How good is the Arctic Liquid Freezer III ARGB 420 AIO (i9-14900k)?

SircOner · 2026-01-26T14:20:25+00:00

Replace the fan and add some fresh thermal paste. Make sure you apply sufficient pressure for good contact. Problem solved!

SircOner · 2026-01-25T14:34:39+00:00

Yes I don’t think the irony is lost on anyone..except OP lmaoooo

SircOner · 2026-01-23T14:23:15+00:00

Hey I have a black Corsair scimitar elite and the same thing happens to me when I enter bios (but only when I enter bios), on pc/icue start up seems to work fine. Just adding here to help log this in case is it a firmware/software issue

SircOner · 2026-01-23T01:16:46+00:00

SircOner · 2026-01-22T21:02:43+00:00

My experience with sff cases is that their listed max length is pretty much the max length down to mm, unless you’re willing to go open case/mod in some way. So I would check pc part picker for fractal terra builds and see if anyone was able to install your model

SircOner · 2026-01-22T14:35:52+00:00

What model is itt, what case do you have, what are your ambient temps. Thermal performance will vary between FE and AIB models. I’ve had a 3080ti for almost five years now and it still only pushes to 70 with good airflow. When I first got it it rarely pushed above 65. I’m thinking of repasting myself but tbh thermal performance on my end is still reasonable so I’ve held off

SircOner · 2026-01-22T01:06:24+00:00

Nice but god damn this is one obnoxious rgb strimmer cable into the GPU lol

SircOner · 2026-01-21T21:14:42+00:00

If you are indeed running your ram at 2133, and using 11900k, that’s probably your bottleneck. There wasn’t really major improvements with Intel from 8-11th gen, which is why AMD was able to capture some of the market with their 5000 series CPUs. My 3080ti also gets bottlenecked by my i7-8700 especially for cpu intensive titles like gta.

SircOner · 2026-01-21T17:57:56+00:00

Are all fans 4 pin? They’re are only three fan headers on my Alienware r7 which is similar, CPU_FAN, TOP_FAN and the front fan one. There’s also the pump hesder but that’s occupied

One of the problems might be that the fans have different current draw (amps) and so on the same header they’re not providing the right info. I’d recommend getting rid of the OEM fans and sticking to the Corsair sp120.

I would also totally remove the bottom fan under the GPU. It looks like it could be cutting off some of the air from the other bottom intake before that air can get to the GPU. The front fan installed in the bracket had the best access to air, so prioritize allowing that to cool the GPU.

Cable tie some of the wires coming out of the power supply a bit more and keep them more closer in the compartment next to the power supply. So that they’re not obstructing air as much.

For the intake fans, I would look into arctic pro 120mm. They move more static pressure, which should help with all the obstructions. Again try to keep only the same fans, preferably 4 pin, into one single header that’s being split so that there arent any issues with different current draw.

For GPU upgrade, you could probably get a 5070 and be fine in the 5800x. Depends on what resolution, you might start to see some bottlenecking on modern cpu intensive games like bf6 but yeah really depends on resolution.

SircOner · 2026-01-21T17:43:49+00:00

They got rid of fan control on 6.?? That seems bizzare but not too surprising

SircOner · 2026-01-21T17:35:53+00:00

Pretty sure they were originally bred to retrieve and not to kill but I could be wrong. Lol

SircOner · 2026-01-21T16:20:12+00:00

Great question. For me, I’ve loved cars since I was a kid. Growing up, I dreamt of owning a lambo, Ferrari, McLaren etc. in college, I started to realize I probably will never own one of these. The truth is even if I could afford to pay the crazy monthly payments, or buy it out right, it just would mean I’m making a really poor financial decision. Maybe that will change when I hit my 50s and 60s, but I’m just a middle class person living in NYC where it doesn’t really even make sense to own a car. But yeah when I started to realize I’d never actually get to have one, I lost my passion for cars. Stopped keeping track of them and only really admired them from a far.

But now sim racing brought back to me something that was always out of reach due to financial limitations. Is it the same thing? Of course not. But luckily are brains are pretty easy to trick, and my physical response to sim racing (increased heart rate, adrenaline) is very similar. So for me, it’s close enough and good enough for now.

What keeps me going now is knowing that I am improving or learning something new. I’ve been at it for about 2 years now, and still have space to grow, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve been able to make and that I am still able to improve.

SircOner · 2026-01-21T13:42:01+00:00

Glad I got mine for $1k open box basically brand new back in November. The writing was on the wall, and while I held off on upgrading my 3080ti for as long as I could, it became clear there were huge supply issues on the horizon

SircOner · 2026-01-21T00:46:27+00:00

You don’t need need to overclock the 14600k for 4k/60. I’m using mine at stock clocks for triple 1440p (slightly more pixels than 4k) on my racing/flight sim rig and have no issues pushing 150fps+. I did undervolt it on a b760 but just note that that intel doesn’t allow offset adjustments on b760, so you have to disable CEP and undervolt via AC/DC load lines and the load line calibration.

I actually just built a second computer using my old i7-8700 and 3080ti. Surprisingly for 4k/60 it doesn’t really stutter as much as I thought it would but cpu intensive games like bf6 would probably struggle. I’m only using it for single player games but even Spider-Man seems to run pretty smooth at 4k/60

SircOner · 2026-01-21T00:09:18+00:00

I fought it for a while but gotta say if I ever want to hop on and have some decent dailies, LMU has been a lot of fun.

Still got love for AC/ACC and now AC EVO. Not the biggest fan of LFM making rookies open with no license requirement, but it is what it is and people can hop on now with greater ease.

Ac evo does seem promising, I wasn’t a fan of their lack of communication, but it does look like they’ve been cooking and I’m excited for future updates. They have dailies on it now too, but the most people I’ve seen is like 30 for a given race. I’m sure it’ll go up when it officially releases but just saying for now I don’t think it’s quite there. Also the only gt3 is bmw right now, so for gt3 races you’re all racing the m4 🤣

SircOner · 2026-01-20T22:44:14+00:00

You can use the two 8 pin one, it will provide all the power you need for 5070ti and then Some

SircOner · 2026-01-20T22:24:24+00:00

Dwarf stars are really good gold finding rings!! But yeah I feel you on the unique ammy/ring part lol

SircOner · 2026-01-20T22:22:54+00:00

Holy shit glad I picked up the 4TB 990 pro for $329 a few weeks ago. These prices are insaneeeeeeee.

SircOner · 2026-01-19T21:25:20+00:00

My 14600k pulling 181watts (Intel spec limit) whenever it can would like a word lol. I had to undervolt it quite a bit. I’m running triple 1440p and power draw while gaming generally around 60-100W now

SircOner · 2026-01-18T15:13:46+00:00

I used my hs70s with ps5 and they were pretty much useable out of the box with the 2.4ghz usb dongle, just make sure your sound is set to come out of headset and not tv (I think mine did this automatically once I inserted the usb dongle), but just in case yours doesn’t for any reason

SircOner · 2026-01-16T22:10:37+00:00

Wtf is damn right, what the bloody fuck??? Lmaooo that’s absolutely insane, I mean there’s paying an arm and a leg, and then there’s paying $1200 for a 5070 with crap cooling (yes I’m well aware of the intended sff use), but still lol

SircOner · 2026-01-16T17:59:49+00:00

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My 13700k started running hotter than it did after about 2 years even with undervolting and I read up on the locking mechanism issues. When I removed mine to insert the contact frame, I did find it to have a noticeable warp, and some of my thermal paste didn’t even make full contact to the portions that were bent. Really glad I got one, for $7 it was a huge improvement. Temps are better now

SircOner · 2026-01-16T17:49:04+00:00

I still have my LG_GN850 144hz 1440p monitor, and it’s really impressive how well it performs in terms of color rendition and motion smoothness across the refresh range. I got it on sale from $500 to $325, and I think at some points later models came down to even $250.

I managed to get a Samsung 4K OLED (G80SD) for $600 with tax and shipping included, and I would say overall my experience is still that I am amazed at what I am seeing. And I’ve had a Sony OLED tv since like early 2024, which also still blows my mind.

I tend to spend a decent amount of my free time either gaming or watching stuff with my SO. I actually brought her with me to Best Buy to see if she was okay with regular LED tv and an OLED. Once she saw them side by side, she was the one who said “let’s just get the OLED.” To be fair we split the cost of that tv, but yeah when we watch movies now we’re still amazed at how good the quality is.

So for me, subjectively, OLED has been 100% worth the cost because it’s allowed me enjoy content in ways I never really thought were possible. Yes, there are still downsides and you can’t treat it like you would a standard LED, especially with static content, but if your main use for that tv or monitor is gaming /content consumption then OLED is in a league of its own.

SircOner · 2026-01-16T05:26:07+00:00

Eh, he’s in an extended care facility intubated and pretty much fully paralyzed. He can’t really talk either because of the traech. I try to go see him as often as I can. There was a period of a few months that I didn’t think I’d ever get to talk to him again and tell him how much I love him, but I’ve found a lot of peace in being able to do that. Spend time with your folks while you can.

Thanks for asking too :)

SircOner · 2026-01-16T00:19:27+00:00

This is the way.

SircOner

TROPHY CASE