, vrm fan header and fans header so you can control them seperately, personally always have my pump at around 50% and I never really hear it, and compared to pump at 100% speed the temperature difference is almost nothing

[@pb5109]

@@Simhero you can barely hear it. I separated the fan and pump control and it worked wonders to control the pump noise

[@thebkg]

This has honestly been, IMO, one of the most informative videos you've done in a while! Artic has never been on my radar, and I don't think I've ever considered a 420 before. Great discovery, and great idea on doing the size comparisons!!

[@TheCaRud]

Arctic MUST be included in every comparison, they have the best price/performance ratio you can get and have been for YEARS! Simply WORLD CLASS!

[@Gobeman]

They are the Peerless assassin of AIO basicly (yes i know that company just did a AIO-.. But you know what i mean)

[@animalyze7120]

I still laugh at the Noctua band wagoners, they paid 3x's as much for a fugly brown fan for years that offered microscopic performance levels.

[@12100F]

arctic LF3 is the most mid cooler to exist.

[@jeanmahmoudventilateur3480]

@@animalyze7120 tf are you on about lmao

[@dyson9422]

😎

[@RAZGR1Z]

Arctic makes great stuff.

[@kiney4473]

Yup my Liquid Freezer ii 280 is still going strong after Years

[@kennedy181]

yea sadly the radiator is a bit to thick for my case

[@GammaStyleGaming]

Yeah i got a 420, it rocks

[@DeadPiixxel]

​@kiney4473 how many years

[@chriscallaghan4091]

Same. I've run a 420 Liquid Freezer II on my 5800x for almost 4 years. (Christmas of 2020) It always runs around 68c during davinci exporting and cooler in games. And it just fits in the front of a Fractal torrent.

[@SparkyB1981]

If you calculate the rad areas, the 280 and 360 are pretty close, the 420 is over double the 240, which explains the massive improvement in temps. Using a polynomial trendline from rad area vs Delta T seems to imply you aren't going to get much more return beyond the 420 (maybe 69-70 ish degC with a 560).

[@kingofstrike1234]

Also, the fans they're using ( 140mm allows more perf with lower speed ) , both the 240 and 360, use 120mm fans while 280 and 420 use 140mm fans, look at the huge gap that are from 240 to 280, and 360 to 420 VS 280 to 360

[@gorgonbert]

280 is goldilocks IMHO… almost same area as 360, needs only 2 fans which are larger and don’t need as much rpm… 👍

[@erichanson3969]

Gosh I love math nerds. Thank you.

[@imo098765]

@@bigpoppa1234 yeah, 280 is really all you need unless you doing stupid OC levels on an CPU thats killing itself 360 because why you leaving that space open on your case, that looks weird

[@Real28]

This is why I always try to go 280. Larger fans push more air at slower speeds, so you get less noise. And the rad is significantly larger than 240 and not much smaller than 360, so the sweet spot the 280 sits in is huge.

[@Valenzx718]

went from a 360 to a 420 (same case) and was happy to see a 5 degree temp drop for my 7950x3d.

[@Vincini37]

Mine idles at like 49c with the lian li galahad 2 , is that normal what are you looking like?

[@Japieeh]

@@Vincini37 AMD, especially x3D chips always run quite a bit hotter at idle than intel, thats completely normal. Maybe turning off PBO might help a bit but I doubt it

[@JSpada81]

I run a 360 aio on my 7800x3d and it idles at about 46/47c

[@Elderkiddd-z4m]

Same ​@@JSpada81

[@tsvetanbliznakov7694]

@@Japieeh in general AMD CPUs don't underclock and undervolt themselves as much as intels on idle, but thats super true for x3D chips and thats why they run hotter on idle, because for the 3D cache to work properly the CPU can't undervolt and underclock itself much

[@phoenix0153]

13:30 It's funny you mention diminishing returns on AIOs larger than a 420 because it wasn't too long ago that having anything larger than a 360 was considered just taboo because of diminishing returns. I really appreciate your breakdown and how it shows just how much things have changed... and shows how much power really is being put into these newer cpus

[@F1nalspace]

i had a 360 freezer II aio with my ryzen 7950X but it was impossible to get the temp below 90 degrees on heavy load - except it limit the power by eco mode or something. Now i have a 420 freezer iii and it never exceeds 80 degrees, even under extremely heavy load. Really shows what you showed you us today. Bigger is better ;-)

[@Shadow_Banned_Conservative]

Thicker and a copper radiator seemed to help me out quite a bit. I never got scientific about measuring the performance, so I can't give you numbers but it is running cooler. My first dive back into modern systems was an open-box Best Buy gaming system, a 14700KF with an RTX 3070 that I got for about half price. It came with a 240mm AIO in a smaller case (2-fan GPU as well). It came with the crappy factory ASUS overclocking/overpowering BIOS and whenever I ran a benchmark it throttled within 10 seconds at 100 degC. I ended up getting a Ryujin III 240mm AIO on sale, thinking that maybe the pre-built AIO was lacking but it didn't make any difference. Then I found a 65mm thick, 240mm copper radiator on Amazon, so I bought it and replaced the thin, stock aluminum radiator and keeping the AIO pump. It still spiked and throttled about 10 seconds in, but I noticed that after about 10 minutes that it was running about 7 degrees cooler on the coolant temps than with the stock aluminum radiator. Heat from the radiator seemed instant as well compared to the aluminum radiator which seemed to build slower in the exhaust air temp. Later I wound up replacing the pre-built system's motherboard with a TUF Gaming Z790 and turned off the OC in BIOS using the "enforce Intel limits" option. It now runs better, not throttling anymore and I'm pretty sure runs faster after reaching steady state temps than the OC'd motherboard was achieving. It also ran cooler under load than with the OC'd motherboard. I had people on-line tell me that an AIO would never be able to move the extra volume of fluid with my more than 2x thicker copper radiator, but it seems to be doing just fine. I'm in a bigger case now and bought a 45mm thick copper radiator for the system now along with a used MSI Meg V2 360mm aluminum AIO with the pump built into the radiator. I'll piggy-back that onto the thick copper radiator if my AIO can't handle moving the fluid with even more volume. Hopefully adding a second pump to the loop will be sufficient if it comes to that. It's been an interesting ride so far.

[@thorinoakenshield217]

Great comparison mate! I recently purchased the Liquid Freezer III and am more than happy with the performance! Here in Germany I got the AIO even cheaper. I bought the 360 ARGB Radiator for €85. That's about $92. My processor is a Ryzen 7 5700 X3D and it doesn't get warmer than 67 degrees Celsius in the multi-core test in Cinebench R23. Artic simply has the best price-performance ratio! One of the best AIOs on the market in my opinion😁

[@georgioszampoukis1966]

I have bought many AIOs over the years including coolermaster, corsair and nzxt, and I can tell you with confidence, Arctic Liquid II was by far the best one I ever bought. The fans are also amazing too. I would confidently give Arctic my money any time. Seriously, if anyone is looking for a great AIO, look no further.

[@MuckyxD]

Hey Jay, Nick and Phil, congratulations for the video, a simple subject but very well explained, executed and edited, mainly the graphs, very easy to maintain track of what is being said. I love Arctic as a brand for how they operate and also by the absolute dominance of their products on the enthusiast market. Keep up the good work

[@dhoop4482]

Love these types of videos Jay!!!!! Topics like this, out of the blue for components (like an AIO for this one) that is informative and VERY useful for us that do builds every 1-2 years. Thank you for doing this and glad you think out of the box. Please do these kinds of videos as often as you can. Great Job!!!!

[@dustyjones756]

I got a 240mm frozen prism for $45 on Amazon. Looks nice and clean and keeps my overclocked 5600x below 63° under heavy load

[@jpartlow01]

yup, got the 280mm version for about the same price several months ago. Hard to find it now, but it cools my 7800x3d great and fits in my qube case perfectly.

[@thatcher9690]

Probably the bang for buck AIO atm. I got the 360 and it performs amazing and then when you factor in price its even better.

[@MRhankylolka]

I got 420 for 49😂

[@CryBlade]

I recently got a 360 frozen edge and my 7600 stays below 70 on a really hot day (34°C) I paid 60€ for it

[@bug-hh8lk]

That is pretty amazing bang for the buck.

[@Lakefield_]

Arctic offers these AIOs with a 23% discount till the end of the year, because it's their 23rd anniversary. So prices will go up next year. I got the 360 for my 7800X3D. It's not even feeling it. I noticed, that the fans have a tiny bit of whine, or squeeking noise on certain RPMs. Mine around 1000 RPM. So i made sure they don't sit around those RPMs under load.

[@majorix1]

Or... Prices go down because its their 24th anniversary ;-)

[@zxljmvvmmf3024]

I replaced mine with their p12 max and configured them to never go above 1k RPM => no noise so far in a 19" rack case.

[@TheSteakPie]

I brought the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 about a month ago from Amazon. I was very very impressed. Then about 2 weeks later got a email saying we overcharged you here's a partial refund! Went from this is fantastic to this is nutty chrap too.

[@MitjaBonca]

Do you clean fans ones in a while? If there is dust on the blades, some strange sounds can occur. I clean PC 2x a year. If this is not it, its some shitty bearing(s). Buy Arctic 360, I have it for 2 years now, and nothing to say against, does its job decently.

[@thumbwarriordx]

In this one case, the RGB version of the P12 is actually better in every way. Doesn't have the whine, has the ring around the edge (with quieter fluid bearings unlike the P12 Max), performs slightly better for a given noise.

[@Gerome-the-gnome]

My AIO died today this video is bang on time

[@DumdumsadwTG]

I'm sorry for your loss

[@chipsoyt7253]

360 thermalright 50$/€ 👌

[@talos86]

@@chipsoyt7253 no thanks. I had issue with a Thermalright CPU cooler: the fins started to separate from the heatpipes. I called the local shop where i got it, they said, that they sell Thermalright stuffs, but they dont handle the warranty. I need to contact TR directly. I sent a mail with the warranty papers and the photos and they gave me middlefinger, because they officially not in my countrys market. They cant help. The worst product support i ever seen. They even worse than Gigabyte.

[@jamesm568]

AiO's are cheap anyway as you can buy one for under $100.

[@vladimirmarinov6730]

Sorry. The positive spin now: Watching this video I was about to jump on the water-cooling bandwagon but your post came bang on time for me to remind me why I will never buy a water cooler for a computer.

[@kr9091]

So glad you used these AIO’s! These came out right before I upgraded my computer so I snagged a 360 for $100and I couldn’t be happier. The price to performance on these are unmatched and it keeps my 12000KF in the mid 50’s to lower 60’s during long gaming sessions. Seeing these results though makes me wish I would have pulled the trigger on the 420. Also worth nothing that for AM4/AM5 they have an offset mount so that the cooling plate covers the CCD’s.

[@DiJAndy]

0:25 Imagine Arctic sending after this video 10 diferent AIO to Jay, because they want being a sponsor 😁

[@baskhd336]

I've recently gotten a 280mm LFIII and I love it. CPU temps have never been so low and cooling has never been so quiet. Even when the pump's running full speed you question if it's on.

[@mauinokaoi8747]

i went from Corsair 240mm to Arctic 280mm, HUGE difference . Arctic is a beast

[@83vette]

went from a CM masterliquid 360L to arctic freezer III 360. shit works better... no flickering rgbs and quite a few degrees cooler. wouldn't use anything else. Arctic is much better quality

[@ARCTIChannel]

[@kamizerox]

Finally! Somebody tested the AIOs on the same power profile not when boosts are ripping through variable amount of power. Kudos Jay!

[@turbo558]

Great topic choice, Jay. This is right down your OG alley of content!

[@MrSmitheroons]

I love that "for science" technical pieces are becoming normal, even from experienced reviewers who know the component market inside and out. That combination of raw data + deep context is super valuable to me, IMO. Great stuff, thanks for the video!

[@mizke420]

As a guy who runs 3x420 rads Case makers need to step up and start making cases a 1/4 to 1/2 inch large to comfortably house 420 rads.

[@potvinsuks8730]

THIS! I was just sitting here reading these comments and asking myself, why I can't fit a 420 in my o11 - XL smh.

[@mizke420]

@@potvinsuks8730 bruh I have a haf700 and the side rad to bottom rad are both 420’s and that connection between the 2 rads required 7 various fittings to be able to get a tube onto honestly every single case I’ve built in with 420’s it comes down to 1/4-1/2 inch more on the LxWxH dimensions and it would work perfectly. lol I buy super towers so I can run 140’s and a 1/4-1/2 inch bigger is NOT going to bother anyone already buying these big cases.

[@lilp4000]

Corsair 7000d baby went big and went home 💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿🤣🤣

[@Tellinq]

I have the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 that I put in my be quiet! Shadow Bade 800 - it technically fit… but my motherboard VRMs blocked a comfortable installation. So as a result I had to slant the radiator ever so slightly so I could put some screws in, but not all Was disappointed when I uncovered this (Motherboard is an ASRock Z690 Extreme for anyone wondering)

[@Phantom-kc9ly]

Yeah, my 420mm doesn't really fit without using electrical tape and not screwing it in lmao. I don't care, no one but me is looking inside it and the temps are great.

[@jankees4037]

Jayz last sentence makes this the best computer video of the year. Give this man a sizeable applause!

[@Stormpriest]

Finally feeling kind of vindicated here, I bought the 420 namely because I have such a huge case. I honestly wasn't sure if I got the right AIO, who knew? Maybe I finally did

[@SpyderTracks]

Jay dude, so glad you're feeling better and it's showing in your video's, this is really useful top notch information, and totally agree about the performance of the Arctic. Well done mate, so nice to have you back to form!

[@turbo558]

Voice crack at just 0:01 seconds in 😂 Love ya Jay

[@noadsaregoodads]

Played it back 15 times and can't hear it

[@turbo558]

@@noadsaregoodadswhen he says “today”

[@noadsaregoodads]

@@turbo558 I guess so. To me he sounds enthusiastic.

[@turbo558]

@@noadsaregoodads thats also true!

[@furioustester4056]

Nah, the voice crack wasn't the high pitch, it was the audio cut, I just had the word for it but lost it.

[@AirGunWeb]

Hey Jay. I run a 420 ALFII in my rig. Got it to cool my 12900K. Was the only thing that could tame it. Cheers AGW

[@Anomnomnomaly]

My 280mm Corsair H115i AIO has been cooling my systems since Jan 2019 when I built a system around a Ryzen 2600X. It was transferred into a new 3800X system 18 months later, and now keeps a 5800X3D cool. It's the only corsair product I've ever owned that has actually lasted longer than a fart. That said... before I bought that, I had a Titan Fenir tower cooler that lasted 9yrs and was still working when I gave my old system to a friend... and still works now as he's using my old system as a mediaserver now.

[@SoCoSinsimilla85]

same with my 240 h100i platinum and still going cooling my 5800x3d 5 years later.

[@MegaWhiteBeaner]

Must be the only Corsair product you own too.

[@SoCoSinsimilla85]

@@MegaWhiteBeaner Nope Corsair keyboard and mouse as well and RAM. Thanks for checking up on me

[@rachelipswich1]

My H150i has been going for 7 years...and it only has the dust blown out of the rad every year or so lol Same thermal paste from 7 years ago too...amazing that nothing has died yet as it's on 24/7/365. My Intel i9 7940x runs pretty hot these days but nothing too bad.

[@Anomnomnomaly]

@@MegaWhiteBeaner LOL... fanboy alert... On my 3rd mouse and 3rd keyboard in the same amount of time. Straif keyboard the space bar failed and some keys double input when pressed. Unable to replace mechanical switches without being an expert in soldering and so forth. 3rd mouse... Glaive and glaive pro... current glaive pro is 15 months old and already failing. Current K70 KB has several LED's that show LED fade and no longer show the correct colour. Will never buy a corsair KB/Mouse of anything else again... And given the reviews I'm seeing for the artic AIO's... that'll be my next purchase along with some swafans. I'm done with overpriced garbage from companies that try to make out they sell premium products when the only premium is the price and there are better, cheaper options out there. Corsairs warranty/support is garbage and I've had one refund via my credit card after they couldn't be bothered to deal with the warranty... thankfully I'm in the UK where we actually have reasonable consumer protection laws and decent credit card protections, like the section 75 process. But you keep drinking the coolaid fanboy

[@primozsuhadolnik5468]

I have had Arctic products (AIO-s) for many years now and they were always great. Their customer support is also TOP level. Back when there was some problems with gunk build-up on some of their aios models, they found it themselves and they immediately let the people know. They even told Gamer Nexus and they covered it in a video and praised the company for honesty and great support. They send out new coolant, gasket and cold plate to all affected customers for free worldwide. I got mine in 2 days (from Germany to Slovenia). Build quality, performance and price are really awesome. Never had any problems. Oh and yes, they are now having a sale on all their products, also their stuff is a bit cheaper here in Europe in general. 240 is 72€, 280 is 83€, 360 is 89€ and 420 is 97€. And all those prices already include 22% VAT, also those prices are for white coolers with RGB, which is the most expensive. Black coolers and/or no RGB are even cheaper. Really amazing PRICE/PERFORMACE ratio, the best. I really like Arctic AIO-s.

[@skaapmeester]

I just ordered a 360, 2 days ago and now I see this video. Makes me feel super confident!

[@Cris1Mac]

I have my Corsair 420 AIO waiting to be installed in my new build. This video makes me feel even better about my decision.

[@dastiffmeisterman]

I've just installed it my 14900K system is virtually silent most of the time

[@123Suffering456]

Same, using 420 and really happy with my decision.

[@DiceAir]

just a pity you bought an overpriced cooler

[@malphadour]

Dare i ask how much that cost?

[@VincentAndre_HK]

Thanks Jay for this very nice set of comments, I'll pass on the message to the engineers. So glad you liked the cooler.

[@Nareimooncatt]

I like big rads, and I can not lie. You other techs can't deny. When a geek walks in, With an itty bitty fin, And a small pump in his case He gets burned!

[@blakewatkiss7014]

I imagine only a few people “really” get this. Well done!

[@nikopiko9683]

As a corsair fan boy I have got to say this is Insanely impressive. They look and work amazing. Hats off Jay and arctic!

[@GrandmasterBBC]

A word of caution with these coolers. I bought the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 the week it was was released to go into my new build which included aa ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard and a Montech Sky Two ATX Mid Tower Case. I tried mounting the cooler to the top of the case, but due to the added thickness of that 45mm radiator, there was not enough clearance before hitting the motherboard. I had to send the cooler back and replace it with a Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360L ARGB V2 62. That cooler performs just fine but I was very disappointed that I could not use the Freezer III in my build. ☹️

[@zingwilder9989]

Absolutely. That is the only drawback with Arctic AIOs.

[@saundby]

Very true. Always pull the manual on a case before you buy it and pick your AIO. Not to mention the graphics card and mobo. I ended up getting a much larger case than I originally planned.

[@malphadour]

This is an issue with them, and a long time bugbear of mine with case makers - why the hell cant they put a bit more room in the top for thicker rads??? It wouldn't kill them to have an extra 10mm to 15mm in height for peeps who want to use a 40 or 50mm rad (also for custom loops as well as Arctic stuff)

[@christophermckinley595]

Thanks JAY, I bought these because of you and now my temps are in a wonderful range. Really appreciate your advice.

[@Elkarlo77]

One Interesting part about the Cooler Sizes is the Surface of Radiators: A 240mm has 28.800mm²*45mm, a 280mm has 39200mm²*45mm, a 360 has 43200mm²*45mm and a 420mm has 58800mm²*45mm. Thats explain why the 280 and 360 are so close together and why the 240mm and 420 are so different. A 240 has only 73% of cooling surface of a 280mm, while a 420mm has 37% more Cooling Surface as a 360mm. And thats the differences shown in the tests. A 37% higher capability to get rid of the heat putts the 420 far ahead.

[@miatafied]

Exactly. That’s also more volume of water within the radiator, which means the CPU has more water to heat so the water never gets as hot as it would in a smaller cooler. And the 140mm fans flow more air than the 120mm fans, so you have more cooling surface area, more water volume to keep average water temps lower, more CFM flowing through that radiator. A 280mm AIO has nearly the same volume and total CFM as a 360, but the 420 has significantly more of everything

[@reclessantics]

So I ordered the 420 a couple weeks ago, the non-RGB version. At the beginning of this video you mentioned the prices, so I went back and looked. They have a few more in stock than they did a couple weeks ago. But what I found interesting is there is an RPM difference between the RGB and the non-RGB versions. It’s probably negligible,but just found it an interesting comparison. Great video, I’ve been sold on Arctic liquid freeze from my set up for a while.

[@xMLK3Y]

Been using these in customer builds for years. Absolutely love them.

[@NexGen-3D]

For the past 20yrs I have always built open loop cooling systems, my latest build I went with one of these (You can see my build on Printables) and I love it, I will be using the Artic range for all future builds, they are no nonsense coolers and every part of them is well thought-out.

[@K4k1__]

I don't know how people are buying other brands of aio, they cost a lot more and arctic is also in the top performing coolers

[@JustMyFish]

Because there are brands that are lower cost than arctic and offer the same level of performance. Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 AIO that is just as good but 35$ les expensive so going by price Thermalright is better than Arctic same level of performance and save money its just 73$

[@tteqhu]

@@JustMyFish Frozen edge 360 by thermalright eur is even cheaper at $57

[@Aurummorituri]

@@JustMyFish Just as good how? Arctic uses great FDB fans and has had the cheapest and most effective ones on the market for years. I am skeptical Thermalright uses fans with as good internals.

[@ramiking745]

There not always easy to find in stock on Amazon for those looking for the non-rgb version. It's not sold in most stores like Micro Center either and some people seem content to either buying for a bigger named brand or doing the opposite in buying cheap ones from even lesser known brands.

[@AzKat69]

depends on price / performance at time of purchase.

[@CaptainNamikaze]

Of all 'cooling solutions' I've tried over the years, be quiet! has been my favourite so far and let me tell you, they be quiet. 😅 I also love their cases. The 360mm Silent Loop 2 AIO has been the best one so far, I'm super happy with it and you can refill it, which is always a plus for me.

[@Blubb5000]

I’m waiting until a 1280 comes out. (Preparing for the 15900K already)

[@HollowPoint503]

I’m gonna build a custom loop with four 420s in series, bolted to my desk, and a box fan to push air through.

[@reru_personal]

Glad to see you seem to have a lot more energy and enthusiasm for these things again after you found out your heath problems!

[@41chemist19]

This was a great video, I enjoyed it and learned quite a bit! Excited to see what's next

[@bgeneto]

Excellent review! Thx and congrats. Also didn't expected such a difference between 280, 360, and 420mm. Never ever measured such a difference with different brands. But you did the test properly, with 4 "identical" AIO. Thx man.

[@TenmarStreams]

Surprised you didn't do like a decibel test because one main reason I see people buy an AIO is for silence in their desktop.

[@optimuspower92]

this one is kind of a moot point because... AIOs still have fans on them. Good quality air coolers are just as quiet as the good quality AIOs

[@tim3172]

@@optimuspower92 I'm not sure if this is sarcasm? If by "good quality" air cooler you mean absolute top of the range air cooler and by "good quality" AIO you mean one that barely functions then... sure, I suppose, they're about equal.

[@Phantom-kc9ly]

Just people afraid of water or no money. Night and day difference for anyone whos used both lmao. ​@@tim3172

[@pedrocerrano5084]

@@optimuspower92aios are more efficient so the fans won’t have to spin as fast resulting in lower noise

[@THESHADOW97139]

The pump ....

[@omgninja66]

11 months of research of pcs and I'm able to build them. But would he nice to do what u do Jay some day. Good job and thank you!! For everything

[@mtrps_]

me when jay said lockdown 1:18 👁👄👁

[@blatcher2]

Been recommending this cooler for 4 years now. Far and away the best AIO.

[@markm75]

Other benchmarks out there seemed to have the 420 neck and neck with 360's or eben below 360 performance, this one seems a bit further apart (5c), maybe more accurate

[@Jayztwocents]

I can only speak for my results. We had to make sure EVERY single parameter was locked down so the CPU didnt operate differently per run.

[@malphadour]

Those are bad benchmarks (there are several tech sites that really are terrible at reviewing coolers) The 420 in a well done test firmly beats the others. For clarification, watch the Gamers Nexus review which is probably about as scientific as you will get. Jays review here is solid.

[@markm75]

@@malphadour Yeah i assumed the others must be flawed, Jay's review is indeed good.

[@falconadv1481]

Great video on this. And thanks to arctic for using the r&d money on a quality product, and keeping it affordable.

[@kazuviking]

Its outdated as arctic released the lga115x and lga1200 mounting kit for the LF3 that allows it to use the thermalright contact frame on lga1700. Some correction the radiator is 38mm thick and not 45mm.

[@OmegaSimPilot]

Awesome data, Jay! I do a ton of flight sim flying airliners and do quite a few 10+ hour long hauls...I went with a 360mm Corsair H150i for my Ryzen 7 5800X and Im glad I did. Gives me solid headroom for cooling while running the PC at load for extended periods of time

[@LautaroQ2812]

Me 20 seconds into the video: Oh, Ig Arctic sponsored him for this video so he could make this test, that's nice :D Jay 21 seconds in: BY THE WAY, NOT SPONSORED!!!!!! ☝☝☝☝

[@utkulekesiz8270]

I was looking for a video/data like this for weeks and right after buying arcitc 420mm I saw this video. Thanks Jay.

[@paulsilva3346]

OH SURE, Ya couldn't do this 9 months ago... 0:36 😮😅😊

[@yasirsamir]

Thank you for the great review. Really helpful information. For us quiet gaming enthusiasts, it would be helpful to include sound readings for each one at load and idle, and maybe have a top of the line air cooler like the NH-D15 as a baseline so we can compare air to AIO. The other important decision factor when considering whether to go air or AIO is longevity, I guess. By all anecdotal accounts I've read these Arctics are not only built to last but the company has an excellent customer service reputation.

[@pyrolight7568]

Short answer, 140mm fans do a much better job than 120s.

[@thehimself4056]

It’s all I have in my case

[@oliknow]

define "better"

[@thehimself4056]

@@oliknow moves a lot more volume of air than the 120. By a lot. For only 20mm more

[@williamc7367]

@@thehimself4056 With less noise too.

[@thehimself4056]

@@williamc7367 exactly. I didn’t think of that. Thanks. Essentially you can run them at their lowest level and still move more air. lol.

[@Kingxeyesore]

How thick is it tho?

[@Anonymoose0523]

About 3 inches... I mean--

[@DemonZangetsu23]

I really want to do a line from Hellsing Ultimate Abridged lol

[@justinhawk835]

Radiators are quite thicc than regular aio

[@malphadour]

65mm for rad (38mm) and P14 fans (27mm)

[@evictor99]

First 20 sec of this video is pure chaos, love it

[@kingpin201]

The price tho?! Where the hell was this when I was trying to go cheap?!

[@Jzwiz]

They use to be cheaper too on release for their anniversary

[@CrazyBRT]

even older liquid freezer II was always cheap. you needed to do research

[@kingpin201]

Research my foot! Tell Amazon to stop making me have to sift through what they want to sell and do like eBay and other sellers and give a proper low-to-high dollar list! eBay is only selling what sellers are selling! Newegg gets schizo with price gouging! If they had this in their stores, it should have been the first on the list…… One of the reasons I stopped shopping on Amazon!

[@Matt43]

Video came a little late for my research and decision but confirmed what I theorized! Thanks! I just ordered a 360 over a 240 for cooling a 5950X in an ITX case, in a small network cabinet... with a 3050, 4 HDDs, 2 SSDs & 2 NVMEs all packed in! Heat from the good but small Noctua air cooler overwhelms the Noctua Industrial case fans and the equilibrium CPU temp sits at ~50C 😮 (being a server, CPU load is always ~5% or higher, so ~5% load is "idle"). The network/server cabinet is in a basement utility room, not air conditioned and has two 8" vents for fresh air to the furnace/water heater so it can get warm during 90-100F days. Hopefully the 360 AIO will pull the heat out of the case and cabinet entirely since I'm mounting the radiator externally, in the wall of the cabinet to replace exhaust fans. If that doesn't bring the temps down enough... next will be ventilating the cabinet from an adjacent room which also doesn't have air conditioning but at least doesn't have free-flowing vents to outside.

[@Kizzster]

HINT: Buy an air cooler they're better and last longer and are cheaper most of the time.

[@TheMoldyOne]

Yes, on average, the noctura d15 is the best value, but If you want max performance without making a custom loop. A 360 AIO would be best. Also if you are acting like spending 3k on a computer with a AIO makes you cool it doesn't. Just shows you waste your money on unnecessary pre built garbage.

[@Kizzster]

@@homosapienze My PC is 3,600 I'm running one just fine after having an AIO that failed on me. The best air cooler is barely any different to the best AIO. Look up the tests.

[@Kizzster]

@@TheMoldyOne I used to be obsessed with squeezing the most performance possible but after realizing things weren't noticeable for the effort+cost I stopped.

[@mikeford963]

You must be relatively new here. Jay has done comparison tests between AIO's, custom loop, and air coolers. It's all a matter of personal preference at this point. And it's nobody's right to tell anyone else, or business about, how they should spend their money. Buy what you like, run what you want.

[@lilp4000]

So don't go the quietest and lower temperature method? I'm genuinely asking as I'm building mine right now I'm using a corsair 7000d and from the video I'm copying we got three radiators and all fans except the top radiator

[@JETWTF]

That Arctic lineup is a good one, not from what the video talks about but from a case perspective, there's a cooler in the lineup for most all cases without a huge price difference. If you build a SFF PC one time that can fit the 240 and want to build anything bigger the next time you have an AIO that will fit that's not completely different from the old one, you know what the quality will be. Then it is from Arctic and they have been around for a long time as Jay said but also are well known for good quality. Arctic Silver 5 was my go to thermal paste for years.

[@born_to_play]

The reality is ALF III has a poorly designed contact frame for Intel and mounting bracket for AMD, has a small cold plate and weak pump, it thermal throttles with almost every high end CPU released in the last few years, this is a bad choice in my opinion.

[@WADEPH33R3]

the reality is what you said is completely unfounded. test and benchmarks on the hottest running cpus show that they out perform AIO's double the price.

[@born_to_play]

​@@WADEPH33R3 You should check other reviewers like: tom's hardware, TechPowerUp, TweakTown or youtubers like KitGuruTech, Robeytech Live and Gamer Nexus. It's not recommended for Intel processors, this AIO can't handle CPUs that consume 200+ watts.

[@born_to_play]

@@WADEPH33R3 You should check other reviewers like: tom's hardware, TechPowerUp, TweakTown, KitGuruTech, Robeytech Live and Gamer Nexus. It's not recommended for Intel processors, this AIO can't handle CPUs that consume 200+ watts.

[@born_to_play]

@@WADEPH33R3 You should check other reviewers like: tom's hardware, TechPowerUp, TweakTown, KitGuruTech, Robeytech Live and Gamer Nexus. It's not recommended for Intel processors, this AIO can't handle CPUs that consume +200 watts.

[@born_to_play]

@@WADEPH33R3 You should check other reviewers. It's not recommended for Intel processors, this AIO can't handle CPUs that consume 200+ watts.

[@d4popov]

Really good indepth view of the size of coolers! Thanks Jay. P.S. love the charts and presentation

[@YuiMeow12]

Oh hi Jay, I totally agree that Aio in size do matter, can I have a few suggestions on this coming epic test.✨ By adding push & pull same fans. (stock fans) On 240 to 360 AIO. (Arctic liquid freezer III, as they did sponsor you before) As I knows that may also help abit in long run & can ran lower Rpm in fan speed or in max that see if that's help on I9 Intel 13 & 14 Gen to cool down.👍 As I know not all can afford 460 Aio that to try on forcing on more viewers has on 240, 280 & 360 Aio in push, pull in same stock fans come with the box..😜 & can you try P12 Max by Arctic. (For those who loves high performance than RGB) Also try to test with new upgrades Fans do matter & with single push or pull set up VS push pull that will have any chance of getting cooler🤭

[@playstationRLZ]

Interesting video. The charts were very well done with each coolers chart slowly trailing the one before it and the overlays all made it very easy to visualize. Hell yeah to j2c's team! Im sticking with air cooling forever though lol

[@Krenisphia]

As someone that is running the Arctic 420, I am super happy with my choice. Temps are fantastic, and it's so quiet, more so than I had thought.

[@jawnTem]

Thanx Mr Jayz! I've been needing a new AIO and just made a move on the 280.

[@r1chard077]

I got a 240mm on my 7800X3D and I love it. Affordable, great thermals, and the noise isn’t noticeable in my case.

[@alexsletsplayz6305]

I picked the 280 arctic aio for the new pc i’m building! This will be cooling my ryzen 7 7800x3D! So glad I saw this review, excited that I picked up something phenomenal!

[@RuffStuff420]

As a former HVACR tech I can tell you that volume of a cooling coil of ANY KIND will increase the cooling potential. The diminishing returns would be more because the pump itself can't handle the volume of the larger radiator or the room temperature than anything. If you added a 840 rad and did your test you would not have double the cooling of the 240-420, but this is more because the pump itself isn't capable of the proper flow than solely the size of the rad, or because the 420 already reached the full potential cooling allowed by your room temperature. These systems are using water or glycol and things like that, not actual coolant right. The max potential cooling is going to be within a degree of room temperature. A room temperature that will also rise as it is being heated by the cooling of the radiator. If your room temp is 70 your cooling is going to top out probably like 69-71. I think if you were to reduce your room temperature to, say, 60 degrees and reran these tests you might be a little shocked at the outcome. Not because "DUH the rooms colder of course its gonna cool more" but because I think you will see that the actual potential of the larger rad vs the smaller rad is much more than your current testing shows you.

[@tonyc3668]

Interesting! The cooler the ambient, the more effective the bigger fans does make sense. The equilibriums of the different systems all synchronizing caught my attention also. Is that related to higher cooling potential too? Like bigger fans pulls the heat faster then off setting the volume of liquid to create similar saturation speeds?

[@egonjankowski3587]

Like the new overlay of graphs. Nice one

[@bebarty]

When you cued to your sponsor spot, I was internally preparing to be yelled at about ifixit. You most certainly got us conditioned.

[@DiceAir]

Agree 100%. Arctic Liquid freezer III cooler is just the best period. Way cheaper than some other brands and perform better. Also the 5 pack value fans has some crazy prices

[@seanbhaney]

An EXCELLENT comparison Jay!!

[@Tremmuh]

This was really cool, something I’ve wanted to see and learn about for a while. Thanks, Jay!

[@michaelsundt6960]

Jay puts out the funniest informative pc content. I love it!

[@elibolton6235]

I've heard really mixed things about Arctic's AIOs. Tom's Hardware, for example just went off on them. They said there were better options for the same price, that they forced you to void the warranty, due to something with the contact frame, etc.

[@fvdeddrift]

That contact frame could definitely void the warranty on the motherboard. For sure! I haven't really looked for folks that used the intel contact frame and had a MB issue that was denied by the manufacturer... But I guarantee it's happened to someone! And since the backplate and am5 system is easily adapted to 1700... It seems weird!

[@bbrixon]

Thanks! I swapped from Corsair AIOs on my 4770k to bequiet tower on my 9900k, and after this, I'm going to an Arctic 420 for my new Ryzen.

[@couldntfindafreename]

Which case did you choose to fit the 420?

[@JasonBenensky]

One thing this doesn't mention is a 140mm fan has roughly 30% more airflow than a 120mm fan. So even though the difference between a 240 and 280 sounds small you also have 30% more airflow. A 280 only has roughly 12% less airflow than a 360. I think the main takeaway from this is really how much better a 140mm fan is than a 120mm fan. Also note that the total surface area (and volume for that matter...) of the radiator also matters (360 is ~10% more radiator area than a 280 etc.).

[@InsaneDark]

thank you finally a video I need. So I have a 240mm radiator and am thinking about going to 280 because I have space limitations in my case (the case old back then 360 weren't a thing but it looks epic that's why I don't want to get a new one) and this video confirms my predictions that 280 is a great upgrade and difference between 360 and 280 isn't that big.

[@jaredjosue_]

I was legit just searching 280vs 360 freaking out because I didn’t know what to buy and then papa Jay blesses us

[@Real28]

280 is the sweet spot IMO. 360 and up is for over clocking. 280 will cool almost anything and do it well. The big fans move more air with less fan speed Thanks for confirming what I've been saying for years. 280 is best value.

[@SkipSauls]

Great review, made better by level-setting the test environments and good data collection/presentation. I have Arctic LF II 280 and 420 builds, and both running nearly continuously for over 2 years. These were both updated with the service kit, which was a great example of how to properly handle a product issue. If you do any future tests, consider comparing the push/pull arrangement, and with different fans. I am using the LF II 420 with Antec T3 140 fans, which are 30mm thick, in a Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2. These seem to be better than the Artic P14s, at least at low RPMs. I use the "silent" fan curve, and the fans max at about 2/3 speed on OCCT AV2, gaming, etc. Granted, the 7800X3D isn't pulling lots of watts, but it's fairly hot running. I use the 280 with push/pull P14 fans in a Hyte Y60, which is a bit of a hotbox, but it keeps the 5800X3D cool without lots of noise. I don't "need" a new AIO, but I'm tempted to get a 420 at the launch price, and maybe do back-to-back comparisons with the LF II.

[@BudgetGamer92]

I love my Arctic Liquid Freezer II! It's crazy how efficient the little thing is, even better than my EK AIO too, nuts. I got it to hold the place of my Corsair H150i that had its pump go, twice. I picked the 280mm AIO for the price obviously, but also because of Gamers Nexus review of the AIO. Jay isn't kidding when he says these are the best-performing AIOs money can buy. It's amazing, and must make Asutek so mad that Arctic was able to get around their patent while doing it BETTER lmao! My 280mm Arctic keeps my i7-14700K much cooler than my H150i. Unfortunately, I'm a loser and rather have my LCD screen for the pump than an Amazing AIO... But I'm planning on getting the Lian Li LCD fans soon, so I'll be able to have my sensors displayed on them, and switch my AIO out to get better performance.

[@TheNerd]

12:30 is the reason why I already was overclocking "almost to the max" in the last 20 years (until I stopped 2 years ago). Running a CPU at or close to max is like banging your head against a wall trying to escape a prison. The wall is simply stronger. Running your CPU a little lower will get you better performance. I read that mistake in A LOT of forums and to this day most people think "bigger number better better". You can try this out for yourself. If you max your PBO settings to sth like 9999999 A LOT of boards will decrease power / voltage (after the spike) so much (to get the temps down) that you can actually get several hundret Mhz less. Modern CPU "firmware auto overclocking" is just so good you simply never realise it. Just like most people don't realise that a crashing game is not the fault of the developer, but too high of an Overclock, incompatible Memory that has not been testen by the Motherboard manufactuer or an absolute insane "all core -30" in the curve optimizer. YOur PC just doesn't crash because all of the stuff running in the background all of the time, poking your CPU all of the time.

[@gman7949]

After watching this video I’m now considering buying one of these. Good great as usual Jay.

[@JustCarnivorousCupcake]

Don't know if anyone has said already, but use the arctic check for motherboard compatibility; because the pump head can only go one way, it might not fit with some m.2 heat sinks. On another note, I fit an LF3 240 in my original fractal north and it fits wonderfully :)

[@3a.m.284]

Was literally just wondering why i haven't seen arctic AIO's on your channel before. Well here we are

[@theboomfish]

I have the liquid freezer II 280 with regular contact frame. Works very well indeed. Arctic for the win.

[@paulworster3683]

One of the best things i ever bought. i squeezed a Arctic 240 into a SFF SSUPD Meshlicious . Before i was using a Thermalright AXP90 X47 to cool it and it was noisy! cooled it but kept on ramping up and down all the time even with opening Chrome (I blame chrome). Now its pretty much silent, fans at half the speed they were before and a 10 - 15 degree drop in temps all for £60. what is not to love! Really interesting here to see that there is not much difference between the 280 and the 360 in terms of temps. i was planning on a 360 next for a bigger workstation build but maybe a 280 will do.