Which cooler do you want tested next?! We just bought some $60 liquid coolers from Thermalright after a lot of you asked for them. They have a confusing amount of options, so we bought a few. What else after those? Watch our Liquid Freezer III review here! Some impressive performance: ua-cam.com/video/zfffNRTOZCc/v-deo.html& And watch our Best Air Coolers Round-Up from the end of last year to quickly get caught-up on options: ua-cam.com/video/ow0crBSKIXw/v-deo.html To support our work, consider grabbing one of our 3D metal emblem pint glasses! store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-3d-emblem-glasses
Thermalright Frost Spirit 140, I'd like to see it compared on your test setup, it frequently goes on sale around $30 and from what I've seen in other reviews it outdoes the Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assasain.
I know it's been reviewed elsewhere, but the Deepcool AG400 is a _very_ interesting cooler at $20 (B&H). It undercuts the AK400 and, in one review online, even outperforms it despite being cheaper. Plus, a part of me is curious if the ARGB version performs differently because it's slightly more expensive but I'm wondering if it suffers the same fate as case fans where the ARGB fans repeatedly perform worse than their non-RGB counterparts (via Hardware Canucks). Either way, great review and hope to see more!
The 2 things I'd recommend changing with the graphs. 1. Colour code the liquid and air coolers differently so you can easily see them at a glance rather than having to scan to the left to see whether it says [Liquid] or [Air] 2. Have the stock AMD/Intel coolers in the chart for reference.
@@indignasmr7379 That's exactly why they should be there; to prove that they're awful and show those of us on a budget what's best for replacing those hunks of junk metal.
@@indignasmr7379 I think the ones that come with the higher end Ryzen CPU's can hang on without thermal throttling, Intel coolers I'm not so sure about.
I almost didn't leave that in because I was like, "I wonder if enough people will remember this reference." Then I checked the song on YT and saw 71M views -- and it came out before YT existed. Seemed a safe bet, hahaha
3:05 The advantage of this is of course that you don't have to fight with the clips that most manufacturers use. It's not a big deal but I do hate those things.
A few requests: 1. Might you be able to keep at least one of the stock coolers in the charts where applicable for reference? It helps put the cost and performance of the products in perspective. 2. Might you measure the height of the center of mass of the cooler above the CPU surface? I really prefer a low moment arm on my builds.
At the moment the Arctic Freezer 36 cost 25€ in Europe, because of Arctics anniversary and new product sale. The Thermaltake Phantom Spirit costs about 20€ more which is just something I wanted to mention because prices in Europe aren't mentioned that often.
Thanks for everything, as always! (Edit: I had it backwards, the Noctua cooler was the one at 1000RPM, while the Arctic was the 1500. My final thought remains true, though, in that I'm very surprised and impressed with Arctics ability to match noctuas noise-normalized thermals while spinning their fans at 150% of Noctuas cooler.) I find it interesting that in the 195W, 35dBA noise-normalized test, that the Arctic cooler was spinning at about 1,000RPM, while the two 140mm Noctua fans were hitting about 1,500RPM, and the cooling between the two was about on par. In the Liquid freezer TWO review, i think you guys have pointed out that the Arctic fans run a little on the loud side when under heavy-load. I'm not sure if thats changed, but either way, im surprised to see Arctic able to run so fast and be on par with the D15. Impressive stuff in the cooler market, its great to see that instead of plateauing in the face of the AiO revolution, that the air cooler market has reached a bit of a Renaissance.
@@GamersNexus No idea what the price is in Germany but I just built a new rig with a peerless assassin (I'm in the U.K.) and it was £29.40 from Amazon including all taxes and delivery. It's great and can be fan tuned to be always silent on my R5 7600; thank you for the review/recommendation.
@@GamersNexus The Peerless Assassin is around 36 Euros, a CM Hyper 212 Black costs slightly more at around 40 Euros and the Noctua NH-U12S is the most expensive at around 55 Euros. We have a whole dedicated price comparison platform called "Geizhals" (english equivalent term is something like "skinflint") with a ton of options to find the cheapest retailers in Germany and the EU states which ship to Germany.
Would love to see a Thermalright Phantom Spirit review. They are the new benchmark and their latest product, and are priced similar to the Peerless Assassin.
Another great review. Just a suggestion..... on the charts, could you make the air coolers and water coolers names a different color for easy differentiation? I think it would really make the top air coolers stand out.
Great question! Short answer is yes. Hearting this for visibility because we could use some community requests on this. I'd like to run a suite of downdraft coolers as a one-off sometime, but 2 things would be helpful to know: 1 - for those of you with smaller systems, what CPU are you running? (This will allow us to match our heat load to the most common one), and 2 - any specific low profile requests?
@@GamersNexusThe good ones I've heard of are the Alpenfohn Black Ridge (idk if you can get your hands on this one), thermalright axp90-x47, noctua l9 and l12.
@@GamersNexus I went back to ATX some time ago, but if I had to build an ITX system today I'd be most interested in cooling a 5700X3D, 7600, 7800X3D and 13400/14400. As for coolers, Noctua L9 and L12 series would be most interesting. Also, comparing the larger low-profile coolers to 120mm AIOs could be interesting as well.
While it does seem a little unusual to require a contact frame for a budget cooler, it's probably the most cost-effective means of improving cooling performance without making the unit itself impractically huge and expensive. Cooler manufacturers are probably approaching the limit to how efficiently you can transfer heat between a CPU and cooler without really exotic mounting solutions and thermal interface material. Overall, it's nice to see a healthy number of cooler companies allocating the majority of their R&D towards performance. I don't think the cooler market has ever been this competitive before and we will all benefit as a result.
I'm not exactly upset by them doing it, as a customer I'd like the best performance that I can get from the cooler I buy, I can see how it's less newbie friendly, but I think it's a worthwhile trade-off if the performance improves and it allows for better contact between the IHS and the cold plate.
@@concinnus As a 12700K owner, I can confirm the stock ILM is inadequate if you're overclocking. When GN conducted their first investigation into the uneven pressure, I witnessed the funky contact pattern first hand after removing my cooler to replace thermal paste. After swapping to a thermalright contact frame, I observed a significantly more even pattern left behind in the paste. Core-to-core deltas were improved, and my NH-D15 didn't need max fan RPM to maintain healthy temperatures. The improvement was enough that I didn't find it necessary to purchase an AIO.
The snap-in fan mounting seems like a great compromise between getting rid of the annoying metal clips and the ability to easily replace the fan with any other standard fan. The 52$ MSRP price is a massive mistake though, completely kills off the value. Arctic is still great value as far as fans and thermal paste go.
@@MaethorDerien Nonono, what I meant is that this is a good approach, because air cooler manufacturers were trying to make the mounting easier since the metal clips are hellish to deal with, but ended up making the fan unreplaceable because it was designed for the specific cooler. What Arctic came up with here is a great compromise, the fan mounting is effortless but it uses bog standard 120mm fans.
It's been 7 months and the price has only fallen, it is now under 30 EUR in my country, and we have the highest hardware prices in Europe. I paid 35 EUR for mine around the week it released.
I love how you guys edit out the thermal paste application...because according to the internet, you could never get it right! Great content. May decide to ditch my AIO for my 5800X with the quality of the fan coolers out these days.
@unholydonuts I had allowed myself to be suckered into the “lower is bettererererer” paradigm. In reality, I don’t OC, I barely turned on XMP profile, or whatever it was AMD’s thing called (been years since I’ve toyed with my own BIOS). Just not sold myself, with the benefits of AIO. Nobody plays their PC in a quiet room or without headphones these days, and unless you have a jet engine turbofan as a cooler in your PC, you won’t hear it at all. Although, I think I could get behind that idea!
I have used a LOT of air coolers and cases(I was bored af during the pandemic and wanted to try stuff haha) and they tend to sit so deep in the pc the noise is heavily dampened every time , even with max fan speed. The only one that could be heard above the rest of the pc at max speed was the wraith prism (3000rpm tho lol)
"It's fine." Is like an 8/10 for Gamers Nexus, so I'd say it's pretty good. Slots in just above a 7/10 rating "Just okay." and right under 9/10 "Actually decent." which is of course just shy of "It's good." for 10/10. 😂
I just bought one of these, not necessarily because I needed one but here in the UK, (31st May'24) at £23.00 for the A-RGB version in White including delivery and VAT, (tax) I thought it a no-brainer to have as a stand-by because all my other coolers are 150i AIO's. So for testing an easier option to install if needed. It looks nice and as you say, "works".... Thanks.
Tech UA-camrs have stopped filming themselves applying thermal compound due to bullying and arguments between Team Too Much and Team Too Little. Very sad to see.
Steve, that fan mounting mechanism is MILES better than the classic thin clip thingy, one big reason : You neither have to crush your finger's flesh to put the fan onto the cooler, nor have to bend a bunch of fins when you have to get it out, for dust cleaning for example. Not that it would matter in the long term, thanks to the gand total of 2 installation cycles you have before giving that flimsy clip an shape that make it unusable, thanks to the tolerances SO tight that the thingy can clip into the cooler with only the very shape it came from the factory, not a single micron different, unless you want to crush even more fins and inflict to yourself even more pain when trying to put the fan back on the cooler. Anyway, back to you, Steve !
I hope you get around to putting the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO through it's paces on your new testing setups. Tom's Hardware gave it a glowing review so looks like Thermalright hasn't been resting on the Peerless Assassin laurels either.
I really want to see an air cooler in this footprint, but in a 140mm form factor. I really want a single tower air cooler option that doesn't impede RAM installation/removal, that can cool a 7950X. If Arctic made this cooler in a 140mm version with maybe an extra heatpipe or two, I would seriously consider buying one. I'd also like to see an offset mounting kit for AM5 included, or at the very least, make the tower unit itself compatible with Noctua NM-AMB15 offset mount so it at least leaves us the option to buy them separately if Arctic doesn't want to provide them.
This what I was Looking. A CPU cooler with a CPU contact frame with a affordable price! Amazon offer that with a free shipping instead of the thermalright that is 30 USD the shipping cost just the CPU contact frame.
I quite like the clip-in mechanism. the little metal brackets have always been a bit more finicky with me because i struggle quite a bit with fine motor control.
I just got mine for 20€ and it is an amazing upgrade from my stock Prism. One thing you didn't mention is how quiet this is. It barely makes a sound till 80% PWM and even at max I wouldn't call it loud. I guess based on the charts you encountered better ones, I haven't though :D I've been eyeing the Liquid Freezer 240 for some time, but Arctic might have shot itself in the foot financially, with this handling 200W and being AM5 ready I don't think I'll be switching anytime soon
Not going to lie I am seriously looking forwards to the case reviews again, but in general I am happy with all the reviews your way of working makes me very comfortable in using that data in my recommendations to people.
Just got the ARGB black for £22.32! UPDATE: It's now installed and wow, this thing is very quiet even at 80% speed. CPU temp at idle goes as low as sub 30C!
Bought this badboy for 26,50€ with shipping from their store in Europe to Upgrade my Snowman 6. Its just a steal since it brings 2 p12 pwm pst and i wanted to get some extra p12 pwm. EDIT: Installed and my 5700x3d running cruncher gonne from max 83c to 78c, its a steal for this price since it brings 2 p12 pwm that are great fans and its dam good looking.
Your comment about the fan mounting on air coolers not being a "particularly wanting" area of cooler design is, in my own opinion, wrong. Those wire clips that damage the fin stack when mounting the fan(s) are horrible. At least, they are to me. Even worse about the wire clips is that many of them also let the fan slide and rattle in many cases. I congratulate any company willing to try new ways to mount the fan.
I guess the real question is how does Thermalright continue to be so good and so inexpensive? I'd like to see you test the Peerless assassin 120 Mini and the ID Cooling SE-207-XT, both are 135mm and would be perfect for cases like the Ncase M1 EVO.
Hi Steve on your tempreture chart with mixed liquid and air perhaps give a different colours to air and liquid to more easily see their position on the chart.. just a thought. Awesome content as always mate.
i appreciate not having to use clips, this is an easier mounting solution and more flush as you mentioned i immediately thought of the plastic possibly breaking, and that would still worry me, despite them being able to replace it i feel like there could be better solution in the future maybe something like 4 push pins into the cpu cooler, or screwing into the cpu cooler i hate clips like, a lot also, i wonder how this performs with just a single fan, this could easily be a $25 or less cpu heatsink, and would be very competitive
Great review of a nice looking value cooler. That would be my choice if i needed a new cpu cooler in that class right now. Looking forward to the case review!
Can you guys please do a full review on Kryo Sheets vs Paste's ?! Why have you not yet, as you have them as a sponsor... and also why are you NOT using it in these simple examples? Like why waste paste or deal with the mess/cleanings
It would've been interesting to compare it to the Phantom Spirit instead of the Peerless Assassin, as that's the slightly better Thermalright air cooler in the league.
There's newer, EVO version of Spirit, too. It's upgraded with slightly better fans that can reach higher RPMs. They are a bit noisier at maximum load but have better performance. EVO version is around the same price of standard Spirit, depending on version (Spirit white RBG are more expensive while black SE version is cheaper).
Seems like this cooler, performance wise, is a direct competitor to the Noctua NH-U12A. Especially considering the form factor. Really surprised to not see that cooler appear in the comparison charts.
The biggest plus i see is for anyone with a intel pc without direct access to the back of the motherboard. Since the mounting pionts are on the contact frame, it eliminates the need to replace the backplate. This allows someone to upgrade a prebuilt like mine without removing the motherboard. I'm very interested.
I would like to see the RGB variant tested in both this and the LFIII. The RGB P12 fan is a 2000rpm fan and has a different sound profile, so should almost be considered a different cooler for the considerations of noise normalized testing. Would also like to see the Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO tested and added to your list. In graph results, there should be better visual differentiation between liquid coolers and air coolers. Its really hard to see in the graph, especially as it grows over time.
My compliments to Mike! He is an important asset to the channel! Not wanting to screw up over six hundred dollars worth of Intel specific hardware I was initially nervous about installing a contact frame - Thermalright's in my case - until I saw Mike's installation tutorial. Now it's my preferred solution. Wish I'd done it in the beginning since now I'll never know if there is permanent bending from the stock ILM. Maybe GN could test that sometime. I think that work would be well received. Oh, and while I'm a fan of Arctic products I'm not so keen on the notion of a proprietary contact frame and cooler mounting solution. For now I'll stick with a separate contact frame that allows installation of ANY cooler.
I installed a Peerless Assassin for the first time a few months ago in a friends' new build. After optimizing all the components (i.e. ram timings, undervolting etc...) I noticed that the front fan, hanging over the first RAM-stick on the motherboard, really prevents that one stick from dissipating it's heat in the same way as the second RAM-stick. Temperature differences between both RAM sticks during testing, went up to 4 or 5 degrees, sometimes more. People that simply turn on expo/XMP, will not have trouble with DDR5 at all, in most cases. And the people who really want to make the most out of their RAM-OC, usually install a mini-fan at the top with a special mount. But if you are in between these two use cases, like me, well than that's just peachy. However, as a user of a Scythe Mugen PCGH 5 myself, for example, I have never had this problem. I have replaced the fans with Arctic ones, and although it's sound profile is a bit higher now, it's a very good combination. For all the praise the Assassin gets, I find the RAM-stick overhang to be quite an annoying little problem. One that I might not have with the new Freezer 36. It's predecessor, the eSports DUO, is installed in my racesim and a system of another friend, and it works like a charm. Easy install, and perfect for smaller cases. I cannot say the same for the Peerless Assassin. As for the VRM temperatures, I would say if you have a set of 4 good (Arctic) Case-fans, 2 up front, 1 on top and 1 in the back, I'd say that would compensate just fine for cooling the VRM's.
i'm gonna be real the explanation of installing the cooler from 14:06 onward was actually so relaxing like ASMR, i couldn't believe it. Mike has an AWESOME voice for this shit I would fall asleep listening to this stuff
I replaced my failing AIO with this and used your link I hoped that helps. Cooling a 3700x. But i'm not using computer for heavy workloads. Some light gaming so thanks for the review. It was actually pretty easy to install. Crazy it didn't fit over all IHS but I guess it covers where it needed. I do love how the fans mount.
So happy with using Arctic for all my cooling and fans. They support their products and actually innovate and not just strap rgb to everything for price hikes…… but I do love rgb….
wow I think that fan mounting is very cool (I hate the fiddly metal clips), hope they come out with a fatter model with more heatpipes, possibly dual tower, this is a good direction imo
I'm excited for the case reviews to come back. My Fractal define r6 has been shipped internationally twice and has survived, but only barely. Definitely looking to replace it soon!
Could you please make liquid coolers with another shade of blue in the graphs? It is nice to rapidly differentiate between both of them looking at the results. Also have you ever think of revisiting thermal paste testing? I had a very terrible experience using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on air cooler, I thought it is the best thermal paste, but it degradates using it over 80°C, that rules the paste for water cooling only, should not be used on air coolers.
I approve of the cooler's fan attachment. Use of a custom spacer made to fit onto washers would enable the same flush fit but at expense of being thicker. _Not that it matters_ because spacing the fan away from high-impedance surfaces is great for noise control anyway. Big W if they follow up their design with a separately-purchased spacer.
Any ram clearance issues on fully populated dimms with big heatsinks? Without clips that you can adjust the fan up or down, seems like you lose some flexibility. If the single chonky tower design doesn't impact ram, then I really like the look of this. It doesn't bug me a lot but it is a little annoying when you have to adjust your fan up to account for RAM.
Yes - please answer this and if possible address RAM clearance in future cooler videos (unless I missed it). I know Steve said this single cooler was wide for single but thinner than doubles - but that RAM he was using wasn’t ‘gamer RAM’ 😊
I have the 34 duo, happy with the product. Cools my cpu and clears all 4 ram channels so that rgb light shines freely. Glad they improved upon the design with a contact frame and removal of those clips. Might get this in a few years when I upgrade to a new cpu and mobo. Wonder how it fairs with those new p12 max fans.
I think the new fan mounting solution is really neat, and its great that it is compatible with other fans if you wish to swap out the stock ones. I'm currently using the DeepCool AG500 on my 5800X3D and the AG620 on my 12700KF, which have been doing a great job on both of them. I don't see myself swapping out the AG500 until I jump to AM5 in about a year on my 5800X3D system, rebuild to a "9800X3D" or whatever AMD calls it next gen. Depending on the thermal load on the next gen X3D part, I might stay with air cooling, or give an AIO a try with a 280mm-sized setup.
Looking to upgrade my aging Ryzen 2700X rig with a 5700X3D with either a DeepCool AG500 or this Arctic Freezer 36 ARGB. How is the AG500 handling the 5800X3D (I am assuming the 5700X3D will run cooler because of the 400MHz slower clocks).
@@godwhomismike I'm getting about 30-35c at idle and a peak of 71c when playing Baldurs Gate 3 at 4K DLSS Quality with a 4080. I'm using MX-6 paste right now, and I did swap the stock DeepCool fan with a bequiet silent wings 4 fan to match the bequiet case fans I'm using.
Apparently there are 3 models - The black one that is linked, a cheaper unpainted one, and the ARCTIC Freezer 36 CO - or Continuous Operation which appears to have different fan bearings that are a bit noisier. That last one is the one selling for $27.71.
The forced offset AMD mount would probably make it perform a lot better there. It likely wouldn't cost them much more, if anything. Material is material. They gotta make the bracket anyway. Just change the shape.
Hey Steve, have you looked at the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO? Supposedly it's an amazing performer and Tom's Hardware gave it a glowing review. It's nice seeing Thermalright shake up the industry as companies like Asus, Thermaltake, and Corsair seem to think they're Nvidia charging $100+ for a $5 fan and $20 fin stack. Arctic has always had fair pricing so it's not surprising to see them compete with TR. Consumers are winning everywhere.
I love the content you guys are pumping out! Question, will you do a review of the Phanteks Glacier One T30 v2 cooler(s)? Both the 240 and the 360 are seemingly very good.
Steve, thanks for the hard work and the great video. Could I suggest using different colors for air and liquid coolers on your graphs to easier differentiate? And maybe a different color for any setups that don't use the standard configuration, like different fans or more fans. I think that would make it easier to compare overall results as well as compare the same type of cooler in the same graph. Different shades of blue should be fine, unless that won't work for accessibility for color blindness.
One thing that people aren’t talking about it that artic seems to no longer include a back plate for its mounting mechanisms. Both intel and amd mountings use the included backplate
Which cooler do you want tested next?! We just bought some $60 liquid coolers from Thermalright after a lot of you asked for them. They have a confusing amount of options, so we bought a few. What else after those?
Watch our Liquid Freezer III review here! Some impressive performance: ua-cam.com/video/zfffNRTOZCc/v-deo.html&
And watch our Best Air Coolers Round-Up from the end of last year to quickly get caught-up on options: ua-cam.com/video/ow0crBSKIXw/v-deo.html
To support our work, consider grabbing one of our 3D metal emblem pint glasses! store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-3d-emblem-glasses
Any chance you test the new Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 evo ?
@@fabrb26THIS!
@@fabrb26 Will buy it!
Thermalright Frost Spirit 140, I'd like to see it compared on your test setup, it frequently goes on sale around $30 and from what I've seen in other reviews it outdoes the Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assasain.
I know it's been reviewed elsewhere, but the Deepcool AG400 is a _very_ interesting cooler at $20 (B&H). It undercuts the AK400 and, in one review online, even outperforms it despite being cheaper. Plus, a part of me is curious if the ARGB version performs differently because it's slightly more expensive but I'm wondering if it suffers the same fate as case fans where the ARGB fans repeatedly perform worse than their non-RGB counterparts (via Hardware Canucks). Either way, great review and hope to see more!
The 2 things I'd recommend changing with the graphs.
1. Colour code the liquid and air coolers differently so you can easily see them at a glance rather than having to scan to the left to see whether it says [Liquid] or [Air]
2. Have the stock AMD/Intel coolers in the chart for reference.
These are excellent ideas!!
I definitely agree with the first, but I'm pretty sure the stock coolers can't complete the tests
@@indignasmr7379 That's exactly why they should be there; to prove that they're awful and show those of us on a budget what's best for replacing those hunks of junk metal.
@@indignasmr7379 I think the ones that come with the higher end Ryzen CPU's can hang on without thermal throttling, Intel coolers I'm not so sure about.
The only issues with stock coolers is that the graph would not be representative as many of the processors don't even come with a cooler
You gotta FIGHT!
THERMALRIGHT!
For COOOOOOOOOOLING!
I almost didn't leave that in because I was like, "I wonder if enough people will remember this reference." Then I checked the song on YT and saw 71M views -- and it came out before YT existed. Seemed a safe bet, hahaha
@@GamersNexus its because there are more of us old-ish farts out there than there are Genz's
@@GamersNexus I'm almost disappointed you couldn't manage to say the whole thing, but watching it fall apart was perfect.
Haha, I liked that
I mean, the song isn't _that_ old, it's only...
Oh no
TL:DR “It’s fine.” - Steve
Arctic office: Erupts in cheer
@@GamersNexus *play any the wolf of wall street cheering scene*
This could have been an email!
Thanks steve
@@GamersNexus Arctic office : *M. Bison voice* YES !
3:05 The advantage of this is of course that you don't have to fight with the clips that most manufacturers use. It's not a big deal but I do hate those things.
And the flush fit! Talked about that too.
I also hate those clips. This is a welcome innovation.
But bleeding out from air cooler fan mounting is my favorite part!
@@smashed_penguin Rite of passage.
Those clips are possibly the worst invention ever, it is near impossible in my case to re-paste my CPU without taking the motherboard out
A few requests:
1. Might you be able to keep at least one of the stock coolers in the charts where applicable for reference? It helps put the cost and performance of the products in perspective.
2. Might you measure the height of the center of mass of the cooler above the CPU surface? I really prefer a low moment arm on my builds.
low moment arm?
@@ACE112ACE112 What, your computer doesn't have one of those?! Weird.
@@andrewt9204 i've never heard of this term
I think the commenter means the bending force of the tower hanging on the mainboard?
You mean short moment arm. Not low.
At the moment the Arctic Freezer 36 cost 25€ in Europe, because of Arctics anniversary and new product sale. The Thermaltake Phantom Spirit costs about 20€ more which is just something I wanted to mention because prices in Europe aren't mentioned that often.
Thanks for everything, as always!
(Edit: I had it backwards, the Noctua cooler was the one at 1000RPM, while the Arctic was the 1500. My final thought remains true, though, in that I'm very surprised and impressed with Arctics ability to match noctuas noise-normalized thermals while spinning their fans at 150% of Noctuas cooler.)
I find it interesting that in the 195W, 35dBA noise-normalized test, that the Arctic cooler was spinning at about 1,000RPM, while the two 140mm Noctua fans were hitting about 1,500RPM, and the cooling between the two was about on par.
In the Liquid freezer TWO review, i think you guys have pointed out that the Arctic fans run a little on the loud side when under heavy-load. I'm not sure if thats changed, but either way, im surprised to see Arctic able to run so fast and be on par with the D15.
Impressive stuff in the cooler market, its great to see that instead of plateauing in the face of the AiO revolution, that the air cooler market has reached a bit of a Renaissance.
on thermal charts can you color code the products to differentiate liquid vs air. its hard to find the [liquid] text in the long product names.
You know what I really like this idea! Just being able to instantly see which ones are air and which are liquid coolers would be a great little change
seconding this
AGREE!! Steve, please read this!!!
yes, that will be great
Yes, good idea
very nice of you to include the installation process.
I checked the price here in Germany and it is only 21 Euros.
Crazy! What's the Peerless Assassin there? What are the most relevant air coolers in that price range in DE?
@@GamersNexus No idea what the price is in Germany but I just built a new rig with a peerless assassin (I'm in the U.K.) and it was £29.40 from Amazon including all taxes and delivery. It's great and can be fan tuned to be always silent on my R5 7600; thank you for the review/recommendation.
@@GamersNexus The Peerless Assassin is around 36 Euros, a CM Hyper 212 Black costs slightly more at around 40 Euros and the Noctua NH-U12S is the most expensive at around 55 Euros. We have a whole dedicated price comparison platform called "Geizhals" (english equivalent term is something like "skinflint") with a ton of options to find the cheapest retailers in Germany and the EU states which ship to Germany.
@@GamersNexus
Amazon DE prices in Euro (05.03.2024 14:55)
ARCTIC Freezer 36 (non-black) - 19,24
ARCTIC Freezer 36 (black) - 21,55
ARCTIC Freezer 36 (A-RGB-black) - 25,40
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE - 35,59
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE A-RGB - 36,90
The peerless assassin goes for around 35€ on Amazon here in Germany, so the freezer 36 seems to be really good value in comparison.
Would love to see a Thermalright Phantom Spirit review. They are the new benchmark and their latest product, and are priced similar to the Peerless Assassin.
Another great review. Just a suggestion..... on the charts, could you make the air coolers and water coolers names a different color for easy differentiation? I think it would really make the top air coolers stand out.
The pricing in germany is soooo good because of the 23 years anniversary sale. Just bought the A-RGB version for 25€.
Given the new focus on small cases, any plans on testing low-profile cpu coolers?
Great question! Short answer is yes. Hearting this for visibility because we could use some community requests on this. I'd like to run a suite of downdraft coolers as a one-off sometime, but 2 things would be helpful to know: 1 - for those of you with smaller systems, what CPU are you running? (This will allow us to match our heat load to the most common one), and 2 - any specific low profile requests?
@@GamersNexusThe good ones I've heard of are the Alpenfohn Black Ridge (idk if you can get your hands on this one), thermalright axp90-x47, noctua l9 and l12.
All the lo-pro noctuas like the l9
@@GamersNexus I went back to ATX some time ago, but if I had to build an ITX system today I'd be most interested in cooling a 5700X3D, 7600, 7800X3D and 13400/14400. As for coolers, Noctua L9 and L12 series would be most interesting. Also, comparing the larger low-profile coolers to 120mm AIOs could be interesting as well.
7800X3D is the current big seller and I'm running it on a couple of ITX builds.
The bots are getting out of hand lmao
The morning ban war has begun. Fortunately, we have a lot of bannunition.
They are crazy
There's channel blocker browser extensions. They allow you to block comments too with a click of a button
@@GamersNexusyou're doing good work lol not many channels bother anymore
THANKS STEVE @@GamersNexus
While it does seem a little unusual to require a contact frame for a budget cooler, it's probably the most cost-effective means of improving cooling performance without making the unit itself impractically huge and expensive.
Cooler manufacturers are probably approaching the limit to how efficiently you can transfer heat between a CPU and cooler without really exotic mounting solutions and thermal interface material. Overall, it's nice to see a healthy number of cooler companies allocating the majority of their R&D towards performance. I don't think the cooler market has ever been this competitive before and we will all benefit as a result.
I'm not exactly upset by them doing it, as a customer I'd like the best performance that I can get from the cooler I buy, I can see how it's less newbie friendly, but I think it's a worthwhile trade-off if the performance improves and it allows for better contact between the IHS and the cold plate.
Really, it should serve as further evidence to Intel that their terrible ILM is holding them back, and it's easily fixable.
@@concinnus As a 12700K owner, I can confirm the stock ILM is inadequate if you're overclocking. When GN conducted their first investigation into the uneven pressure, I witnessed the funky contact pattern first hand after removing my cooler to replace thermal paste.
After swapping to a thermalright contact frame, I observed a significantly more even pattern left behind in the paste. Core-to-core deltas were improved, and my NH-D15 didn't need max fan RPM to maintain healthy temperatures. The improvement was enough that I didn't find it necessary to purchase an AIO.
The snap-in fan mounting seems like a great compromise between getting rid of the annoying metal clips and the ability to easily replace the fan with any other standard fan. The 52$ MSRP price is a massive mistake though, completely kills off the value. Arctic is still great value as far as fans and thermal paste go.
You can actually still use other fans, all you have to do is put those screws in the other fans they just might not fit as flush.
@@MaethorDerien Nonono, what I meant is that this is a good approach, because air cooler manufacturers were trying to make the mounting easier since the metal clips are hellish to deal with, but ended up making the fan unreplaceable because it was designed for the specific cooler. What Arctic came up with here is a great compromise, the fan mounting is effortless but it uses bog standard 120mm fans.
It's been 7 months and the price has only fallen, it is now under 30 EUR in my country, and we have the highest hardware prices in Europe. I paid 35 EUR for mine around the week it released.
I love how you guys edit out the thermal paste application...because according to the internet, you could never get it right! Great content. May decide to ditch my AIO for my 5800X with the quality of the fan coolers out these days.
Lol. I noticed that edit too :)
@unholydonuts does my cpu running at 50-60 vs 30-40 really make a difference?
@unholydonuts I had allowed myself to be suckered into the “lower is bettererererer” paradigm. In reality, I don’t OC, I barely turned on XMP profile, or whatever it was AMD’s thing called (been years since I’ve toyed with my own BIOS).
Just not sold myself, with the benefits of AIO. Nobody plays their PC in a quiet room or without headphones these days, and unless you have a jet engine turbofan as a cooler in your PC, you won’t hear it at all. Although, I think I could get behind that idea!
He probably didn’t apply thermal paste… this was just a demo without even booting, why apply paste and then have to clean it up
I have used a LOT of air coolers and cases(I was bored af during the pandemic and wanted to try stuff haha) and they tend to sit so deep in the pc the noise is heavily dampened every time , even with max fan speed. The only one that could be heard above the rest of the pc at max speed was the wraith prism (3000rpm tho lol)
I love the hoodies! Looking at ordering one - but could you please include information about the washer/dryer safety on the store page?
They are washer and dryer safe! Great point. I'll add that. Mine has been through the wash a lot.
@@GamersNexusThanks! Order placed. :)
"It's fine." Is like an 8/10 for Gamers Nexus, so I'd say it's pretty good. Slots in just above a 7/10 rating "Just okay." and right under 9/10 "Actually decent." which is of course just shy of "It's good." for 10/10. 😂
I'd like to see a re-run of this Cooler with Arctic's P12-Max Fans
You now where you can find this test. Long story short - insane cooling power (350W+) ...insane noise too 65db+ 😅
I just bought one of these, not necessarily because I needed one but here in the UK, (31st May'24) at £23.00 for the A-RGB version in White including delivery and VAT, (tax) I thought it a no-brainer to have as a stand-by because all my other coolers are 150i AIO's. So for testing an easier option to install if needed. It looks nice and as you say, "works".... Thanks.
Tech UA-camrs have stopped filming themselves applying thermal compound due to bullying and arguments between Team Too Much and Team Too Little. Very sad to see.
Steve, that fan mounting mechanism is MILES better than the classic thin clip thingy, one big reason :
You neither have to crush your finger's flesh to put the fan onto the cooler, nor have to bend a bunch of fins when you have to get it out, for dust cleaning for example. Not that it would matter in the long term, thanks to the gand total of 2 installation cycles you have before giving that flimsy clip an shape that make it unusable, thanks to the tolerances SO tight that the thingy can clip into the cooler with only the very shape it came from the factory, not a single micron different, unless you want to crush even more fins and inflict to yourself even more pain when trying to put the fan back on the cooler.
Anyway, back to you, Steve !
agreed, the new way to attach the fans is great and far better than the classic clips from hell.
I hope you get around to putting the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO through it's paces on your new testing setups. Tom's Hardware gave it a glowing review so looks like Thermalright hasn't been resting on the Peerless Assassin laurels either.
I like the fan snap in screws, I hope every air tower cooler copies that function after its release.
Can you test the Thermalright Frost Spirit 140 pleeeeease?
I really want to see an air cooler in this footprint, but in a 140mm form factor. I really want a single tower air cooler option that doesn't impede RAM installation/removal, that can cool a 7950X. If Arctic made this cooler in a 140mm version with maybe an extra heatpipe or two, I would seriously consider buying one.
I'd also like to see an offset mounting kit for AM5 included, or at the very least, make the tower unit itself compatible with Noctua NM-AMB15 offset mount so it at least leaves us the option to buy them separately if Arctic doesn't want to provide them.
This what I was Looking. A CPU cooler with a CPU contact frame with a affordable price! Amazon offer that with a free shipping instead of the thermalright that is 30 USD the shipping cost just the CPU contact frame.
Got it for 19€. Insane price to performance ratio
I got to admit that fan mounting system is pretty ingenious
I quite like the clip-in mechanism. the little metal brackets have always been a bit more finicky with me because i struggle quite a bit with fine motor control.
Gotta respect you actually rounded it up instead of exaggerating the price
I just got mine for 20€ and it is an amazing upgrade from my stock Prism.
One thing you didn't mention is how quiet this is. It barely makes a sound till 80% PWM and even at max I wouldn't call it loud. I guess based on the charts you encountered better ones, I haven't though :D
I've been eyeing the Liquid Freezer 240 for some time, but Arctic might have shot itself in the foot financially, with this handling 200W and being AM5 ready I don't think I'll be switching anytime soon
Please tell me. Is it possible to mount it vertically?
I want that the air to goes from below to up (to the top of the case).
Do you remember the temperature difference between this & the prism?
I love the @ProZD shout out.
The crossover we didn't know we needed: Steve Burke of Gamers Nexus and Raspy Knife Man's Board Game Reviews!
Not going to lie I am seriously looking forwards to the case reviews again, but in general I am happy with all the reviews your way of working makes me very comfortable in using that data in my recommendations to people.
Also interesting to see how well the old 34 esports duo holds up, it had been the go to budget recommendation for a long time as well
Just got the ARGB black for £22.32!
UPDATE: It's now installed and wow, this thing is very quiet even at 80% speed. CPU temp at idle goes as low as sub 30C!
Bought this badboy for 26,50€ with shipping from their store in Europe to Upgrade my Snowman 6. Its just a steal since it brings 2 p12 pwm pst and i wanted to get some extra p12 pwm.
EDIT: Installed and my 5700x3d running cruncher gonne from max 83c to 78c, its a steal for this price since it brings 2 p12 pwm that are great fans and its dam good looking.
Your comment about the fan mounting on air coolers not being a "particularly wanting" area of cooler design is, in my own opinion, wrong. Those wire clips that damage the fin stack when mounting the fan(s) are horrible. At least, they are to me. Even worse about the wire clips is that many of them also let the fan slide and rattle in many cases. I congratulate any company willing to try new ways to mount the fan.
I guess the real question is how does Thermalright continue to be so good and so inexpensive? I'd like to see you test the Peerless assassin 120 Mini and the ID Cooling SE-207-XT, both are 135mm and would be perfect for cases like the Ncase M1 EVO.
Sacrificing everything else for performance.
They’re knocking the socks off Noctua now
@@ventilate4267 What are they sacrificing though?
they win in noise-normalised too@@ventilate4267
Great job once again! Very nice and full review for an air cooler. I would love to see AM5 temperature testing for those new air coolers.
Hi Steve on your tempreture chart with mixed liquid and air perhaps give a different colours to air and liquid to more easily see their position on the chart.. just a thought. Awesome content as always mate.
i appreciate not having to use clips, this is an easier mounting solution and more flush as you mentioned
i immediately thought of the plastic possibly breaking, and that would still worry me, despite them being able to replace it
i feel like there could be better solution in the future
maybe something like 4 push pins into the cpu cooler, or screwing into the cpu cooler
i hate clips
like, a lot
also, i wonder how this performs with just a single fan, this could easily be a $25 or less cpu heatsink, and would be very competitive
Great review of a nice looking value cooler. That would be my choice if i needed a new cpu cooler in that class right now. Looking forward to the case review!
Can you guys please do a full review on Kryo Sheets vs Paste's ?! Why have you not yet, as you have them as a sponsor... and also why are you NOT using it in these simple examples? Like why waste paste or deal with the mess/cleanings
It would've been interesting to compare it to the Phantom Spirit instead of the Peerless Assassin, as that's the slightly better Thermalright air cooler in the league.
There's newer, EVO version of Spirit, too. It's upgraded with slightly better fans that can reach higher RPMs. They are a bit noisier at maximum load but have better performance. EVO version is around the same price of standard Spirit, depending on version (Spirit white RBG are more expensive while black SE version is cheaper).
I've AK620 myself and i recommend it, it has great performance and the digital model looks wicked, i've white version myself :)
Seems like this cooler, performance wise, is a direct competitor to the Noctua NH-U12A. Especially considering the form factor. Really surprised to not see that cooler appear in the comparison charts.
Yeah we need that noctua in test too
The fact there is a contact frame is honestly a plus for me, since i would probably end up buying one regardless of the cooler
The biggest plus i see is for anyone with a intel pc without direct access to the back of the motherboard. Since the mounting pionts are on the contact frame, it eliminates the need to replace the backplate. This allows someone to upgrade a prebuilt like mine without removing the motherboard. I'm very interested.
I do appreciate the installation walkthrough of these coolers because PIA installation tax helps me decide. Thank you.
I would like to see the RGB variant tested in both this and the LFIII. The RGB P12 fan is a 2000rpm fan and has a different sound profile, so should almost be considered a different cooler for the considerations of noise normalized testing.
Would also like to see the Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO tested and added to your list.
In graph results, there should be better visual differentiation between liquid coolers and air coolers. Its really hard to see in the graph, especially as it grows over time.
German prices are pretty good for this, over here it's ~38€ normal price and 19€ on sale, so it's ~$42 and ~$20.
I love what Arctic is trying to do.
My compliments to Mike! He is an important asset to the channel! Not wanting to screw up over six hundred dollars worth of Intel specific hardware I was initially nervous about installing a contact frame - Thermalright's in my case - until I saw Mike's installation tutorial. Now it's my preferred solution. Wish I'd done it in the beginning since now I'll never know if there is permanent bending from the stock ILM. Maybe GN could test that sometime. I think that work would be well received. Oh, and while I'm a fan of Arctic products I'm not so keen on the notion of a proprietary contact frame and cooler mounting solution. For now I'll stick with a separate contact frame that allows installation of ANY cooler.
I installed a Peerless Assassin for the first time a few months ago in a friends' new build. After optimizing all the components (i.e. ram timings, undervolting etc...) I noticed that the front fan, hanging over the first RAM-stick on the motherboard, really prevents that one stick from dissipating it's heat in the same way as the second RAM-stick. Temperature differences between both RAM sticks during testing, went up to 4 or 5 degrees, sometimes more.
People that simply turn on expo/XMP, will not have trouble with DDR5 at all, in most cases. And the people who really want to make the most out of their RAM-OC, usually install a mini-fan at the top with a special mount. But if you are in between these two use cases, like me, well than that's just peachy.
However, as a user of a Scythe Mugen PCGH 5 myself, for example, I have never had this problem. I have replaced the fans with Arctic ones, and although it's sound profile is a bit higher now, it's a very good combination.
For all the praise the Assassin gets, I find the RAM-stick overhang to be quite an annoying little problem. One that I might not have with the new Freezer 36. It's predecessor, the eSports DUO, is installed in my racesim and a system of another friend, and it works like a charm. Easy install, and perfect for smaller cases. I cannot say the same for the Peerless Assassin.
As for the VRM temperatures, I would say if you have a set of 4 good (Arctic) Case-fans, 2 up front, 1 on top and 1 in the back, I'd say that would compensate just fine for cooling the VRM's.
As many of the other comments pointed out, the phantom spirit should really be on these charts.
Great video. The Freezer 36 is definitely the best cheap cooler
20:59 those vrm thermals for PA mini are insane!!!
i'm gonna be real the explanation of installing the cooler from 14:06 onward was actually so relaxing like ASMR, i couldn't believe it. Mike has an AWESOME voice for this shit I would fall asleep listening to this stuff
freezer 36 is 20 euros + what ever shipping costs and is daam good
I replaced my failing AIO with this and used your link I hoped that helps. Cooling a 3700x. But i'm not using computer for heavy workloads. Some light gaming so thanks for the review. It was actually pretty easy to install. Crazy it didn't fit over all IHS but I guess it covers where it needed. I do love how the fans mount.
So happy with using Arctic for all my cooling and fans. They support their products and actually innovate and not just strap rgb to everything for price hikes…… but I do love rgb….
nice to see air cooling continue to get better
As usual y'all come through again in an efficient and detached manner, thanx a ton. Love the vids...
wow I think that fan mounting is very cool (I hate the fiddly metal clips), hope they come out with a fatter model with more heatpipes, possibly dual tower, this is a good direction imo
I have a bunch of years with an old Artic eSport 34 and no complains at all..
Thermalright is doing awesome, but ID Cooling has been doing pretty well too. They have some of the best LP coolers on the market.
Ordered one it with 19€ (25€ total with shipping, 5.99€), seems great value/performance in that price point. 👍
Visually it's fine, it's not too big, cools fine, easy installation, especially the fan, if the price is fine, it will sell well, like the e34 duo.
I'm excited for the case reviews to come back. My Fractal define r6 has been shipped internationally twice and has survived, but only barely. Definitely looking to replace it soon!
Thanks Steve for the mostly positive review. appreciate it.
Could you please make liquid coolers with another shade of blue in the graphs? It is nice to rapidly differentiate between both of them looking at the results.
Also have you ever think of revisiting thermal paste testing? I had a very terrible experience using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on air cooler, I thought it is the best thermal paste, but it degradates using it over 80°C, that rules the paste for water cooling only, should not be used on air coolers.
I approve of the cooler's fan attachment. Use of a custom spacer made to fit onto washers would enable the same flush fit but at expense of being thicker. _Not that it matters_ because spacing the fan away from high-impedance surfaces is great for noise control anyway. Big W if they follow up their design with a separately-purchased spacer.
Any ram clearance issues on fully populated dimms with big heatsinks? Without clips that you can adjust the fan up or down, seems like you lose some flexibility. If the single chonky tower design doesn't impact ram, then I really like the look of this. It doesn't bug me a lot but it is a little annoying when you have to adjust your fan up to account for RAM.
Yes - please answer this and if possible address RAM clearance in future cooler videos (unless I missed it). I know Steve said this single cooler was wide for single but thinner than doubles - but that RAM he was using wasn’t ‘gamer RAM’ 😊
Thanks Steve! I really like the clean design and the new way to attach the fans! way better than the freezer 34 or 35. Good Job Arctic.
That fight for your rite joke could not come at a better time. I am drunk after work, eating and I got the reference! I am loving it!
I have the 34 duo, happy with the product. Cools my cpu and clears all 4 ram channels so that rgb light shines freely. Glad they improved upon the design with a contact frame and removal of those clips. Might get this in a few years when I upgrade to a new cpu and mobo. Wonder how it fairs with those new p12 max fans.
Its a massive heatsink for 20 bucks with 2 fans, no brainer for my fileserver build with a 35w TDP r7 4750ge
I think the new fan mounting solution is really neat, and its great that it is compatible with other fans if you wish to swap out the stock ones. I'm currently using the DeepCool AG500 on my 5800X3D and the AG620 on my 12700KF, which have been doing a great job on both of them. I don't see myself swapping out the AG500 until I jump to AM5 in about a year on my 5800X3D system, rebuild to a "9800X3D" or whatever AMD calls it next gen. Depending on the thermal load on the next gen X3D part, I might stay with air cooling, or give an AIO a try with a 280mm-sized setup.
Looking to upgrade my aging Ryzen 2700X rig with a 5700X3D with either a DeepCool AG500 or this Arctic Freezer 36 ARGB. How is the AG500 handling the 5800X3D (I am assuming the 5700X3D will run cooler because of the 400MHz slower clocks).
@@godwhomismike I'm getting about 30-35c at idle and a peak of 71c when playing Baldurs Gate 3 at 4K DLSS Quality with a 4080. I'm using MX-6 paste right now, and I did swap the stock DeepCool fan with a bequiet silent wings 4 fan to match the bequiet case fans I'm using.
Holy shit that ProZD cut out of NOWHERE.
Hats off
Apparently there are 3 models - The black one that is linked, a cheaper unpainted one, and the ARCTIC Freezer 36 CO - or Continuous Operation which appears to have different fan bearings that are a bit noisier. That last one is the one selling for $27.71.
Any plans to review the new Thermalright phantom spirit 120 EVO? seems like its the new hotness after tom's hardware's review.
Either phantom spirit is the hotness.. or coldness, as it were.
I really want this. I bought it about 3-4 months ago right as you could get it. Would like to know how much better it is than the PA/PS non-evo
Currently £16.93 on Amazon UK. I know it's limited time value but that's crazy cheap!
The non-rgb version costs 19.24€ in Germany on amazon today(not on sale rn).
The forced offset AMD mount would probably make it perform a lot better there.
It likely wouldn't cost them much more, if anything. Material is material.
They gotta make the bracket anyway. Just change the shape.
It does look nicer than most of the other coolers though.
Freezer 34 still looking good in some of those charts. 😆 I'm happy with it. Keeps the 7800X3D running happily. Not a lot of change with the 36.
wow they referenced prozd. arctic is actually one of the few companies i like now.
Hey Steve, have you looked at the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO? Supposedly it's an amazing performer and Tom's Hardware gave it a glowing review.
It's nice seeing Thermalright shake up the industry as companies like Asus, Thermaltake, and Corsair seem to think they're Nvidia charging $100+ for a $5 fan and $20 fin stack. Arctic has always had fair pricing so it's not surprising to see them compete with TR. Consumers are winning everywhere.
I love the content you guys are pumping out!
Question, will you do a review of the Phanteks Glacier One T30 v2 cooler(s)? Both the 240 and the 360 are seemingly very good.
Steve, thanks for the hard work and the great video.
Could I suggest using different colors for air and liquid coolers on your graphs to easier differentiate? And maybe a different color for any setups that don't use the standard configuration, like different fans or more fans. I think that would make it easier to compare overall results as well as compare the same type of cooler in the same graph.
Different shades of blue should be fine, unless that won't work for accessibility for color blindness.
I still remember overclocking my i5-750 from 2.66 to 3.8 GHz with a Freezer Xtreme Rev.2.. it was really impressive
Thanks, Steve.
I looove this new fan retention system!
One thing that people aren’t talking about it that artic seems to no longer include a back plate for its mounting mechanisms. Both intel and amd mountings use the included backplate
Back to you Steve
fight for your thermalright, man you are incredible
Freezer 36 is 21€ and Peerless Assassin is 36€ in germany. Insane value.