Page 3 - Test Results
Out test configuration is as follows;
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
RAM: Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB DDR4-4000 2x8GB
Graphics: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 TI
Chassis: Corsair 5000D
Power: SilverStone Decathlon DA850 Gold 850W
Storage: Samsung EVO 970 1TB, Patriot P400 1TB, Lexar NQ100 480GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Compared hardware:
- ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB
- ARCTIC Freezer A35 A-RGB
- SilverStone Hydrogon D120 ARGB
- Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL240 Flux
All tests were run in our custom-built computer to best reflect real-life performance. The computer remained in the same place and room for all tests. The ambient temperature of the room was roughly 21 degrees Celsius. The thermal paste applied to each cooler was stock respective to their manufacturers to rate its performance. Sufficient time between testing was applied for the paste to settle. The fans on all heatsinks were connected to the same motherboard's 4-pin connector. The test computer was turned on and idling for at least one hour for the idling tests. High CPU load results were obtained using the Prime95 in place large FFTs test with twelve worker threads for a minimum of 15 minutes and recorded when the temperature was deemed stable.
For the first test, I let my computer sit idle for a while. After about an hour, I shook my mouse to wake my computer up. We can see the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB sat at around 33 degrees Celsius, which outshined all the compared coolers. This was 2 degrees cooler than the Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL240 Flux, which has already been proven to be a capable AIO cooler. The Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB was also 6 degrees cooler than both the SilverStone Hydrogon D120 ARGB and ARCTIC's own Freezer A35 A-RGB. While this is a good start, idle tests do not give a full representation of the cooling capabilities, thus leading us into our load tests.
Starting Prime95 and giving the processor ample time to load all the cores and threads, we can see how the cooler performs when the processor is under heavy stress. The ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB continued to perform very well, peaking at 56 degrees Celsius. Once again, this surpassed Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL240 Flux, which had the best result previously. The Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB also had better cooling performance under load than both air coolers, although this was expected. We observed the boost frequency throughout the test, which was 3.7 GHz across all cores. The ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB excelled in our tests, outperforming all the compared coolers.
Sound is often perceived differently by people, but we try to make our subjective audio tests as objective as possible. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is silence and 10 is a heavy metal concert, I would rate the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB around 2.0/10 when idle and 3.5/10 when under full load. These ARCTIC P14 PWM A-RGB fans emit a moderate level of noise when under full load. Under day-to-day use, these fans are much quieter. Like with the fan on the Freezer A35 A-RGB, these fans are definitely not 10 dB quiet when running at maximum speed. One reality users will have to face when purchasing an AIO cooler is there will be more moving parts in the system, which makes for more sources of noise. The pump emitted a low and relatively quiet humming sound at full speed. At normal speed, the pump is basically inaudible. The VRM fan on the pump emitted little to no noise, being essentially inaudible.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware, Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
