Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 – Quality does not have to cost a lot

Testing methodology and test results

I’ve recently tested the popular Arctic Freezer 34 air cooler, which eventually won an editorial award. Now I would like to give a liquid all-in-one cooler from the same manufacturer a hard time on a hot processor. We will see if Arctic can design an AIO cooler as well as it did with an air cooler. Liquid Freezer II 240 should offer a very interesting price to performance ratio without unnecessary decoration.

Key features of the cooler

At first glance, the Liquid Freezer II 240 cooler will fascinate you by the use of a 38 millimeter-thick radiator with a relatively low density of fins, the sides of which are decorated with a discreet manufacturer’s logo. The usual radiator thickness for AIO coolers is between 25 and 30 millimeters.

The length of the hoses is a comfortable value of 450 millimeters, so it should not be a problem to use this cooler in the front position in larger cases. Used P12 PWM PST fans or other components of this cooler do not have any RGB backlight. The whole cooler, on the other hand, is painted in matt black, only the braiding of the hoses and small elements on the block also offer some shades of gray or silver. Nowadays, when almost everything is equipped with RGB LEDs, this is a pleasant change. The entire design of the cooler is simply purely functional. Arctic thus makes it clear that this cooler is primarily about performance, not disco colors. If you still want to additionally equip this cooler with RGB LEDs, you only need to replace the fans.

I don’t know why, but the block with the pump reminds me most of all of a futuristic sports car. However, rating of the appearance is always quite subjective. What one likes, the other may not. So you have to consider for yourself whether you like the look of the block on this cooler or not. The hoses are attached to the block by means of compression fittings and enter the block from the top. Unfortunately, the connection is fixed, you will not find any angled swivel fittings here. This should be taken into account if you do not have too much space in the case above the processor, because the hoses are not very flexible. The pump block is also equipped with a small 40 mm fan, which should be used for cooling the VRM heatsink on the motherboard. Some airflow is always better than no airflow, and this fan is basically inaudible.

The hoses are run out of the radiator quite untraditionally – in the middle. However, this should not mean any complications with running them inside the rig. In the photo below you can notice the surface irregularities under the braid of the hose. It is a cable from the fans, which is run to the pump in the cooler block. This cable is also the only one you need to plug into the motherboard during installation. Both fans on the radiator, the pump and the small VRM fan are connected in series, so a single connector on the motherboard is enough for the entire cooler. Speed control of the pump and fans is solved using PWM.

The contents of the cooler package are not surprising and nothing fundamental is missing. Here you will find everything you need to install the cooler on all current processor sockets except AMD TR4. In addition to the installation kits, you will also find a small package of MX-4 thermal paste, as well as a label with a QR code. Scanning it will direct you to a web page with installation instructions. In addition, the installation of this cooler could not be easier, the whole cooler is assembled from the factory, including fans, so just install the cooling block on the processor, connect a single cable to the fan/pump connector on the motherboard and, of course, attach the radiator to the case. Mounting the cooler on the motherboard is also quite simple and you should have no difficulty with it, whether you use this cooler on any supported socket.

Cooler and fan specs

The block with the pump may seem bulky at first glance, but the appearance is deceptive. Once installed on the processor, there is no interference with the memory DIMM slots or the VRM heatsinks of the power design on the motherboard. The orientation of the small fan in the cooling block is optimal to choose according to the position of the VRM heatsink on the motherboard. The width of the used radiator does not exceed the dimensions of a standard 120 mm fan and its length does not exceed 280 mm. It should therefore easily fit into most modern ATX cases without the slightest difficulty.

P12 fans from Arctic are very popular for their low price, solid static pressure values and low noise. RPM control takes place via PWM and offers a fairly wide range. So I expect proper results from this cooler in stress tests. I hope I won’t be disappointed.

I’ve recently tested the popular Arctic Freezer 34 air cooler, which eventually won an editorial award. Now I would like to give a liquid all-in-one cooler from the same manufacturer a hard time on a hot processor. We will see if Arctic can design an AIO cooler as well as it did with an air cooler. Liquid Freezer II 240 should offer a very interesting price to performance ratio without unnecessary decoration.

Testing methodology

The testing methodology has been formed for some time and, of course, there are no changes to maintain consistency. So I use Intel Core i7-5820K in the ASRock X99 Taichi motherboard as a heat generator. The whole rig is placed on the Streacom BC1 benchtable without other fans that would provide airflow. Stress tests are performed using the Aida64 Extreme application with a duration of 45–60 minutes. I test coolers at three speed levels (800, 1200 and maximum) at a processor frequency of 4200 MHz with a voltage of 1.150 V and then at 4500 MHz with a voltage of 1.350 V. The power draw of the processor is ~150 W and ~200 W, respectively. Especially the second level is already a big burden for most coolers. Therefore, it cannot be realistically expected that all tested coolers will be able to cool the processor at less than the maximum speed.

I measure the noise at three fan speed levels (800, 1200 and maximum) approx. 50 cm from the cooler using a calibrated Voltcraft SL-100 device in fast measurement mode (125 ms) with a sensitivity range of 30–100 dBA. The fan speed is regulated by Noctua NA-FC1. This cooler is equipped with only one cable, which provides the power supply and regulation of the pump and fans. While this greatly simplifies cabling and eliminates the problem of the low number of connectors on the motherboard, it is also a minor testing issue because I am unable to affect the speed of the pump or the small fan in the block. Fortunately, the small fan in the block has a relatively low speed range for its size and is practically inaudible. The pump is also quiet, the biggest source of noise on this cooler are the fans, and at higher speeds the air flow from these fans.

The ambient noise level is usually below 33.0 dBA. At the end of the test, the highest temperature reached is always noted down. All data regarding temperatures and power draw of the processor are obtained from the HWiNFO64 software. The results are then corrected for ambient temperature as the resulting Delta T. The test success limit is set at 80 °C. Any higher Delta T value means a processor temperature above 100 °C and a risk of thermal throttling. Therefore, if the cooler does not pass a load with a Delta T value below 80 °C, such a test is marked as failed.

Test results

It can already be seen here that a high amount of waste heat in combination with low speeds means that most coolers are not able to prevent the processor from overheating and subsequent throttling. This is not unexpected, it is simply the physical limit of the cooler and does not mean that the cooler is of poor quality.

I’ve recently tested the popular Arctic Freezer 34 air cooler, which eventually won an editorial award. Now I would like to give a liquid all-in-one cooler from the same manufacturer a hard time on a hot processor. We will see if Arctic can design an AIO cooler as well as it did with an air cooler. Liquid Freezer II 240 should offer a very interesting price to performance ratio without unnecessary decoration.

Conclusion and rating

I don’t know how the Arctic engineers did it, but they probably included black candles and a chalk-drawn pentagram. The Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 is simply an excellent AIO cooler. In addition, it is not overly expensive compared to the competition. With its efficiency, it even catches up with the far more complex and bulky Eisbaer Extreme from Alphacool, which uses a powerful D5 pump and a 280 mm radiator. The build quality is at a high level, the materials used are high quality, only the relatively aggressive style of the block and the braiding of the hoses may not suit everyone aesthetically.

I’m a little sorry about the only two-year warranty and the inability to regulate the pump separately from the fans. But these are all just tiny details that don’t spoil the otherwise very good impression I got from testing this cooler. I usually have a slightly skeptical approach to AIO coolers. However, I can highly recommend this one and it also deserves the editorial award ‘Go for it!’.

• Contents
• Key features
• Testing methodology and test results
• Conclusion and rating