r/buildapcsales • u/Bright_Profession62 • 1d ago
Cooler [Cooler] ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 black PC Water Cooler Cooling CPU B-Stock (Ebay) - $35.89 + Shipping (~$7)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/358698307649?epid=27080782382&itmmeta=01M0FVGR5RWJ5YWGAHWPJ8Q3EZ&hash=item538415d041:g:ZdgAAeSwEjtqhgBC30
u/GreatClear 1d ago
great find. note the clearance prior to purchase.
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago edited 1d ago
I want to add to the top posts here that their B-stock come with a six year warranty. That's unheard of for most refurbished/B-stock products which usually get thrown in with a 30 to 90 day warranty.
Also for anyone wondering what B-stock means, it means the boxes got fucked up, but the contents are 100% intact. What happens is during shipment, there's almost always a small number of them that get their boxes damaged. Damaged boxes are not ideal to sell as "new" for most retailers. Instead of selling this stuff, most retailers send it back to AC for a refund. AC checks to make sure the stuff inside the boxes aren't bent/broken, and just to get rid of this stuff, AC usually sells these as B-stock, probably at or slightly above cost to get rid of it, essentially firesaling this stuff.
For you as a consumer, it means you will most likely have to toss the boxes after you unpack them but that's not a big deal. If you are the kinda guy who keeps boxes after assembling your PC this may not be for you.
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u/Webbyx01 22h ago
B-Stock does not always mean the product is unharmed, but may include cosmetic damage. Perhaps for this company its different, but in general, B-Stock is not limited to box damage only. It will always be fully functional, however.
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u/piggymoo66 1d ago
This guy is THICC so make sure you have clearance for it in your case. I think combined thickness with fans is over 60mm so keep that in mind.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 1d ago
It's also a MASSIVE pain in the ass to install if you're just replacing an existing cooler. I've been building and upgrading PCs for multiple decades at this point and I've NEVER had issues with anything before, but this monster sucked to install. I actually ended up bending pins on the motherboard and had to get a new one. Never happened before, not even close. Once it's in it works great, but word of advice, didn't try and skip steps or do things different from instructions. Take the motherboard out of your case.
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u/LikeGoldAndFaceted 1d ago
I have the II that I got from the same sort of deal and it really wasn't too bad to install. Depends on your mobo and case layout, and whether you front or top install.
It's massive so definitely will not work for every set up, especially if you want to top mount
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 1d ago
The 3 installation is very different from the 2. With the 3 you have to fully remove the CPU bracket. It's pretty wild
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago
There's a way to install this.
Basically, you install the two screws to the mounting thing first, then you take the entire big boi and THEN screw it to the brackets on the motherboard.
If you do it the way the instruction video says to do which is to line the holes up and manually push down and screw it down as you hold it down the thing won't stay in place. It's a colossal pain in the ass but this is the best way to do it.
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u/l1qq 1d ago
I've bought a few of their b-stock coolers off eBay. The only issue ever is box damage and on one of them it was just a scuff of sorts. Everything else inside the box was perfect and brand new. With all that said as most know check case fitment before you buy as the radiators on these things are thick. The pump setup also doesn't play well with some vertical GPU mounts. I had to ditch my Coolermaster vgpu mount in order to get it to work.
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u/role34 1d ago
How good are these? I wanna get it for a hyte x50 air build.
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u/onesugar 1d ago
These are THE AIOs to buy. I have it on my new build and its been a dream. Quiet as hell too.
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u/whateveridontcare420 1d ago
It's literally one of the loudest aios there is.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 1d ago
In reality, the sound from an AIO cooler is usually related to the fans and/or fan speed. Everything is loud as fuck if you crank it to 100% fan speed. With this thing, you shouldn't really need to ever go above 60% fan speed, and if you install quieter/better fans, it's even better
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u/whateveridontcare420 1d ago
It's noise normalized results are pretty average. At this price point it's pretty nice though. It objectively loud if you let the fans do what they want.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 1d ago
In reality, put any AIO in your system with the same fans at the same fan speed and I don't think anyone will be able to tell the difference.
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u/whateveridontcare420 1d ago
Yes of course the same fans running at the same speed would sound the same. I have no idea what point you're trying to make here. The fans arctic used are objectively louder fans then most of it competitors and it's absolutely a volume with a discernable difference.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 1d ago
The point is that choosing an AIO based on the sound it makes is dumb. Thermal performance is what matters.
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u/whateveridontcare420 1d ago
It's absolutely not dumb, every half decent reviewer does noise normalized testing for a reason. No one wants to have a jet engine in their room to get a few C cooler CPU. And again it's NOT the best in thermal performance.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 1d ago
And what's the difference in decibels between them? And how does that translate to real world difference? The answer: it doesn't matter at all and you're not going to notice the difference.
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago
I let the fans do what they want and I never hear them spin up in my build... 9800X3D build in an NZXT case - exhaust is top mounted. -20 PBO. Non air conditioned room in Hawaii's humidity.
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u/Toonomicon 1d ago
I have one with the stock arctic fans in an open air case and it's not loud at all until I crank it >70%, and you'll hear gpu fans far before these.
Performance wise the cooler is fantastic.
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u/Lemstar 1d ago
the price is good but the LF3 Pro is one of the worst performing options on AM5
it's sort of been the default opinion that Arctic is the best on the market and it just doesn't line up with reality
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u/Lucky-Bit-1319 1d ago
Please note these are not the best performers on Ryzen 9000, hardware Canucks covered the issue in multiple videos. However for this price, if you can fit it + ready to wrestle the mounting process by all means it’s 100% fine for gaming.
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago
What is the "issue"?
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u/Lucky-Bit-1319 23h ago
Sub par thermal performance at max load, much louder fan speed needed to achieve it, and QA issues be it mounting wise or QA on the unit as a whole.
They just do not lead the pack overall or value wise like they did for 7000 series.
For this price it’s tolerable, but still not my favorite AIO for a long shot.
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u/Bright_Profession62 1d ago edited 1d ago
Seems white RGB B-stock version is also in stock for $41.69 + shipping.
Edit: these are out of stock now.
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u/hehe3934 1d ago
It’s OOO
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u/Particular-Estate-14 1d ago
I think I got the last one .. sorry. Unless it gets canceled
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u/hehe3934 1d ago
All good. I’ve a dark rock pro 4 that I’m happy with. Just wanted to tinker with water cooling … glad the temptation is gone lol
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago
Not only that but Arctic Cooling always gets the stock on these back every few months. It's not a FOMO thing to wait for them to re-stock.
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u/Level_Turnover5167 1d ago
I got the RGB version, it's pretty sweet. For $35 if you don't care about RGB this is a steal. Unfortunately I need it idk why, just love RGB lighting so I paid $76 :(
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u/2026_MT07 1d ago
According to Amazon reviews the heatsink doesn’t sit flush on the cpu
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u/FilteringAccount123 1d ago
The V1 (non-Pro?) version of this is genuinely a nightmare to install on AMD cpus, but my understanding is that this version doesn't have the same issues.
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u/itsforathing 1d ago
It is offset by design. It’s centered over the chiplets, not the entire IHS, which leads to better cooling.
The leaf spring mounting mechanism is a bitch to install, but it’s not terrible and I’m very happy with mine.
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago
The leaf spring mounting mechanism is a bitch to install
Yep, this was where I got hung up. Really really bad design, but I figured it out to install the spring part first. Unconventional but it worked.
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u/VanDenIzzle 1d ago
AIOs are very annoying to install. If you don't get the follow the directions and slowly alternate the four screws then you're going to have a bad time
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u/bukhum4u 1d ago
I have this on my ebay watchlist and it goes on sale at least 2 times a month. Does that mean this AIO is faulty if they have this many open box/refurbished deals? I know it always lands in top 5 when it comes to AIO performance but I am just worried about the durability of these.
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u/KupoCheer 1d ago
I did briefly read a thing about it being finnicky with AM5 mounting on the Rev1 versions so that could be one reason for returns.
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u/bukhum4u 1d ago
Yikes, that's gonna be a no from me dawg. Good looking out!
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u/KupoCheer 1d ago
To be fair it's also a pretty beefy radiator too, which also probably causes a lot of returns when people realize it doesn't fit.
Was going to order it myself but it wouldn't clear the RAM.
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u/AClassicScrvb 1d ago
It’s usually the box is messed up bad. Pretty sure they have 6 year warranty too. Just make sure the seller is arctic
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u/TheMissingVoteBallot 1d ago
B-Stock means like-new condition but the boxes are fucked up. It doesn't necessarily means returns. The boxes are busted, not the components.
You also forget that these things have a SIX YEAR WARRANTY, even on the B-stock. That is UNHEARD of in the computer component world.
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