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The increased cooling challenges posed by Raptor Lake mean that we’ve had to change some of the ways we test coolers. Some coolers were able to pass Cinebench R23 multicore testing with Intel’s 12th Gen i9-12900K when power limits were removed (although only the strongest models were able to pass that test). It also has the benefit of allowing the entire cooler to be handled by just two cables connected to the motherboard – one ARGB header for LED lighting and the 4-pin PWM header which manages the three radiator fans, pump, and VRM fan. The associated cables for fan and LED control are either pre-routed via the daisy-chain, or they are hidden inside the mesh wrap around the liquid cooling tubes. Corsair’s iCUE H170i Elite LCD XT AIO offers the best cooling performance we’ve tested yet with Intel’s i9-13900K, handling over 325W in our most intensive thermal tests. And unlike other coolers, the noise level of the H170i Elite is tied to the CPU coolant temp, resulting in quieter operation during most common tasks and the elimination of bursty fan behavior. The tradeoff is that we saw noisier operation under the kinds of sustained loads that we use for testing. Then again if you get the deepcool you can just front mount it and call it a day. I haven't personally had any experience with deepcool's radiators but I've heard good things and for the smaller size I think it would be worth it for you to buy it from your local store
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.
Silent and strong performance make Arctic’s 360 AIO a compelling cooling option.
Other than those points, I have very few complaints. The 6-year warranty is superb, I love the fact that the cable management is so straightforward for an end-user, and even classy touches such as including a tube of thermal paste have me impressed. Starting out with noise results at full fan and pump speed, the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 A-RGB performs very well. In fact, this is the quietest AIO cooler that we have tested to date. And with those superb Arctic P12-based 1800 RPM fans, the noise output is actually better than many high-end air coolers. I care more about CPU temps since GPU temps are pretty good as is. The last of us, 140% render (1080P native) didn't break 65-66 ... the CPU on the other hand went nuts, at least 70 degrees, frequent climbs to 76-77 (bursts of 80ish). And that was with 40% of usage and less. Playing A plague tale: Innocence, with 10-15% of total usage with each core less than 20%, some 4-6% and the temps were climbing to 60-63 (ambient no more than 25). Very impressive indeed! Though with this noise level, thanks to modes speed fans by AIO standards, we do wonder if full-speed thermal performance will be compromised slightly. Let’s find out. AIO coolers are way more convenient and affordable than custom liquid cooling loops. And, traditionally at least, they've been able to deliver lower CPU temperatures with less fan noise than air coolers – although that’s not always the case these days, as air coolers have gotten better and, in some cases, bigger.
This shows the delta in height, measured in microns, from a calibrated 0-point. The A500’s box plot shows the largest range, illustrating the chaotic levelness that hurt its performance, while the Deepcool Assassin III and original Wraith coolers have some of the best levelness. The Arctic Liquid Freezer II averaged about 8-10 microns depth from the 0-point, with minimums and maximums at 2 microns and 48 microns. The Liquid Freezer II has a couple deep points in the coldplate, but is overall closer to the smooth end than the unlevel end. Installation & Mounting 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. This is important as it sets the precedence for which coolers we expect to deliver the higher levels of performance based on the faster and louder fans. Assuming that their performance is efficient in comparison to their noise output levels, that is.Summer is up, and the room’s fan is on, which is why I could not measure the noise level of the unit. Should You Buy It? The nature of a review cycle (while a product is relevant) typically dictates that there’s no means to realistically test for endurance or age. We can revisit in the future if needed, but that’s the only question mark left after the review process: Arctic’s pump design is new, something we’ll look at in our tear-down video coming up shortly, and a new design means we have no reference point for endurance and reliability. In general, liquid coolers outlive the usable life of the system, and potentially two systems, but those that fail do so in a much more visible or catastrophic fashion. Failures are overall rare, however, and that’s always important to note. We’ll send you to our Air vs. Liquid cooler content for more of an explanation on this front. While it was fairly easy with previous generations of CPUs for coolers to keep the flagship i9 processor well under TJ max (the maximum temperature a CPU can sustain without throttling) in tough workloads, this is no longer realistically possible with the Core i9-13900K without extreme cooling (or enabling power limits). While in the past a CPU hitting its peak temperature was cause for concern, enthusiasts are going to have to learn to accept high temperatures as “normal” while running demanding workloads with Raptor Lake and Ryzen 7000 CPUs.
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