Arctic Liquid Freezer 120

[testman78]

Introduction

The all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler market has exploded with products from most of the major players in the air cooling game. Even companies that had nothing to do with cooling are testing the waters (ba-dum-ching!), but for the most part, the products seem fairly similar to each other, at least from the outside. Sure, there are aesthetic differences such as LED lights, and some manufacturers have decided to bump up the overall size of the radiators and fans, or even include custom software to control performance. When we look at it from a core cooling technology perspective however, there doesn't seem to be a lot of visible changes, and many of us aren't adventurous enough to void the warranty to see what's going on under the hood. For those who feel that seeing is believing, let's have a peek at the 120mm AIO cooler from Arctic, the Liquid Freezer 120. It's an aftermarket Cpu cooling solution which is designed to improve the cooling performance of your processor, allowing more overclocking headroom while reducing the noise level.



Specifications.




Packaging & Contents

The Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 is supplied in compact packaging considering the size of the cooler within. The box is decorated in an attractive blue and white livery which features a large image of the cooler on the front.



Turning the box around reveals a more detailed explanation of the cooler's features alongside three images which illustrate the potential cooling benefits of the Liquid Freezer 120.



The CPU compatibility list along with the specifications is placed on the left side.



On the right side you can see some of the possible positions you can mound the radiator . This side view also shows the breakdown of the Fluid Dynamic Bearings used on the fans.



This shows a better view of the top.



Inside, there is an instructions booklet which I found easy to use, as well as the usual accessories. A thermal paste, a backplate, mounting brackets and an assortment of screws.




A Closer Look

The Liquid Freezer 120 features a 120mm wide, 155mm tall and 49mm deep radiator.



The radiator is fairly standard stuff, with a thick design and built-in reservoirs on the ends.



The fin array is aluminum and the construction feels rock solid, so it should last a long time.



The pump is nicely designed and has the hoses coming out of the top of the pump, rather than mounted on the side, so it should be pretty easy to install.



On top of the pump we can see the Arctic logo.



The tubing is 326mm long, which is plenty to play with.



The two fans that come with the Liquid Freezer 120 are Arctic F12 fans. Each come with long, 60cm PWM cables for extra flexibility, and operate at a maximum of 1350RPM.



Below you can see the cooler with all two fans.



The fans are easy to install and with such a thick radiator and two fans in push-pull configuration, I'm expecting this cooler to shift a significant amount of heat from out test bench CPU, or any CPU for that matter.



The concentric CNC copper finish of the cold plate guarantees that the surface is smooth and even on every unit.



The design looks very ASETek. Not exactly a mirror / lapped finish, though the performance really is good as you'll find out soon enough.



A 3-pin black cable emerges from the unit to power the fixed speed pump, which is said to be very efficient and consume merely 2W.




Installation Process

The installation process for the Liquid Freezer 120 is very, very easy. In-fact, I wish all cooling manufacturers did it like this. The radiator, mounting hardware for both modern Intel sockets (LGA 115X and LGA 2011 & 2011 v.3) and AMD mounting hardware (AM1-3+ & FM1-2+). The AMD hardware consists of only the retention ring and standoffs which are 26 mm long. The reason being, for AMD motherboards, you’ll end up using the stock back plate. The Intel hardware comes with a bit more. There are 2 sets of standoffs. The standoffs for LGA 2011(v.3) measure 22 mm in length while the standoffs for LGA 115Xmeasure 28 mm in length.



The Intel back plate is the same for all sockets and has one of the best features I’ve ever seen on a back plate. There are 4 small, round stickers on the back plate for adhering to the back of the motherboard, making installation very easy.



Four screws then hold the bracket to the motherboard and provide screw tops for the thumb screws.



Simply apply your thermal paste, then screw the pump using the appropriate Intel or AMD bracket to the motherboard using the included thumb screws.



The radiator is thicker than most AIO coolers (45mm). This won't be a problem in most cases, but if you are tight on space realize that you may not be able to mount both fans in push-pull.




Installed - Memory Clearance


The cooler is designed to maximize fin density in the limited space around the CPU socket. It will not overhang the capacitors, RAM or VRM’s on the surrounding edges of your CPU socket.




Test System & Methology

Test System:

Cpu:Intel Core i7-4770K,OC@4.2GHz
Motherboard:ASUS Maximus VI Gene Z87
Memory: 16GB Mushkin
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 6970
Power Supply: Antec HCG 750W
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Chassis: Dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5



Software:

AIDA64
CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime95-FPU


I am testing the performance as follows:

Ambient temperatures are kept at 23C throughout my tests.
The CPU Fan is set to 100% to eliminate inconsistencies as a result of PWM control.
Idle temperatures are obtained after booting the PC and idling on the desktop for 30 minutes.
Load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95′s test for 15 minutes.



Temperature

The Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 does extremely well by performing similarly to many 240 mm based AIOs. Given its radiator's thickness, I did expect it to perform nearly as well but not this well, which makes its performance in this test a pleasant surprise.




Noise Level

RPM readings show why the Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 manages to have such a quiet noise profile. Its quality fans really make this AIO cooler shine.




Conclusion

Overall, I think Arctic has done a great job with the Liquid Freezer 120. The Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 is an attractive cooler in terms of performance and design, and can be found at almost any major retailer out there. We found it at Arctic's online webshop for €74.99, but we have seen it go as low at €54.97 around the web in recent sales, so it’s worth shopping around. The price isn’t especially cheap, but it’s certainly competitive in this market for the performance on offer. Much like other all-in-one liquid coolers, it also offers perfect memory clearance, which is always nice. It doesn't hurt that the Liquid Freezer 120 is of good build quality and comes with some quality fans. Overall, the unit itself is a great surprise all things considered since it performs so very well for a single 120 mm radiator. The Liquid Freezer 120's great warranty and ease of installation further add to its appeal. Sure, they also make a 240mm/360mm version, but I wonder if the performance will be that much better than what we’ve seen today, as the Liquid Freezer 120 is already cooling very well.



The Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 shows just how great water cooling can be for your systems performance, allowing high-end overclocks and low temperatures, while still only requiring a 120mm mount. An essential addition to any gaming PC!