Arctic Liquid Freezer 120 Review

Performance Analysis

The Liquid Freezer 120 offers strong cooling performance on all three tested sockets, so there don't appear to be any weaknesses in the mounting mechanism. The delta T of 42°C on the Intel LGA1150 system is right near the top of the charts. The H80i GT is able to beat this by 3°C, but only at maximum speed, where the noise output is somewhat crazy. Conversely, the Liquid Freezer 120, which was run at full speed for all tests, only emits an audible but not unpleasant whooshing sound, and strikes the better balance of the two once noise is considered.


It's a similar story on both the AMD and LGA2011 test systems as well. In both instances the performance is strong and while it is bettered by Corsair and EKWB models, this tends only to be when they're operating with higher and significantly louder fan speeds. We think this cooler strikes an admirable balance between noise and performance. The PWM support means it will often be much quieter than its full speed setting anyway, but it's good to know that even when things heat up your computer won't start to sound like it's taking off.

Conclusion

Arctic has put together a solid bit of kit in the Liquid Freezer 120. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles like RGB lighting, software-based fan control or other such things through which companies like Corsair have attempted to add value to their higher end models, but for many users these will be unnecessary. Decent build quality, a relatively painless installation process and solid performance at respectable noise levels mean that plenty of boxes are ticked here. Even at the listed price of £60.99, this would be a pretty good deal, but given that it can be had for less than £50 the Liquid Freezer 120 is a no-brainer recommendation for anyone looking for a simple but effective all-in-one cooler for an overclocked system.