Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro Review: The best AIO for Ryzen 9950X3D, and Intel too

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-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)

If you want a silently running cooler running less than 38.2 dBA, you’ll need to run the pump at less than maximum speeds.

Most people will never run the pump at maximum speeds, as it's easier to use the single-PWM control option (one PWM signal for rad fans + VRM fan + pump speed, of course with different values mapped per %).

The review mentioned that, but didn't show the handy diagram Arctic prepared, which I think helps explain how it works: https://imgur.com/a/amqoU0U

From here: https://www.arctic.de/us/Liquid-Freezer-III-Pro-360/ACFRE00180A

I appreciate Arctic's flexibility, so you can really dial it in, or just use basically the easiest AIO control option: like an air cooler, one CPU fan header controls everything.

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Reactor-Licker@reddit

Just to add on to this, note that the VRM fan can never be stopped, even when receiving a 0% PWM signal or the “VRM” cable is unplugged. The same applies to the fan cables coming out of the tubes.

Also, the pump could easily be run at maximum speeds constantly if you use the breakout cable and plug the “PUMP” cable into the “AIO_PUMP” header on Asus motherboards, as that header is locked to 100% speed by default.

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bizude@reddit

MSI motherboards also run pumps at full speed by default

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Reactor-Licker@reddit

My X870E Tomahawk doesn’t.

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Bigyoman@reddit

Late to the party, just upgraded to X870E Carbon WiFi, my pump default is PWM 100%

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Chowdaaair@reddit

My x870 Pro doesn't either

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bizude@reddit

Interesting. Even when you reset the BIOS? Does it operate on a curve, or at a static speed?

I'm currently using MSI's X870E Carbon Wifi and Z790 Project Zero motherboards, both of these motherboards operate the pump at 100% speed (by default).

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Reactor-Licker@reddit

The PUMP_FAN1 header (which is where my Galahad 2 Performance’s pump is connected to), operates on a fan curve that is more aggressive than the default CPU_FAN curve, though I haven’t memorized specifics. I haven’t changed any settings in the fan control in the BIOS or OS besides forcing CPU_FAN to run in PWM mode.

This behavior is consistent across BIOS updates, of which I’ve done 2 so far since I got this board.

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bizude@reddit

Thanks for the information, TiL!

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Morningst4r@reddit

A lot of pumps are designed to run at 100% all the time (at least that's what I've heard), so I can see why it would be the safest bet for a default. It's easy enough to change but I think you're right that many people will run it full speed and never really think about it.

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bizude@reddit

Also, the pump could easily be run at maximum speeds constantly if you use the breakout cable and plug the “PUMP” cable into the “AIO_PUMP” header on Asus motherboards, as that header is locked to 100% speed by default.

MSI motherboards also running pumps at full speed by default

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zoson@reddit

Tomshardware reviews always suck, and it's why there was a petition to ban them from being posted on the site.

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kikimaru024@reddit

Untrue.

There was potential conflict-of-interest with /u/bizude being both a moderator here & a Tom's staff member; however he has stepped down from his Reddit role.

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zoson@reddit

That was just the reason that broke the camel's back.

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bizude@reddit

That was just the reason that broke the camel's back.

I'd argue that most of that sentiment comes from when Tom's Hardware does lazy news coverage.

At least in my opinion, most of this subreddit's hatred for Tom's Hardware isn't true hatred - it's annoyance that the folks who produce news did a piss poor sloppy job.

Of course, there's a few genuine haters. But I think most people only get angry at TH because they have high expectations and standards for it.

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Strazdas1@reddit

The petitions for bans always sprang after horrible news articles get posted, not after reviews. I think the news portion is a lot worse at toms.

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zoson@reddit

This is lazy coverage. It's lacking in detail, precision, and practicality.

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Technician47@reddit

You are being a hater.

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bizude@reddit

Is there something in this review that you find "sucks" in particular? I'm not always the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'll listen to any feedback made in good faith.

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AreYouAWiiizard@reddit

Not the OP but

I’ve also begun to test noise-normalized results with AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D, but I’m going to wait until I’ve recorded more data to present this information.

how can you make that conclusion for AMD without that data? Why not wait to publish the review until you finished collecting all the data?

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bizude@reddit

how can you make the conclusion that it's the best for AMD without that data? Many people can't stand that amount of noise so they just go by best noise normalised results and surely that's standard in reviews as well? Why not wait to publish the review until you finished collecting all the data?

I'll have additional data available soon, but I think the noise normalized testing on Intel's i7-14700K tells people what they need to know.

I'm sure scaling could be different on Ryzen, but the overall scaling should be similar.

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AreYouAWiiizard@reddit

Huh? Your own testing showed there's a tonne of variance between Intel and AMD on some coolers... People want the data not not assumptions.

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bizude@reddit

There's always gonna be more data that can be shown, sometimes you have to know when it's "good enough". If Tom's Hardware had the budget for it, I'd test these cooler three times as in-depth.

Anyways, the truth is the reason I don't have Ryzen noise normalized results is because I changed how I was doing it. When I sent this review in, there just wasn't enough comparison data to be useful.

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AreYouAWiiizard@reddit

I think you misunderstood, I wasn't asking for any more data than you already promised, I just wanted to know why you didn't wait until you had that data before publishing a conclusion based on an assumption.

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bizude@reddit

I have a way with words sometimes ;)

Thanks for the feedback

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zoson@reddit

Failed to show the radiator and fans in detail.
Failed to show the software capabilities.
Very poor selection of testing software. Cinebench is not ycruncher and OCCT is not furmark. You will make a LOT more heat with ycruncher and furmark at the same power limits than Cinebench and OCCT.
Power consumption is not a good measure of performance. Higher thermal load results in transistors having higher resistance, which can make a poorly performing solution use a lot more power than a highly performing solution.
No like for like temperature comparisons against its siblings, is this thing really worth the price premium over the non-pro? What about the MAX version with even faster fans?
290W is not a lot for gpus these days. Less than half the top-end.
It's unlikely that someone is going to buy a 9950X3D then pair it with a 4070ti super.

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Sensitive_Ear_1984@reddit

I haven't read the review but what software? There is no software. All your questions lost all meaning when I see an uninformed question like this.

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zoson@reddit

You need software, either bios/uefi or third party, to control the pump/fan pwm response based on temperature. Pump and fan response is critical to understanding the performance of a cooler.

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bizude@reddit

Failed to show the radiator and fans in detail.

What details in particular would you prefer that I had also covered? You can only skin a cat so many ways.

Failed to show the software capabilities.

What software capabilities? This AIO is fully hardware based, there's no non-sense 3rd party software required to use it.

Very poor selection of testing software. Cinebench is not ycruncher and OCCT is not furmark. You will make a LOT more heat with ycruncher and furmark at the same power limits than Cinebench and OCCT.

I think we could argue all day about what test is best, but the point of testing is to test the effectiveness of a cooler. Do you really think that my results would be that much different with other tests? Cinebench is great for testing the heat dissipation of a cooler, though perhaps there are better alternatives to consider for the future.

Power consumption is not a good measure of performance. Higher thermal load results in transistors having higher resistance, which can make a poorly performing solution use a lot more power than a highly performing solution.

I disagree, but I recognize that some have other views. That's why I include tests showing power consumption, and traditional tests showing temperature data. I'm open to considering adding a single test of your choosing, if it makes sense.

No like for like temperature comparisons against its siblings, is this thing really worth the price premium over the non-pro?

The noise normalized results with Intel's i7-14700K will have what you're looking for. Perhaps I should have included more of the old tests with Intel's CPU to demonstrate this better, but I think it's more important to test with AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D. I could be wrong shrugs

What about the MAX version with even faster fans?

Good question. If Arctic wants me to test it, they'll ship it to me.

290W is not a lot for gpus these days. Less than half the top-end.

It's unlikely that someone is going to buy a 9950X3D then pair it with a 4070ti super.

I agree, but believe it or not just because you're a reviewer doesn't mean you have a big budget or access to all of the best hardware on the planet.

I'm not rich, and I live humbly. If a vendor wants to sample me a RTX 5090 or whatever, I won't say no. But I don't think I need one. The point of the test is to show how added GPU heat can impact the effectiveness of a cooler. Would a hotter GPU be better? Perhaps. But I don't have access to one, and cooler reviews don't pay well enough to afford a RTX 5090 otherwise.

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zoson@reddit

What details in particular would you prefer that I had also covered? You can only skin a cat so many ways.

fin density and type, are they standard heatercore type? are they split fin? are they rippled/ribbed? these have implications for sound tone.
how many rows of fins and coolant tubes.
are there any tubes directly below screw holes?
what is the model number on the fan?

What software capabilities? This AIO is fully hardware based, there's no non-sense 3rd party software required to use it.

arctic specifically mentions the ability to control the pump separately from the fans. however you do it, it must be done with some kind of software. what is the pwm response of the pump? what is the pwm response of the fans? are there any notable ranges in which the pump or fans make 'bad' noise?

I think we could argue all day about what test is best, but the point of testing is to test the effectiveness of a cooler. Do you really think that my results would be that much different with other tests? Cinebench is great for testing the heat dissipation of a cooler, though perhaps there are better alternatives to consider for the future.

You will be surprised how significant the heat generation difference is.

I disagree, but I recognize that some have other views. That's why I include tests showing power consumption, and traditional tests showing temperature data. I'm open to considering adding a single test of your choosing, if it makes sense.

increasing thermals causing higher resistance in silicon is thermodynamics and isn't something you can debate or disagree with. your thermal comparisons are lacking both breadth and detail. to actually derive meaning you need both full thermal comparisons as well as clockspeed comparisons. the chip is using more power, ok, but what does that mean? is it actually running faster? or is it just using more power?

The noise normalized results with Intel's i7-14700K will have what you're looking for. Perhaps I should have included more of the old tests with Intel's CPU to demonstrate this better, but I think it's more important to test with AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D. I could be wrong shrugs

again, meaningless chart without additional context. maybe you are missing a thermal chart that you think is in the article. the only two charts in the article that contain the other arctic unit you have are the maximum noise level and your power consumption chart.

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bizude@reddit

fin density and type, are they standard heatercore type? are they split fin? are they rippled/ribbed? these have implications for sound tone.

how many rows of fins and coolant tubes.

are there any tubes directly below screw holes?

what is the model number on the fan?

I suppose these are things I can consider for future reviews. May I ask you why you consider these things important? I only provided basic information about these sorts of things because I always figured the benchmark data was ultimately more important.

arctic specifically mentions the ability to control the pump separately from the fans. however you do it, it must be done with some kind of software.

I think you might not have read the article as closely as you should have. Maybe this indicates I should have highlighted this in more detail to be clear. There are two cables you can use to control Arctic's cooler. One cable is an "all in one" - it controls the pump, VRM fan, and radiator fans at the same time. The other cable provides separate PWM connections for each component.

are there any notable ranges in which the pump or fans make 'bad' noise?

I am hesitant to make judgements like that, as that's subjective. What I will say is that people who are extremely sensitive to noise may want to limit the maximum speed of the pump - I mentioned this in the article.

increasing thermals causing higher resistance in silicon is thermodynamics and isn't something you can debate or disagree with. your thermal comparisons are lacking both breadth and detail.

Bruh, I know all about higher resistance. Only the best AIOs on the market can handle my most intensive tests on the market without having the CPUs being tested reach their peak temperature. That's why I chose those tests - to make it easy to distinguish "the best" AIOs from "good" AIOs.

the chip is using more power, ok, but what does that mean? is it actually running faster? or is it just using more power?

When all conditions are otherwise identical, yes - the CPU will offer more performance when more power is being consumed. That's PC building 101. Whether or not that additional performance is worth the increase in power is another topic.

again, meaningless chart without additional context.

Bruh, this seems like a very well crafted bad faith comment now. What sort of additional context do you need from a noise normalized test where all coolers are run to emit the same volume of noise and the ambient temperature is strictly regulated?

No seriously, what additional context could you possibly need?

the only two charts in the article that contain the other arctic unit you have are the maximum noise level and your power consumption chart.

Then you need to re-read the article. The 3rd set of thermal benchmarks is clearly labeled "CPU-only thermal results with noise normalized to 38.9 dBA"

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zoson@reddit

You're just willfully ignoring the facts now.
1. If a fan starts ticking or chirping at a certain RPM range, that is not subjective.
2. You failed to demonstrate the capability of controlling the fan and pump separately.
3. You failed to properly load your cpu.
4. You CLEARLY don't understand the basics around thermal resistance and power consumption.
5. You failed to recognize that your charts are MEANINGLESS without additional information after I bluntly pointed it out.
6. Your data DOES NOT show that your conditions were identical or figures about the CPU's characteristics under load. 5000mhz at 250W is very different than 4900mhz at 260W. This is again partly a consequence of your poor software selection.
7. I specifically told you the additional context required, but you are, again, just willfully ignoring the facts.
8. You've just proved exactly what I said. Your reviews are poor quality, and not worth reading. I will continue to direct people to better quality, more thorough, and more detailed reviews. YOU should take a look at other sources, as that would clearly illustrate how woefully poor quality your articles are.

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feckdespez@reddit

arctic specifically mentions the ability to control the pump separately from the fans. however you do it, it must be done with some kind of software

This cooler does, in fact, not offer any software. The way you control them independently is to plug them into to separate headers on the motherboard. They offer a 1 to 1 cable option where you just plug into one header. Or, you can use another 3 to 1 cable option where you control the pump, VRM fan and radiator fans all indepentently.

As the reviewer stated, this is an all "hardware controlled" AIO solution. There is no software included or provided from Arctic.

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zoson@reddit

You have to use some kind of software, as stated, to control the fans. If that's bios, or some third party tool like speedfan, you still need software to do it, and there was no example of how to hook the AIO up to do it, or any example of how to do it.

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12318532110@reddit

They have good ssd and psu reviews. The others, I don't really bother reading anymore

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Traditional-Rest-378@reddit

This watercooling will be suitable for an i7 14700kf for gaming and multimedia.

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DougKinnard@reddit

Just picked it up on Amazon for a little over $90. Its doing a phenomenal job on my 12900k. I have adaptive boost and multi core enhancement turned on in the bios, Im hitting 5.2 ghz on the p cores while playing cyberpunk 2077, max temp ive seen is 63c. Idles in the low 30's.

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mistateo@reddit

Sorry to be a pest, but if ANYONE has the AMD mounting kit (just the black spacers and L & R bracket that comes with the kit) for the liquid Freezer III AIO, I would love to buy it! I figure my best bet would be someone who installed it on an Intel CPU and their AMD install kit is just laying around... HMU!

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Tystros@reddit

what's the difference compared to the regular liquid freezer III?

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bizude@reddit

The mounting has been improved, better covering the hotspots on both Intel and AMD CPUs. It also features an updated VRM fan and Arctic's P12 Pro fans as well.

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chsn2000@reddit

Interesting, Arctic products are only just becoming available in my country. Looks like the way to distinguish the fans is the 7 blade design vs the old P12's 5, correct?

Can't find anything else out about the P12 pros so guessing they're new and not available on their own yet

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trash-_-boat@reddit

better covering the hotspots on both Intel and AMD CPUs.

Is there a difference for hotspot coverage for AMD between this and other Arctic AIOs? Arctic has had offset mounting solution for AMD since Liquid Freezer II and the non-Pro III is offset mounted for AMD by default.

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bizude@reddit

As I understand the media guide they provided, the mounting has been improved for AMD CPUs as well as Intel products.

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tiradium@reddit

Are the fans noisy? are the improvements for AMD solely for AM5 ?

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godfrey1@reddit

Are the fans noisy?

they have a maximum RPM of 3000 while normal liquid freezer 3 had 1800 RPM so if you blast on maximum it's gonna be way louder

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bizude@reddit

Are the fans noisy?

Well, the maximum volume results included definitely show they are loud. If you're sensitive to volume, you'll find that annoying. But their pitch is fine, I didn't find them particularly annoying - just loud.

are the improvements for AMD solely for AM5 ?

Aren't the hotspot locations on AM4 and AM5 CPUs about the same?

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imaginary_num6er@reddit

Oh crap, I just thought it only came with the MAX fans but everything else is the same

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bizude@reddit

Not quite true. The cooler has improved mounting to better cover hotspots, which is probably the reason for the impressive performance improvements. It also has a new VRM fan.

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Reactor-Licker@reddit

New fans. That’s it from what I can tell.

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EJ19876@reddit

He should have compared it to the Lian Li Galahad II Trinity Performance. That's been the highest performing 360mm AIO for the past couple of years, I believe, and it seems to be available in the same price bracket as the Arctic these days. It also hits just under 50dB in performance mode, so it also sounds like a jet engine like the Arctic!

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Stache-@reddit

Arctic Liquid Freezer AIO CPU mounting system is bit of a pain to install compared to my old Corsair AIO.

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Jayram2000@reddit

I hope we get a 280 model eventually, would love to get this in the future

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bizude@reddit

There will be a 240mm version released next month.

I haven't been told any information about a 280mm version, but I imagine that will likely depend on how the market responds to the 240/360mm versions - because 280mm units don't sell as well.

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Jayram2000@reddit

Isn't it because the fans are new? I don't think there are 140 versions of them yet

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bizude@reddit

Oh, I'm just a humble reviewer. I don't know enough to answer that :D

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Jayram2000@reddit

https://www.arctic.de/us/blog/0195eb68722171ca97b2ff89ea22a73c?p=1

Turns out they are making them in Q2!

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brandon0809@reddit

My artic freeze III 280MM is a beast.

one of the best AIOs I’ve owned, second to my Corsair H100i V2, 8 years of cooling and hitching.

Hopefully my AF III can compete on life span.

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imaginary_num6er@reddit

Finally glad Tom’s is finally ditching Intel and going with AM5 for their cooler testing. No one interested in these types of products are buying Intel.

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bizude@reddit

I'm not quite ditching Intel. I'm going to keep the i7-14700K for maximum strength and noise normalized results.

I will be focusing with AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D for most things, but I want to make sure Intel users still have the information they need to make purchasing decisions for coolers!

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Reactor-Licker@reddit

The PUMP_FAN1 header (which is where my Galahad 2 Performance’s pump is connected to), operates on a fan curve that is more aggressive than the default CPU_FAN curve, though I haven’t memorized specifics. I haven’t changed any settings in the fan control in the BIOS or OS besides forcing CPU_FAN to run in PWM mode.

This behavior is consistent across BIOS updates, of which I’ve done 2 so far since I got this board.

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