Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 64 Review

Admin - 2007-09-19 14:53:24 in Cooling
Category: Cooling
Reviewed by: Admin   
Reviewed on: September 20, 2007
: Arctic Cooling
: Arctic Cooling
Price: $19.99

Introduction:

Let's face it, most humans don’t like cold weather. Your fingers and toes get numb, you can’t just start your car and go in fear that your engine oil has gotten a little too thick and has lost viscosity. So what do you do? You sit and wait until the engine warms up, and now you have missed that important meeting. Now if I was talking to you about CPUs, we would be speaking about the exact opposite. CPUs love the cold, and the colder they are, the more you can tinker with them. There are a plethora of cooling options to choose from, including phase change and water cooling, but those alternatives can get expensive for the average Joe. Many of us seem to choose the less expensive alternative, which is a heatsink and fan.

Arctic Cooling is producing an alternative to the more expensive methods of cooling your CPU with its Freezer Pro 64, a heatsink and fan setup which also includes thermal compound. The Freezer Pro 64 was created to be used with AMD Athlon64 and Opteron systems.

“ARCTIC COOLING is a leader in creating thermal cooling solution for personal computer systems that enable CPU (Central Processing Unit), GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) and PC-case cooling while, reducing the noise level. ARCTIC COOLING has been working with globally recognized companies in the graphics industry i.e. ASUS, Sapphire, PowerColor, MSI. Through these partnerships ARCTIC COOLING is privileged in gaining latest know-how about graphics for developing new cooling solutions.”

 

Closer Look:

The heatsink comes packaged in a black box that clearly shows a picture of what’s inside and contains some specifications. I like the way the "C" in the Arctic Cooling logo surrounds the picture of the heatsink.

 

 

Closer Look:

Inside the box the heatsink is protected by a plastic shell. There is also an additional shell which surrounds the copper base that contains the pre-applied thermal compound.

 

 

 

 

The fan is actually connected to the fan guard by a plastic bracket and the fan guard is connected to the bracket by rubber mounts which act as shock and sound vibration absorbers.

 

The copper base of the structure contains a pre-applied thermal compound and has six heat pipes for heat transfer. The mounting clip can be easily secured with one finger once it is positioned on the mounting clip.

 

 

The body of the unit is constructed of aluminum fins, which are attached to the heat pipes. The power connector has four pins; the fourth actually controlling the fan speed through the PWM signal in your motherboard's BIOS.

 

There is also an instruction manual, and if you like stickers, one is supplied for your case.

Installation:

Installing the heatsink did not pose any problems. Once it is placed in the mounting clips of your motherboard, just turn the lever to the left and the heatsink secures itself to the motherboard.
Note: If you are using a MSI or a motherboard that has retention module, you will have to cut the outer two mounting holes in order to make the heatsink sit correctly on the mounting clip. For further information, please contact Arctic Cooling.

 

 

 

 

Specifications:

Heat Sink
104 x 58 x 126.5mm
Fan
107 x 43.5 x 96mm
Overall Dimensions
107 x 96.5 x 126.5mm
Rated Fan Speed
900-2200 RPM(PWM)
Bearing
Ceramic Bearing
Power Consumption
0.16 Amp
Air Flow
40 CFM / 68 m3/h
Weight
528 g
Noise Level
0.8 Sone
Thermal Resistance
0.18°C/Watt
Thermal Interface Material
Pre-applied MX-1 / MX-2 Paste
Warranty
6 Years

 

Features:

Application:

Extremely Quiet:

Powerful Cooling:

Integrated Cooling of Voltage Converters:

Patented Vibration Absorption:

Easy Installation:

Long Lifetime / 6 Years Warranty:

Noise Level:

Thermal Compound:

Testing:

The heatsink will be tested against a Thermalright XP 90 and a stock AMD heatsink. All heatsinks were allowed to cure for a period of 24 hours before testing. Temperatures will be measured with a temperature probe with the CPU at idle and load, as well as stock and overclocked. The temperature readings will be recorded in Celsius, with a room temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit, or 25.5 Celsius (Hey, I live in Florida, you have to conserve electricity somehow).

 

Testing Setup:

 

Stock:

All load temperatures (Stock and Overclocked) will be with the CPU usage at 100%, achieved using Orthos.

 

 

 

Overclocked:

Overclocked speeds will be at 3.3GHz (220x15). CPU voltage will be at 1.4v

 

 

Conclusion:

Arctic Cooling suggests that in order for the thermal compound to totally cure, the heatsink needs to run for a total of two hundred hours. In that time, you will see the temperatures decline until they level off. For the purpose of testing, I only ran the systems for 24 hours, in which there was a two degree difference from when I initially mounted the heatsink. On all heatsinks, Arctic Cooling MX2 Thermal compound was used to level the playing field.

In three of the four tests, the Freezer 64 Pro came within two to four degrees Celsius of the XP 90. Considering that the XP 90 is about double the price after you purchase a fan to mount on it, two to four degrees isn’t bad. The Freezer Pro 64 is very quiet, almost inaudible when placed inside the case. It was also quite easy to install, and I did not have to cut the mounting clip on it to place it on the motherboard that it was tested on. If you have read any of my articles, you will realize that I'm a stickler when it comes to fan noise. I run three to five computers in my office at any given time and it can get quite loud; I am always searching for an alternative. I will be using the Freezer Pro 64 on the next AMD rig I build.

The built-in fan controller worked flawlessly. When PWM temps increased, the fan speed increased. Having used Abit motherboards quite frequently as of late, PWM temps can pose a problem. I mounted the fan directly over the PWM to give it some active cooling. It was nice not to have to hear my temperature alarm buzzing with an overclock and a 100% load.

 

Pros:

Cons: