Why This Cooler Stands Out In 2025
In a year where PC components seem to climb in price every month, finding real performance for a reasonable cost feels rare. That is exactly why the Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro has turned so many heads and earned a top spot in PC Gamer's Gear of the Year picks.
This all in one liquid cooler builds on the already popular Liquid Freezer III, which was widely recommended as one of the best value coolers around. Arctic could easily have pushed prices higher for the new Pro model. Instead, it delivers better performance while keeping the price surprisingly low, which is a big deal for anyone building or upgrading a gaming PC.
The Pro model was first shown at Computex, Taiwan's big tech show, where it immediately drew attention. Even at a glance, it looked like a serious step up, with a dense radiator, upgraded fans and more refined pump control. Once reviewers got it on the test bench, those impressions were confirmed.
Cooling Performance That Punches Above Its Price
The main job of any CPU cooler is simple: keep your processor from overheating so it can run fast and stable. The Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 does that job extremely well, even with demanding modern CPUs.
In testing, it handled high power chips like Intel's 14th Gen processors without breaking a sweat. These CPUs can pull a lot of watts and are known for running hot under heavy loads. The Arctic cooler kept temperatures under control, letting the chip maintain high boost clocks without throttling. When paired with more efficient processors such as AMD's Ryzen 9000 series, the cooler barely had to work hard at all, keeping temps comfortably low.
The secret sauce is a combination of an efficient pump, a high density radiator and the excellent P12 Pro fans. These fans are designed specifically for radiator use and are rated for a very high static pressure of 6.9 mm H2O at up to 3000 rpm. High static pressure helps push air through the tightly packed fins of the radiator, which means better heat transfer from the liquid to the air leaving your case.
At full speed the fans can get loud, which is expected at 3000 rpm. The good news is you rarely need to run them that fast. With some simple fan curve tuning in your motherboard BIOS or software, you can drop the speeds and noise while still keeping most of the cooling performance. That balance of power on tap and tunable acoustics is what makes the Liquid Freezer III Pro so flexible for different builds.
Against rivals, the P12 Pro competes with some of the best known 120 mm fans on the market. Options like Hyte's Thicc FP12 and Noctua's NF A12x25 G2 still have their strengths, especially at lower speeds, but those fans alone can cost a big chunk of what Arctic charges for an entire 360 mm AIO kit. When you compare performance per dollar, the Arctic setup is extremely hard to beat.
Price, Value And Why It Matters For PC Builders
Performance is only half the story. The reason this cooler stands out for many gamers and PC builders is its price. At around 90 dollars for the 360 mm version, you get serious cooling power that rivals much more expensive all in one units. If you want RGB, you only pay roughly 9 dollars more, and both versions have already seen discounts over time.
That kind of pricing is important in 2025. Many components like GPUs, high end CPUs, and even motherboards and cases have been creeping up in cost. It is easy to feel like every new product launch is just another excuse to charge more. The Liquid Freezer III Pro flips that story. It offers genuine improvements over its predecessor without a big price hike to go with them.
Arctic could have leaned on the success of the original Liquid Freezer III and joined the premium pricing trend. Instead, the company delivered a better cooler at roughly the same cost, undercutting a lot of the competition while still focusing on performance and build quality. For budget conscious gamers and enthusiasts, that sends a strong message.
In real builds this cooler opens up some great options. For example:
- Pair it with a power hungry Intel 14th Gen chip to keep boost clocks high in long gaming or rendering sessions.
- Use it with a more efficient Ryzen 9000 CPU for near silent operation and very low temps.
- Drop it into a mid range build and free up more of your budget for a faster GPU or larger SSD.
The 360 mm radiator will not fit every case, so you still need to check compatibility with your chassis. But if your case can handle a triple fan radiator, the Liquid Freezer III Pro gives you high end cooling at a mid range price, making it ideal for overclockers and gamers who want strong thermals without paying flagship money.
When PC Gamer looked back over the year for their Gear of the Year and Hardware Awards coverage, there were plenty of exciting cases, coolers and other components to consider. What pushed the Liquid Freezer III Pro to the front of the pack was not just raw performance, but the feeling that Arctic respected its customers. In a sea of rising prices and marketing buzzwords, this cooler simply focuses on doing the job better than before for about the same cost.
For anyone planning a new gaming rig or a major upgrade in 2025, the Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro deserves a serious look. It is a reminder that smart engineering and fair pricing can still win in the PC hardware world, and that is something every gamer can appreciate.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/cooling/i-know-ill-get-rinsed-by-rising-costs-somewhere-when-building-a-pc-but-my-favorite-product-this-year-was-one-of-a-few-things-that-didnt-ask-for-more-money/
