ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB - CPU AIO Water Cooler, Water Cooling PC, Intel & AMD, Efficient PWM-Controlled Pump, Fan: 200–1900 RPM, LGA1851 and LGA1700 Contact Frame - Black

After running a 360mm EK AIO for a while, I decided to upgrade to the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 A-RGB — not because of thermal issues, but to improve airflow throughout my HAVN case. I wanted all fans to be 140mm for consistency, better aesthetics, and improved internal airflow.Why I Chose This CoolerThe standout feature for me was the small VRM fan built into the pump cap. It’s a thoughtful design — that small fan helps circulate air around critical components like the VRMs, RAM, GPU, and NVMe drives. In a tightly packed system, that airflow matters more than people give it credit for.Real-World PerformanceI was especially curious to see how it would perform with higher power BIOS settings, which used to push my EK 360mm into thermal throttling. The difference was immediate:• The 360mm would quickly throttle under high load, catch up, then throttle again.• The 420mm kept up from the start — no thermal throttling, even under sustained high-power workloads.Under long-duration CPU stress, the ARCTIC 420mm still ran about 3°C cooler than the 360mm. That part I expected. What I didn’t expect was how much better it handled rapid temperature fluctuations — scenarios where the system goes from idle to load instantly. The ARCTIC simply reacted faster and more effectively.Final ThoughtsThis cooler isn’t just about raw thermal performance — it’s about thermal control and stability. The build quality is solid, the 140mm A-RGB fans are quiet and efficient, and the integrated VRM fan adds practical cooling benefits in real-world builds like the HAVN.If you’re pushing high power settings or want maximum cooling headroom without going custom loop, this is an excellent upgrade.

- Effortlessly cools my Ryzen 9 5900x w/ PBO limits @ 200/185/130- Idles at 40c , maxes out at 85c. For these power limits, that's impressive.- Extremely quiet... I actually had to look in the case to make sure the fans were spinning. Yeah, it's that quiet. Even when it's running max speed. Unreal!-It comes nicely cable managed and you can choose between 1 connection on the board or 3 in case you want to control the fans, pump and VRM fan separately. The VRM fan is a nice touch - keeping your VRMs cool can prevent little drops in voltage which in theory will keep your CPUs boost behavior more consistent.- Installation went okay, just make sure you have clearance.For what this is, I can't believe the price. I am very happy with my purchase.Just make sure you have a ginormous case with explicit 420mm radiator compatibility and enough verticality over the motherboard (if you are top mounting) to make room for the thick radiator on this thing. I even had some clearance issues (8-pin power for the VRM blocked the radiator) in my Thermaltake View 71 TG RGB. Had to get a little... creative.Another thing to bear in mind - that VRM fan that magnets to the pump/block - the blades visible from the front do not spin. Those just light up. The actual VRM fan is on that same part, but below and tucked away.Really, the only thing I can criticize is the length of the header cables... if they were longer you could more easily cable manage them.

First of all - Check the Compatibility with your processor and get the newer version of this if you can. I am using an older I7 6950X and its uses the 2011-V3 CPU Socket. Unboxing was easy and super user friendly. Got the manual on the web via a scanned code. Watched the installation videos and what NOT to do. Installed following the online user manual. I used a Corsair 900D case that supports a 420MM Radiator and fan setup at the top of the case. Hoses and the CPU cooler were a bit of a pain to squeeze into the case, I had to remove my front cover; remove all my 5.25" bays and was able to slide in both the radiator (fans come pre-installed), CPU cooler and hoses with a couple of inches to spare. Check the fan orientation if you need to change your push/pull configuration. Fans are amazing, but the lighting isn't compatible with my motherboard. So you'll need to get a separate Aura lighting controller ($10 on Amazon). The thermal paste is top notch and they provide you at least enough for 2 applications. Fan speed is all controlled via Bios, and performance decimates my legacy Corsair AIO cooler that was 280MM and 3 years old. Temperatures on my I7 6950X while overclocked from 3.0ghz to 4.4ghz are lower than running my previous cooler at stock speeds. It used to be 49º C under load before and now its a chilling 38º C under load. This cooler definitely works well if you can fit it. Overall, my original go to wasn't compatible with my CPU Socket, it was the Asus ProArt 420MM since it didn't support my older CPU, this Artic Cooler was $160 cheaper, and had better lighting features. Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with the following features:1) packaging and installation2) compatibility and video content for support3) performance and valueWhat can be improved?1) Include a controller for the lights for those users that don't have the Artic Controller or the compatible plug on their motherboard.