Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 RGB Review

The Arctic Liquid Freezer II is a highly regarded top notch 240mm AIO, so we have high hopes for this RGB variant, it's always nice to sprinkle in a little bit of colour, isn't it? With a VRM fan mounted to the block and first class performance when it comes to temperature, there is a lot to love with the Arctic Liquid Freezer line, except for the block design, perhaps... Can a fair price, 6 year warranty, better than average thermal paste and RGB controlled from the software of your choosing push you to purchase this cooler over more stylish options? Let's find out.

TL:DR - Pros and Cons

Initial Reactions

Going into this cooler review somewhat blind other than knowing it's more subtle cousins cooling potential, I was very optimistic about it's capabilities. However upon opening the box I was taken a back by the girth of this thing. It is not unusual to see thicker than normal radiators in PCs, but I wasn't aware the radiator for the Arctic Freezer is 38mm thick, around 10mm thicker than other more "conventional" 240mm coolers on the market. This would of course explain to some degree why it performs so well when compared to other 240mm coolers. I am sure it's mentioned in various cooler reviews of the older model, but when looking at a temperature table, you don't get the full picture. Having a thicker radiator is no bad thing, it just needs to be taken into consideration and becomes especially important for compatibility with RAM clearance, or small form factor PCs. This cooler would definitely be a tight squeeze due to it's thickness in a case like the SSUPD Meshlicious, as compared to something like the Corsair H100x, both found on our Zephyrus by default. Once I got past the size of the radiator, I was pleasantly surprised to see pre-installed fans, neatly cable managed and ready to go. The norm for AIO coolers is to have the fans separate, requiring you to fit them. This makes a lot of sense as there are a few different ways to configure a 240mm AIO to suit your needs, but the pre-installed fans on the Liquid Freezer are setup in what is probably the most common configuration, ready to mount in the top of a chassis with fans exhausting air out. Lastly, the build quality is definitely there, the quality of the braided tubes is fantastic, although I'm not convinced about the striped white pattern on them, it reminds me of anti-kink coils on older custom water-cooled systems which isn't a modern look, to each their own I suppose.

Liquid Freezer II 240 RGB Technical Details

Below is a breakdown of technical details and specifications for the Arctic Liquid Freezer II RGB including some dimensions and what is included in the box.

Testing Specification

For thermal testing we use a range of different software to stress the CPU including 3DMark Time Spy CPU Test, Cinebench R23, Prime 95 Blend and Aida64 utilising AVX based tests. Temperature's are recorded using Aida64's temperature logging.

Fan or pump speed (RPM) is not manually set or throttled for sound testing, including the VRM fan with the Arctic cooler in this instance. The noise testing is set to mimic the end user experience for what can be expected under general use when following each cooler's manual or set up guide. Whilst this isn't a definitive test or comparison to the quality of each fan that comes with an AIO, it's closer to the conditions you may experience.

Room ambient temperature is monitored and recorded before, during and after our testing and a Delta is calculated for the temperature over the recorded ambient room temperature which is used in all of our temperature charts. The CPU performance-core clock is locked 4.0 GHz and CPU core voltage is locked to 1.33v

• CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
• Motherboard - ROG STRIX X570-F
• RAM - 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 MHz (2 x 8GB)
• SSD - Samsung 1TB 980 Pro
• PSU - Corsair RM850x 850W
• GPU - Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti
• Case - Corsair 4000D Airflow

Performance & Temperature

I'm sure the performance is what you'd expect with a radiator 10mm thicker than most of it's counterparts. The interesting stuff here from our perspective is the work that little VRM fan is doing to shift the stagnant, warm air from around that part of the motherboard. So let's look at that first.

VRM Surface Temperature

What is VRM surface temperature? VRM stands for Voltage Regulator Module which is used by modern CPUs/GPUs to control and alter the voltage sent to the aforementioned components. These modules are usually located around the perimeter of a CPU socket and can generate a lot of heat. Depending on your configuration this area of the motherboard can pool hot air, so this small test aims to check what the temperature of the surface of these VRM modules, and if any solutions to moving that air are working. As always our chassis configuration doesn't have any extra fans other than those at the front, for the cooler itself. This is to let any features such as a VRM fan located on the CPU block to showcase what it can do without interference. For newer motherboards that have insane power delivery and regular processors smashing the 200W barrier, every degree counts. So a small fan to shift some of it into your ever warming bedroom or office is a nice addition. Below is the VRM Surface Temperature comparison graph.

Benchmarking Temperatures

This graph contains the results from our 3 CPU benchmarks. The temperatures listed is the delta over ambient temperature which was monitored for each benchmark. You can find a graph with results from all of our recent cooler tests at the bottom of this review. These results shatter the previous coolers we have tested. It must be remembered we do not normalise certain aspects of cooler testing to give a more user oriented experience, but it isn't a surprise this cooler does so well. With a much larger surface area, a pump designed in house by Arctic, fans more oriented towards static pressure and better out of the box thermal paste, we wouldn't expect any less.

Compatibility & Ease of Use

The Arctic Freezer II has a mark down on compatibility due to the extra thickness of it's radiator. This will especially effect clearance to tall memory in some instances, and fitting the AIO into small form factor PCs. We didn't have an issue putting it in the front of our Corsair 4000D Airflow, however, with newer graphics card getting increasingly long. Some chassis barely manage to fit 28mm radiators and fans at the front, so a 38mm one could be a no go if you're unable to install it in the top of your case.

The tube quality on this cooler is great, but their thickness could lead to problems. This cooler is definitely a power user item built into a 240mm package, so if you're tight for space and thinking about tube management, perhaps look elsewhere. The pre-cable managed fans are a good quality of life concept. For our testing we install the AIO in the front of a chassis with no restricted airflow, this means we had to re-position the fans which was a bit annoying due to how they were tied up. This is definitely a case by case basis situation and if you're installing this cooler in the top of a chassis, which is one of Arctic's recommend orientations, then the pre-installed fans will be a big bonus.

What about connectors?

The cooler doesn't use any proprietary connections other than a small 4-pin on the included RGB hub, however that is only to connect it to the hub itself, and then goes to a regular 4-pin PWM fan header. This is always a positive sign when it comes to ease of use and compatibility. In fact, due to the majority of the AIO being pre-cable managed, you only need to plug in one 4-pin PWM fan header, and one 4-pin 12v RGB header providing your motherboard supports it. The Hub is there if required and a very welcome option. We went with the pre-configured option of just two standard headers, which covers your pump, VRM fan, and radiator fans.

CPU Socket Mounting

Our testing platform uses the AM4 socket. I can only describe the mounting for this cooler as cumbersome. The cooler uses the original AMD backplate (which is great for AM5 compatibility by the way!) but has spacers and some extra brackets to get it to the right height.

I feel the installation process would benefit with this system being revised, perhaps into one solid piece instead of splitting it across two. Once the CPU block was installed however it is very solid. Utilising all 4 mounting points instead of a clamp style found on a lot of AM4/AM4 coolers is a plus here.

Aesthetics

It goes without saying that the Arctic Freezer II CPU block design is disliked by most, it's function over form. Aesthetics is always a matter of opinion but I would genuinely consider other options if it was on display in my case. Statistics and temperature aside it is certainly at the bottom of the pile on looks here. With that said, the build quality does it's upmost to redeem the cooler. The radiator build quality is absolutely solid, the fans looks the part, and it's all neatly cable managed. These parts generally aren't the focus of what you look for which is why so much innovation has been seen specific to the CPU block for aesthetics over the last few years. From tasteful ways to implement ARGB, cleaning up angles and logos, and even multi-directional screens. It simply doesn't do it for me, if it does for you then you're truly onto a winner with this cooler.

Acoustics

With our testing being user orientated we do not normalise any variants when it comes to acoustics. We know we know... This isn't the scientific approach, but we hope to give a better indication of what you might experience should you purchase this cooler.

The sound fairs well against other coolers we've tried, except for the internal sound. This is to be expected with a small, fast VRM fan shifting that warm air away. The best way I could describe this fan is a small electrical hum whilst gaming. If you're wearing a headset I couldn't imagine you'd notice it. A decibel (dB) reading is taken from 200mm away from the fans (intake) with no obstruction when idle and when under load, as well as *200mm from behind the radiator. ^{*Approximated inside system, not always possible to get 200mm exactly.}

All readings were taken using a professional sound level meter in a quiet room.

Here is an acoustics comparison table with the coolers we've tested on this methodology. The graph will automatically update when more coolers are tested so feel free to check back!

Usability & Software

As previously mentioned this cooler doesn't come with any silly software in order to make it work. We used ASUS Armory Crate which has Aura included to change the mode and speed of our coolers lighting. Whilst Arctic do make an A-RGB variant for this cooler, we have the RGB one, so specifically to this cooler you won't be able to go crazy on the lighting as it'll be locked to a single colour as tall times. Wondering what the difference is? Check out our article on the differences between RGB and ARGB here. You've got to wonder though, why produce and sell an RGB variant in the year 2022? Only Arctic can answer than question. With that said the colours definitely pop on these fans and I was pleasantly surprised with the range they got. Other then your choice of software which will depend on your motherboard, there was no further configuration done to make the cooler work, a pretty painless user experience in this area.

Conclusion

Credit where credit is due, the cooling potential of the Arctic Freezer II RGB is fantastic. We won't lumber all of that credit onto the fact it's simply a thicker piece of metal, as the in house pump design will also help out here, and the included MX-5 thermal paste is providing gains as well, albeit small. The aesthetics need a good overhaul in the CPU block department. A matter of opinion yes, but a negative opinion the majority of people share. If you want the best cooling a 240mm has to offer, you'll want to buy this cooler, or it's non-RGB variant, and slap on two Noctua Chromax A12x25 fans, nothing will even come close, it'll even outrank various 280mm and 360mm AIOs. The Freezer II RGB can be found for £89.99 at the time of writing, which also makes it the cheapest cooler we've reviewed in this category thus far. Here is our up to date comparison graph for the coolers we've tested on this methodology so far. This graph will auto-update when more coolers are added in the future, although we suspect the Arctic Freezer II to remain untouched as the coolest for quite some time. If you want to find out more about the be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX, or the MSI Mag Core Liquid C240 then please, do!