Installation …
The Liquid Freezer 3 Pro is much easier to mount on our AM5 test system than the LF3 280, which we tested previously, due to the less preloaded leaf spring. You can now screw in one of the two fastening screws a little and then, with subtle pressure, screw in the second clamping screw a little and then tighten both screws alternately. With our original Liquid Freezer III, this was much more difficult to accomplish, as the screws protruded a good 1 mm less from the bottom of the cooling block.
On Intel systems, the original CPU clamping mechanism (ILM) is first completely dismantled and replaced with the Arctic Contact Frame. Although this involves a few more steps, it noticeably improves the cooling performance. We show how to install a CPU here in the CPU installation video and in detail in the corresponding CPU installation guide.
Due to the thicker heatspreader on AMD processors, there is hardly any risk of bending the CPU when fixing it in the socket. In internal tests by the OCinside.de editorial team, no improvement in CPU temperature could be determined on an AM5 system when using a contact frame.
In general, the Liquid Freezer III Pro water cooler can be installed in just a few simple steps. Before you get started, however, you have to decide how you want to control the performance of the cooler. Either control the pump and fan together via a connection on the mainboard, or control the pump and fan separately, for which 3 PWM connections are then required.
We opt for full control and choose the connection cable with separate plugs for pump and fan. At 0.33A, the 3 radiator fans alone can fully utilize one fan connection on the mainboard at full power. If you decide to supply all components via a single PWM connection, you must ensure that this connection can also provide sufficient power and is not overloaded!
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 A-RGB Test setup and results …