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Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro


Date
: 02/18/06 – 08:51:25 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: Arctic Cooling

Price
: $34 (MSRP)

Though founded just a few years back (2001), I'm sure most of us have heard of Arctic Cooling by now. The Swiss-headquartered thermal cooling solutions company has offices in Hong Kong and production facilities in Asia. Known to produce cooling solutions for CPUs, graphics cards, and cases, Arctic Cooling specializes in quiet yet high-performance products. They have even come up with custom technologies such as ceramic bearings and low noise fan blade designs using "Swiss innovation" to augment their products. The subject of this review will implement, among others, these technologies.

Without further ado, I am proud to present Overclockers Online's first review of an Arctic Cooling product: the Freezer 64 Pro CPU cooler.

Page 2 : Package

Arctic Cooling sent the Freezer 64 Pro via USPS. Opening up the outer cardboard box, I was greeted by elegance itself: a refined, black cubic box.

The top of the box features the Freezer 64's insignia. Below that is Arctic Cooling's website. The front shows Arctic Cooling's logo, the name of the product, and once again, an URL to Arctic Cooling's website. Also, we catch our first glimpse of the cooler itself thanks to an image. The background has a watermark which reads "AC".

Rotating the box counterclockwise, we find a listing of key features. This side has a vertical "AC" watermark and has "Freezer 64 Pro" watermarks at the top. At the very bottom of the side are patent numbers and a message proclaiming that the product was designed in Switzerland.

Another rotation of the box brings us to a side entitled "How the Air flows" featuring an image which resembles an airflow diagram.

The next side shows technical specifications. There are the usual details about dimensions, fan speed, air flow, and weight. However, of particular interest on this side are the noise level specifications. Below the noise specifications, there is a thermal resistance comparison. We will go into further detail about all of these in the next page.

The bottom of the box has the UPC codes and a disposal warning, probably because the product contains heavy metals and potentially harmful chemicals.

In any case, let's take a closer look at the specifications before moving on to opening the box.

Page 3 : Specifications

We will start off with the simple stuff first. This is a reprint of the Key Features side of the box:

Arctic Cooling claims that the fan is quiet and has a unique casing. Also, the cooler's design aids in directing airflow over voltage regulators on the motherboard. Of particular interest in this list is the final item, the six year guarantee. Six years is a long time, especially when it comes to markets as volatile as the cooling industry where products can be phased out and made inferior in months, sometimes weeks.

The next side of the box shows an airflow diagram, reproduced below:

Basically, air is drawn in through all sides of the fan, which cools components along the way. Then, the air is blown out through the fins, carrying with it the heat it has picked up from the heatpipes. This exhaust air also cools components located in its path, such as voltage converters (sometimes referred to as MOSFETs). For best results, the cooler should be oriented so the cooler works with the natural airflow in the case; that means the fan should face the intake fans and the fins should face the exhaust fans.

Let's take a look at the more detailed technical specifications found on another side of the box. For your convenience, an image showing them (identical to those on the box) has been provided below:

According to the information under the "Compatible with:" subsection, the Freezer 64 Pro is meant to be installed only on AMD processors. It supports Athlon 64, Athlon FX, and Athlon X2 CPUs up to a performance rating of 5000+. The new FX-60, which runs at 2.6GHz, sports a performance rating of approximately 5200+. However, according to Arctic Cooling's website, up to 200W of heat can be exchanged via the heatpipes; therefore, the cooler should be able to handle even the most powerful dual-core AMD CPUs available which have TDPs (thermal design points) under 110W at stock settings.

Looking at the heatsink dimensions, it seems that the cooler is large and rectangular. The fan is also rectangular and should be slightly bigger than a 92mm fan. The fan may be thermally controlled, either by a thermistor or by the motherboard's BIOS, as the specifications state that it can spin at varying speeds from 300 to 2200RPM. The given airflow of 40CFM most likely corresponds to the highest fan speed of 2200RPM. We can see that this fan sports a good airflow to speed ratio, which may allow it to run more quietly than other fans. Here we also see Arctic Cooling's innovation, courtesy of the fan's bearing; it has a ceramic bearing, which is quite rare given that most fans have ball bearings or sleeve bearings. Finally, we have the cooler's weight; it is a beast, weighing in at 528g. The maximum AMD-recommended weight for heatsinks is 450g so this might void your warranty if you crush your CPU. Therefore, one should be careful when moving a computer around with this heatsink installed, a warning to those of you who occasionally move your computers to take to LAN parties, etc.

Below this, we see the service life estimates. At a constant 40°C, the cooler is expected to perform for 137,000 hours while at 30°C, the value increases to 274,000 hours. Even the lower of the two lifetime expectations equates to over 15 years of constant operation! It is highly unlikely that anyone would run, even keep, a computer that long!

Last but not least, we have the thermal resistance values. The Freezer 64 Pro has a thermal resistance of 0.18°C/W which is much lower than and more preferable to the AMD stock cooler's 0.34°C/W. Lower thermal resistance values allow more efficient transfer of heat. Below those are the noise level specifications. Arctic Cooling measures noise level in "sones" rather than the usual "dB(A)" units. After doing some research, I found out that sones are more accurate representations of noise because they take into account the subjective measurements involved when dealing with the human ear and how it perceives noise. In any case, the Freezer 64 Pro supposedly has a noise level of 0.8 sone while the AMD stock cooler outputs 2.6 sones.

Now that we know the features and specifications of the Freezer 64 Pro, let's open up the package!

Page 4 : Package Contents

Upon opening the box, the cooler is immediately visible.

It is protected by a molded plastic frame on top of which we find an Arctic Cooling sticker and a manual.

The manual is very detailed and covers every step of installation, complete with images, in both English and German. An identical, electronic version of the manual can be found here, on Arctic Cooling's website.

Taking the cooler out, we can see that it is high-profile. Though the base only takes up a small amount of space, as a matter of fact, just enough to cover the CPU lid, the cooler is tall. This will allow it to clear any components on the motherboard without sacrificing surface area. We can also see the fan's unique frame; it is just enough to secure the fan and to protect users from the blades. It is mounted on rubber posts with the intent of minimizing vibration and reducing noise. The fan's wires are sleeved in a professional fashion leading up to a 3-pin connector, supporting RPM monitoring and meant to be plugged directly into a motherboard header.

The backside of the cooler shows all 42 fins. The bottom three are curved downwards to direct airflow onto components on the motherboard. Six copper heatpipes are visible, three used twice. The fins are soldered onto them. The heatpipes are connected to the thick copper block which contacts the CPU lid. Here is a better view of the heatpipes, fins, and the copper block:

The retention mechanism is almost identical to the AMD stock cooler's. This way, the cooler can fit on the stock retention module and motherboard removal is not necessary. The heatpipes are very thick which explains how they are able to transfer 200W of heat. This picture with the fan removed also shows the fan's rubber mounting posts:

The seven-bladed fan runs on 12V, drawing 0.13A and is rated for 2200RPM. It has a maximum power draw of 1.56W.

The base of the cooler is made of copper and the preapplied Arctic Cooling MX-1 thermal compound is visible after removing the protective plastic. The heatpipes are squished between two copper blocks which are welded together.

The cooler's base is relatively smooth and reflective. There are slight scratches and machining marks but performance should not be affected. Note that since no extra thermal compound was given, I did this after running the tests with the MX-1 compound.

Now that we've seen the cooler, it's time to install it.

Page 5 : Installation

Arctic Cooling claims that the installation will be easy and it may very well be since the cooler uses the stock retention module.

First things first, remove the old cooler and in my case, the AMD stock cooler. Clean up the CPU lid with some rubbing alcohol and you're all set. The cooler comes preapplied with thermal compound that Arctic Cooling says provides the best performance.

Next, align the side of the cooler that doesn't have the lever so that it snaps over the three bumps in the retention module. Be sure you align the cooler properly in terms of case airflow; it can be rotated 180°. Note that if you want to change the cooler's orientation 90° rather than 180°, you need to unscrew the lever, rotate the retention mechanism 90°, and reattach the lever. Detailed instructions for the process can be found in the manual.

Tilt the cooler down and snap the other side to the three bumps. Now, engage the lever to secure the cooler. At this point, you should not be able to wiggle the cooler.

Plug in the fan connector to the appropriate header on the motherboard and that's all there is to it. Installation is, literally and figuratively, a snap! Do note that the heatpipes only work best if they are parallel to the ground; this may pose problems for certain cases which employ nonstandard motherboard mounting.

Anyway, now that the cooler is installed, its performance can be evaluated.

Page 6 : Testing and Performance

Below is a quick airflow diagram I created for my case. As you can see, I aligned the cooler with the airflow, not against it.

This is the test setup:

Upon first turning on the computer, I was amazed at how much quieter it was. The annoying whine of the stock cooler had been replaced by a soft, dampened, muffled buzz that is barely audible unless I stuck my ears against my case. I attribute this to the rubber fan mounting posts, the fan's design, and Arctic Cooling's innovative implementations.

First will be the idle temperature measurements. The heatsink was installed and the computer was left on for 2 days. Then, it was turned off for 6 hours and then turned back on and left on for 6 more hours. This is so that the thermal compound will cure. Then, the idle temperature was measured through Asus PC Probe 2. This was done using the MX-1 thermal compound on the Freezer 64 Pro and the stock thermal grease on the AMD stock cooler. The CPU frequency was 1.8GHz (stock).

The Freezer 64 Pro reduced the idle CPU temperature by 4 degrees compared to the stock cooler. Also, the motherboard temperature was 2 degrees cooler with the Freezer. The GPU and chipset temperatures were not affected for all intents and purposes.

For the load temperature measurements, I followed the aforementioned procedure. However, I measured the temperature while running PCMark05 loops over a time period of 1 hour. The maximum temperatures were charted and recorded.

Once again, the Freezer keeps the CPU cooler but this time by 8 degrees. The motherboard and GPU are cooler too. This might be because the Freezer increases airflow within the entire case thanks to its more powerful fan.

Next, I measured overclockability. Regardless of what cooler was used, the CPU maxed out at 289×9 (2.6GHz) at 1.55V. In any case, I measured the temperature differential between overclocked and stock frequencies with the Freezer 64 Pro and MX-1 thermal compound.

There is a temperature increase between the stock and overclocked frequencies, as is expected. The idle temperature difference is 4 degrees while the overclocked difference is 3 degrees. The maximum temperature is only 38°C so it proves that the limiting factor in overclocking is the CPU itself and not the cooling.

Last but certainly not least, I ran the idle and load tests done earlier except with different thermal compounds; CPU settings were stock.

When it comes to idle temperatures, the MX-1 compound's performance is matched by most other compounds. However, the load temperatures show the MX-1's superiority. Only NanoFusion comes close. This lays some support for Arctic Cooling's claim that the MX-1 is best-suited for the Freezer 64 Pro. However, the results are somewhat inconclusive since the temperature differences aren't that drastic.

In all, Arctic Cooling has done a good job with the Freezer 64 Pro as seen by its performance, especially in the load temperature tests; it kept the CPU a full 8 degrees cooler than the stock cooler and that is a commendable achievement. It's time to wrap things up.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro was one of the more interesting coolers I've used. It's design is unique thanks to its innovative technologies. This unique design, in turn, marks the Freezer 64 Pro's success.

Performance is outstanding and should be competitive with other coolers in the market. It seems as though heatpipes are catching on due to their efficiency and effectiveness when implemented properly. I'll admit I was skeptical at first due to the relatively small contact areas of the Freezer 64 Pro both between the base and the CPU and the heatpipes and the fins but the testing nullified all my concerns. Also, an advantage of this cooler over other coolers with similarly large fin surface area is that the Freezer 64 Pro is tall, rather than wide. This enables it to be compatible with more motherboards than coolers which take up more room horizontally. Installation was very easy due to the fact that the stock retention module is used which means motherboard removal is unnecessary. The noise level of the cooler is very low and should satisfy quiet-computer enthusiasts while allowing overclockers to add noisier case fans to make up for it! Compared to other coolers I've used, the Freezer 64 Pro is virtually silent. Also, compared to other coolers, the Freezer 64 Pro is competitively priced at below $35.

The Freezer 64 Pro has very few disadvantages. One of these is an inevitable flaw with the heatpipes and that is the fact that they must be oriented parallel to the ground to work best. This means that in some setups such as certain HTPC cases, the cooler will not work well and may cause damage to your CPU due to overheating. Another disadvantage, though minor, is that there is no separate tube of thermal compound included; provided the MX-1 is the best paste to use with the cooler according to Arctic Cooling, it would have been nice to include a small tube for users to use during reinstallations.

All in all, I am very pleased with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. Unlike a few products out there, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro is a cooler that truly deserves its name. After all, how can a product have the words "Arctic" and "Freezer" in its name without living up to them?

Advantages

• Outstanding performance
• Easy installation
• Very quiet
• Competitively priced
• Six-year guarantee

  Disadvantages

• Heatpipes only work when parallel to ground
• No extra thermal compound provided

  Thanks to Arctic Cooling for providing this review sample of the Freezer 64 Pro.