Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 - The Best Just Got Better

[@analogicparadox]

Honeslty the performance difference between this and the EK nucleus seems worth it, considering it goes for half as much. Great addition to the market.

[@STSYT]

The price of this thing is absolutely unbeatable. But wait until Sunday, there's more.

[@WatchMysh]

​@@STSYTThe increased ppi should make an impact on push/pull configs. Guess this thing blows most AIOs out of the water if you invest another like 20 bucks into 3 more Arctic fans.

[@STSYT]

[Anti Spoiler Protection]

[@WatchMysh]

@@STSYT lol. Can't wait for Sunday to see your benchmarks :)

[@inqizzo]

Its not an addition, its a revolution!

[@half_r_mk5]

I have this AIO as well, I got the 360 III BLACK version and upgraded the 3 fans to an Arctic P12 Max, and it is powerful! With the P12 Max upgrade, I can now dissipate to 300W thermal. On the standard fans, I think at 288W was doable. Right now I set my CPU (i9-14900K) to PL1=253W and PL2=253W, ICC=307A, under volted to an OFFSET of 0.1V, with a Cinebench 23 score of Multi-core = 39075, Single Core = 2351. It's a recommended Cooler for every INTEL I9 especially for the 14th gen series. Temps are in between 75-82c full load, no thermal throttling even on the v-core

[@coke4274]

VRM fan dropped my DDR5 sticks by 10c! They touched 69.5c on an OCCT stress test and dropped to 57/59c on each stick. Did not expect that it would help the RAM sticks!

[@arel77]

just the video i needed when i woke up with a fresh coffee 10/10

[@ouki4925]

Knowing Artic, they'll probably release a revision with better mounting bracket for Intel Arrow Lake.

[@squatch545]

Hope so.

[@Arttatack]

It would be nice to do a comparison between LF 2 420 with thermalright contact frame and the new LF 3 420.

[@ameeagle7]

I was about to buy a 2 and saw the 3 for sale for super dang cheap. Bought it before I even watched the reviews haha. Such a great surprise today.

[@qzi1210]

There is no mount for the lga 1200 so I just took the set from the old arctic freezer ii 420 works as well 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@VincentAndre_HK]

Thanks for the review, glad that you like the cooler. Looking forward to your next video.

[@rickcelestino2620]

Awesome review. It costs so little that at this point i may just get the Argb version to replace my old Liquid Freezer II 420 argb and use the fans on the old one to make a push-pull configuration, since the fans are the same. Wonder if there's any performance difference between the non-argb and the argb aio, since in gen II arctic's aios with 140mm fans belonging to the latter category performed somehow a little better. Do you know if it's the same case with gen III?

[@haies09]

I ordered it but canceled it because I can’t use my original contact frame. How’re you liking the contact frame on this AIO?

[@STSYT]

I can’t say that I had any problems with it so far. Used it 4 or 5 times total, no issues. But this doesn’t take any potential performance differences into account

[@Brakballe]

Did just ordered the 360 RGB III from my black 360 II. Not that I really need it but... the cooler.. the more... cool on my undervolted 13600K @ 156W. Thanks again for a brilliant review AND season 3 of "The Bear" is in the works so guess see you there as "Richie" again.. :D

[@STSYT]

Glad you enjoyed it! And of course, my shots are done, and I barely made it back on time for this vid

[@NGreedia]

Nice to see Arctic has a white option available now

[@STSYT]

Always thought they would do that for the II at some point, but guess I was wrong

[@deuswulf6193]

And with aRGB.

[@Mintor94]

They should've slapped P14 Max fans with hydraulic bearings on it. P14s are aged already a bit.

[@STSYT]

We’ll go over that on Sunday. Not saying you’re absolute right, but you’re absolutely right

[@Mintor94]

@@STSYT can't wait to see the results

[@benchvirgin4243]

I did the push pull pull setup on my Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 , system is so Amazing , also added the same fans to the case x 140mm , did replace the two front fans 200mm on the case, {140mm RAD {140mm {200mm .

[@MelliFluoGddy]

May i suggest to test the 240mm or 360mm with the 120mm max fans?

[@STSYT]

Was already in planning, just waiting for the AIOs

[@Vimes.]

Ok, point taken I would need to remove my Z690 board before trying to fit the 420mm AFIII to my system. Or stuff could happen....... Lying the case flat on its back, with the rear of the motherboard supported by a piece of foam, to retain the backplate, how much stuff could still be likely to happen.?! Thanks, and thanks for the video 👍🏻

[@eliadbu]

Great testing! will you test the EKWB nucleus direct die (it's coming next month) ? It seems at least by initial testing that it gives quite a substantial improvement.

[@armandoarroyo]

I just did order 360 mm variant I wanted the 420 but I don’t want to cut my h7 flow. Do you think is a lot of difference between 420 mm and 360mm, thanks.

[@bellisarius6968]

thanks for the review, very well done and had the specific info i was looking for, i still have an Intel LGA 1200 socket CPU and none of the reviews i had seen so far including Gamers Nexus specifically mentioned if sockets below 1700 were not supported.

[@Draxlar]

I think I read that it does suppoer 1200 ans even 11xx.

[@doudoucover]

yay, i was expecting this one, you heard me

[@STSYT]

Actually, somebody did leak the LFIII presentation video a week ago here on YT, you could have known

[@anonym8951]

any case proposals for the 420 ? the thickness could be a problem

[@RealDiaFr]

I installed this into my motherboard after my motherboard was mounted in my case. To be honest- not nearly as painful as doing it with a standard AMD cooler like Spire. Every time I've installed one of those I felt like my cpu was going to snap.

[@ProduceBOY939]

I keep seeing the Lian li Galahad ii trinity performance on top every video i watch. So for 15 extra decibels, you get better cooling by 3-5 degrees. We usually all wear a headset while gaming, I don’t know which one to buy.

[@Shobu]

in your opinion. does it worth to upgrade from a AC II 420mm to an AC III 420mm? Let's say I can find someone that can buy my cooler for 50 euro, then for 90 euro I can buy the AC III 420mm.

[@STSYT]

Uff, hard. Flatout upgrade, no, never. But IF you can find somebody to give you 50€… I would do it IF my general load is high enough. Working pc (aka 200w+ frequently) = yes, gaming = no

[@Shobu]

Thanks a lot for your honest opinion! I game + work on the same desktop. When I work I often find my load at 150W+. 7950x user here. I rarely find my load above 200W. If this is more silent under operation... I think I'd do it for that. I even set my bios profile to quiet operation but temps jump like crazy. My 7950x stays at 85 celsius while gaming.

[@STSYT]

@@Shobu sure no problem. But if noise is your absolute goal, LFIII + 3x p14s, it’s worth it

[@Shobu]

​@@STSYT following up on the upgrade. I just swapped my 420mm LFII Black with 420mm LFIII A-RGB. Something is off with my LFII Black, I've had applied a noctua NT-H1 paste and now I've got MX5 paste which is inferior but I am getting 15-20 degrees lower (celsius) temps in full load. I'll reach out to arctic maybe my unit was defective. I bought it like 4-5 years ago when it launched.........

[@hadleybroom6456]

After hearing about EK, this is the Goooooo.

[@lotttilama4612]

On the Arctic Web Page you can check for compatibility with the motherboard. In case there are issues with the SSD heatsink as shown in the video, Arctic provides for free a suitable replacement heatsink.

[@momobestE]

Thank you for this tuto, i have one Asus X299 10GB, i want to put thé same Artic, can i do the same like you please? Thank's.

[@ericspoor8175]

wow, finally. I was wondering when they would come with a new design as i was looking for a new 240 AIO a few weeks ago. Went for galahad II trinity. I did check just now on the 240 version of the freezer III series and saw the airflow and static pressure of the A-RGB fans (200 - 2000 rpm) are 48.82 cfm and 1.85 mmH^2O respectively. I do find that a little concerning. Of course it will probably follow a good score in the noise QC department though.

[@STSYT]

I wouldn't care too much about raw specs of a fan alone. They usualy need to be looked at with the Radiator in mind. Look at the LFII series, sure, you could lower the noise via push-pull, but it wasn't like the P12s weren't able to keep the AIO (close) to max-performance on their own

[@armandoarroyo]

420 mm is available on Amazon right now I did order 360mm because of my case :/

[@rammaniar]

and between ALF 3 420 and the Corsair h170i Elite LCD 420, which is the best?

[@sporadicentertainment9253]

I’ve got a Ryzen 7 5800X3D I had the A.L.F. 2 rev 4 but now I bought the new Arctic Liquid Freezer III 280 Black do I need special AM4 brackets that don’t touch my M.2 Nvme or is it included in the box?

[@blocksource4192]

my Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420mm AIO struggles to handle 253W and 370A current on my i9 14900ks. with 253Watts and 307 current power limit enforced, it sits at 89C. I feel as if this is not right. To elaborate, I'm running in push config because my fans wouldn't fit in case. The radiator doesnt seem hot either. Temps keep spiking from 79C -> 93C and everywhere inbetween almost every second. whats the issue

[@Nods.O]

Do you plan to do the p12max shroud testing to see if it’s the fans limiting performance?

[@agrisimfarming]

I just did some rough calculations, the radiator for this aio has about the same internal volume as the velcase velca 3 pc case, which supports mini itx motherboards, itx length discrete GPUs, and a flex atx power supply.

[@smokingsimon44]

LF 3 is on sale . Just paid 80 bucks today.

[@kinzie3915]

Pretty good revision of the LFII. But they should go with original mounting instead of forcing people to use contact frame on Intel and offset mounts on AMD. They should give you an option to use stock mounting or contact frame on Intel and normal/offset mounting on AMD because lots of people won't be comfortable with this.. just imagine you will overtighten the screws on Intel and kill the MB/CPU. Will the Arctic pay for the damages?

[@nikaiwolf]

I still have my original 360 arctic liquid freezer. mounting hardware missing though.

[@Axdrite]

Please tell me your AIO, PUMP fan curves I've been looking for hours and hours.

[@ceuser3555]

So if money is not an obstacle, is EK still the best performing AIO? Noise to performance as well?

[@twanheijkoop6753]

Gamersnexus has 35db normalised graphs if you need a comparison. The lf3 tops the charts in their tests.

[@AvitaBeckling]

why not add 3 more 140mm on the other side of the block? 40-50C max temps while running Cinebench on i9 14900k intel side

[@davidfluty7213]

This AIO is begging you to test with the just released Arctic P14 max. I hope that’s in the cards 🤞

[@merdt23]

Nucleus CR360 tho GAH DAYUM!

[@VicharB]

Thanks for the review. Looking really good, think will get it (the 360 version), or next version, once the AMD 9800X3D is out, till then I got Ryzen 7700 (All-core 5.25Ghz and Single-core @5.5Ghz with TjMax @88C) with Cougar Poseidon GT240 fans running @70% max = performance/noise really good, ear level less than 40db during load with 3080Ti, idle close to 27db.

[@oside_m5]

Flipping the brackets for AMD is a terrible idea. Always keep the brackets oriented correctly, flip the pump if the hoses are hitting M.2. That way plate is still off centered on hot spot. Offset happens on brackets, not pump.

[@micha3017]

Thanks!

[@g.t.o9835]

I apologize for the inconvenience, but it seems there might have been a mistake with my purchase of the Arctic Freezer III ARGB 420mm cooler. Unfortunately, it appears that the package did not include the necessary screws, ARGB controllers, or thermal paste required for installation and no new contact frame from Arctic. Could you kindly assist me in resolving this issue so that I can properly install the cooler? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. (I bought this cooler from Amazon (95$))

[@AndrewAustinFrustrated]

As you've been told before you need to contact the seller I'm not sure what you expect a youtuber to do for you and you seem to be putting this up on every video on this cooler.

[@ricardovieiradasilva6902]

Firstly, are there any IMPORTANT details that were omitted in your tests... What was the ENVIRONMENT TEMPERATURE when the tests were carried out? Second, during load testing, which program(s) were used? Because there is a good difference between a Stress test in Prime95 MAX TEST, compared to Cinebench 2023 for example. I have an I9 13900k and your temperatures are unreal, in an environment with an ambient temperature of 26 degrees Celsius.

[@davidfluty7213]

Can you consider running an AMD test in the future as well? Certain coolers seem to be prefer AMD or Intel and from other reviews this cooler performs better on AMD cpus.

[@N7P7]

Too underrated bro

[@STSYT]

Appreciate that

[@MirelRC]

Waiting for AMD tests. If you can include tests where the offset mount works without any interference from an m.2 slot, that would be cool.

[@Elefthesis]

Will this fit on my sharkoon rev300 case?

[@JagsP95]

What makes the nucleus so much cooler when its smaller than a 420 lf3?

[@teej_youtube]

I have a Kraken Elite 360, a EK Nucleus CR360, Lian Li Galahad II LCD and just got a Arctis Freezer III 420 and have been comparing all of them and am only keeping 2 of the 4. I am running a 14900K + 4090 FE + 48GB DDR5 7200Mhz OC'd to 7400 CPU is OC'd and undervolted GPU varies depending on what I am doing and I am keeping the EK Nucleus and the Kraken Elite 360. Hands down both of these are better than the other two in every way. The EK nucleus is hands down the best AIO I have ever tried period it is a cooling monster. I am returning the other 2 AIO's. I was disappointed in the Lian Li Galahad II it was awful, noise, cooling, software, even the looks when on my build didn't look great. The Arctic Freezer III 420 is also disappointing but not by as much. Running a thermarite frame with the Kraken or the EK is the best AIO cooling there is IMO and they look better also.

[@DavidRegaL-lw5xz]

Surely an Arctic 420mm will edge the EK Nucleus 360

[@Morax]

Would this fit easily enough into a Lian Li 011 Evo mid tower?

[@calvinh.8013]

No it will not. It will fit the new o11 dynamic evo rgb.

[@elzen2196]

ohoh man i just got the liquid freezerII should i return it and get the liquid freezer III ?

[@STSYT]

Not sure where you bought it, and if it's legally possible where you live, but I would at least try to

[@elzen2196]

i think ill just stick with my liquid freezer II and get the liquid freezer III in the future if my current one ever breaks or if i want to upgrade, cant be bothered@@STSYT

[@elzen2196]

besides i prefer the look of the liquid freezer II over the liquid freezer III@@STSYT

[@STSYT]

In that case, I guess you're well set

[@Rich4rd_G]

the version ARGB is the same performance?

[@Jonnykirk123]

Any chance this will get tested with the p14 max fans i sometimes see on amazon

[@STSYT]

P14 max? Did I miss something? Nothing announced (yet)? But as for your question, no, but the video on Sunday will be for you anyway

[@ssonansyah]

still waiting to review thermalright phantom spirit EVO because I'm planning to buy that cooler

[@johnsmitherino4913]

What is the size difference between the ii 420 and the iii 420?

[@Thebossreserve]

What would be the aio to use on an i9 13900ks?

[@Leon-Belmont]

Shoul i get this one or the EK Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-rgb?

[@navster87]

Why are you not testing on AM5 platform? You seem to have the hardware. CPU cooler performance greatly differs on different platforms and I think ryzen users should know how this AIO performs.

[@Alex05gr_greek_games]

I alredy got the 2 but too late to wait and get the 3 it's super op tho fr

[@prive_ik_ben_wie_ik_ben]

Same here but I'm still very happy with the price I got it for and the low noise level.

[@qwewer6]

What sftware do you use for the 100% CPU load?

[@ra4239]

Aida64 stress test

[@jacktheripper4458]

Core Ocean T38 420mm is better than lf3 420mm ?

[@Detopie]

does this fit in a fractal north?

[@akmblr492]

Can you compare asus lc420 vs lf3 vs a top end air cooler?

[@deuswulf6193]

Not sure I'm a fan of this new design either. Its not bad, but it also feels...generic. I think they would have been better off having something close to the old styling, but with one tube on each side of the water block, which CoolerMaster is doing in their upcoming AIO. Its not exactly a new approach, just under utilized.

[@STSYT]

Fair enough!

[@deuswulf6193]

@@STSYT Found out there is a huge discrepancy in performance between Intel and AMD with this AIO, likely due to the different mounting location and approach for each platform.

[@rejan195]

Me too. I like the cool and unique design of the freezer 2 than the new one. Which is kinda generic looking. It looks cheap with all those plastic cover and RGB version sucks. Unlike the design of freezer 2 which really suits for no rgb all black Stealth build. Just my opinion

[@The_Bo]

I cannot see the 420 on amazon... There max i can find is the 360, how much performance loss are between them?

[@STSYT]

Weird, but I guess it will arrive there shortly. And sorry, but no idea. We currently only have the 420 in-house. Once we get it, it will be on the charts as well

[@vincentvega3093]

I need to see the white 420 argb in a white bequiet and nzxt case

[@STSYT]

I'll keep it in mind. No white 420 arrived yet, but if it does in time, I have a pretty big white bq! case lined up for review

[@BitZapple]

The new King!!! ✨👍🏻🎀

[@TheArchitect101]

On Amazon why is the old 420 v2 still expensive compared to the new 420 v3? So is the new one better?

[@STSYT]

Because it’s Arctic. No they are at -23% for some time

[@Keaweahe]

Yeah im sending mine back, getting the arctic 3. The one im sending back is in the mail being shipped to me ☠️

[@TheArchitect101]

@@Keaweahe RGB or none RGB? I’m sending my version 2 back had a few days return left with Amazon. Good job I didn’t open it was sceptical about price drop in version 2.

[@Keaweahe]

@@TheArchitect101 going no rgb mostly black, but got the bionix black white fans and white sleeves for my cables. Then for all other cables theyre black and white mixed.

[@Keaweahe]

@@TheArchitect101 bro they said 10 days shipping but its shipping 2 days anyway. Also, even if you have to wait a week, go for it. The new version should be 50 dollars more, its 50 dollars cheaper. Amazon.

[@Arlus]

Nucleus Cr420 🙏

[@STSYT]

420?

[@Arlus]

@@STSYT just praying a 420 variant will come out because its 360 version holds up so well

[@undefwun2135]

Of course 2 days after I order a LFII 420 the new one comes out.....

[@STSYT]

What is going on, everybody bought an LFII last week

[@dankmemes3153]

I bought my LFII last month 😢

[@undefwun2135]

@STSYT Haha, dunno about other ppl. I just finally had the money for a brand new full build. At the last minute, I changed my mind on cases to the Asus ProArt 602 case, which has room for a 420. There is no data on their new LC 420, and it costs more than double. So I went with the well tested and endorsed LF II 420

[@Keaweahe]

Mine sat in the shopping cart for a week. Today it got sent. How big is the difference i wonder.

[@undefwun2135]

​@@Keaweahe So my ADHD sent me down the rabbit hole and I've watched like 6 reviews now. General consensus seems to be CPU temperature wise, if you have a LF2 you don't need to rush out and replace with the LF3. It does do better but it's not an earth shatering change, a few degrees at best. The VRM fan on the other hand seems to be performing much better. Airflow seems to be often double or more (Gamer Nexus review) in most of the VRM areas and this STS video reports some decent VRM temp drops. Not sure how this will affect me personally. I boughte the PA602 case, which has 2 x 200m fans at the front and deflectors to push the air over the MB. I think aesthetically the LF3 is better, the black is all black including the hoses. The hoses are less stiff and the being able to rotate the hoses at the pump is nice too. I am going to send my parts supplier a msg and see what they say on availabitlity, since Amazon US won't ship this part to Australia and it does not come up in a search on Amazon Australia.

[@MitchellTheMitch]

Put Arctic 6 P12 Max fans on the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 as Push and Pull config lol

[@stillgreatt]

Will this fit in a o11 dynamic evo rgb?

[@MrTearyOne]

What I think ruins these tests, is the multiple CPU frame modifications which should be considered a change in the test system control variables. It invalidates the direct cooler to cooler comparisons! What I mean is, your normal test setups are univariate comparisons: they are comparing just the AIO systems against other AIO systems (cold plate+tubes+pump+radiator+fans). Meanwhile the Arctic LF III is testing potentially up to THREE different variables at once: the AIO system, the contact frame and the offset mounts (at least on the AMD version). We have no way to know precisely WHERE the LF III performance increases are coming from, or what percentage of the overall performance is coming from each variable. Hypothetically, what if the LF III AIO on its own performs WORSE than the other coolers but all of the perceived performance gains are coming exclusively from the offset and frame instead? I think the most statistically fair and interesting cooler-to-cooler comparison would be to hold the contact frame and offset mount variables constant, meaning that we should test the Arctic LF III against other test systems that ALSO have a contact frame and offset mount installed.

[@ionutortian5885]

Wow

[@zakaria9738]

its compatible with O11 DYNAMIC EVO ?

[@mainwon]

did u figure it out? i'm about to order the same case. i'm sure it does

[@jinliang43]

Anyone got try Nzxt Kraken Black 360 vs Liquid Freezer III Black 360? Which one should I go? CPU 14900k

[@JagsP95]

Lf3 every time i replaced my kraken with it and got a good 10c reduction.

[@tfsigolkin6829]

Can anyone help me out? I have loads of experience, bought the cooler, installed it with an i5 14600kf to have a silent experience, 90 Celsius at 213w, tried remounting multiple times seems like the bracket always goes on crooked even when turning screws 1/4 of a turn at a time, cant figure it out please help

[@TheSlash389]

btw atm its 80€ so it is unbeatable. You can buy 2 for the price of almost any other aio on the market.

[@DeShnicky]

this thing is 95 euro's right now here, crazy

[@BadRusMan]

B620 + 7950x (3d) and vrm will be fine with that 🤓 and left ram stick too. 🤣Only the left one.

[@STSYT]

OC to change color. One will stay black the other one glowing red

[@Jaylou88]

Having to use Artic’s contact frame is a deal breaker. When compared to thermal grizzly or Thermalrite’s contact frames, this doesn’t provide better performance over the stock Intel bracket(which is the whole point of using a contact frame). It has equally bad contact as intel’s stock bracket.

[@deuswulf6193]

Apparently it makes it worse, not better.

[@Jaylou88]

@@deuswulf6193 I never said it made it better …

[@dabbzgaming]

I don't understand the hype behind what is almost the cheapest brand?

[@AlexLYH]

Well if only you either tried out their products firsthand or watched some detailed reviews that would somewhat explain the hype behind the products made under said brand..

[@MATTE.U.K]

Small copper plate! I hate how those screws contact the CPU. They skimped on copper.

[@NENOVIST]

Влезет ли этот малыш в Lian Li LANCOOL III ?

[@just_tom00]

I just got the DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK for my Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Think I should return it for the artic 3?

[@Kwyptx]

Thinking of getting the same cooler for the same chip, how’s the temps? Might buy the freezer 3 if it’s bad

[@just_tom00]

@@Kwyptx Sorry for late response. My ak620 is running great. CPU sits at 40C-50c while idle or watching twitch/youtube. Havent even hit 70c yet even in CPU-intensive games and Ive yet to underclocked or changed any of the cooler fan settings. All just base default settings

[@Ttblondey]

I just buy the LF3 360.

[@DonPatro92]

Now please slap 3 P12 Max on it and see it rip.

[@mister_dzija4161]

9:36 😂😂😂😂😂

[@Robert-sj8ld]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@Anthony69420]

I installed it in the case lol it was so sketchy

[@xBINARYGODx]

and yet 9 months from now, your ordering of AIO's is entirely different, probably a wattage different, but how anyone limits these things to 200 or below is beyond. And no, custom loops are not a good excuse to limit watts - push these fuckers till they fail bigly.

[@paul2609]

It just looks like the EKWB Nucleus is better even with shitty fans and smaller radiator size.

[@jorgesilveira763]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i just bought a liquid freezer 360

[@STSYT]

I’ve read that quite a bit today, was there somewhere a sale 😅

[@armandoarroyo]

This thing is impossible to install on amd!

[@JagsP95]

It was a pain in the ass but with enough trials i got it on. Truly though its the worst mounting experience ive had in a decade 😂

[@armandoarroyo]

@@JagsP95 I had a bent pin :/

[@JagsP95]

@@armandoarroyo Damn man

[@chemaalonso7931]

Imposible to find pc cases

[@SrgtWookieD]

It's not iiii it's 3.

[@STSYT]

No, it’s like Type-A batteries. The name of the very small ones should be yelled