[SOLVED] Arctic Liquid Freezer II or Noctua NH-D15

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Jul 24, 2020
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Hi,

Here is my setup: Fractal R6 case, MSI MEG unify x570 motherboard, AMD 3900X cpu, AMD radeon Sapphire nitro+ 5700XT gpu, 2x8 lpx 3600 corsair memory stick, 1000gb Samsung evo SSD, 2 tb ssd

I would like to have a rather silent cooler and if possible keep HDD bay inside the R6. Which one of the two is the most silent?
The arctic liquid would be either 280 or 360. I am not sure that it fits in front of the HDD bay but it looks like it should, does anybody know? Could I consider putting the radiator somewhere else (like top or bottom) but still thinking to minimize noise. If I put it in front would adding one bottom intake fan be sufficient?

With what I have seen so far the arctic freezer is more efficient and possibly more quiet than the noctua. Where I live it is comparable price to the cream/brown Noctua and cheaper than the black chromax version. (not by a lot though).

Which of this two is the better choice?
 
Solution
Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 here and one thing I can tell you is that it's exceptionally quiet even with pump and fans at highest rpm.
On the other hand, Noctua fans can be noisy but are highly efficient and most of time don't have to be used at much more than 50% RPM.
As far as I have seen, NH-D15 would be "Just enough" for it but if you want relative quiet and full performance only good 360 liquid cooler can give it to you. Keep in mind that all Ryzen need temps up to 70c, ideally up to 65c for best boost performance. No air cooler can achieve that.
Jul 24, 2020
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I think if you run something like prime95 for 5 - 10 minutes just before you take off the cooler the paste is warmed up and easier to remove

I probably could have been better prepared but this was not old paste, I just installed it about two weeks ago. And it was not moving an inch from the cooler, not woobly or anything. Solid as a brick. I don't think this is suppose to happen, is it?

I wish I'd never put that thing on my cpu. Anyway, next time, i'll remember ;)
 
Jul 24, 2020
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Hi Kostas,
I used the fractal R6, open layout with the arctic 360 on top, works great. However, after some use, I am not sure I would advise it. The arctic liquid 360 definitely one of the best aio and a great value but looking back I'd rather go for something a bit more practical and perhaps running slightly hotter.
With the R6 and arctic 360 I had to give up on the HDD bay. And ram clearance is ok but feels tighter than it should with an aio. I barely could fit corsair vengeance RGB (it's probably one of the tallest ram ever though).
If I were you, I would choose the case first and then check what fits.
 

Owterspace

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Jul 24, 2020
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CLC are ok if you are ok with the fact that to maintain the high performance you are seeing now, you will have to replace it in a couple of years, or open it to refill it if it can be reused. Permeation is real, and you cant beat the clock. I see some comments here and there, not necessarily in this thread but.. many people go on about how great CLC are. But those same people have never used a top of the line air cooler. So yeah, your 250 buck CLC will cool better than the 212 you just put in the closet. Also, those same people probably have not used a CLC from start to end of its useful life. How much fluid is in a CLC? 250ml? more? Half a can of beer give or take? There are alot of factors on why cooling may appear to be better when you switch to CLC, biggest being alot of the time people will push nice cool air into the rad, but wont take the same consideration to fill their case with fresh air. Everyone wants 500rpm fans.. you cant cool <Mod Edit> with that.
 
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