It also has the benefit of allowing the entire cooler to be handled by just two cables connected to the motherboard – one ARGB header for LED lighting and the 4-pin PWM header which manages the three radiator fans, pump, and VRM fan. This is an excellent solution as the cable management is far cleaner than what a typical end-user could achieve. Interestingly, the three fans are connected to each other via a daisy-chain approach that is pre-routed. That low-speed capability all the way down to 200 RPM is particularly impressive, especially if your system’s idling or low load temperatures allow for such operation. These Fluid Dynamic Bearing units are rated for a 200-1800 RPM speed range via the PWM control method.
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Three of Arctic’s 120mm P12 PWM A-RGB fans are used for cooling duties. This is a very smart move that I thoroughly appreciate! Instead, Arctic includes a 0.8g tube of the company’s high-quality MX-5 thermal paste as part of the bundle. Unlike many competitors, there is no pre-spread serving of thermal paste. Threadripper compatibility is not provided. This square profile slab of copper looks to be appropriately sized to offer solid coverage for current Intel and AMD mainstream processors, as well as LGA 2066 that this cooler supports. Shifting heat away from the CPU is the copper cold plate with its micro-skived fins. This severely limits the supported orientations of the 360mm radiator as the tubing often will not flex in the direction you want it to. Arctic does not provide any flexibility or adjustment to the angle of the tubing. The translucent housing of this fan is not RGB LED lit, and this feels like a missed opportunity by Arctic.Īnother downside of the pump block unit is the tubing entrance point. On the top side of the angled plastic pump unit is the 40mm VRM fan. However, the comparison to pump block units from competitors such as NZXT, Fractal, and ASUS (some of which also have VRM cooling fans) makes it clear just how oversized and plastic Arctic’s design is.
![freeter review freeter review](https://stealthweeb.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/mockup-ba541406.jpg)
Of course, that is my own personal opinion. The overall pump block unit is physically large and cumbersome in X and Y dimensions, as well as ugly looking. While the top speed of 2000 RPM is relatively modest, the speed control range is good, and this should pay dividends when it comes to noise output. This is a PWM controlled unit rated at 800-2000 RPM. The block unit features Arctic’s in-house designed pump. Arctic uses a plastic style for the tubes which is not as clean or premium looking as some of the all-black nylon braided designs from the likes of Fractal and NZXT. Leaving the radiator are two closely mounted fibre-reinforced, EPDM tubes that measure in at 450mm long. And then there is also the downside in terms of physical dimensions and interference, but this should not be an issue in most competent ATX cases, especially if you are happy with front installation.
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While this increase in radiator thickness does, in theory, offer greater cooling capacity, it also comes with the drawback of requiring higher pressure fans to effectively flow air through the fins. The all-black, aluminium unit comes in at 38mm-thick which is a sizable increase versus the conventional 27mm-thick units we see from the Asetek stable. Looking at the radiator, Arctic is using a thicker-than-standard radiator.