I am going to post the TLDR here because I knew this was going to happen if I disagreed with the masses but here it is. Simply put there is nothing "wrong" with this cooler, it cools just fine. What I have an issue with is that for less money and less headache (installation and even fitment wise) you can get something that cools just as well and have a much better build experience and your PC will run just as well. I build hundreds of systems a year, live here on stream, and so many times we see mistakes on the AiO. This is one area I love to protect new builders. I am sorry it makes folks mad that I shy people away, but I stand by my review that the value for the tax isn't there because of these issues. Value is going to be individual to the user and we just wanted to make folks aware if they decide to purchase this AiO that these are things worth considering.
Also here is the raw data for folks: AMD Data - 1drv.ms/x/s!AjLCQDvYSJCGi48ev5T-S7dvhqtdyA?e=mToJd2 Intel Data - 1drv.ms/x/s!AjLCQDvYSJCGi48dtMV4g1VgMW8EMw?e=EJpbpL
Great video! Definitely useful for new builders and the complexity that comes with putting together your own computer. But I think you missed an opportunity with fan dBA levels specifically when it comes to Arctic products. I usually stick to air cooling and will stick as many fans I can in case, which will generate noise. In my opinion, the popularity of Arctic is built on having great performance at lower fan speeds. Not as great as Noctua but way more affordable. So I think when most people go the Arctic route, they are usually considering what their systems will sound like when doing heavy work loads and would have been a great KPI for this video.
Lol in the UK the 360mm was £68 ($86), a Noctua NH-D15 is £99.95. The head is a pain in the ass to install (especially to AM5) so I have two tips - 1. attach the rad to the case first 2. screw the brackets to the head first and then carefully screw the brackets to the board while holding the head in place on the cpu
This feels like the most desperately contrarian review I've seen. Impressive thermal results that put it a degree or two behind AIOs that cost twice as much is considered "just kind of okay". Had to nitpick about the AMD offset mount, which has been proven to actually improve temps, regardless how it looks or feels. Not to mention the absolute lack of noise comparison, those coolers above it - are between 5 and 10db LOUDER, but let's ignore that since it goes against the narrative, eh? Cherry on the cake is the Liquid Freezer II 420 somehow being cooler than the 420 and 360 version of the III, results that no other reviewer has gotten.
@@garytrawinski1843 no VRM cooling, no noise normalized tests, not even a single hint of noise to performance comparisons.... just a garbage review in general
At the start of the video 1 minute in he clearly states his bias, its towards the community that think arctic is the best... well because it is, and that upsets him, so he will now do the world justice by bringing arctic to its knees with a clever and witty video!
What were the noise levels and fan %'s of the coolers during the stress tests? I'm not interested in performance at 100% fan speed where I might gain a degree of temps in exchange for Tenitus. I set my coolers up to hit a safe temperature ceiling at a certain noise level like most ppl. If I can game with cpu at say 75 maximum with fans running at a nice quiet 50%, why on earth would I alter the fan curves to get 100% fan speed and a deafening rig to get the cpu down to 71?
Funny, you can pick up a Arctic Freezer III 420 black from their own store for 81€. Its been that price since the launch, so if you want to compare the pricing, could atleast use their anniversary price thats been available for MONTHS, dont know how long it will last, but as of this second, its still there. Another thing about the review, you never mention SOUND, what makes all the numbers you provide completely useless. Any company can slap a 4000rmp louder than life fan and top the chart. Theres quite a bit more to performance than just the temp in cinebench.
I am really glad that you got it at a low price. As for your second statement that just sounds like angry non-sense. All the data is in the comments. We are the only outlet that is transparent with our data. All systems are tested with the same chassis, components and fans as well as ambient. It is literally an apples to apples comparison on their ability to cool a CPU. Which is what you purchase ab AiO for. The reason we don’t talk about sound is because it is more dependent on the fans you use then the actual AiO in most cases, though we do get that if people are using ultra quiet fans that folks may want to know if this will cause more noise. Ultimately I am sorry the data doesn’t align with what you want it to say because you purchased this AiO at a good price. There are less expensive and just as good performing AiOs on the market that don’t require the overhead of this AiO. That’s just the truth.
@@RobeytechLive The data does not appear to include noise. I think PTK74's point is that a poor cooler with faster fans might win out on cinebench, but deliver a far worse experience.
I agree, without noise normalized charts its useless. Many ppl would sacrifice 3-4-5C for -3-4-5dB. These performance tests would be veery good if we could know lets say, the coolers operated in 18dB values etc. Dont see it as a negative criticism, but as a room for an improvement.
@@RobeytechLive I understand you might have some rabid fans of the product/other tech reviewers bothering you but you completely missed his point. Ive never had an AIO and Im looking to buy one. I have no reason to defend any of these products, all I want is to buy the best product with acceptable price - and as he pointed out performance is not just the temperature. If a cooler can cool nearly as well as the top of the chart while 10 dB quieter, its an important thing to consider. Id say theres 4 most important things for a cooler review: temperatures, noise, price and installation difficulty (for me in that order). Take this as constructive criticism, you got 3 of those things covered, adding one more would make your reviews much better.
its not so much you're "not buying the hype", but rather, you needed to put out a video and haveing a clickbait title to draw views. This cooler is frequently on sale and perform wells. Not quite as performative as some of you all, but well enough. The cooler is fine. Make better content.
Really? I can buy a less expensive AIO, that has no complicated setup not to mention fitment issues on motherboards and I can't say that I don't know why this is as hyped? I think this is exactly why I wanted to make this video. There are less expensive coolers (that also go on sale) that don't have near the overhead and cool just as well.
theyre priced cheap enough compared to other "big name brands" that the budget difference is enough to add a 5x pack of 140mm or 120mm fans to populate your chassis with good airflow/directional airflow to make a wind tunnel/directional flow in your chassis.
This comment is just insane. This is my first time visiting this channel but when I came from Gamers Nexus touting this as the best aio, which led me to pull the trigger and buy the 360mm Arctic liquid freezer 3 for my intel i7 14700k and it doesn't even keep it from hitting 100c and throttling like a mad man in Cinebench R23, then I welcome a reviewer who is willing to call b.s. on the Arctic hype train. Funny part is Gamers nexus didn't even give Temps using intel 14th gen but it was still labeled as the best cooler they have tested. I welcome a reviewer not drinking the coolaid and at least talking about things potential buyers should be aware of.
Dude, have you installed the cooler in an all tempered glass case lol? I know 14700k owners cooling them with the most bog standard air coolers imaginable and they have no issues.
Got this for sale of $99 when it originally dropped. I had purchased 2 separate modes of Deepcool AIO’s. Both had bad pumps and both were returned. No issues from the Arctic and I would’ve absolutely spent full price on it. Install on AMD not super difficult. Just have to know to not over-tighten your screws is all!
yep got the 280 wedged in a front mount push pull in my lancool II....fits so close to the pipes on my 4070ti....but it fit...and the thing has all the fan slots populated even the side/intake gpu fan mounts. Got 2x 5 packs from them too 140mm and 120mm. Good directional airflow for the proper chassis while being fractions of the cost of the BIG WHOOP chassis fan/showoff builds that spend more $$$ on fans than actual hardware/3dmark score figures LUL. Even w/ the front mount i can push the 4070ti to 3ghz and hit above 4070ti S stock scores on 3dmark....the same way my 3070 strix hit above the stock 3070ti in 3dmark months before the 3070ti even launched. Arctic or nothing the way i see it. The temps and noise ratio of 4 140mm fans at lower rpm....is pretty hard to beat
overtightening the screws isn't the root problem, the screws connecting the head to the bracket are too short so if you install the bracket to the board first, like you're 'supposed' to, once you get the screw in one side it often pulls the other side up out of reach of the other screw. If you are installing a 360mm or 420mm version, the rad will 100% be fighting you and using its weight to send torque through the pipes to yank the contact plate off your CPU, so I would advise screwing that to the top or front of the case before putting the plate on the CPU
I have the LF3 RGB 240, got it for $80 on Amazon a month ago. It’s been great so far, cools my 7600X with no troubles whatsoever. And it was $80 - a practical steal for a good AIO.
He didn't really do any testing, he just wrote down a few numbers and went with that. He never even took the cooler out of the box of the ones he had, if he even had anymore then what we seen sitting in view.
Wow. A CPU cooler review and not a single mention about noise. I know that half of these AIOs have really really loud high pressure fans. How Arctic compared to them?
In the EU, the Liquid Freezer III RGB 360mm is like €75 which is ridiculously cheap compared to most other AiOs. For that reason alone it's almost always the best value option here.
what is this channel bro. Im not even a AC fan and im offended. This AC lineup peaked my interest as ive seen MANY other channels review it insanely possitevly when it came to cooling power, price AND NOISE. This is the only chanell that COMPLETELY omits the sound the coolers makes... I could also slap 3 140mm industrial grade static pressure fans at 100% power doing 8000 RPM and boast how much cooler it is while totally "forgetting" to mention that it was louder then a F35 jet in afterburner mode while drawing hundreds of watts... especially since you didnt even showcase them with audio that we can listen to. You say there are people overly obsessed with those AiOs, but from my standpoint its you who seem way too biased against those AiOs omitting the biggest selling point that got me interested in those radiators. THE NOISE
jeez you make it sound like you need a PHd to install this . mine was super easy and works great your really being dramatic . if you have issues installing this dont build Pc's . I changed my fans outright to match my system also another good reason to buy this lower cost option plus the performance is great .
Compared to other AiO's this is quite a bit more difficult to install. Plus, with the M.2 considerations and everything else we are just warning people this isn't as straight forward. COMPARITIVELY this is way less user friendly, and given the performance isn't that much better it's up to the buyer to decide if that's important or not. It's not a bad AiO, I just think it's a bit over hyped.
@@RobeytechLive im not an Artic cooler fan i just purchased it because of the performance to price compared to others AIO , other reviewers have said the same thing noting how its a slight hassle but not as dramatic as you did . I don't think people are overhyping it , I trust Gamers Nexus Review on it rather than your down talk because its sooooo difficult to install . i guess some people don't work on cars in their lifetime , removing a few screws and plastic pieces is not what i would call difficult even having to apply a bit of pressure to the leaf spring bracket , I never felt like this before but its like you got paid to squash the hype on this item. while others have said the same thing but still recommended it and ranked it high on charts your making it seem like your gambling your life by using it but we all know AIOs fail ive had a few expensive ones die on me pumps fail in PC's and Fish tanks alike .an impeller issue and evaporating fluids is gonna be a thing in any AIO .
Just screw the pump head into the mounting brackets before screwing the mounting bracket's down and install becomes easy it really isn't that difficult for AMD installation.
@@JIZQUbro you’re 100% right it’s like some PC builders have never had to screw things in under tension before. Building cars for 20 years made this aio install a walk in the park. Idk what he’s barking about
So far , you haven't once addressed the criticism's of lack of normalized temperature testing, which obviously would make for very different testing outcome comparisons.
Aren't the " Carbon " series Mobos some of the worst when it comes to thermals ?, I feel like that's been covered how certain mobos handle temps ... Also, can't get DeepCool in the states for now, unfortunately.
I have Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 in black and i've had the DeepCool Mystique. Arctic Liquid Freezer III pump is PWM and is loudless at 40% speed. DeepCool Mystique pump is DC and cannot be adjusted at all and is very loud, i had to send it back.
Really wonder what happened here. The 420mm regularly losing to the 360mm is, based on physics, not possible. Also, the 420mm keeps the 14900k at better temps than what's shown here with a 14700k. What really stands out is that even with something HORRIBLY wrong with their install, the Arctic products are still pretty decent.
hello, love your channel by the way. i'm a new pc builder and i had zero issues screwing the aio on to the amd mounting plates. i hardly had to put any pressure on the screwdriver, so much so that out of curiosity and to check out the thermal paste unscrewed it and re attached it 4 times with ease. point is i think the design has been improved
@@RobeytechLive When physics are involved that's exactly what it means, not like they are 2 totally different things. You have 2 gold bars, just 1 is 50% bigger then the other. The bigger one will ALWAYS be heavier, because there's more mass and it's of the same material. Now if you have 2 bars, the smaller bar is gold but the but the 50% larger bar is not gold but is chocolate, then of course the smaller bar being of gold will be heavier. You with the AIO is like the first thing, 2 bars of gold, but yet you're making out that it's like the second thing. There is no way a smaller bar of gold is heavier then a bigger bar of gold, just like a big radiator and fans will cool less then a same but smaller radiator and fans.
The review was ok decent but performance/noice ratio was not mentioned and it is very important to many users, like myself for example. I value a few desibels much much more than a couple of degrees and Artic has delivered on that front too (as a plus they also use good fans that are readily available separately too, also at very affordable price (not so with many other AIO's). You can fill a case with their P/F-series fans very cheaply in comaprison to many other brands. But the most notable thing is that they use their own pump instead of using the same old thing that everyone else uses. Personally I value this very highly, especially when it actually performs well and lasts for years with a decent warranty to back it up (at least the old one did). Arctic is basically the only company that actually shakes things up behind all those LED's, fans and plastic. This is the main reason why I like Arctic a lot and would probably pay even more for their coolers. Instead of using the same thing that everyone else do, they did something themselves and have proved that it is possible to succeed in a field where another player has dominated for years. Despite all their faults (which are real too), these are the only AIO's that are fundamentally unique when everything else is stripped away and only the heart is left pumping. And that is very cool. Its like meeting someone who uses some other search engine than Google.
Biggest issue is that the bundled P14 fans are old ones and suffer from the humming issue, so instant swap to P14 Max is highly recommeded for people who like silent builds.
Not a fan of tightening screws under tension but at least you won't mess up the thermal paste as you need to get the screws tightened some before the cold plate touches the cpu. Get one screw started then put tension down on the other one to get it started then back and forth until they are tight. You can switch the L and R brackets to delete the AMD offset I think. I'm used to having a pump use sata and usb 2.0 so not a fan having to use armoury crate to change the rgb.
Hi guys. I would like to ask if the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB can fit inside the case of Lian Li Lancool III RGB Gaming Midi Tower( at the top) or i must to go for the 360mm to be safe, because it seems i cant find a answer ?
The fact that the 360 routinely has one perform better than the 420 and one perform worse indicates a flaw in your testing. As close as the temps are to each other this could just be that temperatures in the room changed between tests.
He didn't really do any testing, he just wrote down a few numbers and went with that. He never even took the cooler out of the box of the ones he had, if he even had anymore then what we seen sitting in view.
I have owned the Liquid freezer 2 280mm for about 3 years now, runs flawlessly. I don't give it any more thought than that but I didn't know about the cult following either. lol
i build my first ever pc build with this cooler. i have a 7800x3d and it cools it just fine. mounting with the two screws was a little hard because i couldnt mount the second screw down. what i did was to just mount the cpu frame to the the cooler than screw the motherboard attachment down. not hard but a first time pc builder can do it anyone can. i also got for $108 which is worth that price
It's been awhile since I installed my AC Liquid Freezer II 420 on my old AMD RX 3900XT, and I do remember that the mounting process was a pain in the ass compared to many other coolers I've installed over the years. So I do think that your criticisms of the mounting hardware and design are valid. In my experience, the offset mount seems to be doing a pretty nice job, at least for the past 3+ years or so I've been rocking it. Could it be better? Probably. Is it more than adequate for my needs (and most normies)? Yup. Is it a good value for the performance? As long as it fits in your case (I had to mod mine), I think so. I picked up the LF II 420 for only $85 on sale, so for me, that was cheap enough to take a chance without much buyer's remorse should it turn out to be terrible. Fortunately, it wasn't. Now, for most new builders, I just don't tend to recommend AIOs anyway, especially when there are air coolers that perform almost just as well in many cases at far less cost and with fewer potential points of failure. I literally built my girlfriend a PC yesterday and slapped a Best Buy special Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Black on her AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D, and that kitten is purring at around 30C idle and barely reached 75C under load. So many people think they need an F-350 in order to haul just a couple bags of mulch.
@@RobeytechLivebut it’s also not way more expensive or way cheaper than a lot of its competitors as well… so I don’t see the issue here. We could take basically every AIO in that price range, run testing, and you could make the same claim on probably 99% of them.
Except this one has much more overhead. That's my point. For all the additional "stuff" that degrades versus simpler just as inexpensive models that cool JUST as well.
@@RobeytechLive ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 420 is under 82€ at this moment thats is $86 and that is with a 20% sales tax without 64 DOLLARS FOR A 420 AIO
The freezer 3 AMD installation is a pita. Tip: losen the cpu brackets when installing the block. This will give the block's (very short) screws some wiggle room to catch the bracket threads . Then, use ur ph to tighten everything up. A long ph screw driver is ideal. Ty Google and Reddit 😅
Both AIO liquid coolers and air coolers provide a range of benefits, what you choose all depends primarily on what you want. For a simpler, quieter, longer-lasting experience it may be better to go for an air cooler. For a flashier, more involved experience, AIO liquid cooling might be for you.
I'm glad that you took the time to research this AIO! I was wondering how would the EK EK-Nucleus AIO perform in this test. I'm definitely eyeing the Phanteks Glacier One 420D30 now as my cooler option. Thanks to this video! I appreciate everything that you do! Quick Question: is the Thermaltake TH420 the "Thermaltake TH420 V2 Ultra ARGB Sync"? I wanted to make sure I was looking up the correct AIO.
First time using watercooling with Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 360 with 0 experience on installation on such type of cooling. It is doing wonders for my configuration, something like 20dregrees down and i have not installed the correct airflow, waiting on 3 bottomfans. I was using default amd cooler(from my 3600), but now my 5700x3d was hitting 80 degrees on POE2,d4(bad airflow as well), after the installation of the cooler i play at 60 degrees, again with basically only 3 fans from the cooler on the top of the case. Indeed the only hard part is to keep together the cooler close to the cpu socket during installation,nothing else highly recommend.
The only thing one should be cautious about with the Liquid Freezer III is the Motherboard support. When it comes to installation, it's not more difficult in my view. Arctic gives you everything from still pictures, animated gifs and video tutorial on how to install the cooler. Something you won't find on example DeepCool and most other AIOs. The LFIII unlike many other AIOs has also done half of the installation process for you out of the box, with fans pre-installed and cables routed and hidden away. Saving you from the most boring and painstaking part of the installation. When it comes to price, at least in my country the LFIII is the cheapest AIO, the DeepCool LS720 for example is 40-60 dollars more expensive than the Liquid Freezer III.
They found the offset worked out all the way back at the ryzen 3XXX series CPUs .It definitely made a difference, With the freezer II they gave brackets for offset and for standard so people tested it. Since it worked so well they stopped giving the option of not offsetting, and even used the same strategy for Intel CPUs too.
Weird, with the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 and a room temp of 28-30 degrees, when I disconnect one of the CCDs of my 7950X so that it is running with the same amount of cores/threads as the 7700X, I get a CineBench R23 score of 21,036 at a temp of 65.7 degrees Celsius and a CPU power draw of 84.6 Watts. So one of us is doing something wrong and one of us is doing something right - you might want to ask the person who is obviously doing something right with regard to the cooling what you might be missing.
After owning the LF II on my am4 system and being satisfied with it, i hopped on LF III for my am5, mostly for the added aesthetics. Oh boy was i in for a treat. Installing this thing on AMD is just horrendous... really feels like the engineering team was drunk when designing this. As much as its a good performer overall, i have post trauma from installing this thing. Im not going to buy another arctic aio ever again before making sure they are back to a normal mounting mechanism
Funny thing is, there seems to be already some kind of a fixed version on the market. I just placed it on top of my CPU and was able to put the screws on both sides into the threads without any force. Some other people reported the same. Either the first production run had some issues or they reacted really fast and removed those springs.
It feels you got it for a very high price, in Europe I've been seeing prices for these coolers much lower. Which make it the king of price/performance. While also coolers such as the Deepcool Mystique one, are much more expensive, in some occasions, double the price of the ALF III.
Yeah maybe, I mean we tracked prices here in the US for a while and even today it's $116 and $139 on Amazon. When you can still get Deepcool AiO's for $99 that are easier to install and so close to performant that it doesn't matter.
Agreed price wise in the UK it's not even close (almost 3x the price!!!) From a personal experience they have been a goto for me. I wasn't aware of the fanboism but I've had a lot of bad experiences with alternative AIOs. Artic's have never failed within 2-3 years like every other AIO I've tried. I recommend them in every build I make (if AIO is the preffered option) they just work!
I paid £98 for the white 420mm argb from a well known online store and couldn't be happier installed into my cte 700 in under ten minutes can't complain about that.
Yeah I had issues with the freezer III and msi z790 carbon motherboard in a Corsair 5000D airflow. Top mounting wasn't possible. Same motherboard and rad would actually fit in 4000D airflow. Albeit a tight squeeze while top mounting.
The installation is not as hard as Robey is making it seem, but I do have a Masters in Healthcare Administration. So maybe that is why I had no issues. My CPU temps never go over 70c after hours of play and I play open world RPGS like Dragons Dogma and Horizon Forbidden West.
@@RobeytechLive ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 420 is under 82€ at this moment thats is $86 and that is with a 20% sales tax without 64 DOLLARS FOR A 420 AIO
This video is going to stir the pot for sure. You had me until the offset mount had you confused. No the ihs is not gonna spread heat evenly. It will try to but hot spots are still a thing. Having the fins closer to the heat source is more efficient period. Even noctua a brand you love started to sell offset mounts for amd. This is why some coolers do better on intel vs amd and vice-versa. Also some advice for people installing on intel. Puts the cpu in the socket before taking the mechanism off. It will protect the pins in case something falls on it.
Except none of the top coolers on the list for either AMD or Intel do what you are saying. The efficiency isn't coming out in the numbers not to mention for all the fitment and other issues (like having to literally bend the mounting mechanism on two of ours to get it to sit right on AMD) really show that this takes a lot more work then it should. I am not saying it's bad, I am just saying there are cheaper and easier coolers if you want to have a bit of a better and simpler build experience.
I agree that the installation is challenging. I almost returned my 280mm freezer iii. I had to loosen the mounting frame in order to attach the water block, then tighten the mounting frame to secure the block to CPU.
@@RobeytechLive First, fitment issues have zero to do with the offset mount so it's irrelevant to discuss them in this context. Second, the absence of offset mounting in competitors isn't evidence that offset mounting doesn't work, just that other companies haven't developed offset mounting kits. You can very easily compare Arctic LF II standard and offset mounting temperatures on AM4/AM5. You can very easily compare Noctua standard mounting and offset mounting on AM4/AM5. I am absolutely shocked that anyone who would claim to be anything approaching an expert in PC building would try to make the claim that offset mounting doesn't improve temperatures on chiplet CPUs on AM4/AM5. I compared standard to offset on the NH-U12A and offset was measurably better. I did the same on my LFII 360 with the same results. Have you tested the difference?
This is the first time I think I disagree with robeytech which is a shame really as yes this might sound harsh but you’ve always been my no2 go to pc reviewer (behind gamer nexus) 1 thing I don’t understand is how you’ve got immeasurably different results to what gamer nexus got. Yes granted not everyone can afford the $60,000 equipment gamer nexus can but to see that under load the cpu temps were around 45c in gamer nexus tests where as yours were 70c+ that’s a massive difference and makes me wonder……
I own an ALF II and ALF III, but I've only ever done the ALF III on an Intel build. And agreed, it's not newbie friendly vs. your more standard coolers like a NZXT Kraken Elite or DeepCool LT520 for example. And because of the install I wouldn't recommend it to a newish builder. Even Intel mounting on the ALF II was annoying, I ditched the included backplate for one from another cooler. Intel performance on the ALF III is okay, nothing amazing but not bad in my limited experience. For AMD my gut feeling tells me it would probably have better throughput on hotter chips like a 7800X or higher. The ALF III would probably take longer to reach heat saturation than standard thickness AIOs. But at the same time most users aren't pushing their rigs for those periods of times at that load level.
No we dont..and btw i see why you had trouble mounting it..PUT the presure on the unit equaly ..not just the lover part..and dont try to bend "leaf" with the screw driwer but with your finger...
Simple, and I am responding to comments more here for this very reason. There are less expensive, less complicated AiO's that don't have near the fitment and installation "features" that may warrant a different choice for builders.
How can you talk about coolers and not mention anything about the noise... Personally, I don't believe there's anything better for the same price (at least looking at 420 AIOs) with the same quality/silent fans and good customer service. VRM cooling is a nice bonus as well.
I was going to get the ARCTIC COOLING Liquid Freezer III - 420 A-RGB, but I couldn't and I am glad I didn't. I bought an Asus ProArt PA602 case and it would not fit. I did more research and I decided to get the Thermaltake TOUGHLIQUID Ultra 420 as the specs are slightly better than the Asus ProArt LC 420. The only issue I had was the ProArt rad bracket for the case - I had to use my dremel to trim it to make the TOUGHLIQUID fit.
@@PeTe_FIN I'd rather mess with the rad bracket instead of the top filter. Also, the performance of the TT was better. If you mod it to work does the fans still sit flush and are hidden?
@@RobeytechLive ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 420 is under 82€ at this moment thats is $86 and that is with a 20% sales tax without 64 DOLLARS FOR A 420 AIO
its a pretty good AIO for the 420mm one but it has one huge major drawback which wasn't event talked about in this video. for cable management fanatics it is a horrible product, especially if you are using a back to front style motherboard. they give you the AIO splitter which is nice, but 1 - it requires you to run wires on the front side of your motherboard which is not ideal to say the least, 2 - that AIO splitter wire is too dam short for a BTF style motherboard and isn't long enough to reach the AIO header on the back... i had to return mine and got an H170i ICUE LINK instead - seeing it performs more or less identically to the LF3 420mm, but has a much cleaner cable-free installation, and actually has a way to allow minimizing your fan wires in your case if you use their overpriced QX140 fans but for an enthusiast build price is not a big concern anyways.
This Video is about that you will make a video? Do you need more money? Could you just make the video and not make a video about that you will make a video... You waste my time and get money for it. I know you life from the Patrion people and without them you had no Mercedes.
Yeah the installation on AMD was a pain in the butt. I got lucky though and got the 420 ARGB when it first dropped and was only $115. At that price it was well worth it.
I've never watched you before and I'm not sure I want to do so anytime in the future. For an "in-depth" comparison, it's very disappointing you failed to consider fan noise, which is very important to a lot of buyers. How it performs out of the box gives buyers the heads up if they think a change of fans might be required. Also, just a little FYI. Calling your viewers fools and fanboys and telling them they just don't have your level of experience to put two screws in that might require a little bit of pressure, is a sure way to not attract new subs and maybe loose some. It doesn't mean you would need to lower your standards, but the old saying, "it's not what you say, it's how you say it", clearly applies to you. Arrogance is a bad look. You had a chip on your shoulder about the product from the word go. Which then had you spending hours in the comment section defending yourself.
The 420 performance is barely close to the 360, being behind more often than not. I genuinely don't understant why people recommend these coolers. The thermaltake one has easier installation and overall better performance, while being thinner AND cheaper (in my country) to boot.
Currently have a Thermaltake cooler I absolutely hate, looking to replace it. Funny seeing this comment. The pump is loud af, the RGB is completely proprietary, the fans are annoying, the actual RGB LEDs look bad, and the mounting system seems lacking. All stuff I could live with, but the temps are also poor after multiple remounts.
He is right about the Unfriendly Installation, 1 Degree won't make difference if you end up potentially damaging your Hardware. Also after i got it, the Plastic and a bunch of stuff looks Extremely Cheap for the Price they are asking for so i'm probably sending this Frankenstein back. I also heard there was a Flaw in the Fans of III. The Packaging also seems extremely Cheap. Even the freaking Air DH-15 i have as backup looks more Premium than this Shit. Don't have anything against Gamers Nexus since they are all Pro Consumer but sometimes feels like they just Shilling some Stuff for the sake of Convenience like TH-camrs and Ad Sponsorships. Don't buy the Cheap Thermaltake AIOs either, heard they were failing after some Months. No Surprises there due to the Pricing.
Dude... this a cheap, simple AIO. I have mounted this on i7 12700k (280mm), even though I've never mounted any AIO before. And I have 30 C less than on Dark Rock 4 PRO (which btw costs the same). So - it's just a good product for me. P.S. I don't know about you, but I don't know anybody 'hyped' or 'excited' about any AIO:)
Now do measurments with noise normalized and than we can talk. I can put P14 max on LFIII and smoke out of water all other AIOs, with increased sound. Those AIOs that performs better are loud as fuck, so when you normalize sound level they are worse by far. This is so biased and misleading video.
Well i took ALF 3 240 for my 12600k. Well interesting but my Temperature are 20- 23 load and 75 maximum in Gaming - Path of Exile 2 ....can tell you in this game the temps wirh eas go to 100 with Air cooler and nothing can stop it. Well Arctic can! For 75 EURO- AT THIS price point is much more competitive, easy to install on 1700 socket and good for peopel that cant take big cases, have less space and ofc less time to sit and enjoy few hours. Im not hyped jast a person buying product not brand !
Right after you done all your research to build ypur first pc and you think you found the best products for you its always some guy on the internet trying to tell you why everybody's wrong I honestly don't know enough to know if he's right or wrong but thanks to the guys in the comment for pointing out that hes full of 💩 and I shouldn't listen to him! I just purchased this aio for my first build.
ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 A-RGB is in my country on sale for $450 the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 360 is on sale for $79 I Don’t Think a One-Degree Temperature diffrence is worth the extra $370 that is whay people like Arctic no bullshit marketing and overpriced hype.
I hope youtube never recommends your channel again. If you're going to clickbait this hard, at least have factual information, not 18 minutes of word salad that ignores literally every metric of testing just because it goes against what you're trying to sell, which is itself misleading if not outright false information. It's cheap, it's quiet, it's vastly superior to most other coolers out there that are two and three times more expensive, and it's been proven time and time again. Would you like some cheese with that wine regarding AMD mounting?
Dont worry about the bad comments. I can see where you are coming from. Everything you said is literally been commented about on the installation video of the installation of this rad that was literally posted by arctic. These people just dont have the brains to think themselves and are just projecting what they heard on gamers nexus video.
Hmm, what is a Gamers Nexus Video? Anyhoot, that's enough for me. Soon as my mobo arrives I can start the build and I am looking forward to the reportably good results from the ALF III.
One word Robey, no sorry one phrase . . . "Margin of Error" I really, really appreciate your testing methods and attention to detail but mate, the elephant in the room is that many of these tests have differences within a margin of error which as you know is a real thing. One degree difference at 40c is I think 2.5%. If you used two separate and trusted temperature measuring devices and averaged the results then a more accurate model would be produced. At 70c a one degree differential is a mere 1.4%. Even best to worst AIO the differences are virtually negligible and barely worth consideration when it comes time to buy any of these AIO coolers. Having taken the time to do the tests I guess you have to promote this video to monetize and create interest with the title of this video. Word to the wise, all companies use hype but the sales teams call it promotional messaging. Long gone are the days of honesty and the Japanese sales method when saying "Please consider." That said, I appreciate your efforts and if guys like you didn't take time to complete these tests, guys like me would have less information to work with so I am happy enough to watch your video and use this info to make a sensible purchase decision. Turns out I did buy this model, yet to use it, but I'm sure it will do the job. That's the takeaway from this video and no, not an Arctic fanboy, gamer enthusiast or even a weekend PC builder.
Asus ROG Ryujin III ARGB 356 € 💀 HYTE THICC Q60 330 € Corsair iCUE LINK H170i LCD 309 € Phanteks GLACIER ONE 360D30 231 € Asus ProArt LC 420 280 € Corsair iCUE LINK H150i RGB 216 € ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 77 € Keep in mind that pretty much all are like 16-26% off ( the ryujinn base sale is 479 €💀) why is bro comparing a 500€ cooler that does almost the same temps as a 77€ one and says they are kinda ok 💀💀 what is lil bro trying to cook oh hell nah xd that is crazy.
Not easy telling the truth is it. 😂 These coolers are pretty good. But yer the mounting totally lets them down. Personally i think the coldplate is to small and thin.
You make zero sense about the am5 mounting, its the same spring loaded 2 screw mounting that noctua uses. I think noctua is fairly intelligent. You also never mention a comparison of fan noise , arctic iii is much quieter than the ones you rave about with the same cooling temps. Useless review. You should watch gamers nexus to learn what real reviews look like
I am going to post the TLDR here because I knew this was going to happen if I disagreed with the masses but here it is.
Simply put there is nothing "wrong" with this cooler, it cools just fine. What I have an issue with is that for less money and less headache (installation and even fitment wise) you can get something that cools just as well and have a much better build experience and your PC will run just as well.
I build hundreds of systems a year, live here on stream, and so many times we see mistakes on the AiO. This is one area I love to protect new builders. I am sorry it makes folks mad that I shy people away, but I stand by my review that the value for the tax isn't there because of these issues. Value is going to be individual to the user and we just wanted to make folks aware if they decide to purchase this AiO that these are things worth considering.
Also here is the raw data for folks:
AMD Data - 1drv.ms/x/s!AjLCQDvYSJCGi48ev5T-S7dvhqtdyA?e=mToJd2
Intel Data - 1drv.ms/x/s!AjLCQDvYSJCGi48dtMV4g1VgMW8EMw?e=EJpbpL
@@RobeytechLive Air summary is missing in tables. Can you pls. fix it. Thanks!
Great video! Definitely useful for new builders and the complexity that comes with putting together your own computer. But I think you missed an opportunity with fan dBA levels specifically when it comes to Arctic products. I usually stick to air cooling and will stick as many fans I can in case, which will generate noise. In my opinion, the popularity of Arctic is built on having great performance at lower fan speeds. Not as great as Noctua but way more affordable. So I think when most people go the Arctic route, they are usually considering what their systems will sound like when doing heavy work loads and would have been a great KPI for this video.
Lol in the UK the 360mm was £68 ($86), a Noctua NH-D15 is £99.95. The head is a pain in the ass to install (especially to AM5) so I have two tips - 1. attach the rad to the case first 2. screw the brackets to the head first and then carefully screw the brackets to the board while holding the head in place on the cpu
@@CodeCube-rv1rm thx dude. awaiting mine and i’ll do that route.
This feels like the most desperately contrarian review I've seen. Impressive thermal results that put it a degree or two behind AIOs that cost twice as much is considered "just kind of okay". Had to nitpick about the AMD offset mount, which has been proven to actually improve temps, regardless how it looks or feels. Not to mention the absolute lack of noise comparison, those coolers above it - are between 5 and 10db LOUDER, but let's ignore that since it goes against the narrative, eh? Cherry on the cake is the Liquid Freezer II 420 somehow being cooler than the 420 and 360 version of the III, results that no other reviewer has gotten.
That's the thing that put me off the most, these results don't line up with anyone else.
Nothing about VRM cooling either. That would have been nice.
@@garytrawinski1843 no VRM cooling, no noise normalized tests, not even a single hint of noise to performance comparisons.... just a garbage review in general
At the start of the video 1 minute in he clearly states his bias, its towards the community that think arctic is the best... well because it is, and that upsets him, so he will now do the world justice by bringing arctic to its knees with a clever and witty video!
This channel better not show up on my feed again
Imagine having an 18 minute review and never taking the product out of the box
Probably just pissed he didn't get sponsored by them haha
@@kristoffer3000 yeah
So he can return them
Probably the worst review ive ever seen.
6:38 "...have a tiny fan for your motherboard power section..." *circles pump on picture*
What were the noise levels and fan %'s of the coolers during the stress tests? I'm not interested in performance at 100% fan speed where I might gain a degree of temps in exchange for Tenitus. I set my coolers up to hit a safe temperature ceiling at a certain noise level like most ppl. If I can game with cpu at say 75 maximum with fans running at a nice quiet 50%, why on earth would I alter the fan curves to get 100% fan speed and a deafening rig to get the cpu down to 71?
Funny, you can pick up a Arctic Freezer III 420 black from their own store for 81€. Its been that price since the launch, so if you want to compare the pricing, could atleast use their anniversary price thats been available for MONTHS, dont know how long it will last, but as of this second, its still there.
Another thing about the review, you never mention SOUND, what makes all the numbers you provide completely useless. Any company can slap a 4000rmp louder than life fan and top the chart. Theres quite a bit more to performance than just the temp in cinebench.
I am really glad that you got it at a low price.
As for your second statement that just sounds like angry non-sense. All the data is in the comments. We are the only outlet that is transparent with our data. All systems are tested with the same chassis, components and fans as well as ambient. It is literally an apples to apples comparison on their ability to cool a CPU. Which is what you purchase ab AiO for. The reason we don’t talk about sound is because it is more dependent on the fans you use then the actual AiO in most cases, though we do get that if people are using ultra quiet fans that folks may want to know if this will cause more noise.
Ultimately I am sorry the data doesn’t align with what you want it to say because you purchased this AiO at a good price. There are less expensive and just as good performing AiOs on the market that don’t require the overhead of this AiO. That’s just the truth.
@@RobeytechLive The data does not appear to include noise. I think PTK74's point is that a poor cooler with faster fans might win out on cinebench, but deliver a far worse experience.
I agree, without noise normalized charts its useless. Many ppl would sacrifice 3-4-5C for -3-4-5dB. These performance tests would be veery good if we could know lets say, the coolers operated in 18dB values etc. Dont see it as a negative criticism, but as a room for an improvement.
@@RobeytechLive I understand you might have some rabid fans of the product/other tech reviewers bothering you but you completely missed his point. Ive never had an AIO and Im looking to buy one. I have no reason to defend any of these products, all I want is to buy the best product with acceptable price - and as he pointed out performance is not just the temperature. If a cooler can cool nearly as well as the top of the chart while 10 dB quieter, its an important thing to consider. Id say theres 4 most important things for a cooler review: temperatures, noise, price and installation difficulty (for me in that order). Take this as constructive criticism, you got 3 of those things covered, adding one more would make your reviews much better.
@@jscb7003 yep. 3 of 4, the most important in that exact order. i’m waiting for mine to come.
its not so much you're "not buying the hype", but rather, you needed to put out a video and haveing a clickbait title to draw views. This cooler is frequently on sale and perform wells. Not quite as performative as some of you all, but well enough. The cooler is fine. Make better content.
Really? I can buy a less expensive AIO, that has no complicated setup not to mention fitment issues on motherboards and I can't say that I don't know why this is as hyped? I think this is exactly why I wanted to make this video. There are less expensive coolers (that also go on sale) that don't have near the overhead and cool just as well.
theyre priced cheap enough compared to other "big name brands" that the budget difference is enough to add a 5x pack of 140mm or 120mm fans to populate your chassis with good airflow/directional airflow to make a wind tunnel/directional flow in your chassis.
Why are you defending a brand that pays reviewers to tell lies. Actual wallbiter IQ comment.
This comment is just insane. This is my first time visiting this channel but when I came from Gamers Nexus touting this as the best aio, which led me to pull the trigger and buy the 360mm Arctic liquid freezer 3 for my intel i7 14700k and it doesn't even keep it from hitting 100c and throttling like a mad man in Cinebench R23, then I welcome a reviewer who is willing to call b.s. on the Arctic hype train. Funny part is Gamers nexus didn't even give Temps using intel 14th gen but it was still labeled as the best cooler they have tested. I welcome a reviewer not drinking the coolaid and at least talking about things potential buyers should be aware of.
Dude, have you installed the cooler in an all tempered glass case lol? I know 14700k owners cooling them with the most bog standard air coolers imaginable and they have no issues.
No noise mention?
It's whisper quiet
Got this for sale of $99 when it originally dropped. I had purchased 2 separate modes of Deepcool AIO’s. Both had bad pumps and both were returned. No issues from the Arctic and I would’ve absolutely spent full price on it. Install on AMD not super difficult. Just have to know to not over-tighten your screws is all!
yep got the 280 wedged in a front mount push pull in my lancool II....fits so close to the pipes on my 4070ti....but it fit...and the thing has all the fan slots populated even the side/intake gpu fan mounts. Got 2x 5 packs from them too 140mm and 120mm. Good directional airflow for the proper chassis while being fractions of the cost of the BIG WHOOP chassis fan/showoff builds that spend more $$$ on fans than actual hardware/3dmark score figures LUL. Even w/ the front mount i can push the 4070ti to 3ghz and hit above 4070ti S stock scores on 3dmark....the same way my 3070 strix hit above the stock 3070ti in 3dmark months before the 3070ti even launched. Arctic or nothing the way i see it. The temps and noise ratio of 4 140mm fans at lower rpm....is pretty hard to beat
Not overtightening screws is advice that people should always follow.
How is the pump noise to you? I've seen some complaints about it and it made me question if I'll get it or not
overtightening the screws isn't the root problem, the screws connecting the head to the bracket are too short so if you install the bracket to the board first, like you're 'supposed' to, once you get the screw in one side it often pulls the other side up out of reach of the other screw. If you are installing a 360mm or 420mm version, the rad will 100% be fighting you and using its weight to send torque through the pipes to yank the contact plate off your CPU, so I would advise screwing that to the top or front of the case before putting the plate on the CPU
@@Henrique-wv9xqI use LF III 420 , the pump are silent
I have the LF3 RGB 240, got it for $80 on Amazon a month ago. It’s been great so far, cools my 7600X with no troubles whatsoever. And it was $80 - a practical steal for a good AIO.
uggh this doesnt Jive with anyone elses testing, did you forgot to remove the plastic cover?
He didn't really do any testing, he just wrote down a few numbers and went with that. He never even took the cooler out of the box of the ones he had, if he even had anymore then what we seen sitting in view.
Wow. A CPU cooler review and not a single mention about noise. I know that half of these AIOs have really really loud high pressure fans. How Arctic compared to them?
In the EU, the Liquid Freezer III RGB 360mm is like €75 which is ridiculously cheap compared to most other AiOs. For that reason alone it's almost always the best value option here.
what is this channel bro. Im not even a AC fan and im offended. This AC lineup peaked my interest as ive seen MANY other channels review it insanely possitevly when it came to cooling power, price AND NOISE. This is the only chanell that COMPLETELY omits the sound the coolers makes... I could also slap 3 140mm industrial grade static pressure fans at 100% power doing 8000 RPM and boast how much cooler it is while totally "forgetting" to mention that it was louder then a F35 jet in afterburner mode while drawing hundreds of watts... especially since you didnt even showcase them with audio that we can listen to.
You say there are people overly obsessed with those AiOs, but from my standpoint its you who seem way too biased against those AiOs omitting the biggest selling point that got me interested in those radiators. THE NOISE
jeez you make it sound like you need a PHd to install this . mine was super easy and works great your really being dramatic . if you have issues installing this dont build Pc's . I changed my fans outright to match my system also another good reason to buy this lower cost option plus the performance is great .
Compared to other AiO's this is quite a bit more difficult to install. Plus, with the M.2 considerations and everything else we are just warning people this isn't as straight forward. COMPARITIVELY this is way less user friendly, and given the performance isn't that much better it's up to the buyer to decide if that's important or not. It's not a bad AiO, I just think it's a bit over hyped.
@@RobeytechLive im not an Artic cooler fan i just purchased it because of the performance to price compared to others AIO , other reviewers have said the same thing noting how its a slight hassle but not as dramatic as you did . I don't think people are overhyping it , I trust Gamers Nexus Review on it rather than your down talk because its sooooo difficult to install . i guess some people don't work on cars in their lifetime , removing a few screws and plastic pieces is not what i would call difficult even having to apply a bit of pressure to the leaf spring bracket , I never felt like this before but its like you got paid to squash the hype on this item. while others have said the same thing but still recommended it and ranked it high on charts your making it seem like your gambling your life by using it but we all know AIOs fail ive had a few expensive ones die on me pumps fail in PC's and Fish tanks alike .an impeller issue and evaporating fluids is gonna be a thing in any AIO .
Just screw the pump head into the mounting brackets before screwing the mounting bracket's down and install becomes easy it really isn't that difficult for AMD installation.
@@JIZQUbro you’re 100% right it’s like some PC builders have never had to screw things in under tension before. Building cars for 20 years made this aio install a walk in the park. Idk what he’s barking about
@JIZQU the cooler is piss easy to install and the performance is outstanding. This "reviewer" is completely clueless.
So far , you haven't once addressed the criticism's of lack of normalized temperature testing, which obviously would make for very different testing outcome comparisons.
Aren't the " Carbon " series Mobos some of the worst when it comes to thermals ?, I feel like that's been covered how certain mobos handle temps ...
Also, can't get DeepCool in the states for now, unfortunately.
I have Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 in black and i've had the DeepCool Mystique.
Arctic Liquid Freezer III pump is PWM and is loudless at 40% speed. DeepCool Mystique pump is DC and cannot be adjusted at all and is very loud, i had to send it back.
I use a arctic III 420 mm, to me the pump is silent
@@ionutortian5885 Me too, you can't hear the pump at all over even your case fans, not to mention even the fans of the aio itself.
Really wonder what happened here. The 420mm regularly losing to the 360mm is, based on physics, not possible. Also, the 420mm keeps the 14900k at better temps than what's shown here with a 14700k.
What really stands out is that even with something HORRIBLY wrong with their install, the Arctic products are still pretty decent.
What a absolutely rubbish review ..... makes your whole channel look suspect
hello, love your channel by the way. i'm a new pc builder and i had zero issues screwing the aio on to the amd mounting plates. i hardly had to put any pressure on the screwdriver, so much so that out of curiosity and to check out the thermal paste unscrewed it and re attached it 4 times with ease. point is i think the design has been improved
Wait, how can the 420mm version do worse than 360, when it has one more fan and 50% more area?
Yep, we have a whole video coming out on this. Bigger doesn’t mean better.
It's not 50% more area, it's 60/360 = 16.7% more area.
It doesnt make sense. This guy's results doesnt line up with those of any other reputable reviewer.
@@RobeytechLive When physics are involved that's exactly what it means, not like they are 2 totally different things. You have 2 gold bars, just 1 is 50% bigger then the other. The bigger one will ALWAYS be heavier, because there's more mass and it's of the same material. Now if you have 2 bars, the smaller bar is gold but the but the 50% larger bar is not gold but is chocolate, then of course the smaller bar being of gold will be heavier. You with the AIO is like the first thing, 2 bars of gold, but yet you're making out that it's like the second thing. There is no way a smaller bar of gold is heavier then a bigger bar of gold, just like a big radiator and fans will cool less then a same but smaller radiator and fans.
It doesn't have 1 more fan. 420 version is 3 x 140mm fans, while 360 is 3 x 120mm fans. And it's just slightly bigger, not 50%. bigger.
The review was ok decent but performance/noice ratio was not mentioned and it is very important to many users, like myself for example. I value a few desibels much much more than a couple of degrees and Artic has delivered on that front too (as a plus they also use good fans that are readily available separately too, also at very affordable price (not so with many other AIO's). You can fill a case with their P/F-series fans very cheaply in comaprison to many other brands.
But the most notable thing is that they use their own pump instead of using the same old thing that everyone else uses. Personally I value this very highly, especially when it actually performs well and lasts for years with a decent warranty to back it up (at least the old one did). Arctic is basically the only company that actually shakes things up behind all those LED's, fans and plastic. This is the main reason why I like Arctic a lot and would probably pay even more for their coolers. Instead of using the same thing that everyone else do, they did something themselves and have proved that it is possible to succeed in a field where another player has dominated for years. Despite all their faults (which are real too), these are the only AIO's that are fundamentally unique when everything else is stripped away and only the heart is left pumping. And that is very cool. Its like meeting someone who uses some other search engine than Google.
I got this for £67, albiet shipped from another country, Germany, as it was out of stock everywhere in the uk. Id say i got a great bargain.
Biggest issue is that the bundled P14 fans are old ones and suffer from the humming issue, so instant swap to P14 Max is highly recommeded for people who like silent builds.
RGB version fans are better than the regular P14 fans so that'd be a worthwhile upgrade for that alone
tf you yapping about
He's yapping about him being butthurt that they're not sponsoring him
@@kristoffer3000 yea def since iam using this coolers and they are freaking beast
whats with the camera angle of him talking to some invisible guy in the corner?
Not a fan of tightening screws under tension but at least you won't mess up the thermal paste as you need to get the screws tightened some before the cold plate touches the cpu. Get one screw started then put tension down on the other one to get it started then back and forth until they are tight. You can switch the L and R brackets to delete the AMD offset I think. I'm used to having a pump use sata and usb 2.0 so not a fan having to use armoury crate to change the rgb.
Hi guys. I would like to ask if the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB can fit inside the case of Lian Li Lancool III RGB Gaming Midi Tower( at the top) or i must to go for the 360mm to be safe, because it seems i cant find a answer ?
The fact that the 360 routinely has one perform better than the 420 and one perform worse indicates a flaw in your testing. As close as the temps are to each other this could just be that temperatures in the room changed between tests.
He didn't really do any testing, he just wrote down a few numbers and went with that. He never even took the cooler out of the box of the ones he had, if he even had anymore then what we seen sitting in view.
For performance, which should i choose, Liquid Freezer III 360 or Deepcool Mystique 360?
Liquid Freezer III 360
I have owned the Liquid freezer 2 280mm for about 3 years now, runs flawlessly. I don't give it any more thought than that but I didn't know about the cult following either. lol
i build my first ever pc build with this cooler. i have a 7800x3d and it cools it just fine. mounting with the two screws was a little hard because i couldnt mount the second screw down. what i did was to just mount the cpu frame to the the cooler than screw the motherboard attachment down. not hard but a first time pc builder can do it anyone can. i also got for $108 which is worth that price
It's been awhile since I installed my AC Liquid Freezer II 420 on my old AMD RX 3900XT, and I do remember that the mounting process was a pain in the ass compared to many other coolers I've installed over the years. So I do think that your criticisms of the mounting hardware and design are valid. In my experience, the offset mount seems to be doing a pretty nice job, at least for the past 3+ years or so I've been rocking it. Could it be better? Probably. Is it more than adequate for my needs (and most normies)? Yup. Is it a good value for the performance? As long as it fits in your case (I had to mod mine), I think so. I picked up the LF II 420 for only $85 on sale, so for me, that was cheap enough to take a chance without much buyer's remorse should it turn out to be terrible. Fortunately, it wasn't. Now, for most new builders, I just don't tend to recommend AIOs anyway, especially when there are air coolers that perform almost just as well in many cases at far less cost and with fewer potential points of failure. I literally built my girlfriend a PC yesterday and slapped a Best Buy special Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Black on her AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D, and that kitten is purring at around 30C idle and barely reached 75C under load. So many people think they need an F-350 in order to haul just a couple bags of mulch.
It would be very interesting if you measured noise and showed noise normalized performance.
Just a note, no one cares about CFM (airflow) when it comes to fans put on radiators. All that matters is the static pressure value.
I have the 360 mm model and couldn't be happier, the performance is absolutely top notch.
Yeah, the performance is fine! It's just not way better and way less than a lot of the competition is the point.
@@RobeytechLivebut it’s also not way more expensive or way cheaper than a lot of its competitors as well… so I don’t see the issue here. We could take basically every AIO in that price range, run testing, and you could make the same claim on probably 99% of them.
Except this one has much more overhead. That's my point. For all the additional "stuff" that degrades versus simpler just as inexpensive models that cool JUST as well.
@@RobeytechLive That isn't true and you know it.
@@RobeytechLive ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 420 is under 82€ at this moment thats is $86 and that is with a 20% sales tax without 64 DOLLARS FOR A 420 AIO
The freezer 3 AMD installation is a pita. Tip: losen the cpu brackets when installing the block. This will give the block's (very short) screws some wiggle room to catch the bracket threads . Then, use ur ph to tighten everything up. A long ph screw driver is ideal. Ty Google and Reddit 😅
Both AIO liquid coolers and air coolers provide a range of benefits, what you choose all depends primarily on what you want. For a simpler, quieter, longer-lasting experience it may be better to go for an air cooler. For a flashier, more involved experience, AIO liquid cooling might be for you.
Hello, I hope you can help me, which would you recommend between this 420 aio or deepcool mystique 360?
Mystique if you like screen and want 4 degree better with more noise.
The arctic 420, full stop, hands down.
but whyy my 7800x3d idle at 48-52c dudeee :'( helpppp
I'm glad that you took the time to research this AIO! I was wondering how would the EK EK-Nucleus AIO perform in this test. I'm definitely eyeing the Phanteks Glacier One 420D30 now as my cooler option. Thanks to this video! I appreciate everything that you do! Quick Question: is the Thermaltake TH420 the "Thermaltake TH420 V2 Ultra ARGB Sync"? I wanted to make sure I was looking up the correct AIO.
Thank you for the points of comparison here, was trying to decide between the 420 versions of this and the phanteks
First time using watercooling with Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 360 with 0 experience on installation on such type of cooling.
It is doing wonders for my configuration, something like 20dregrees down and i have not installed the correct airflow, waiting on 3 bottomfans.
I was using default amd cooler(from my 3600), but now my 5700x3d was hitting 80 degrees on POE2,d4(bad airflow as well), after the installation of the cooler i play at 60 degrees, again with basically only 3 fans from the cooler on the top of the case.
Indeed the only hard part is to keep together the cooler close to the cpu socket during installation,nothing else highly recommend.
Can i replace the fan with Lian Li ones?
The only thing one should be cautious about with the Liquid Freezer III is the Motherboard support. When it comes to installation, it's not more difficult in my view. Arctic gives you everything from still pictures, animated gifs and video tutorial on how to install the cooler. Something you won't find on example DeepCool and most other AIOs. The LFIII unlike many other AIOs has also done half of the installation process for you out of the box, with fans pre-installed and cables routed and hidden away. Saving you from the most boring and painstaking part of the installation. When it comes to price, at least in my country the LFIII is the cheapest AIO, the DeepCool LS720 for example is 40-60 dollars more expensive than the Liquid Freezer III.
Besides their performance, what sells me on the LF III is the VRM cooler
They found the offset worked out all the way back at the ryzen 3XXX series CPUs .It definitely made a difference, With the freezer II they gave brackets for offset and for standard so people tested it. Since it worked so well they stopped giving the option of not offsetting, and even used the same strategy for Intel CPUs too.
Weird, with the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 and a room temp of 28-30 degrees, when I disconnect one of the CCDs of my 7950X so that it is running with the same amount of cores/threads as the 7700X, I get a CineBench R23 score of 21,036 at a temp of 65.7 degrees Celsius and a CPU power draw of 84.6 Watts.
So one of us is doing something wrong and one of us is doing something right - you might want to ask the person who is obviously doing something right with regard to the cooling what you might be missing.
After owning the LF II on my am4 system and being satisfied with it, i hopped on LF III for my am5, mostly for the added aesthetics. Oh boy was i in for a treat. Installing this thing on AMD is just horrendous... really feels like the engineering team was drunk when designing this. As much as its a good performer overall, i have post trauma from installing this thing. Im not going to buy another arctic aio ever again before making sure they are back to a normal mounting mechanism
Funny thing is, there seems to be already some kind of a fixed version on the market. I just placed it on top of my CPU and was able to put the screws on both sides into the threads without any force. Some other people reported the same. Either the first production run had some issues or they reacted really fast and removed those springs.
It feels you got it for a very high price, in Europe I've been seeing prices for these coolers much lower. Which make it the king of price/performance. While also coolers such as the Deepcool Mystique one, are much more expensive, in some occasions, double the price of the ALF III.
Yeah maybe, I mean we tracked prices here in the US for a while and even today it's $116 and $139 on Amazon. When you can still get Deepcool AiO's for $99 that are easier to install and so close to performant that it doesn't matter.
Agreed price wise in the UK it's not even close (almost 3x the price!!!) From a personal experience they have been a goto for me. I wasn't aware of the fanboism but I've had a lot of bad experiences with alternative AIOs. Artic's have never failed within 2-3 years like every other AIO I've tried. I recommend them in every build I make (if AIO is the preffered option) they just work!
I paid 124 for the LF2 RGB 420. Already have the LF2 240. LF2 is the better version I feel
The LF2 in my opinion I also agree is better.
I paid £98 for the white 420mm argb from a well known online store and couldn't be happier installed into my cte 700 in under ten minutes can't complain about that.
Yeah I had issues with the freezer III and msi z790 carbon motherboard in a Corsair 5000D airflow. Top mounting wasn't possible. Same motherboard and rad would actually fit in 4000D airflow. Albeit a tight squeeze while top mounting.
I paid $108 plus tax for the ARCTIC FREEZER III 360 RGB off Amazon March 1st and at that price it is an excellent deal.
The installation is not as hard as Robey is making it seem, but I do have a Masters in Healthcare Administration. So maybe that is why I had no issues. My CPU temps never go over 70c after hours of play and I play open world RPGS like Dragons Dogma and Horizon Forbidden West.
I just said it was harder than other AIO's and has more fitment issues. Comparatively to a lot of other AiO's this is more complicated.
@@RobeytechLive You sure are highly defensive. Almost like you did something that's eating at you.
@@RobeytechLive ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 420 is under 82€ at this moment thats is $86 and that is with a 20% sales tax without 64 DOLLARS FOR A 420 AIO
This video is going to stir the pot for sure.
You had me until the offset mount had you confused. No the ihs is not gonna spread heat evenly. It will try to but hot spots are still a thing. Having the fins closer to the heat source is more efficient period. Even noctua a brand you love started to sell offset mounts for amd.
This is why some coolers do better on intel vs amd and vice-versa. Also some advice for people installing on intel. Puts the cpu in the socket before taking the mechanism off. It will protect the pins in case something falls on it.
Except none of the top coolers on the list for either AMD or Intel do what you are saying. The efficiency isn't coming out in the numbers not to mention for all the fitment and other issues (like having to literally bend the mounting mechanism on two of ours to get it to sit right on AMD) really show that this takes a lot more work then it should. I am not saying it's bad, I am just saying there are cheaper and easier coolers if you want to have a bit of a better and simpler build experience.
I agree that the installation is challenging. I almost returned my 280mm freezer iii. I had to loosen the mounting frame in order to attach the water block, then tighten the mounting frame to secure the block to CPU.
@@RobeytechLive First, fitment issues have zero to do with the offset mount so it's irrelevant to discuss them in this context. Second, the absence of offset mounting in competitors isn't evidence that offset mounting doesn't work, just that other companies haven't developed offset mounting kits.
You can very easily compare Arctic LF II standard and offset mounting temperatures on AM4/AM5. You can very easily compare Noctua standard mounting and offset mounting on AM4/AM5. I am absolutely shocked that anyone who would claim to be anything approaching an expert in PC building would try to make the claim that offset mounting doesn't improve temperatures on chiplet CPUs on AM4/AM5.
I compared standard to offset on the NH-U12A and offset was measurably better. I did the same on my LFII 360 with the same results. Have you tested the difference?
This is the first time I think I disagree with robeytech which is a shame really as yes this might sound harsh but you’ve always been my no2 go to pc reviewer (behind gamer nexus) 1 thing I don’t understand is how you’ve got immeasurably different results to what gamer nexus got. Yes granted not everyone can afford the $60,000 equipment gamer nexus can but to see that under load the cpu temps were around 45c in gamer nexus tests where as yours were 70c+ that’s a massive difference and makes me wonder……
why does the RGB version perform better?
Better fans
@@kristoffer3000They're not better fans when you're building a full black/black out system and you also want zero RGB. F'ing hate RGB. lol
Is it ok if my 7600x idles at 40-50?
Its fine
@@Kaml1810 My R9 5950x idels in the 60's.
I own an ALF II and ALF III, but I've only ever done the ALF III on an Intel build.
And agreed, it's not newbie friendly vs. your more standard coolers like a NZXT Kraken Elite or DeepCool LT520 for example. And because of the install I wouldn't recommend it to a newish builder. Even Intel mounting on the ALF II was annoying, I ditched the included backplate for one from another cooler.
Intel performance on the ALF III is okay, nothing amazing but not bad in my limited experience. For AMD my gut feeling tells me it would probably have better throughput on hotter chips like a 7800X or higher. The ALF III would probably take longer to reach heat saturation than standard thickness AIOs. But at the same time most users aren't pushing their rigs for those periods of times at that load level.
Where the noise tests?
I got 420 black for 78euros new. For such a huge (and probably overkill for my system) seems like unbeatable value for money with all drawbacks.
the 360 on my 9800x3d at 5.5ghz works great, games at about 69c full load it might see 90c eventually
No we dont..and btw i see why you had trouble mounting it..PUT the presure on the unit equaly ..not just the lover part..and dont try to bend "leaf" with the screw driwer but with your finger...
i dont see the problem...
Simple, and I am responding to comments more here for this very reason. There are less expensive, less complicated AiO's that don't have near the fitment and installation "features" that may warrant a different choice for builders.
•poor mounting system
•average cooling capability
•Loud pump noise
•better options avaliable
Since you didn't watch the video
@@Dubulcle Watched the whole thing, all the info was either stretched truth to entirely just pulled out of his ass.
How can you talk about coolers and not mention anything about the noise... Personally, I don't believe there's anything better for the same price (at least looking at 420 AIOs) with the same quality/silent fans and good customer service. VRM cooling is a nice bonus as well.
So if your like me and a shop is installing it on your intel i9 and the installation is covered in insurance
You have NOTHING to worry about
I was going to get the ARCTIC COOLING Liquid Freezer III - 420 A-RGB, but I couldn't and I am glad I didn't. I bought an Asus ProArt PA602 case and it would not fit. I did more research and I decided to get the Thermaltake TOUGHLIQUID Ultra 420 as the specs are slightly better than the Asus ProArt LC 420. The only issue I had was the ProArt rad bracket for the case - I had to use my dremel to trim it to make the TOUGHLIQUID fit.
For the price the TL Ultra 420 was surprisingly awesome.
By modding the top filter plastic end clips, Arctic III 420 will fit. Without dremmeling the rad bracket.
@@PeTe_FIN I'd rather mess with the rad bracket instead of the top filter. Also, the performance of the TT was better. If you mod it to work does the fans still sit flush and are hidden?
@@smileybaxyoud rather mess with a rad then clip two things with a knife in about 5 seconds time. Wow gj
@@RobeytechLive ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 420 is under 82€ at this moment thats is $86 and that is with a 20% sales tax without 64 DOLLARS FOR A 420 AIO
Pro tip: if you put the CPU in the socket before removing the retainer you shield the socket from damage.
its a pretty good AIO for the 420mm one but it has one huge major drawback which wasn't event talked about in this video.
for cable management fanatics it is a horrible product, especially if you are using a back to front style motherboard.
they give you the AIO splitter which is nice, but 1 - it requires you to run wires on the front side of your motherboard which is not ideal to say the least, 2 - that AIO splitter wire is too dam short for a BTF style motherboard and isn't long enough to reach the AIO header on the back...
i had to return mine and got an H170i ICUE LINK instead - seeing it performs more or less identically to the LF3 420mm, but has a much cleaner cable-free installation, and actually has a way to allow minimizing your fan wires in your case if you use their overpriced QX140 fans but for an enthusiast build price is not a big concern anyways.
I picked up a black one for 70$, new. Found that hard to beat value wise.
Nice review, but should include the Ambient temperature as reference
Ambient is 24c
This Video is about that you will make a video? Do you need more money? Could you just make the video and not make a video about that you will make a video... You waste my time and get money for it. I know you life from the Patrion people and without them you had no Mercedes.
Yeah the installation on AMD was a pain in the butt. I got lucky though and got the 420 ARGB when it first dropped and was only $115. At that price it was well worth it.
The Arctic Coolers are great. Tough to beat quality and performance for the money. Do wish they had better instructions or a TH-cam install guide.
What you do is select TH-cam in your internet browser, Type in, " Arctic Liquid Freezer III" in a search engine and up THEY come. Amazing eh.
I've never watched you before and I'm not sure I want to do so anytime in the future. For an "in-depth" comparison, it's very disappointing you failed to consider fan noise, which is very important to a lot of buyers. How it performs out of the box gives buyers the heads up if they think a change of fans might be required.
Also, just a little FYI. Calling your viewers fools and fanboys and telling them they just don't have your level of experience to put two screws in that might require a little bit of pressure, is a sure way to not attract new subs and maybe loose some. It doesn't mean you would need to lower your standards, but the old saying, "it's not what you say, it's how you say it", clearly applies to you. Arrogance is a bad look. You had a chip on your shoulder about the product from the word go. Which then had you spending hours in the comment section defending yourself.
in canada the lf3 420 is the cheapest option at 137$ pretax which translates to 100USD, its very market dependent! will get mine soon
I'm in Canada and it's $204.99 for the all black, and $229.99 for the ARGB.
The 420 performance is barely close to the 360, being behind more often than not. I genuinely don't understant why people recommend these coolers. The thermaltake one has easier installation and overall better performance, while being thinner AND cheaper (in my country) to boot.
Currently have a Thermaltake cooler I absolutely hate, looking to replace it. Funny seeing this comment.
The pump is loud af, the RGB is completely proprietary, the fans are annoying, the actual RGB LEDs look bad, and the mounting system seems lacking. All stuff I could live with, but the temps are also poor after multiple remounts.
I don't build a pc every week, month or year. So the retail price means very little to me and won't keep my cpu cool, but I did appreciate the video.
So... swap out the slow fans on the black version for higher rpm and it will perform the same as the RGB lol
The fan is well suited for beginners without much overclocking or optimized clock speed, but not so much for real enthusiasts...
He is right about the Unfriendly Installation, 1 Degree won't make difference if you end up potentially damaging your Hardware. Also after i got it, the Plastic and a bunch of stuff looks Extremely Cheap for the Price they are asking for so i'm probably sending this Frankenstein back. I also heard there was a Flaw in the Fans of III. The Packaging also seems extremely Cheap. Even the freaking Air DH-15 i have as backup looks more Premium than this Shit. Don't have anything against Gamers Nexus since they are all Pro Consumer but sometimes feels like they just Shilling some Stuff for the sake of Convenience like TH-camrs and Ad Sponsorships. Don't buy the Cheap Thermaltake AIOs either, heard they were failing after some Months. No Surprises there due to the Pricing.
Dude... this a cheap, simple AIO. I have mounted this on i7 12700k (280mm), even though I've never mounted any AIO before. And I have 30 C less than on Dark Rock 4 PRO (which btw costs the same). So - it's just a good product for me.
P.S. I don't know about you, but I don't know anybody 'hyped' or 'excited' about any AIO:)
Now do measurments with noise normalized and than we can talk. I can put P14 max on LFIII and smoke out of water all other AIOs, with increased sound. Those AIOs that performs better are loud as fuck, so when you normalize sound level they are worse by far. This is so biased and misleading video.
Well i took ALF 3 240 for my 12600k. Well interesting but my Temperature are 20- 23 load and 75 maximum in Gaming - Path of Exile 2 ....can tell you in this game the temps wirh eas go to 100 with Air cooler and nothing can stop it. Well Arctic can! For 75 EURO- AT THIS price point is much more competitive, easy to install on 1700 socket and good for peopel that cant take big cases, have less space and ofc less time to sit and enjoy few hours. Im not hyped jast a person buying product not brand !
Kinda agree. Thought the pump mount was kinda huh, what the heck.
Right after you done all your research to build ypur first pc and you think you found the best products for you its always some guy on the internet trying to tell you why everybody's wrong I honestly don't know enough to know if he's right or wrong but thanks to the guys in the comment for pointing out that hes full of 💩 and I shouldn't listen to him! I just purchased this aio for my first build.
I have the arctic liquid freezer II 420, and of course like 3 months after buying it the arctic liquid freezer III 420 came out. lol
ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 A-RGB is in my country on sale for $450 the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III - 360 is on sale for $79 I Don’t Think a One-Degree Temperature diffrence is worth the extra $370 that is whay people like Arctic no bullshit marketing and overpriced hype.
I hope youtube never recommends your channel again. If you're going to clickbait this hard, at least have factual information, not 18 minutes of word salad that ignores literally every metric of testing just because it goes against what you're trying to sell, which is itself misleading if not outright false information. It's cheap, it's quiet, it's vastly superior to most other coolers out there that are two and three times more expensive, and it's been proven time and time again.
Would you like some cheese with that wine regarding AMD mounting?
Hey, it was that time of month, so cut him some slack. You try PMS'ing and see how it makes you act. lol
I need another AiO for the HYTE case.
I bet this thing would beet everything to spreads with noctua push pull fans.
Dont worry about the bad comments. I can see where you are coming from. Everything you said is literally been commented about on the installation video of the installation of this rad that was literally posted by arctic. These people just dont have the brains to think themselves and are just projecting what they heard on gamers nexus video.
Hmm, what is a Gamers Nexus Video?
Anyhoot, that's enough for me. Soon as my mobo arrives I can start the build and I am looking forward to the reportably good results from the ALF III.
In my country the Freezer 3 ARGB literally half the price of the Deepcool Mystique.
One word Robey, no sorry one phrase . . . "Margin of Error" I really, really appreciate your testing methods and attention to detail but mate, the elephant in the room is that many of these tests have differences within a margin of error which as you know is a real thing.
One degree difference at 40c is I think 2.5%. If you used two separate and trusted temperature measuring devices and averaged the results then a more accurate model would be produced. At 70c a one degree differential is a mere 1.4%. Even best to worst AIO the differences are virtually negligible and barely worth consideration when it comes time to buy any of these AIO coolers.
Having taken the time to do the tests I guess you have to promote this video to monetize and create interest with the title of this video.
Word to the wise, all companies use hype but the sales teams call it promotional messaging. Long gone are the days of honesty and the Japanese sales method when saying "Please consider."
That said, I appreciate your efforts and if guys like you didn't take time to complete these tests, guys like me would have less information to work with so I am happy enough to watch your video and use this info to make a sensible purchase decision.
Turns out I did buy this model, yet to use it, but I'm sure it will do the job. That's the takeaway from this video and no, not an Arctic fanboy, gamer enthusiast or even a weekend PC builder.
Asus ROG Ryujin III ARGB 356 € 💀
HYTE THICC Q60 330 €
Corsair iCUE LINK H170i LCD 309 €
Phanteks GLACIER ONE 360D30 231 €
Asus ProArt LC 420 280 €
Corsair iCUE LINK H150i RGB 216 €
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 77 €
Keep in mind that pretty much all are like 16-26% off ( the ryujinn base sale is 479 €💀)
why is bro comparing a 500€ cooler that does almost the same temps as a 77€ one and says they are kinda ok 💀💀
what is lil bro trying to cook oh hell nah xd that is crazy.
Because these are the choices people make and folks need to understand there is a cost to a lower entry cooler
@@RobeytechLiveYep, that's for sure. You get weird butthurt videos undeseredly shitting on it.
Not easy telling the truth is it. 😂 These coolers are pretty good. But yer the mounting totally lets them down. Personally i think the coldplate is to small and thin.
You need some actual robotech merch behind you man.
There are some pieces back there!
i have the arctic freezer ii 360mm and i love it
And that’s fine! It’s not a bad AiO!
@@RobeytechLive
I've been waiting for it, thank you !
You make zero sense about the am5 mounting, its the same spring loaded 2 screw mounting that noctua uses. I think noctua is fairly intelligent. You also never mention a comparison of fan noise , arctic iii is much quieter than the ones you rave about with the same cooling temps.
Useless review. You should watch gamers nexus to learn what real reviews look like