The VRM fan clearly does something, and temperature improvements will follow the more even FPM on either side of the VRM heatsink, but we also want to be clear that a top-mounted radiator would also benefit the VRM. This is something we simulate in our test setup. VRM Thermals

Our next chart continues with the 3950X 200W load, but allows all the coolers to run at 100% fan speed during the test. This doesn’t move the needle much for Arctic, which seems to top-out in its efficiency at around 1200RPM rather than its maximum 1600RPM. The results were +/-1C as usual, but our average ended up at 50.9 degrees over ambient. That’s not enough of a change, so there’s room to reduce noise level without much loss of overall performance. At the 1610RPM speed, the Arctic cooler ran at 42.5dBA at the normal 20” distance. This puts it about equal in thermal performance to the NZXT Kraken X62 and X72, which run around 51-53dBA, or a perceived noise increase to the human ear of about 2x. Again, that’s perceived to the human ear, not acoustic power, which is a different scale. Either way, Arctic’s solution is significantly quieter at the same performance. The EVGA CLC 360 shows that we’re not limited by our test bench, but also that jet engine levels of noise are needed to drive the temperature down further. 3800X – 35dBA Under PBO conditions with full fan and pump speeds, the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 A-RGB does a good job. The 5000d airflow will be a pretty good choice. It will also allow you to put three fans in the front and top mount the rad (which I always recommend) Normally I would consider this a mark against the product, but Lian Li wisely included a built-in low-noise/high-performance toggle switch, allowing you to reduce maximum fan speeds and noise levels with the flip of a switch. Most coolers that support low-noise modes have reduced thermal performance when engaged. But I didn’t observe any difference in thermals between the two modes when tested on my i7-13700K. When set to the low noise mode, total noise output is reduced to 49.2 dBA, which is on par with MSI’s and DeepCool’s competing 360mm AIOs. The chassis fans are disabled, all case panels are on, and the sound meter is placed 12 inches from the side of the Fractal chassis’ glass side panel – roughly where a desk user will be sat.

Throw Your Computer In The Ocean.

Yes, the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 A-RGB delivers some of the strongest VRM thermal performance for our test data. However, the gains versus other AIOs are not as significant as we would have expected. And Arctic’s cooler is certainly no match for the VRM cooling potential of the ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 and its bigger VRM fan. Three of Arctic’s 120mm P12 PWM A-RGB fans are used for cooling duties. These Fluid Dynamic Bearing units are rated for a 200-1800 RPM speed range via the PWM control method. That low-speed capability all the way down to 200 RPM is particularly impressive, especially if your system’s idling or low load temperatures allow for such operation. Not a big deal since laying the board flat on the table bypasses it, but this could be even easier if Arctic refined the solution with cap screws. On the installation front, buyers should also be aware of the short cables for the fans. They can be connected to the splitter cable (which is sleeved alongside the tubes), but we prefer connecting our fans directly to the motherboard to exercise more control over the fans. This is easily solved with some 4-pin-to-4-pin extension cables. Conclusion

Ambient is maintained around 22-24 degrees Celsius. Where there is variation beyond this temperature range, we add in extra repeated tests to ensure consistency. Maintaining 75% of the full fan, pump, and VRM fan speeds whilst hitting 40dBA noise levels is superb performance for an AIO. Once again, Arctic’s Liquid Freezer II 360 A-RGB proves to be an excellent option for users want low-noise AIO operation (ignoring thermal performance data for now). The fan configuration is the three included Fractal Dynamic X2 GP-14 fans spinning at full 1000 RPM speed. In addition to the two 140mm front-mounted fans, and single 140mm rear exhaust, we added a be quiet! Pure Wings 2 1000 RPM 140mm fan as roof exhaust for air cooler testing. The aim here was to keep consistency with the airflow path of the liquid coolers which are always roof mounted. With that 40mm VRM cooling fan onboard, we were anticipating strong VRM cooling performance. But that is not what we really got.In addition to testing Cinebench without power limits enforced, we’ll also be showing results when the CPU’s power consumption is limited to a more reasonable 200W. We’ll also show results at 125W for those who prefer whisper-quiet cooling, at the cost of some performance. For both of these results, we’ll show traditional delta over ambient temperature results. After installing and testing it, I found Cooler Master’s new MasterLiquid 240 Atmos especially impressive. It’s clear the company has improved its flagship AIO in several key areas. Noise levels are low in most common workloads, and despite its smaller 240mm profile, the 240 Atmos is one of only a handful of AIOs I’ve tested that's capable of keeping Intel’s i7-13700K under its peak temperature, even in the hottest of workloads. We decided to test using a chassis as we feel that this is most representative of real-world use cases. It does have some unwanted influences on the test data, as does open-air test bench testing. But we feel that this is a worthwhile trade-off for real-world chassis performance of the coolers. On the top side of the angled plastic pump unit is the 40mm VRM fan. The translucent housing of this fan is not RGB LED lit, and this feels like a missed opportunity by Arctic. That’s still no small amount of money for a cooler. But if your needs are extreme enough to warrant a 420 mm radiator, you can probably afford to spend a bit extra on keeping your powerful CPU as cool as it can be under load.