Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 AIO Cooler Review

[section_title title=”Introduction”]

Introduction

Manufacturer: Arctic 
Model: Liquid Freezer 120
UK Price: £52.80 @Amazon.co.uk (at time of review) 
US Price: $69.99 @Amazon.com (at time of review) 

Today I get stuck into an All In One (AIO) liquid loop, and if you have read my last review you’ll know what an exciting prospect that is to me – not that I anticipate every review to be a game-changer after all, that would get boring. The loop in the firing line today is from Arctic, formerly Arctic Cooling, who are celebrating their 15th anniversary this year. While they have recently branched out into various consumer electronics like sound and lifestyle gadgets (hence the name change) they have always produced cooling components of one shape or another. This longstanding experience in cooling should mean that I have an entertaining time ahead of me as I get to experience their 120mm AIO loop, the Liquid Freezer 120. Arctic started out in Sweden, which should tell you already that they know a thing about cold environments, but actually making things cold? We shall see. Now with their HQ in Germany, I can anticipate engineering perfection to be added to the pedigree.

If you haven’t come across an All In One loop before the premise is fairly a simple one. As the name implies, it’s based around a loop of liquid that transfers heat away from the CPU in the following way:

• On top of the CPU sits a heat transfer chamber filled with liquid (usually water with some chemical additives to keep it clean). As the CPU gets to work it heats up and this heat is transferred to the liquid rather than to a big metal fin array that you would find with an air cooler.
• The hot liquid is pumped away from the CPU and replaced with cool liquid that heats up and is pumped away again continually.
• The CPU chamber or block is connected to a radiator using flexible tubing. This is the point that you see the familiar fin array as the hot liquid is cooled with the help of fans, either with the hot air being immediately vented from the case or using fresh cool air from outside of it.

The Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 is your standard AIO loop consisting of a pump sitting atop the CPU which propels the hot liquid away from the CPU and through a 120mm radiator which comes equipped with two fans in push-pull configuration. This double fan approach counteracts the resistance of the radiator fins and allows more cool air to pass across on its way into or out of the case depending on your setup. The only variation from the norm comes with the width of the radiator, an absolutely massive 49mm. The actual specifications for this setup are shown below just as you would see them on Arctic’s website and then we’ll move on to taking a look at the product in a bit more detail.

Specifications

The warranty on the Hybrid Freezer 120 is two years.