Closer Look
Contents
It is time to take a closer look at the components. Before that here is what ARCTIC is saying about the cooler. “At ARCTIC, we are proud of our completely new all-in-one CPU water cooler series. For the Liquid Freezer II Series, we have used our experience in CPU water cooling to develop a completely new compact water cooling pump. The new pump of the Liquid Freezer II Series ensures an ideal ratio of high CPU cooling performance to low noise levels. The CPU AiO water cooler has integrated cable management within fully sleeved tubes for a clean look in your PC’s case. Our powerful P-fans provide a fast heat transfer thanks to their high static pressure and outstanding performance.”
RADIATOR
The ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II – 420 is a 420mm CLC cooling solution. It has a 420mm radiator with 3x P 140mm High Performance fans. The fans are pre-installed on the radiator and we can see why. The cable management is integrated on the unit. The 4-pin PWM cables on the fans have short length to have neat and tidy cable routing on the side of the radiator.
The dimension of the radiator is 458 x 138 x 38mm. The thickness of the radiator is 38mm. With 27mm fans the overall thickness would be 65mm. The total thickness would be near 66mm including the heads of the mounting screws. The radiator has a 15 fins per inch one (FPI). There is a gap of 105mm between any two fan mounting holes on the radiator. The assembly is in black color finish with a better build quality. We have taken the pre-installed fans off to show the radiator itself.
Radiator is made of aluminum hence it is light weight. This is ARCTIC’s own design. The blocks on both ends of the radiator are rectangular. The fin stack is not dense with 15 FPI and taking into account the left and right side channels, it has total 12 channels for water flow.
The ARCTIC has done a fairly good job with the fin stacking. A few were found bend but nothing alarming.
There is no protective plating under each mounting hole to prevent damage to the fins from excessive screwing. Take a note of that and it is suggested to use the bundled long screws only for the fans installation. The underside of the mounting hole would serve to restrict the screws excessive movement.
There is an ARTIC branding on the sides of the radiator housing.
The far block has a rectangular design with sharp-looking edges though they are not sharp. There is no sticker pasted here.
The tubes are installed using straight barbs in aluminum covers to give one clean look on the fittings point.
The ARCTIC is using fiber-reinforced, long EPDM rubber tubes. These tubes run to approximately 450mm in length which is more than enough for any situational requirement. The sleeving is in a bit of gray shade with a white lining. The tubes are designed to reduce coolant evaporation. The tubes have ID/OD measurements of 12.4/6.0mm.
There is a flat 4-pin multi-socket PWM extension cable that is integrated into the tube under the sleeve. This cable is powering the P fans and is internally connected to the PWM header in the pump housing.
The above picture shows the routing the fans’ cables out of the box. The cables have a shorter length and are well routed to give a clean look. Both fans are daisy chained.
Pump/Block
The design of the pump housing/block is all-together a different story here. This is something I have not seen on any other cooler in the market in my experience so far. We have a sort of space ship designed housing with more length to it. We have aggressive yet beautiful looks on the block.
The front side of the pump housing has a 40mm PWM fan for an active VRM cooling. This is the second AIO in my experience featuring a small size fan in the pump housing for active VRM cooling. The first one was ASUS ROG RYUJIN coolers. The problem with the small size fans is their loud noise under full load. The VRM fan in the ASUS cooler was very loud at full speed and we would need their software to control the speed. ARCTIC is optimistic about this 40mm fan’s performance. Here is what they are saying, “Small fans have a reputation for being particularly loud and not very durable. However, we have developed a quiet and durable diagonal fan especially for the Liquid Freezer II and are 100% convinced that this 40 mm fan is just as durable as our other case fans. In the unlikely event that it should fail, our customer service team will send you a replacement free of charge and easily, without a need to replace the entire unit.”
In continuation of the above unit, “The fan is PWM-controlled and can cool your voltage transformers and the base area almost inaudibly by up to 15°C. This is especially effective in overclocking scenarios, inadequate VRM cooling or in housings with poor airflow, thus permitting continuously high loads. If sufficient VRM cooling is available, it can be switched off at will.”
In our testing we have found this fan to be silent even at full speed. The switching off the 40mm fan is not a convenient task as one would need to access the base section of the pump housing to disconnect the small cable powering this fan. This would mean we need to take off the block from the CPU socket to complete this task.
Here are the specifications of the VRM fan:
| Speed | 1000~3000 RPM |
| Control | PWM |
| Size | 40mm |
There is an ARCTIC branding on both sides of the block. The pump is ARCTIC’s own design. Good thing is that the Pump is PWM controlled. This would reduce humming and improve the efficiency as the pump will draw power as per the load. This would also reduce the noise level. The power consumption is a maximum of 0.8 W at no load, 2.3 W under typical load and a maximum of 4.3 W under full load for the entire cooler. Here are the specifications of the pump:
| Speed | 800~2000 RPM |
| Control | PWM |
| Power Consumption | 0.5 ~ 2.7W [Pump+VRM Fan] |
This is the rear or backside of the block. Tell me if I am wrong in calling this block mimicking a spaceship! The tubes are installed on the straight barbs and we have the same aluminum clamps covering the tubes.
The base of the block has a copper cold plate measuring 39x43mm. It is relatively a small size base as compared to the other coolers. The model of the cooler is printed in white at the base. There is a 4-pin PWM cable coming out from the base of the block. There are two cables connected on the top left side. This is powering the VRM fan on the block. Disconnect these cables to power off the VRM fan on the block. There is a protective sheet pasted on the block. Take it off before installing the block. ARCTIC is using Micro-Skived fins on the cold plate for effective heat dissipation.
The 4-pin PWM cable has an approximate length of 242mm. This is the only cable that is available to the user and it is to be connected to the 4-pin PWM fan header preferably the CPU fan header. This single cable is handling the PWM functions of the P fans, pump itself, and the 40mm VRM fan. This cable will report the fans’ speed in the BIOS which means there is no monitoring of the pump and VRM fan speed.
FAN
ARCTIC has provided three P 14 PWM fans with the Liquid Freezer II – 420. We have a black color frame of the fans. Each fan has specially designed 5 blades designed and optimized for high performance with low noise operation. There is an ARCTIC branding in the center. There is no anti-vibration pad on any mounting corner. The frame of the fan is quite sturdy.
The backside of the fan shows the 4-arms assembly on the main frame. The cables are routed on one arm towards the exterior of the fan. There is an ARCTIC branding on the sticker in the center. Check the shorter cable length of the fan!
The specification of the fans are:
| Dimension | 140x140x27mm |
| Type | 4-pin PWM Connector |
| Speed | 200~1700 RPM |
| Airflow | 72.8 CFM |
| Air Pressure | 2.4 mmH₂O |
| Noise | 0.3 sonne |
| Bearing Type | Fluid Dynamic Bearing |
| Input Voltage | 12VDC |
| Input Current | 0.12A |
| Input Power | 1.44W |
