Arctic Dips Into Liquid CPU Cooler Market With Two Liquid Freezers
Arctic's first liquid CPU coolers come a wee bit steeply priced, but the included kit may just make up for that.
Arctic is a company that's been making CPU and GPU coolers for a long time, having only recently started with liquid coolers for graphics cards. Today, the company strikes a new product line: Its first all-in-one water coolers for CPUs.
Even though Arctic is rather late to the all-in-one CPU water cooling world, the offerings actually look very promising. The two products in question are the Liquid Freezer 120 and Liquid Freezer 240, and you've already guessed, these are coolers with 120 mm and 240 mm radiators, respectively.
Arctic didn't provide too many details on the pump of the loops, but we do know that it has a top-down fluid flow that enters the microchannel structure in the cold plate from the middle, which reduces hydraulic restriction and increases thermal transfer. Arctic also boasted that the pump uses just 2 W of power, but all that means is that it isn't very powerful. Don't let that statement scare you though; a 2 W pump is more than plenty for a simple closed loop such as this one.
The 120 mm unit has a thick (49 mm) radiator, which in combination with the two 120 mm fans gives the unit heaps of cooling power in its compact size. Arctic claimed that the maximum cooling power sits at 300 W, but it recommends that you load it no further than 250 W. Of course, good luck actually finding a processor that requires such cooling power these days.
The radiator on the 240 mm unit is 38 mm thick, which isn't quite as extraordinary. Regardless, Arctic fitted it with not two, but four 120 mm fans in a push-pull configuration, which bumps the performance numbers for this unit up to a maximum of 350 W, with a recommended maximum of 300 W.
As mentioned, the fans are 120 mm units, and they are capable of spinning at speeds between 500 and 1350 RPM with PWM control. Their hub has a fluid dynamic bearing, and they consume no more than 0.25 A. We don't know the pressure level of the fans, but based on their appearance (many, but smaller blades), we would guess that they strike a balance between airflow and pressure. In an unrestricted environment, they can push up to 74 CFM and make about 22.5 dBA of noise when doing so. Of course, put more fans together with a pump, and you'll get a little more noise.
Arctic includes a tiny sachet of MX-4 thermal paste with each cooler, along with mounting hardware for both AMD and Intel sockets.
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Pricing sits at $99.99 for the Liquid Freezer 120 and at $129.99 for the Liquid Freezer 240. These prices are a little on the steep side for 120 and 240 mm all-in-one liquid coolers, but they're not too shabby if you consider the kit included.
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Niels Broekhuijsen has been with Tom's Hardware since 2012, and works as a Contributing Editor on the news team. He covers mostly hardware, components, and anything else that strikes his fancy. Outside of work, he likes to travel, cook, and fix things that are broken.
You can follow him at @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.
Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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thundervore Can we please stop with the Asetek rebranding crap flooding the market!Reply
This is basically a H105 radiator with the pump from the H100i GTX. The other is just a H80i GT.
There are no radiator improvements, no cold plate improvements and the only thing that separates this from other Asetek rebranded AIOs are the included fans. Only the fans! -
Larry Litmanen These radiators are massive, how about thin, low profile ones that actually don't restrict the airflow or looks.Reply -
stoned_ritual Can we please stop with the Asetek rebranding crap flooding the market!
No, because they patented the pump on block design, and will sue anyone that tries to make their own.
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Lutfij There is just too many AIO's in the market for the good of the customer. Right about now it looks like you can get just about any AIO cooler and all you'll be paying for is the badge/brand as the internal constructions are identical.Reply
Sad days for watercooling IMHO. -
bison88 Can we please stop with the Asetek rebranding crap flooding the market!
No, because they patented the pump on block design, and will sue anyone that tries to make their own.
Pretty much this. You don't have a choice BECAUSE of Asetek, not the other way around. There are only a couple CLC's that don't fall into Asetek's patent. It's kind of nutty how many CLC's are aleady flooding the market all with the same basic design, but it is what it is. Most people go for the big guys who've been in the game the longest unless you can pull off an NZXT Kraken on your first try -
eslrahc Just a comment on price.Reply
Currently Amazon has both, the 120 is $69 and the 240 is $79.
http://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Performance-Radiator-Compound-included/dp/B013WAY9UQ/ref=sr_1_44?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1446678794&sr=1-44&refinements=p_89%3AARCTIC -
thundervore 16893946 said:Can we please stop with the Asetek rebranding crap flooding the market!
No, because they patented the pump on block design, and will sue anyone that tries to make their own.
Pretty much this. You don't have a choice BECAUSE of Asetek, not the other way around. There are only a couple CLC's that don't fall into Asetek's patent. It's kind of nutty how many CLC's are aleady flooding the market all with the same basic design, but it is what it is. Most people go for the big guys who've been in the game the longest unless you can pull off an NZXT Kraken on your first try
I understand Asetek is sue happy which is why Swiftech couldn't sell their H220 in the US and why Coolermaster had to stop producing AIOs but this is ridiculous. Every company that makes case fans want in on the AIO game. Whose next to release a rebranded Asetek AIO? Cougar? Rosewill?