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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink Review

Written by Maxit

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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink Review
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Price: 12.87 inc. VAT
Manufacturer: Arctic Cooling
Suppler: Eclipse Computers

Introduction

The Freezer 7 Pro has been out for quite some time now, and is an updated version of it's older sibling, the Freezer 7. The main difference between the two is that the Pro has 3 heatpipes and a 92 mm fan compared to 2 heatpipes and a 80 mm fan found in its previous incarnation.

The Pro is quite large compared to some coolers on the market, but at the same time isn't particularly oversized like other offereings. It's heat exchanger is built of 42 fins and consists of a surface area of over 4700 cm2 to maximise heat transfer and allows for resistance free energy transfer to air. As the fins are made of aluminium, the cooler isn't as heavy as you may think at first glance.Combined with the 3 aforementioned copper heatpipes, the heatsink has some excellent cooling potential. The base is a 100% copper affair.

The most unique feature of the Pro and it's predecessor is it employs the use Arctic Cooling's patented fan holder. The swiss firm claims that it helps in reduceingthe typical buzzing noise encountered with other fans. Not much is bundled with the cooler. In the box, you'll find the cooler and an Arctic cooling case badge. The box itself looks rather classy in black with pictures and specifications of the heatsink printed on.

The old Freezer 7 was an excellent performer, beating just about every other offering on the market, and even putting some entry level water cooling setups to shame, whilst costing next to nothing. The latter is true in the case of the Pro, and we had high hopes for its cooling performance. We'll find out how it fairs in a moment. But first, let's check out the technical details:

Heat Sink: 104 x 58 x 126.5 mm
Fan: 107 x 43.5 x 96 mm
Overall Dimensions: 107 x 96.5 x 126.5 mm
Rated Fan Speed: 300 - 2500 RPM (PWM)
Power Consumption: 0.16 Amp.
Air Flow: 45 CFM / 77 m3/h
Weight: 520 g
Noise Level: 0.9 Sone
Thermal Resistance: 0.17°C/Watt
Thermal Interface Material: Pre-applied MX-1 Paste
Warranty: 6 Years

Installation and Test Setup

Unlike the other coolers we've reviewed lately, the Freezer 7 Pro is not a universal heatsink and is only compatible with LGA 775 sockets. The firm however does cater for socket 939 and AM2 with the coolers cousin, called the Freezer 64 Pro, which is based on the same design, but has a different mounting mechanism.

This means that installation is as easy as opening a can of beer. Simply ensure the push-pins are not engaged and are rotated clockwise, align them with the mounting holes on your motherboard, and push them in individually. The distinct "click" you hear is a sign that the pin has been engaged correctly. A little tip for you - We recommend pushing the pins down in a diagonal order. ie. Say we number the pins from 1 to 4 in a clockwise manner, push down pin 1 and then 3 and proceed to do 2 and 4 after. This method ensures the heatsink is mounted as firmly as possible and may shave a degree or two of your temperatures. The pins can be quite hard to engage, so don't be afraid of pushing them too hard in the fear of breaking them.

Regular readers will be fammiliar with our test setup by now. For the benefit of people that don't visit often (what were you thinking!!

), we've listed our testbed below:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 ES overclocked to 2.8 GHz and overvolted to 1.4v
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard
2 x 1 GB Team Xtreem PC2 5300 RAM

Our CPU was overclocked to 2.8 GHz. Although 1.4v was not required, we pumped up the volts to see how the cooler would cope with larger heat loads.

To test performance, we measured idle and load temperatures of the setup using a reference Intel HSF anf compared the results. To test load temperatures, we ran dual instances of Prime 95 using SP2004 Orthos beta.

Lets see whether the Freezer 7 Pro lived up to our expectations.

Results

Well, there isn't much to say is there? The results literally speak for themselves. The Freezer 7 Pro doesn't fail to please, cooling our overclocked and over-volted processor to a staggering 18°C below Intel's stock offering under full load. Under idle conditions, the Pro had 11°C advantage over the stock cooling.

Saying that these results are amazing would be an understatement, and a big one at that. Not only does the Freezer 7 Pro offer better cooling than the other samples we reviewed, it does it quietly as well. Very quitely. Infact, the Freezer 7 Pro is so good, it even puts some entry level water-cooling setups to shame.

Final Thoughts

There is no doubt that this is one of the best coolers for LGA 775 processors. It may not be a universal heatsink, but it definitely delivers when it comes to doing it's job, rather than being a jack of all trades and master of none.

The Freezer 7 pro ticks all the right boxes. No other heatsink offers such a combination of performance, silence and ease of installation. And if that wasn't enough, did we mention the price tag of less than 13 quid? This has got to be one of the best bargains on the market, so no one has a valid excuse for not to buy one.

When we review stuff, we usually find a flaw or two in even the best designed products. However, it appears that Arctic Cooling have done their homework - The Freezer 7 Pro is perfect in every aspect be it performance or price, and for that, we award it 10 out of 10.