So I finally tried a couple of AIOs...

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Apr 9, 2021
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And they actually did beat my air cooler. Due to me not being able to make up my mind and trying unsuccessfully to cancel an order on Amazon, I ended up with 2 AIOs on my front porch. An Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 and an EVGA CLC 280. Naturally I had to figure out which one was better. I figured I would share my results because I'm someone who doesn't get free shit from these companies.

The air cooler they were up against is a Phanteks PH-TC14PE - and not just any PH-TC14PE, mine is pimped out with 3 Arctic P14 PWM's, which make it run about 4 degrees cooler than the stock configuration. Safe to say it would mop the floor with an NH-D15 as configured. To be fair, I pimped the AIO's too - both of them got 4 of the same P14 fan in push/pull. Incidentally, the CLC 280's stock fans produced the best temperatures of all, but they are as loud as Deltas doing it - and they are even noisy just turning 1000rpm, so I never planned on using them. My son's Ryzen 1700 has the same cooler. The case is a Coolermaster HAF XB EVO Lan Box. With the air cooler, the case was configured with front intake fans and a rear exhaust fan. The AIOs were configured as exhausts with rear and top intake fans.

Intel 5960X 4.2GHz 1.18V, cache at 4.0GHz 1.08V. ASUS X99-A. 32GB of DDR4-2666 14-14-14-34. 1 NVMe SSD, 1 SATA SSD, 1 SATA HDD, and 2 980TI blower cards that do a good job of disposing of their own heat. Arctic MX-4 paste.

Testing was done with Prime 95 26.6, Small FFT. Ambient temp was 24.0C.

Phanteks PH-TC14PE

Steady State Package Temp: 67.5C
Cores: 61.0, 61.5, 67.4, 64.7, 65.3, 65.7, 64.3, 61.9
Average Package Power: 202.2 watts
Delta Temp: 43.5
Thermal Resistance: 0.21513

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280

Steady State Package Temp: 65.5
Cores: 58.7, 59.1, 65.5, 62.5, 62.6, 62.0, 62.7, 59.6
Average Package Power: 205.2 watts
Delta Temp: 41.5
Thermal Resistance: 0.20224

EVGA CLC 280

Steady State Package Temp: 63.1
Cores: 56.7, 56.6, 63.1, 59.8, 59.4, 59.6, 59.6, 59.6, 57.5
Average Package Power: 204.9 watts
Delta Temp: 39.1
Thermal Resistance: 0.19082

It looks like I'll be keeping the EVGA (Asetek Gen 5). I think the bigger cold plate makes it better for a HEDT chip.
 
I've had no problems with my EVGA 360 CLC - however the stock 120mm fans on that thing were loud.
 
Are you thinking of Enermax?

EVGA doesn't make this unit, Asetek does.
ahhh Enermax wow ancient name your right got those mixed up just got a 280 aio for the 5950x in my build top holds 480mm worth of fans and those dont exist for aios, and the 420 front of case is too far from socket to use that arctic cooling aio. ill have to get my hands on a evga aio for test bench.
 
Yeah, I'm liking this EVGA. This is the third one I bought, but it's the first one I actually threw in my own machine. The Arctic is a nice enough unit, but the reason it's topping all the charts is because the P14 PWM fans it comes with are friggen great. Very, very quiet and awesome static pressure. A lot of people think it's because of the thicker radiator, but it's not. It has much lower fin density, and it doesn't accomplish anything but to make the unit harder to integrate. My advice to anyone looking at AIOs, buy whatever appeals to you, and then throw these fans on it. You'll be happy.
 
Well I got the AIO 280 and pretty happy with it never tried the EVGA but it is also my first AIO. It made a world of difference on my 5900x vs the big Noctua I had.

It runs cooler and quieter for sure.
 
how do you think this will do in a Corsair 1000D with 8 GT fans exhausting top, im planning on putting this on the back end to exhaust. would there be too much interference? i got one coming in as these finally came down under $300 from amazon.
 
how do you think this will do in a Corsair 1000D with 8 GT fans exhausting top, im planning on putting this on the back end to exhaust. would there be too much interference? i got one coming in as these finally came down under $300 from amazon.
which? there are two mentioned.
ps: the evga clc 280 is on amazon.ca for $148...
 
It should do fine with the front fans as intakes, but with a case that big I would probably want a 420mm mounted on top.
 
its a project i have in mind but im thinking waiting till i have the 2nd system at bottom. if i move the 8 GTs to front it'll pull in a massive amount of air but wont really help the system inplace. ill do some testing otherwise ill buy the 420 have 3 arctic fans on one side 3 corsair ML 140s top.
 
And they actually did beat my air cooler. Due to me not being able to make up my mind and trying unsuccessfully to cancel an order on Amazon, I ended up with 2 AIOs on my front porch. An Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 and an EVGA CLC 280. Naturally I had to figure out which one was better. I figured I would share my results because I'm someone who doesn't get free shit from these companies.

The air cooler they were up against is a Phanteks PH-TC14PE - and not just any PH-TC14PE, mine is pimped out with 3 Arctic P14 PWM's, which make it run about 4 degrees cooler than the stock configuration. Safe to say it would mop the floor with an NH-D15 as configured. To be fair, I pimped the AIO's too - both of them got 4 of the same P14 fan in push/pull. Incidentally, the CLC 280's stock fans produced the best temperatures of all, but they are as loud as Deltas doing it - and they are even noisy just turning 1000rpm, so I never planned on using them. My son's Ryzen 1700 has the same cooler. The case is a Coolermaster HAF XB EVO Lan Box. With the air cooler, the case was configured with front intake fans and a rear exhaust fan. The AIOs were configured as exhausts with rear and top intake fans.

Intel 5960X 4.2GHz 1.18V, cache at 4.0GHz 1.08V. ASUS X99-A. 32GB of DDR4-2666 14-14-14-34. 1 NVMe SSD, 1 SATA SSD, 1 SATA HDD, and 2 980TI blower cards that do a good job of disposing of their own heat. Arctic MX-4 paste.

Testing was done with Prime 95 26.6, Small FFT. Ambient temp was 24.0C.

Phanteks PH-TC14PE

Steady State Package Temp: 67.5C
Cores: 61.0, 61.5, 67.4, 64.7, 65.3, 65.7, 64.3, 61.9
Average Package Power: 202.2 watts
Delta Temp: 43.5
Thermal Resistance: 0.21513

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280

Steady State Package Temp: 65.5
Cores: 58.7, 59.1, 65.5, 62.5, 62.6, 62.0, 62.7, 59.6
Average Package Power: 205.2 watts
Delta Temp: 41.5
Thermal Resistance: 0.20224

EVGA CLC 280

Steady State Package Temp: 63.1
Cores: 56.7, 56.6, 63.1, 59.8, 59.4, 59.6, 59.6, 59.6, 57.5
Average Package Power: 204.9 watts
Delta Temp: 39.1
Thermal Resistance: 0.19082

It looks like I'll be keeping the EVGA (Asetek Gen 5). I think the bigger cold plate makes it better for a HEDT chip.
Nice bit of work. Wish you had used air time entering cooler / radiators instead of room ambient. Temp of air entering cooler / rad is key because it's warmer than room .. sometimes on a little, sometimes a lot.

Did you do any noise level comparisons? Often air coolers make much less noise with CPU at same temp as CLCs. Cooling quietly is more important than maximum cooling ability .. as long as max temp is below throttle point. ;)

Again, nice bit of work! Thanks for sharing!
 
Nice bit of work. Wish you had used air time entering cooler / radiators instead of room ambient. Temp of air entering cooler / rad is key because it's warmer than room .. sometimes on a little, sometimes a lot.

Did you do any noise level comparisons? Often air coolers make much less noise with CPU at same temp as CLCs. Cooling quietly is more important than maximum cooling ability .. as long as max temp is below throttle point. ;)

Again, nice bit of work! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you. I have dropped a temperature probe in there before, and the air entering the heat sink or radiator tends to run no more than 1C above ambient under heavy CPU load. Under a heavy GPU load, this increases to about 4C, since even blower cards dissipate some heat through their PCBs.

I didn't measure noise levels, but I used the same Arctic P14 fans with each cooler, so the differences between them were very slight. The air cooler had 3 fans instead of 4, so mathematically it should have been about 1.2dB quieter, not accounting for variations in turbulence through the fin stack and what-not.
 
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I've had no problems with my EVGA 360 CLC - however the stock 120mm fans on that thing were loud.
Wow, yes. I was on the fence between getting another Noctua D-14 or whatever they're called, the $100 one, and trying a CLC for the first time. I was really evenly split and then someone here posted that the EVGA ones were on sale so I got a 360.
It was...pretty difficult to get in my Phanteks Enthoo Evolv, I forget exactly but a lot of stuff that was probably meant to house a radiator was removed and parts were definitely bent to get this thing crammed in here.

Anyways, it's loud, and not in a way that is all pleasant, sounds a lot like a neighbor using a weedwhacker when you have the window closed, just a steady drone.

I bit the bullet and spent (another!) $70 on 3 Noctua 120mm fans, NF-F12 PWM chromax.Black.swap and what a game changer, I can't really say if temps went down but they may have a touch, and at 100%, with case open, my ear pressed against the radiator these things are still *very* quiet.
 
Wow, yes. I was on the fence between getting another Noctua D-14 or whatever they're called, the $100 one, and trying a CLC for the first time. I was really evenly split and then someone here posted that the EVGA ones were on sale so I got a 360.
It was...pretty difficult to get in my Phanteks Enthoo Evolv, I forget exactly but a lot of stuff that was probably meant to house a radiator was removed and parts were definitely bent to get this thing crammed in here.

Anyways, it's loud, and not in a way that is all pleasant, sounds a lot like a neighbor using a weedwhacker when you have the window closed, just a steady drone.

I bit the bullet and spent (another!) $70 on 3 Noctua 120mm fans, NF-F12 PWM chromax.Black.swap and what a game changer, I can't really say if temps went down but they may have a touch, and at 100%, with case open, my ear pressed against the radiator these things are still *very* quiet.

Yar, they were definitely the loudest stock fans I've dealt with (even louder than SP120's I had with a old Corsair unit). Definitely agree with the 'weedwhacker' quality to its sound - very shrill. I wonder if it has something to do with the grooves cut into the sides of the fan frame. I grabbed some Inwin-branded fans, just got them because a 3-pack was on sale and planned to swap them out for something higher quality down the road - but was pleasantly surprised by them and they're still in the system.
 
no, thats a personal preference.

It definitely is.

A lot of review sites will throw up graph showing noise equalized performance. In that case, the EVGA CLC's do not perform nearly as well because the fans aren't particularly good, and the Arctic Liquid Freezer is generally one of the best you can buy. Tech Jesus has a video showing newer AIOs (Lian Li Gallahad, Arctic LF2, and EK AIO) and they generally out perform older Asetek variants.
 
It definitely is.

A lot of review sites will throw up graph showing noise equalized performance. In that case, the EVGA CLC's do not perform nearly as well because the fans aren't particularly good, and the Arctic Liquid Freezer is generally one of the best you can buy. Tech Jesus has a video showing newer AIOs (Lian Li Gallahad, Arctic LF2, and EK AIO) and they generally out perform older Asetek variants.

I think the fans account for most of the differences among them. I don't think there is too much variation in pump output, but I suspect the EK might be a smidge more than the rest. Any other variation is probably going vary with how the individual cold plate mates with the individual CPU. I think the reason the EVGA beat the LF2 in my testing with the same fans on both, was the large cold plate on the EVGA, and also significantly higher mounting pressure. The LF2 mounted up just fine, but mounting the EVGA on Socket 2011-3 was like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.

It would be cool to see how the different designs do when fans are taken out of the equation, and then on several different CPU types.
 
no, thats a personal preference.
no, thats a personal preference.
Obviously quite performance is a personal preference, but one most users have. I just assumed most would agree. I should have added "at acceptable temperature levels" or "at safe operating temperatures" to my statement as well as it being my preference, but again, I figured that was kinda self-evident. :)

Thank you. I have dropped a temperature probe in there before, and the air entering the heat sink or radiator tends to run no more than 1C above ambient under heavy CPU load. Under a heavy GPU load, this increases to about 4C, since even blower cards dissipate some heat through their PCBs.

I didn't measure noise levels, but I used the same Arctic P14 fans with each cooler, so the differences between them were very slight. The air cooler had 3 fans instead of 4, so mathematically it should have been about 1.2dB quieter, not accounting for variations in turbulence through the fin stack and what-not.
Same fans at same speeds makes more sense. In reality with airflow noise added in the 1.2dB calculated difference may not be accurate .. plus case fans .. minus case dampening/ resonance changing dB levles .. besides our ears can't tell a difference of less than about 3dB anyway.

Got side-tracked and forgot to post this yesterday.
 
I thought every 3db was considered twice as loud since it scales logarithmically?
3dB=twice as much acoustic energy, 10dB = twice the perceived loudness (except at the lower and higher ends of the spectrum, where it tapers to more like 6dB = sounds twice as loud.
 
Yes the fans make a big difference its why you have to factor that into cost/performance. If you get the EVGA and put other fans on it now it costs more for a little bit better performance. Its why the AFII line with its great fans performs well and just so happens to be one of the cheapest around. Not saying the EVGA one is bad.

Its like the EVGA FTW3 hybrid card I just got. The fans on that were AWFUL stupid loud for what they do, performance was fine but loud. Put on some nice Arctic 120mm RGB fans on and performance is a little better at lower fan speed and a whole lot less noise. Means the card costs an additional $28 though since I added 2 fans. Not a lot mind you but on a 360 rad with 3 fans well that would have been $43 for the 3 pack.

As someone who came from the big Noctua on a Ryzen setup (used air coolers my entire life) I cannot for the life me understand how anyone can say that its better than the AFII 280 I put on last week. The AIO is cooler by a fair bit, quieter by a lot, takes up less room, less stress on the motherboard socket etc. Also because the system runs cooler I can dial down the other fans in the case as well which makes it quieter. In general I feel like this was a win for me and its why I went hybrid for my GPU as well. I wish there were more hybrid GPUs out there for folks who want a simple AIO and not a custom loop setup but beggars can't be choosers.

And oh EVGA needs to step it up and get better pumps for their hybrid cards. You have a nice product that works well but the pumps are running at 100% all the time and make noise - doesn't need to be that way. Wish an AFII would fit a 3080/3090 that would be great.
 
The conclusion I drew from this experiment is that the crossover point at which decibel for decibel, watt for watt, degree Celsius for degree Celsius, an AIO and a large dual-tower air cooler are on equal footing must be at around the 240mm radiator size. At that size, I would expect whichever unit had better fans (less noise/more CFM+static pressure) to win. Naturally, it would be better to choose air over the 240mm AIO if both can fit because of air's reliability. Against an AIO of 280mm or larger, the dual-tower air cooler is at a distinct disadvantage. It will only keep up if the larger AIO has fans that are inferior (and compared to the fans you get with a $100 air cooler, they usually are). This is not surprising because the largest air coolers have a frontal area that is no more than 140mm x 116-ish mm. As such, they cannot even harness all of the air from a single 140mm fan. Secondly, the rear tower relies on air that has already been heated by the first tower. In these two ways, Big Air behaves like a very, very thick 140mm radiator that has also been truncated by about an inch vertically.
 
I think the fans account for most of the differences among them. I don't think there is too much variation in pump output, but I suspect the EK might be a smidge more than the rest. Any other variation is probably going vary with how the individual cold plate mates with the individual CPU. I think the reason the EVGA beat the LF2 in my testing with the same fans on both, was the large cold plate on the EVGA, and also significantly higher mounting pressure. The LF2 mounted up just fine, but mounting the EVGA on Socket 2011-3 was like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.

It would be cool to see how the different designs do when fans are taken out of the equation, and then on several different CPU types.
Mounting pressure is important. Also, Gamers Nexus reported that their EK AIO 240 sample had a much flatter cold plate, than every other brand AIO in the test.
And, Techpowerup did a test of EK's Vardar fans (which are included with their AIOs) a couple of years ago and they are some of the best static pressure fans around. Even beating Noctua's NF-A12 in CFM, at 3 different fan speeds. Albeit, EK fans are louder at any given speed. But GN's noise normalized test shows that EK's balance of variables (quality, fan pressure, pump efficiency, etc), makes for potent results.

I think Arctic's AIO's would do much better, with a flatter cold plate. Their 280mm (which is also quite a bit thicker) only beats EK's 240mm, by a couple of degrees.
 
Mounting pressure is important. Also, Gamers Nexus reported that their EK AIO 240 sample had a much flatter cold plate, than every other brand AIO in the test.
And, Techpowerup did a test of EK's Vardar fans (which are included with their AIOs) a couple of years ago and they are some of the best static pressure fans around. Even beating Noctua's NF-A12 in CFM, at 3 different fan speeds. Albeit, EK fans are louder at any given speed. But GN's noise normalized test shows that EK's balance of variables (quality, fan pressure, pump efficiency, etc), makes for potent results.

I think Arctic's AIO's would do much better, with a flatter cold plate. Their 280mm (which is also quite a bit thicker) only beats EK's 240mm, by a couple of degrees.

Tech Jesus does a good job. I also thought the EK looked very robust internally, except for the signs of corrosion (?) that were present in his sample. I would like to get my hands on one personally, but buying, testing, and returning is not really my MO.

Just to add some more data, in terms of convexity, it went Phanteks < Arctic < EVGA(Asetek). The 5960X I tested, when mounted in its socket, is convex across the Y-axis and near-flat across the X-axis. So I was dealing with convex to convex in every scenario. The Phanteks and Arctic had what I consider "normal" or "average" mounting pressure. The EVGA/Asetek could go much higher. The EVGA was worse with less pressure, but with full mounting pressure, the EVGA/Asetek was the only one to result in a perfect thermal paste print, so I believe that both the coldplate and IHS fully deformed to one another when squashed hard enough. The Phanteks and Arctic were making more contact in the center than towards the edges.
 
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