GamersNexus Arctic Freezer II 280 review

PieEater · 29 Apr 2020 at 11:54

Perfect_Chaos said:
I did. So the 280 might be better than the 360?

Interesting theory, on what are you basing it? In some circumstances such as low TDP chips the 280 would possibly be more appropriate but that doesn't mean it is better at cooling than the 360.

Perfect_Chaos · 29 Apr 2020 at 12:02

PieEater said:
Interesting theory, on what are you basing it? In some circumstances such as low TDP chips the 280 would possibly be more appropriate but that doesn't mean it is better at cooling than the 360.

See 6:36 to about 6:58 of the GN video

PieEater · 29 Apr 2020 at 14:44

Perfect_Chaos said:
See 6:36 to about 6:58 of the GN video

The 280 Arctic Coolers noise normalised performance at 35Dba is better than 360 coolers from competitors. The reason given is difference in fan performance and radiator design. The teardown video also highlights that the Arctic coolers use a larger impellor potentially improving performance. The 360 Arctic will have all the same improvements (fan, radiator, impellor) so you really can't assume it will have the same performance as the competitors 360 units in the review.

Grandmaster Fap! · 26 May 2020 at 23:15

Well i was going to take a punt on the 280 but its out of stock everywhere....typical!

it1uk · 27 May 2020 at 14:17

I'm waiting for the price of the 240 to come back down. Had it in my basket to pre-order and forgot and it had jumped up when i checked again.

pc-guy · 30 May 2020 at 12:11

Arctic only offers 2 year warranty. Is that a concern for anyone? I mean Corsair etc has 5yrs. Mine has been going for over 6 years through 2 builds with no problems so far.

Has there been reports of leaks or failure within 2yrs or just over 2yr mark etc?

the price differential of arctic to a Corsair 100X say isn’t much at all.

PieEater · 31 May 2020 at 10:42

pc-guy said:
Has there been reports of leaks or failure within 2yrs or just over 2yr mark etc?

I believe they were only released late last year, so unfortunately we don't have any idea of realistic lifespan in the wild. Personally I don't see that Arctic would release a product that was significantly worse in this regard. The Asetek coolers like corsairs have been round long enough in sufficient numbers to be confident in offering a long term warranty. I guess Arctic are being overly cautious.

Grandmaster Fap! · 2 Jul 2020 at 21:25

So just fitted my 280, impressed isnt the word, i had a very good tower cooler before but this is stunning. Very very quiet and really holds the temps down effortlessly, this is on a 2700X. Its 33c today and my ambient temps are silly with no air con on and its still battering Realbench and games.....seriously very good cooler.

MartinPrince · 8 Jul 2020 at 14:24

Robert896r1 said:
@MartinPrince https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQRwn-lecnk tear down. The impeller diff and materials vs asetek is impressive. Pretty much a great unit all around.

I ended up getting both the Freezer II 360 and 280 to see which one was better. In my testing the 280 was the better one. The sound at max rpm was about the same but the 280 consistently cooled better by a few degrees. It will be interesting to see the results if a 'proper' reviewer does a more exhaustive test of both.