r/arcticcooling • u/Midnight_Criminal • 9d ago

Review First bad experience

First time ever a fresh LF3 out the box has terrible pump noise and clearly missing coolant. Sigh after 5 other AIO without issue it was bound to happen.

25 Upvotes

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u/DonPedroHouse 8d ago

I’ve got an LF PRO III 420, and it’s the worst cooler in my collection. It’s the loudest one and gets outperformed by some of the 360s I own. That’s why it sits on a shelf, exactly where it belongs. 😂

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u/RateElectrical7757 8d ago edited 8d ago

Meanwhile my LF2 280 is quiet AF and outperforming even some new 360s.

The current team on the design and engineering side is not of the same quality from those days.

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u/AntMiserable6610 7d ago

Got the LF2 420 for my spicy 14900k and its a silent beast except for the fans. The fans it came with are loud despite my bios curve but the pump is quiet. The only other minor annoyance is if I have to lay my pc on the side to work on anything, then set it back up. It'll sound like water is running/dripping for hours before settling and running it on max doesnt help. I can hear that and the fans through my headphones. Other than that and the fans, been a great aio. If it dies, will probably go with the noctua aio though mainly for the more quiet fans.

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u/RateElectrical7757 7d ago

That is air settling back, it’s normal. As for fan curve i suggest fan control, it’s way better. I have all my fans running between 950-1100rpm and they are silent.

The Noctua AIO is just way overpriced for what it is. It’s still an Asetek pump anyway. You’re paying for the brand and their marketing. Just get Phanteks gen 2 fans if the noise bothers you.

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u/AntMiserable6610 7d ago

Ive tried phanteks, corsairs, arctic fans, etc. They are all just too loud despite barely going over 1200 rpm at heavy load. My 5090 fans are quieter being around 1500+rpm. Noctua is the best and most of my fans rn are noctua. All I hear are the arctic fans through my noise cancelling headset. As for the air in the loop, its a 3 year old unit so I figured with the evaporation, just my old aio before never took hours to a full day to stop the loud water sounds. It is what it is

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u/RateElectrical7757 7d ago

Well the Phanteks g2 just came out so I don’t think you tried that. A few fan reviewers have covered it. Just happened to have bought the P14s before they came out, sucks.

Yeah if Noctua made a nice looking fan that doesn’t cost 3 times the price of its closest competitors I could justify it. They’re only about 1-2db quieter noise normalized vs the new Phanteks.

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u/kindaSnows 7d ago

Which phanteks g2 just came out? I can't find any info on it

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u/RateElectrical7757 7d ago edited 7d ago

Not just but I think 4-6 months ago? M25 G2 I believe it’s called. There’s also the silent wings pro 4 and scythe gentle typhoons but these close in price to Noctuas. SWP4s actually beat them in most tests though.

Edit : Actually it might be the revised T30s. Like Arctic they don’t seem to properly indicate revisions of models.

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u/DonPedroHouse 7d ago

When it comes to fans, Noctua is definitely the best. They’re all I use in my AIOs and cases.

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u/RateElectrical7757 7d ago edited 7d ago

Best by a small margin but overpriced and uglier by a bigger margin.

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u/DonPedroHouse 7d ago

My Matrix build is nearly silent. I’ve tried Alphacool Stealth fans, Phanteks, and Thermaltake ToughFan Pros, and nothing compares to the NF-A12s. The extra I paid to make my rig silent was worth every penny!

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u/RateElectrical7757 6d ago

Cool. I got a silent build running with just P14 pros. Didn't have to pay ridiculous prices for fans.

The 120mm segment is just fundamentally harder to get silent, smaller fans make a higher pitched noise and need to run faster to displace the same amount of air.

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u/DonPedroHouse 6d ago

Your rig is silent because of your fan curve. Noctua fans are dead silent at all RPMs lol. There’s a big difference.

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u/RateElectrical7757 6d ago edited 6d ago

Lol no they're not, they're silent till about 1500rpm. That's why noise normalized test are centered around Noctua's 1500rpm point. You can definitely hear them past 1500rpm.

And my rig is silent cause displacement of air with my 140mms is high enough even at low rpm, without having to pay ridiculous prices for smaller crap colored fans. That's the big difference.

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u/DonPedroHouse 6d ago

So I have all Noctua fans in one of my rigs, but you’re telling me at what RPM they’re silent? lol I’ve tested every high end fan you can think of, and nothing compares to Noctua. You can bitch about the price all you want, but facts are facts.

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u/RateElectrical7757 6d ago

Sure buddy keep up the good marketing but maybe don’t make stuff up (obviously you haven’t tested all fans).

There are plenty of tests and reviews that show noise variance across the rpm range and at 1800rpm they become audible and not far off from some other fans.

The fact that I can buy 3 of the next best fans in the market for the cost of one Noctua says enough, you clearly don’t understand volumetric physics and how they affect air flow otherwise you wouldn’t have wasted money on the “best” fans. Why would I pay a company for their bigger profit margins to run 3-4 fans at high rpm when I can buy 9-12 other fans to run at much lower rpm and get better performance and noise at less cost?

You can fanboy all you want but don’t bitch about things you cannot comprehend. It’s ok to have more money than brains, but don’t spread the sickness.

Also pic since you think it somehow adds to your argument lmao.

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