Question ASUS ROG Strix LC II versus Arctic Liquid Freezer II ?

[Bawnii]

I'm looking for an AIO that can cool my I7-12700K.

I can't decide between the ASUS ROG Strix LC II and the Arctic Liquid Freezer II.

Which of the one should I choose?

 

[CountMike]

I'm looking for an AIO that can cool my I7-12700K.

I can't decide between the ASUS ROG Strix LC II and the Arctic Liquid Freezer II.

Which of the one should I choose?

There are different sizes of each. For looks Asus ROG but more expensive. Arctic cheaper but both are of comparable performance in same sizes.

 

[Phaaze88]

Freezer II, hands down.
Strix, you're paying the ROG tax on an AIO that doesn't even knock its competitors out of the park in performance.

 

[lumineZ]

When it comes to AIO`s it does not matter what brand you pick. Its the same company that makes them all and that is Asetek.
Only difference is the plastic around the pump. The radiator and pump is all made by Asetek.

 

[Phaaze88]

Its the same company that makes them all and that is Asetek.
The radiator and pump is all made by Asetek.

They aren't though? Asetek, Cool It, Apaltek... there's even in-house designs by Cooler Master, Arctic, Alphacool...
The ROG Strix is Asetek, the LF II is Arctic in house.

 

[Karadjgne]

When it comes to AIO`s it does not matter what brand you pick. Its the same company that makes them all and that is Asetek.
Only difference is the plastic around the pump. The radiator and pump is all made by Asetek.

Not entirely correct. There's 6 manufacturers of the rads used in aios, but since all 6 use pretty much a universal design, they are considered the same for most testing/review purposes.

Asetek has its own patents on its own pumps, and thats the Lions share of the market for aio pumps, and those patents are very strictly enforced. But there are other manufacturers like Coolit who make the square box pumps for Corsair (the asetek pumps are the round hockey pucks), AlphaCool who makes some of Fractal Designs pumps and their rads, Apeltek who makes the smaller 'in-rad' pumps for nzxt/msi, Swiftech, CoolerMaster, Raijintek and several others.

Asetek might be the biggest and well known, and therefore have the most complaints overall, but that by no means 'Its the same company that makes them all '.

 

[lumineZ]

Really?
I always have heard that Asetek is the only one who makes AIO`s.

 

[Karadjgne]

Nope. Asetek makes the round hockey pucks that get twisted into the mount, used by Corsair on the H45, H50, H55, old H60, H105. The H100i, H60i, etc have a square pump that uses a pump mounted bracket held down by springs, made by Cool It. The Fractal Design Celcius uses Asetek pumps, but the Fractal Design Kelvin uses AlphaCool pumps and rads. You won't find the Kelvin in the US because Asetek sued AlphaCool over Patent Infringement in the US Courts, and won. Doesn't apply to EU or Asia markets though. Swiftech is a well known water-cooling parts manufacturer that branched into the aio market a little, so uses a rad mounted pump, and a cpu block instead of a cpu mounted pump.

Nzxt uses primarily Asetek because they are in the same building, literally walk next door. The pump and all the plastic and leds etc are all Asetek, designed with input and cooperation between Asetek and NZXT engineers. For the M22, Asetek did not have a viable pump solution, and would have been far too expensive to retool to fit the 120mm rad and pump design, that's why NZXT went with Apeltek instead who has mini-pump designs.

Asetek builds the whole thing, not just the pump mechanism itself, but it's cheaper to outsource the rads because of tooling and casting requirements with the aluminium.

 

[Karadjgne]

To expand, the Asus ROG uses Noctua fans. From the get-go that's a bonus to many who'd just pull off the stock fans and replace them with the Noctua fans anyway. The ROG also has a seriously complex pump head OLED screen that can be used for all sorts of pov info, from coolant temps to cpu stats etc. There's a lot of gimmick involved that some prefer, might want or can customize to their wants or needs. The Arctic is plain-Jane, no nonsense performance. Two opposite sides of the coin. The ROG actually performs very well, toss-up as to who is actually better as the Arctic is basically custom designed around rad/fans and pump, so there's no real noticeable difference there, both are class leading performers, but you'll pay a lot more for the ROG name, Noctua fan inclusion, OLED screen etc.

Gimmicks or not, that's the decision and that's what makes the value difference and opinion. Some what them, some don't. If you don't want/need the OLED, the Arctic is better value, if you do want/need the OLED then the ROG is better value.

 

[Phaaze88]

To expand, the Asus ROG uses Noctua fans.

The Ryujin does. Strix and TUF don't.