Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 and 420 Review
Meet the Arctic Liquid Freezer III
Meet the Arctic Liquid Freezer III series
Today we will be looking at the new Liquid Freezer III cooling lineup from Arctic. Specifically, we will be looking at the White 360mm and 420mm A-RGB versions of these CPU cooling solutions.
One fey aspect of Arctic’s new Liquid Freezer III series is its use of a VRM cooling fan on its CPU block/pump assembly. This fan blows air across the VRMs of your motherboard, lowering VRM thermals thanks to the added airflow. Note that this fan-like top of this cooler doesn’t spin. It is merely aesthetic. The fans within this CPU cooler’s CPU block/pump assembly is under this shroud.
Available in RGB and Non-RGB forms
The 360mm and 420mm versions of this CPU cooler use three pre-installed fans. These heatsinks are available with RGB and non-RGB fans, with the RGB model carrying more premium pricing. We will be testing the RGB version of this cooler today, though the non-RGB version is expected to perform similarly. This cooler is also available in black, and in 240mm and 280mm forms.
CPU Contact Frame
One key feature of the Liquid Freezer III family is its inclusion of a CPU contact frame for LGA1700 and LGA1851 processors. Yes, Arctic have confirmed that this contract frame will work with Intel’s next-generation processors. This contact frame helps to maximise CPU cooling performance by reducing the bending pressure Intel’s standard mounting frame design places on their processors.
With this contact frame, Arctic states that their CPU cooler can be installed more consistently and that achieve better thermals long-term.
OC3D CPU Cooler Test Rig Specifications
This review is the debut of our new CPU cooler test rig. This new PC has a newer, hotter-running, CPU, a more power-hungry graphics card, and a cooling layout that is common for today’s gaming PCs. Simply put, we have moved to more modern hardware so that we can better test modern CPU cooling solutions.
CPU: Intel i5-14600K @1.27V (Fixed)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WIFI
Case: Custom Lian Li O11 EVO XL
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 32GB (2x16GB)
GPU: Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Nitro+
PSU: be quiet Dark Power 1,000W
Fans: 4x be quiet Silent Wings 4 fans
