ID-Cooling Frostflow 120L AIO CPU Cooler Review

Introduction I'm sure a lot of our readers haven't heard of ID-Cooling before, as they've been a dominant brand in eastern markets for a while, even doing a lot of OEM work for other brands. However, all that is quickly changing and they're new products have been pinging our radar for a while now and gaining interest in the PC building community, so we couldn't wait to put them to the test. Their latest AIO water cooler is the Frostflow 120L, perfect for those who want to take an adventure into water cooling, without the headaches or the high-cost and maintenance of custom loop cooling. The 120L is reasonably well equipped, with a 120mm radiator and fan design, which ensures compatibility with a huge amount of chassis products, a nice quality aluminium construction radiator, copper cold plate and a ceramic bearing pump. The packaging is pretty straight forward, with a clear image of the cooler and the LED lighting on the front, as well as a quick run-down of the main specifications. Around the back, a nice quote from ID-Cooling that gives a little more information about the product. In the box, you'll find all the things you need to get things installed. This includes high-quality mounting screws, a universal backplate, AMD and Intel brackets, as well as a small tube of thermal paste. The included fan is one of ID-Cooling's own designs, and that's no bad thing as this is one great looking fan! The fins have ridges to help better direct the airflow and there are rubber anti-vibration pads on each of the mounting corners. The fan comes fitted with a 4-pin PWM connector. The radiator is a slim design, which means it's likely not as well suited to high-end overclocking, but it does mean it'll be more compatible with compact chassis designs while only requiring a single fan to dissipate heat. The radiator isn't ugly, but it is a fairly standard all-black design and that means it should blend in with your build with ease. The tubing is really nice, with a tight weave coating that leaves it flexible, but very durable. The pump is nice and compact, with a stylish red LED array on the top and a small ID logo in the middle. The copper base plate is very nicely finished, with a large and flat contact surface that should fit nicely over your CPU of choice. The pipes are mounted using pivot fittings, allowing you more maneuverability and this should ease the installation process. Installation Installing the fan is a nice and easy job, just use the four included screws to fit it to the side of the radiator you prefer. Four retention screws pass through the socket-appropriate holes on the universal backplate. Two more screws fit the required AMD or Intel bracket to the pump. Place the backplate on the motherboard. Add four bolts to hold that in place; this can be done tool-free. Then use four thumb screws to mount the pump to the bracket; this can also be done tool-free. Once powered up, you get a cool LED effect on the pump, which sees a trail of red LEDs rotate around the edge of the pump. Test System and Methodology We always use the same test system and tests with CPU coolers that we compare against each other. The full specifications of our test system are as follows: Test system: ASUS P8Z77-V, LGA 1155 socket, Z77 chipset Intel Core i5 3570K with Gelid GC Extreme under the IHS 16GB Kingston 1866Mhz DDR3 128GB Kingston HyperX SSD Antec High Current Gamer 620W Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0 We’d like to say a big thank you to ASUS, Antec, Kingston, Cooler Master and Intel for providing components that makes this testing possible. Testing Methodology: We always use Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste to make sure testing reveals the efficiency of the tested coolers not the efficiency of the bundled thermal paste. Prime 95 is run for 10 minutes and then the average maximum temperatures as recorded by CPUID HWMonitor are noted The average temperature across the four cores is taken on our quad-core processor Fans are mostly left to operate at default PWM profile speeds and with maximum fan speed for reference.If PWM functions are not supported then fixed fan speeds are used and sometimes a low noise adapter if appropriate/provided. If fixed fan speeds or low noise adapters are used it will be clearly pointed out either on the graphs or in the write-up. All default result entries on graphs are for PWM performance unless otherwise specified. A variety of fan speed results are done for a particular product review and then removed from the graphs in future reviews of other products to avoid clutter. If you would like to see more fan speed results for a particular product please check its individual review. For watercooling tests all pumps have been operated at 12 volts directly from the power supply Delta temperatures are always used (Observed temperature minus ambient temperature) and we keep the ambient at 22 (+/- 1) degrees for all testing. Delta temperatures should correct for any marginal ambient differences between 21-23 degrees. Acoustic measurements are taken 10cm horizontally away from the CPU cooler with the VGA fan disabled, hard drive in idle and power supply isolated. These are taken at desktop idle and Prime95 load. The cooling performance tests are run at stock 3.4GHz (with Intel Turbo up to 3.8GHz) and overclocked 4.5GHz (1.35v) settings. Voltages are fixed to prevent inaccuracy between comparisons. All other coolers in the graphs have been tested under identical settings so are fully comparable. Each test is repeated 3 times with 3 remounts for consistency of results There is approximately a 1 degree celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software CPUID HW Monitor There is approximately a 1.5dBA margin of error with our Benetech GM1351 decibel meter Software Used CPUID HWMonitor Prime 95 In all these graphs we may have a few "reference" results of particular products that do not fit within that category for comparative purposes. Performance Stock performance on the 120L is pretty decent, with low idle temperatures, and competitive performance at load. Even when overclocked, the 120L does a respectable job of cooling the CPU, beating out the much more expensive Fractal Design T12, which is also a 120mm AIO cooler. ID-Cooling clearly know how to make a good fan, as the 120L was whisper quiet even when under load. The same was true even when overclocked, beating out many competing water coolers when it comes to keeping quiet. As a bonus, I couldn't hear any noise from the pump either. Final Thoughts Price The ID-Cooling 120L AIO Water Cooler is available from ID-Cooling's own eBay page here in the UK, for a very reasonable £41.99, and that's a seriously good price for this kind of water cooling hardware. Overview I've had reasonably high expectations of the ID-Cooling range, having seen their products at several trade shows and heard positive things from others within the industry. Fortunately for ID-Cooling, the 120L didn't disappoint, delivering good performance both in terms of cooling and acoustics. The build quality on this unit is surprisingly high given its price range. The plastic housing on the pump feels a bit cheap, but I've no concerns that it's going to fall apart anytime soon. The radiator is nicely finished and I really like the tight weave coating on the hoses, as that will certainly help with durability while also adding to the aesthetics. The real stand out part for me, however, is the high-quality fan. It's really nice to see a fan that not only looks great, but also performs really well at this price range. The design is pleasing, with a good mixture or black and red, something that fits with a huge range of gaming hardware that is already on the market. Sure it's a little well-worn in terms of colour schemes, but it's still wildly popular and easy to colour match. The red LED lighting in the pump is a nice touch too, giving a little visual flair to the overall design. In terms of price, the 120L is a hard deal to beat. It's cheaper than most competitors solutions, just as well (if not better) made, and it has reliable mid-range water cooling performance that'll have no issues dealing with an overclocking processor on a gaming system. Pros Good build quality Quiet fans Silent pump Stylish fan design Cool LED lighting effect Good performance Competitive price Cons None "The ID-Cooling 120L may have a budget-friendly price tag, but the build quality, performance and style are anything but. This is one of the best value water coolers we've ever tested and would make a great addition to any system build." Thank you ID-Cooling for providing us with this sample.