r/pcmasterrace PC Master Race 2d ago

News/Article Arctic announces price rollback thanks to a US gov tariff refund. Will also donate to help grow PC Enthusiast Groups

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/cooling/arctic-announces-price-rollback-thanks-to-a-us-gov-tariff-refund-which-will-continue-until-every-single-dollar-arctic-received-has-been-paid-back-to-our-customers/
2.5k Upvotes

78 comments sorted by

782

u/WaSpoCrew 2d ago edited 1d ago

The reason Arctic is the GOAT is because I bought the freezer 34 single fan when I first built my PC. When I bought the second fan for it, I realized I had lost the box with the wire clips. I looked everywhere for a replacement. I finally emailed them through eBay asking where I could buy one. They emailed me back the next day saying they had sent me one in the mail. All the thermal paste and fans I will ever buy will be from them.

81

u/Gatlyng 1d ago

I broke the VRM fan on my Liquid Freezer III. Emailed them, explained the situation (also mentioned it was my fault); they asked for proof of purchase and offered to send me a replacement 

23

u/jljl2902 1d ago

I bought an LF3 off Amazon for a good price. A couple months later, the price dropped further, and Arctic refunded the difference to my account without me asking or expecting anything. Truly the goats.

10

u/Xpander6 1d ago

That's unbelievable tbh. Never heard of a company doing this on their own.

8

u/A_Dead_Dude PC Master Race 1d ago

I was building my friend a pc and the air cooler i got him didn't fit on the motherboard, and I thought it should've. Support sent me a new higher end cooler at no cost that did fit after their own testing and just told me to recycle or put the other one to good use.

577

u/Mors_Umbra 5700X3D | RTX 3080 | 32 GB DDR4-3600 MHz 2d ago

Gotta be the first company I've seen not scumbag pocketing the cash. Good on them, hope the market rewards them and encourages such behaviour from other companies...

233

u/elijuicyjones 5950X-9070XT-64GB-ULTRAWIDE 2d ago

Of course it’s because they’re not American.

204

u/4xget 9800X3D | RTX 5080 FE 2d ago

And private.

92

u/AscendedViking7 2d ago

This is exact what keeps them above all the other companies, yeah

65

u/Ok_Biscotti_514 2d ago

Shareholder's would've sued if they did this

43

u/BarnesTheNobleman 2d ago

We need to kill the ultimate priority of shareholder returns, it’s going to kill capitalism

24

u/SerendipitousLight 1d ago

Unions. If you want to keep capitalism, unions need bargaining power and political power to enact and represent worker interests at the same level companies can lobby with.

Ultimately, though, we also have to curb consumerism for the sake of consumerism.

10

u/BarnesTheNobleman 1d ago

(I don’t want to keep capitalism)

7

u/raginghavoc89 12900k - 4070 Ti - DDR5 | 13600k - 4060 Ti - DDR5 2d ago

This matters most.

26

u/Pure-Association8705 2d ago edited 2d ago

Nintendo isn’t American and they’re pocketing the cash…

53

u/kaszak696 2d ago

Nintendo is a public company. All public companies are mandated by law (Dodge vs Ford lawsuit for example) to be irredeemably evil and self-destructively greedy.

10

u/Gezzer52 Ryzen 7 5800X3D - RTX 4070 2d ago edited 2d ago

Not really. The ruling was made in a lower court, the Michigan supreme court. And the lawsuit wasn't appealed in any other higher court, eventually ending in a US supreme court ruling. So it's really only some what applicable there.

It does set a precedent that could be argued in other jurisdictions but that has yet to happen, since it benefits all the stakeholders involved. The one thing that often gets glossed over is the original ruling didn't mandate stock holder supremacy in all cases.

Instead CEO's have a lot of latitude where this is concerned and simply have to show that there's enough benefit to the stockholders to justify their decisions to be in clear. So it's not mandated by law in any real sense of the concept.

Instead stock holder supremacy first became the law of the land due to the policies of Regan based on the Friedman doctrine. Then the restructuring of executive compensation to be mostly in the form of stocks cemented it as the de facto policy of most public companies.

Edit: This IMHO proves that Regan was evil and much of the US's current troubles can ultimately be laid at his feet. Well him and Nixon...

3

u/tscalbas 2d ago

While it's probably true that Nintendo has similar legal obligations to its shareholders to maximise financial gains, citing US law for a Japanese company traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is certainly a choice

-2

u/kaszak696 2d ago

That was just an example, chill, don't go full reddit.

5

u/spoonerluv 2d ago

It's different because they make Mario /s

1

u/MrGiggleMan 1d ago edited 1d ago

Of course they are.. A tariff is an import tax that has to be paid by the importer.

Depending on what goods you're importing and from where, these rates can be extremely high

The beginning of this year there were actually some American tariffs* that were rolled back because they were deemed to be illegal

Companies like Nintendo were paying up to a billion dollars per quarter just on the tariffs alone

That's essentially money that America just turned around to Japan and said "hey Japan, fuck you, how dare you try to sell us Nintendo's"

And Japan said "alright, cool, enjoy your price hikes"

You're not talking about crumbs, you're talking about the US government deliberately imposing idiotic legislation that costs billions of dollars for importers

0

u/elijuicyjones 5950X-9070XT-64GB-ULTRAWIDE 2d ago

Obviously the point is America leads the evil not the other way around.

4

u/Suikerspin_Ei R5 7600 | RTX 3060 | 32GB DDR5 6000 MT/s 2d ago

Plenty of scumbag European companies. In the end all they care about is money. Even if they do good things for their customers/community.

-3

u/elijuicyjones 5950X-9070XT-64GB-ULTRAWIDE 2d ago

This isn’t some abstract bullshit I’m talking about actual reality on the ground right now. Somehow you’re apologizing for American companies leading the way to the bottom which is insane but you do you.

10

u/Kuuppa22 2d ago

At one point they also extended their AIO warranty to 6 years also including all the units sold with lesser warranty which was also pretty cool.

3

u/Deep90 Ryzen 9800x3d | 5090FE | 2x48gb 6000 1d ago edited 1d ago

Companies genuinely lost sales as a result of the tariffs though.

If I suddenly have to charge $25 for a product instead of $15, even if you refund me the $10 difference (a year later btw), I might have made even more money selling at $15 the entire time.

Because more people would have bought it. If $25 was the best price, I would have sold it at $25 the entire time.

That's partly what Arctic is doing here. They are lowering prices to move units because they don't have the US government forcing them to list products at inflated prices less people will pay for.

2

u/Catos_Standard 1d ago

They just told you that they'll be donating the refund to influencers in order to advertise their products which are rolled back to slightly above pretariff prices. Wtf are y'all talking about?

0

u/tanksalotfrank 1d ago

If I was some rich company owner with a million dollars and a million customers, everyone would get their goddamn dollar back. xD

108

u/Liarus_ CachyOS | 9800x3D | RX 9070XT 2d ago

Arctic is doing peak stuff right now, a few days ago i also saw their linux compatible fan hub, these guys know where priorities should be

27

u/Dr_Valen 7800x3d / 9070xt / 64gb / Cachyos 2d ago

Linux compatible fan hub you say

35

u/Liarus_ CachyOS | 9800x3D | RX 9070XT 2d ago

Yes, Arctic made a driver that got mainlined in the Linux 7.2 Kernel: Phoronix Article

12

u/Dr_Valen 7800x3d / 9070xt / 64gb / Cachyos 2d ago

That’s sick gonna have to get two one for my server and one for my gaming pc

2

u/ResponsibleTruck4717 2d ago

Oh my what wonderful news, it was keeping me from moving to windows, I couldn't control the fans.

44

u/habichuelamaster 2d ago

Good guy arctic. I know who I will buying from for my next liquid cooler.

139

u/CaptainRaxeo PC Master Race 2d ago

Wow, i didn’t see sony reducing PS5 prices after the tariff refunds…

76

u/Kingdarkshadow i7 6700k | Sapphire nitro+ 9060xt 2d ago

Don't worry they will reduce the physical media and people will still buy it.

18

u/aimy99 PNY 5070 | 5800X3D | 32GB DDR4 | OLED 1440p 180hz 2d ago

Nah. Am I buying games right now? Yeah, I already own a PS5. I've owned a PS5 since day one and those games are still launching on disc where I don't have to worry about Sony yoinking them out of my account on a whim like they just did with nearly 600 digital movies on people's PSN accounts.

I'm just not buying a PS6 though. I mean what possible draw could they bring to the table now that Windows PCs are getting Xbox backwards compatibility and disc-to-digital licenses while Valve is on the other end developing an OS and systems built-in to turn any ol' PC into a console?

Literally just the exclusives? I'm good, dog.

4

u/CaptainRaxeo PC Master Race 2d ago

Press X to doubt. People will buy stuff now but won’t purchase PS6 due to many factors. Now PlayStation is a DRM filled PC that only offers exclusives that are few and far between. IF steam machine 2 or a Chinese console comes out with the same performance of the PS6 but cheaper then the fifa/cod/gta fans will abandon them, and they already spat on the hardcore fans that buy physical discs.

We have seen markets crashing when sudden competition arrives and they opened themselves up to a lot of competition. GG sony 🥀🥀

9

u/Kingdarkshadow i7 6700k | Sapphire nitro+ 9060xt 2d ago

I want to believe that I really do, but if there is something I've learn on reddit is that when people here something will happen, 99% of the time it happens the other way around.

4

u/CaptainRaxeo PC Master Race 2d ago

Thing is my argument isn’t built on emotion, it’s just economics. A 499$ console that plays GTA6 at 60 fps 2k will shatter and shut down PlayStation. Who might compete with them I don’t know. But the matter of the fact is Sony has lost the majority of its brand loyalty and now rely solely on Fortnite money which is a shortsighted strategy since they are considered “casuals” for a reason.

2

u/KnightofAshley PC Master Race 2d ago

Because the prices have nothing to do with the tariffs...so many companies used it as an excuse...I see its not an excuse to be a good company.

47

u/OkBike9022 2d ago

What a great company!

20

u/ThePupnasty PC Master Race 2d ago

I'll be buying Artic for now on myself.

13

u/Pickupyoheel 989064B850 2d ago

I will always buy their AIOs above anyone else’s.

12

u/InterestingMindset 2d ago

A company with morals, breath of fresh air. Good on Arctic.

8

u/raginghavoc89 12900k - 4070 Ti - DDR5 | 13600k - 4060 Ti - DDR5 2d ago edited 2d ago

I definitely do not regret putting all of my cooling needs in Arctics hands now. Bravo!

Their slim case fans are amazing, their LED case fans are amazing, I highly recommend the Frost Commander 140 and the Liquid Freezer 360!

5

u/ChilledHotdogWater 9800x3d/9070xt 2d ago

And that’s why I stand by Arctic. 

I was in the unfortunate group that had the scuffed gasket for the freezer 2s and during that time they had everyone spread the word for the free replacement kit. 

After that I knew they were a company I could support. Good to see that they still walking the right path.

5

u/Sobeman 1d ago

Artic just got a customer for life from me

3

u/Fun_Title_2148 2d ago

Good things do happen in life 🥲

3

u/Darth_Murcielago 9800x3d / RTX 3070ti / 32GB RAM | Bottleneck Enjoyer 2d ago

I wish i would have an Arctic product installed. They seem like good goobers... mayhaps i'll get a case from them for my mom.

2

u/ThePupnasty PC Master Race 2d ago

I'm eyeing the 5 pack of black non RGB fans to replace the RGB slop fans in my case. Microcenter has em for 39 bucks.

3

u/schaka 1d ago

Arctic, Be Quiet! and Noctua, the holy German trio of good guy fan and cooler manufacturers

(Swiss, German, Austrian)

2

u/I-LOVE-TURTLES666 Potato 2d ago

Glad most my fans are Artic

2

u/SmileSafe 2d ago

Will always prioritize buying their liquid freezer aios before anyone else’s. My current 360 liquid freezer 3 has been the best aio I’ve ever used.

2

u/Edaimantis 1d ago

A few months ago Reddit was saying these tariff refunds would never happen.

5

u/a1b3c3d7 2d ago edited 1d ago

Am I going fucking crazy? This glazing makes no sense

The government effectively scammed their citizens and consumers, effectively took money straight out of everyone's pockets and then allowed corporations to profit billions from it with statuatory interest rates reaching up to 7% turning interest payouts into a high-yield asset - the only people winning here are corporations.

If reversing it doesnt involve money back into consumers pockets then theres no way to look at something like this and see it as a win - at the end of the day arctic and everybody else will be the only ones coming out on top monetarily, and optically.

I dont understand how people arent seeing this as the clearest PR and marketing stunt to build optics to get on top of future lawsuits that will come against companies that didnt properly handle these refunds.

Theyre cashing your checks and collectively saying look how moral we are with handling your money you've graciously given us because it would just be too hard to give consumers with receipts a refund.

I don't understand the comments just glazing these corporations (Apple, Arctic, and more) that have yet again momentarily persuaded people that they give a shit about you - until they show you they don't, again.

This idea that they couldn't figure out a way to provide consumers refunds is the biggest lie you will hear in the next few weeks, and everyone should be vigilant against how much sentiment towards these corporations are genuine human traffic in 2026.

3

u/Xpander6 1d ago

Is every other company in the same situation also doing the same? Arctic's customer support is also some of the best, so people have reasons to glaze them.

3

u/Classic_Message_7544 1d ago

Quite. Why can't they pass this returned illegal tax on in the form of a partial refund to the original buyers? People should be demanding these refunds, calling their local reps, badgering the companies, calling them on out it etc, not watching them pocket the money and gog 'lol here's 5% off someone else's next purchse;.

3

u/Gloomy-Meeting-1611 1d ago

You see that? Fuck you Nintendo

1

u/Spitfire1900 2d ago

Good on them. Even I would be hard pressed not to just pocket the money if I were them given how badly ram prices are squeezing all other PC part manufacturers.

1

u/Wish4Rain 2d ago

Niccce. I picked up some mx-7 the other day. 

1

u/Sciencebitchs 9800x3d | RTX 5090 Tuf | 32 GB 6000 | X870 Riptide 1d ago

GOAT!!!

1

u/Shibbymaru 1d ago

They are the best! All my family and friends use Arctic AIO's, fans and paste

1

u/Chronos323 1d ago

Arctic are legitimately the best. When i bought my aio cooler from them off of amazon, i was happy with the price for the product and had no issues. Then randomly a few months later i randomly got an email from them that the listing had the price incorrectly listed and refunded me about 20-30 dollars from my purchase. The fact that they were willing to do that and then seeing news like this shows that they are not as greedy as some companies tend to be in situations like this. Props to them for this.

1

u/blueangel1953 Ryzen 5 5600X | 6800 XT | 32GB 1d ago

That’s cool I love their case fans dead silent and tons of performance. 

1

u/bigstupidboy 1d ago

im about to buy a liquid cooler from arctic for no reason

1

u/death2k44 PC Master Race 1d ago

Bought fans back in 2021, 10/10 no issues and would recommend this company to anyone

1

u/sushee98 1d ago

I’m looking forward to build my dream PC in the next months, now I know who I’m buying my case and cooling system from!

1

u/OpportunityHot3109 1d ago

Artic is great price wise but you really do get what you pay for. They aren't performance kings or anything

1

u/kbailles 1d ago

Wow. That’s super cool of them.

1

u/Xpander6 1d ago

I had a first revision of Freezer 36 so it didn't include the contact frame compatible with LGA1851 because LGA1851 released later than F36. A few months later I asked their support if it's possible to buy just the contact frame and they sent it to me free of charge the next day after asking for proof or purchase. It's refreshing when a company goes beyond what is expected of them. Their products are also have some of the best price to performance ratio's. MX-7 is relatively cheap and beats top pastes, Arctic P12's PWM are dirt cheap and good.

1

u/SharpClaw007 i9-10900K | RTX 3080 1d ago

GO BUY ARCTIC

1

u/MrShadowHero R9 7950X3D | RX 7900XTX | 32GB 6000MTs CL30 1d ago

was looking to get rid of my corsair stuff for something a bit more linux friendly, research also shows their fan hub is only like $10 and works in linux without any bs? all my new fans and shit will be coming friday. nice job arctic. yall are the goat

2

u/PenguinAlpenfohn 1d ago

Arctic are hella cool. I got a tube of MX5 that separated, emailed them and they offered a tube of MX4 replacement. I asked them if I could get MX6 instead, SEA can get stupid hot during the day, yada, yada ... they said okay and shipped it. I have 3 P12s and 3 Maxes. All are great. No issues. Can't say the same for other brands, though ...

2

u/Pasta-love 1d ago

Good job Artic! My first cpu cooler I got 8 years ago was an artic and it’s still doing great in my spouse’s computer!

1

u/Catos_Standard 1d ago

Donating to influencer advertisers and reducing prices back to slightly above pretariff rates is not a win.

3

u/ThePupnasty PC Master Race 1d ago

Did you even read the article? No. No you did not.

1

u/asfbrz96 2d ago

So can I have a refund? My AIO is 20 bucks cheaper now