Seems like a great cooler since it has a 1.5 inch thick radiator instead of the standard 1 inch that most AIOs come with. One thing concerns me though. How would you control the VRM fan on this thing? Unless I am mistaken there is not any software for this thing so the VRM fan would be tied to the CPU temp or something and would spin up and down all the time. As a Ryujin 360 owner I know how loud these small fans can be so I set mine to a static level in the Armoury crate software. In the Asus AIO only the pump speed is controlled by motherboard and the other fans by software.
The VRM fan is the reason why i skipped the serie in general.
I'm looking for the barrow waterblock with integrated pump, since i own some rads already, but i can't find it.
Also 420 is hard to fit in most pc cases.
Wow that VRM fan is awful!
You cant even remove it to use your own fan.
Terrible design.
I blow a reduced voltage larger fan at my chipset and ram.
No matter what it always has the needed cooling and is silent.
I have the 280mm model, it is quite and has a great cooling performance, however the Vrm fan is more about look and completely useless. 2nd, i did a di-lid to the cpu. but when installing it, it will touch the capacitor in the motherboard z390, so wasn't able to use it straight to the cpu die. Fans,pump vrm fan are all controlled by 1 plug.
i do not think there will be a huge gain between the 420mm and the 280mm, maybe 1-2 degrees
Everything is great about it except the pump/block/vrmfan design* itself
Thanks for the info.
The bumph says it never needs topping up due to the weirdy woo pipes (believe it when I see it) and well, it'd be cool to see how fast my screwed up 6700K can go.
An AMD 5xxx cpu is incoming anyway, it can go on that later for the real showdown, and this AIO looks like a sweet performer.
Plus it will remove heat from the GPUs cooling area.
I ordered a 420mm version, should be here at the w/e or just after.
Finally some fun to look forward to after the 3080 no show.
:)
Fortunately my PC is mounted inside an open backed coffee table, the radiator will be placed underneath it so the heat gets nowhere near my GPU.
Its a pretty good solution if you have the floor space, air in and out to the GPU are provided by 230mm fans and a 1 inch gap under the table surface all the way round for any hot air that rises.
Fortunately my PC is mounted inside an open backed coffee table, the radiator will be placed underneath it so the heat gets nowhere near my GPU.
Its a pretty good solution if you have the floor space, air in and out to the GPU are provided by 230mm fans and a 1 inch gap under the table surface all the way round for any hot air that rises.
I run the fans off my mobo, many folks do this to lessen stress on the single wire. A recent rig of the month was inside a table too, gets you thinking!:D
I run the fans off my mobo, many folks do this to lessen stress on the single wire. A recent rig of the month was inside a table too, gets you thinking!:D
Hehe, mine isnt flash enough to win an award. It looks great from the outside because you cant tell a PC is inside it apart from a small amount of air whoosh.
Interesting someone else built a PC inside a table, I missed that. Mines been like this for 4 years, it was a great idea.
I'm not sure what you mean by a single wire?
My fans also run from the mobo, no sense using another power supply, they hardly use any power.
The loudest noise is from the GPUs Arctic Accelero III cooler which is pretty quiet (always on full speed).
Although there is a drive that rumbles quite a bit which had to be mounted on a bit of packing it arrived in to stop it using the case as a sounding board!
(everything is sat on carpet inside the table, the mobo is mounted on a metal motherboard tray. Most drives are mounted in drive racks, both nicked from my last case, or just sat upside down on top of the PSU/drive bays. A silent 230mm fan blows air past them.)
I until recently used a 120, and while the performance was always good both the 120 rad fan and the small VRM fan got noisy over time, so in less than a year I stopped using it.
I received a replacement for the 120 fan from Arctic, but it too developed a bearing whine after a few months.
Running a Fractal Celsius 240 now.
Seems like a great cooler since it has a 1.5 inch thick radiator instead of the standard 1 inch that most AIOs come with. One thing concerns me though. How would you control the VRM fan on this thing? Unless I am mistaken there is not any software for this thing so the VRM fan would be tied to the CPU temp or something and would spin up and down all the time. As a Ryujin 360 owner I know how loud these small fans can be so I set mine to a static level in the Armoury crate software. In the Asus AIO only the pump speed is controlled by motherboard and the other fans by software.
Nah bro, I have the 280mm version of this and I have never ever heard that small VRM fan, not even once,.,,and it IS spinning. The radiator is so thick, I look at my old corsair 240mm radiator and it looks like a toy in comparison. AND, that lil vrm fan is NOT useless, unless you want to disagree with Steve at GamerNexus and his review of this AIO. Also, you don't have to control everything off one fan lead. It is very easy to run the fans off the MB's CPU fan headers and have the pump and VRM connect to the pump header if you choose. I was gonna go this route, but ended up letting the CPU fan header control everything and I couldn't be happier with the performance. (3800x here).
I can only agree to Rx4speed's post!
The VRM-cooler is totally inaudible in a closed case.
And while have it mounted upside down, it keeps my 960pro (on which I added a M.2 heatsink) @66°C Max. under torture.
I'm reeeally curious to see what results hilberts review of this AiO brings (hopefully ;] ).
Anyway -> My 3900X stays below 70°C with my 240 @4.2GHz allcore... and for that price (t'was 69€ in january), it's an absolut nobrainer! 😀
I have the 280mm model, it is quite and has a great cooling performance, however the Vrm fan is more about look and completely useless. 2nd, i did a di-lid to the cpu. but when installing it, it will touch the capacitor in the motherboard z390, so wasn't able to use it straight to the cpu die. Fans,pump vrm fan are all controlled by 1 plug.
i do not think there will be a huge gain between the 420mm and the 280mm, maybe 1-2 degrees
Everything is great about it except the pump/block/vrmfan design* itself
Did not Steve just reviewed it and found the vram fan would reduce vram temp by 4 celcius or something like that. Would not call that useless personally.
This cooler is very good.
It beats my old custom water cooler by probably 10C+ which has allowed me a higher clock on my CPU and memory together which wasnt possible before.
My cooler wasnt high profile, it had a good block, 280mm car heatercore as a rad with silent fans, and a very quiet pond pump (Eheim 1048), 1/2" ID pipes.
(I havent used water cooling for about 6 months due to lack of care/attention, it lasted 15 years. It was replaced with my old TRUE120 with a silent 140mm fan strapped on and configured to not reach 70C.)
The Arctic LF-420 isnt as quiet as my old water cooler but it also doesnt need to be run at full speed so is not bad with Prime95, no problem gaming.
You cannot hear the pump when its maxed, only the fans.
A few results with run times, max overclock at the end:
Fan/pump speed range is quoted as 200 to 1700rpm.
I found it runs from around 550 to 1580rpm, no faster.
6700K @4.4GHz. Memory @3600MHz
CPU @1.24V in bios, 1.28V reported under load.
Ambient 20.6C
Prime95 non AVX: in place FFTs (max heat)
Time in minutes:
TRUE120 air cooler, single silent 140mm fan strapped on:
:00 22C idle on worst core.
:10 66C
:20 65C
:30 65C
Arctic LF-420, fan/pump set to max by accident (CPU fan speed was at 100%).
:00 22C idle
:05 47C 1578 rpm
:10 48C 1582 rpm
:20 48C 1582 rpm
Previously my max overclock using my water cooler with this 6700K was 4.6GHz @1.36V (1.392V reported under load) with DDR4 3000 @3600MHz, CPU about 70C running Prime95.
The ram could do 3733MHz but only with a CPU clock of 4.5GHz or below.
Max overclock with this LF-420 = 4.7GHz with higher Vcore AND ram @3733MHz.
CPU @1.385V in bios, 1.44V under load.
Temp = 62C max with pump/fan @1410 rpm.
fyi
edited to tidy up the figures
I suspect you guys who OC by quite a bit are not the most noise sensitive.
My goal was just to be as quiet as possible. I could hear the VRM fan getting louder over time so it had to go.
In regular non gaming use, my case fans are shut off and the Fractal Celsius 240 radiator fans run at around 7-800rpm dead quiet.
I run a Ryzen 2700 at stock speeds. So no Thermal challenges here.
A few odd things regarding warranty.
The product web page for the LF2-420 says "10yr guarantee" for the fans, but this isnt mentioned on the box, included paperwork nor the Product Spec sheet (linked below).
https://www.arctic.ac/en/Liquid-Freezer-II-420/
FAN OPTIMIZED ON STATIC PRESSURE
The popular P-fans are already installed on the compact water cooling from the factory, lending the following advantages:
• High static pressure for improved cooling performance 2,4 mm H2O
• Extended speed range 200 - 1700 RPM
• Lower power consumption 0,12 A
• Less vibration reduced by 95 %
• Improved lifespan 10 year guarantee
• High quality fluid dynamic bearing
• PWM for synchronous pump/fan control
The downloadable Spec Sheet (link is found near the bottom of the product page) says 6yr limited warranty for the whole product at the bottom.
https://support.arctic.ac/index.php?p=lf2-420
The box it comes in says "2 year limited warranty" for the whole product, on the front.
This "looks" like a bait and switch, you dont get to see this until the product is in your hands!
If they change the online warranty descriptions it may be hard to prove you have a case.
This needs to be cleared up.
The box it comes in says "2 year limited warranty" for the whole product, on the front. This "looks" like a bait and switch, you dont get to see this until the product is in your hands! If they change the online warranty descriptions it may be hard to prove you have a case.
This needs to be cleared up.