12.8.2020

Before getting in to this, I will preface this review by saying I actually ordered an Arctic Freezer 13. This was because I'd recently switched from an R5-2600X to an i5-10600K and wanted something that could handle the higher TDP of the chip at 125W. While the Freezer 13 has a rated TDP of 200+ watt, the i13X only has a TDP of 120 watt. I actually bought this as an intermediary while I'm waiting for the Lian Li Galahad to be released in the UK, and didn't actually notice I had received the wrong cooler from Amazon until I popped on to write this review - just in case you're wondering why this isn't an Amazon verified purchase review.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Good----------So,as a cooler i had bought as a cheap holdover for a 10600k until a new AIO I've preordered gets released, I'm actually very impressed by this. For the money I would recommend a Freezer eSports 34 however I went for the 13/i13X due to case clearance - with a total height of 157mm the eSports 34 ends up pushing the side panel of a Lian li O11D.Performance wise, the i13x, despite being 5w under the recommended TDP for a 10600K is actually performing very well - with default clocks @4.1GHz (4.5GHz boost), in an ambient environment of 27°, with 3 120mm intake and one exhaust on the chassis running at about 40%, the cooler is able to maintain idle temps of 37° at 20% fan load. Even better, the fan on the i13x has very little noise difference between 20% and 100% load, so running the fan at a constant 100% does not create (IMO) any obtrusive noise, but runs idle temps at 34° with a 27° ambient.Using Prime95, the CPU recorded a temperature peak of 83° with a stable load of 77°. Once stable load temps had been recorded I shut off the test, and the temp dropped immediately to 48°, then slowly dropped back down to 34° over the space of around 3 minutes. For a cooler rated for a TDP of 120, I'm actually quite impressed.----------The Bad----------Now, my main issue with the cooler is the mounting bracket. I mounted this on a Z490 Steel Legend motherboard. This motherboard features m.2 heat shields for thermal dissipation, one of which is under the socket and about level with the bottom of the IO shield. Because the mounting bracket for this cooler is to accommodate older intel sockets too, the brackets are longer than they need to be for a 1200 socket. This means that to get this to fit, I actually had to remove the m.2 heat shield in the middle of the board, and run one of my m.2 drives bare. This doesn't cause any issues where the drives will get too hot in normal use, but looking at HWMonitor as I write this, I can see that the m.2 drive (an identical Sabrent Rocket to the one under the heatshield further down the board) is running 2° warmer to the one under the shield. Obviously being able to mount the shield would be preferred, but not performance-threatening, at worst, it ruins some of the look of the board.Finally, my other concern with the cooler is the sheer difficulty involved in mounting. I've never built an intel system before this one, and I was worried for how much pressure the cooler wants you to apply to get it to mount. At multiple stages I had to keep reminding myself that this was compatible for the socket, due to the sheer amount of brute force needed to get both screws on the coldplate to mount to the bracket. I am no stranger to mounting coolers, not even Arctic coolers, but this had me sweating for a POST in the hopes I hadn't just crushed or cracked the IHS or the die. I'm not sure if there are height differences between LGA115X and 1200, but at least be prepared to call for a second pair of hands to get this mounted on a 1200 socket.----------Summary----------For a basic cooler, this is pretty good for the money. If your case can accommodate the height of the cooler, I would recommend the Freezer eSports Duo for a tenner more. For the price, I wasn't particularly expecting much and that kind of exemplified a little with the difficulty involved in mounting the damn thing and the size of the mounting brackets but the performance, especially in the middle of summer where the idle temps are only around 7° above ambient, has impressed to no end. For comparison, on my 2600X before swapping over to an Intel chip I was running a Deepcool Castle 360 AIO which got exponentially worse the higher the ambient temps got, would idle at around 40° in an ambient of 26°. Hell, if the ambient hit 30° then the CPU would idle at 50° - which I can only attribute to the radiators inability to shift heat from the liquid once ambient reaches a certain temperature.If you're looking for a budget air cooler for intel CPU's, I couldn't not recommend it. Decent performance, in a compact and quiet package at an affordable price point. Once my Galahad arrives, I'll be retiring this, but rather than flogging on I'll be keeping it as a backup for if I ever have need of it.

2.6.2016

PROS.No backplatePre-applied thermal pasteSuper quietEasy and quick installReduced temps by about 30C from the stock fan (for me).CONS.It’s possible to install wrong, so don’t.Heatsink doesn’t appear to allow standard mounting of other fans.Highly Recommend Using.I was very hesitant to buy this. However, I am glad I did and I’m very satisfied with the results. Finding a LGA1366 cpu cooler is becoming increasingly difficult to do. I really didn’t want to have to pull out my mobo to add a backplate despite everyone on the internet saying you shoud. My system is pretty old and pulling out the mobo feels like opening a can of worms… as installing some ram caused my stock fan to be bumped just the slightest causing it to stop cooling my cpu with any effectiveness,which is why I was in the market for a new one.I installed this on a Gigybyte GA-EX58-EXTREME (rev. 1.0) mobo with Intel 1366 i7 920 and it works great.First, take off the old fan and clean off the cpu of old thermal paste. I read that a coffee filter and 90%+ Isopropyl alcohol was the best way to do this. It worked very well. I had to go through about six or so filters. Just keep rubbing it with the alcohol until the filter is no longer getting dirty from rubbing. I used canned air afterwards to help blow out any paste that might have balled up and rolled around.It comes with a mounting bracket that you lay on and around the CPU and push its pegs, resembling anchors for screws, into the mounting holes. You then press four pins into the anchors that cause them to open up behind the mobo holes and lock into place. You must pay attention to the direction of the pin heads. They are meant to go in only one way, but will fit incorrectly if pushed in so, causing a less than perfect fit for the mount. Read the mounting instructions and pay close attention to the details in writing and in the pictures. If you put a pin in the wrong way, it can take a little work and force to pull it back out. When they are all in and locked the mount is very sturdy. No wiggle, nice and tight.If you have any ram to install, at this point I’d make sure it’s in. The heat sink is out of the way, but the fan cage is over my first dimm. It sits high enough even with the tall sinks on my ram.Now that the mount is in comes the slightly tricky part. Remove the fan as instructed by squeezing the fan slightly at the top, should pop off from its clamp. The heatsink comes pre-applied with thermal paste, which is another plus in my book to make this a quick and easy install. Anyway, the heatsink will just slide around on the cpu if you plop it in place. What I did and highly recommend was used a magnetic Phillips head and put it in the heat sink mount as I lowered it into place and right into the screw hole on the mount to ensure the heatsink would not have to move once it’s on the cpu while eyeing the other side to keep it relatively over the second screw mount hole. It was easier than I probably made it sound. At this point you just screw in each side little at a time until you get them nice and tight.Before you put the fan back on, just do a quick press test and make sure the fan has been pressed firmly into axel? Just sort of squeeze it. There were reports of this being loose and causing the fan to not spin reliably. This is the fix. Just get it out of the way now before it causes problems. Mine was good from the start. Snap the fan on the mount, ensuring all four corners are wrapped around the heatsink and mounted properly. Plug it in and get back to it.With the stock cooler I was getting about 55C - 60C in the bios, roughly around mid 80C at high load. When the stock fan detached from the cpu. I was resting at around 80C and loading into 100C (the TJ) causing frequency cuts.With this cooler, my resting is about 35C and my heavy load is about 60C. I am very impressed with it. For not very much money or time my cpu is running better than ever, and the CPU fan is A LOT quieter, even when in heavy load. I don’t think it needs to kick up the fan speed because it’s cooling just fine on low… not that I know for sure if it is or not, I never hear it anymore either way.

30.11.2013

Yes, yet Another DEAD FAN!For all of you out there worrying about dead fans, read on.I installed my cooler several days ago. The fan spun no more than a second and stopped. I figured that I would wait until the temperatures got higher, because I thought I had read somewhere that the fan does not come on right away. The temperatures quickly reached 81 degrees Celsius. TJ. Max on an i5 processor is only 99 degrees, so I shut the system down.I plugged in the original OEM fan and it spun right up. I also checked it with another fan and I had on the shelf, and it spun right up!I proceeded to place the original OEM fan on the floor of the computer so that it would blow some cool air over the coolingfins and that lowered the temperatures by 40 degrees Celsius!I spent the next hour or two researching replacement fans. I wanted to find one that could be installed without removing the motherboard, mainly because there is a steel plate very close to my motherboard.I decided on a Cool Master Hyper TX 3 and then decided the TX for model was a closer replacement because it has more cooling pipes, just like this one. I then wanted to find out which company had the the sixpence of replacement fan and wanted to see if it was readily available, because I had read more than one story about a failing fan.While doing this research, I stumbled across a website at notmybase.com/?p=56.He (she?) talked about a failed fan, but then went on to say that quite often the fan is not snapped onto the shaft correctly. He said the push down on the fan blade firmly, until you hear a loud click. At first, pushed on the fan blade but obviously not hard enough. I pushed a little harder while holding the whole assembly in my hand, and voilà, I heard a click!I proceeded to plug the fan back into my motherboard and it immediately started spending!It APPEARED to be defective initially because it WOULD turn momentarily and then stop. My old fan and another fan both worked, verifying there was a good power source.This website saved me a LOT of grief!!Many other websites and forums talked about checking the wiring, making sure it was plugged in correctly, checking the BIOS settings, so forth and so on. It turned out to be so simple!If you are having problems with a fan like mine, simply make sure the fan is secure on the shaft. I imagine the fan appeared to move a little bit, for a brief moment, because there is enough friction between the shaft in the blade to make it spin.Many thanks to the folks who put up the webpage at [...]As other people have said, this easily lowered my temperatures by 20 degrees Celsius. It is also very quiet.I can now put my a computer back in my – behind a closed door, and not have to worry!Installation:Well worth the money and the super easy installation! I don't understand why so many people say it is hard; hard on their fingers, hard to push the pins in in all kinds of nonsense.I simply put the white pins in place, in the black cradle, before putting the black cradle over the processor. That way I did not have to fiddle with it later trying to get the pins in place correctly or have to use long needle nose pliers.I simply push the pins down through the proper holes. (Mine were in the center hole being and they 1156 socket). The black pins simply slid into the white pins, and they can only go one way, and are guided in by slots. It was very easy to push the pins down, locking the whole assembly in place.This whole process took 15 minutes or less, from start to finish.In no way are these plastic pins cheap or flimsy, like other people have said.I am extremely happy now that I have the fan problem resolved!!

27.1.2013

First impressions were that it was quite large and the heat sink had a weight to it. As I only has a small motherboard AsRock 760GM-GS3, I had to remove one of the RAM cards so my system is still 64 bit but not 8 GB but 4 GB. Then I put the stock cooler back in to test if it will work, and it did work with 4GB RAM.It is interesting to note that if you start a computer with no heatsink, leaving the processor naked - the temperature of the processor will increase so much that the CPU will not boot.First time I have done this and a I have an AMD 3 Socket. I put the screws in the flaps first, then tried without being able to fit it in - kept hitting the processor with this 500 gram thing thinking I had broken something,so then I bent the heatsink panels and it was too loose, then I took it off and bent the heatsink panels again - put some new thermal paste Arctic Silver 5, which means I do not have to do all this again in 6 months as with the MK II default paste which I wiped off, then it worked when I heard that click, not too loud or too quiet. It is a weighty thing for 2 plastic clips - no wonder stock coolers are used, it is less of a risk when delivering the box to hell knows where.I also have 2 other exhaust fans 120mm one at the back and one which is loose and unscrewed sitting on the floor below the motherboard, or fatherboard as they call it in Germany.For a 3.2 Processor running at about 3.18, with PCI Express frequency over-clocked to 104 (this will turn your CPU into a high-end Blu-Ray player or a PCI express 2.0 Nvidia card run like 3.0 card putting it bluntly).I was really amazed by the transparency of colours of the Blu-Ray which would expect from a more high end graphics card than a GeForce GTS 450 1GB.Conclude:The temperature of the motherboard was mid twenties because of a chasis fan so that was not a problem. The temperature of the CPU would sometimes go over 50C at idle with the stock cooler. Especially because the heating had been fixed and the room was always too hot, so I opened the windows as it is an air cooler - it can only work if the air in the room is cool. Then I tried it with fingers crossed: the CPU temperature started falling gradually to 35C at idle.Last thoughts:Cuda may actually work now without the CPU over-heating and switching off at above 65C. I have also updated my ASROCK motherboard to 1.2. I would be a bit worried about moving the desktop because of the size and weight of the cooler with a loose 120mm fan in the case. Arctic Cooling 5 does thin out on the initial use and then it takes 50 to 200 hours to thicken. Time will tell....UPDATEThe thermal paste is starting to work after 2 days. Also the fan is running at 5650 revolutions which it was not before so CPU temp is 25 C MB temp 24 C. Cannot control speed of fan - but I have over-clocked to 3.6 with a 3.2 CPU with lowered voltages.UPDATE 2Voltages have been set to default because of stability issues. 2 120mm fans will consume voltage. The super increase in fan speed led to 25 C even with load - but it appears to be a random event (an anomaly) maybe a power surge but the asROCK can deal with it. Re-positioned 1 fan towards the front so it will blow sorry suck air in. Though the case has nothing designed for a frontal fan, instead of buying another case I tied it sideways with wires where the screws go in. Looks much better too inside, and it will be easier to move.

9.7.2012

Compared to the stock cooler it replaced, this thing is a beast. It comprises a large heatsink, which appears to be an aluminium alloy and, unlike the stock one, is not in direct contact with the processor. Instead, copper heat pipes channel heat from the CPU into the heatsink. A fan is attached to the side of the heatsink by vibration absorbing rubber pins.The first thing to mention is that the instructions are not great. It's an annoying 21st century trend to provide pictures but no text. The first picture, marked "preparation", appears to indicate removing the fan from the heatsink. You have to remove the whole black plastic assembly here. It's quite simple,but if you misunderstand and think it's saying to remove the fan *from* the assembly, you'll find that's quite difficult to do. If you then manage to break one of the mounting pins after realising your mistake, good luck with your creative solutions to the problem.After that, the pictures continue with the method for fitting to an Intel CPU. There's a black mounting bracket and a bag of plastic bits which you have to assemble. If (like me) you have an AMD system, you need to turn over the paper. It looks like a simple enough procedure, but it involves a couple of fiddly brackets with little screws. The guide suggests you have to leave them loose, fit the thing to the processor, and then tighten once it's in place. I was completely unable to get it fitted that way. I thought I'd managed it, but it turns out the computer's not very happy running at 115°C. Eventually I resorted to pre-tightening the screws and using a pair of pliers to flex the brackets into position.Now came the next problem: space. In my case there is barely enough headroom for a side fan. It does fit, but we're talking a couple of millimetres clearance from the fan blades, and no clearance from its housing. To complicate matters, I have one of those cases where you slide a side off to get in, and the fan is mounted on that side. The side fan and the top of the heat pipes interlock when closed. The case can be closed/opened if I get it at just the right angle, and once closed the fan spins just fine. It was cutting it very close though! If you don't have a huge case, remember to take into account the protruding heat pipes.As for efficiency? I gave the thermal paste some time to do its thing, and then stress tested the Athlon X2 by running both cores at 100% for about 18 hours (Handbrake is wonderful for that). The temperature never got above 49°C. I'd call that a success. Running at full speed the fan is audible, but it's still less noisy than the one it replaced. And as it's PWM controlled, a more typical usage pattern should be much quieter.So I'd give 5 stars for performance and price, but the installation difficulty lets it down.

12.1.2012

I recently acquired, Battlefield 3, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat (with Complete 2012 mod installed for higher visuals) , 2 very graphic intensive games. Both games take their toll on both the cpu and gpu.I have an Intel Q6600 Quad Core @ 2.4 ghz, with a EVGA GTX 570 1.5G, 8 G of DDR-2 RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit. Not the best build, but nonetheless has ran both game fine on the highest settings. My case is a Xeon Mid size case (not the best cooling case).When I started monitoring the temps on the CPU, using Core Temp and Speed Fan (just to have the 2nd opinion), I noticed that at idle , my pc was running at 40-50 degree celsius. On full load with Either Battlefield 3 or Pripyat,

20.7.2016

PAID :: $24.29 (AMD Wraith owners = Check my update at bottom before buying!)PURPOSE :: Keep my AMD 8370 Black Cool via FAN/HEATSINK (Replacing a 'noisy' BLACK Edition AMD FX OEM Cooler/Heatsink)RESULTS :: It's nearly perfect for my rig. Installed without removing the Motherboard in few seconds. AMD's get the EASY install, but INTEL install is not much tougher. NEW installed was keeping my 8 cores under 70% load at a SOLID 38 celsius. After a few weeks of dust (I have carpeted floors) it hold it to 50 Celsius. I am ok with that since its Summer time in Southern California, might be an issue in an office over 85 degree Fahrenheit.CONS :: Like the EVO 212,

11.11.2009

Pros:+ Amazing cooling ability+ Inexpensive (as of the date of my review)+ There is little to no fan noise+ Removing the motherboard is not required to install+ Includes mounting hardware for the supported Intel or AMD processors+ 6 Year Warranty+ One of the easiest heatsinks I've ever installed (which includes Intel, AMD, and some other after-market heatsinks)Cons:- May not fit in thin cases- The instructions are poorly written/illustratedDetailed review:I did my research and decided to buy this to replace the stock heatsink/fan that came with my Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz processor.It was relatively easy to install, much easier than the stock heatsink. I did not have to remove the motherboard,

31.3.2013

I built a computer to go in my living room for streaming video/music etc. so it had to be quiet. My typical mode is to use large fans running slowly to keep the noise down. With the stock AMD cooler on the cpu it was running 112-115 degrees F and i wanted to get it down from that. I read several reviews of this cooler and decided to give it a try since it has a pretty good size fan. My installation was fast and easy. This heatsink took no more than 15 minutes from powering the PC down to restarting it. The mounting hardware for an AM3+ mobo consists of two small brackets and two screws. You simply remove the old cooler, wipe the thermal compound off, loosely screw the brackets to the heatsink and press the new cooler into place.

19.12.2012

i must kick start this review by stating a possible issue with this cooler for AMD users; because of the bracket and the housing options you can only install this cooler facing up towards the top of the case or facing the bottom towards the graphics card, no side mounting is supported.this cooler does do a good job for the money, but PLEASE do not think this is OC friendly, my temps lowered about 4-6C from the stock cooler.This infact is a very very quiet cooler. my phenom II stock heatsink use to hit 5000rpm when gaming, very loud indeed whereas this cooler is very quiet at max fan speeds 2200 ish rpm im hitting.side note: when gaming the fan seemed to only hit 1900rpm and my cpu hit 54C,

18.10.2020

I have been in the market for a cooler to replace the stock one that came with my AMD R5 3600 CPU gaming wise using the stock I was getting temps of around 60 to 75c, even with my fan set-up 3 at the front as intake and 1 rear extractor with a holed mesh top that lets out air naturally.(I could fit some fans to help with top exhaust but I don't find I need it)I wanted a tower cooler again as my experience with them I get good results I used to have a Thermal take Tower cooler on my old Intel 2600k Sandy Bridge and it helped a lot even if it didn't have any cooper pipes or base. This Arctic Freezer 13X cooler has 3 copper pipes that have direct CPU contact well with paste (pre applied MX2 by the way)

4.7.2020

This is my first time installing a CPU cooler and it was fairly easy. Just remove the current cooler and remember the way the 4 pin cable faces when you remove it and install the brackets(provided) pointing outwards with 4 m3 screws I believe are 8mm (screws not provided). Clean the cpu with Isopropyl alcohol (there's videos on how to do this) and then mount the cooler (copper tips pointing towards the top case fan) which is already pre-applied with thermal compound and line up the longer screws(provided) with the deeper screwholes on the brackets and make sure they all can tighten properly. Then connect the 4 pin cable the same direction you disconnected the stock cooler and you're done.

19.10.2018

Hello everyone, Iv recently purchased 2 of these arctic low profile dual copper heat pipe cpu coolers and i must say i am very happy with the results. This model looks very clean when installed and is a great upgrade from your standard stock horrible cpu cooler that intel skimps you on. Intel continues to drop the ball with their stock coolers they provide with most of their cpu's and really should take note from amd as the ryzen stock coolers are much better quality. This cooler is a solid upgrade in size and provides dual copper heat pipes with a copper base for great heat dissipation. This cooler does not out perform the slightly more expensive hyper 212 evo by cooler master but does provide a more user friendly design when it comes to being low profile and compatible with more cases.

1.3.2015

A few days ago I discovered that my one year old Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - CPU Cooler with 4 Direct Contact Heat Pipes (RR-B10-212P-G1) broke. The plastic pins broke on their own and the cooler was barely touching the CPU. Needless to say, the computer would not run. I first tried getting new pins for that old cooler, but no luck. Since I was unimpressed with its quality, I ordered this ARCTIC Freezer cooler.PROS:1. This cooler was a breeze to install: plastic pins really lock in place well, and there is no need to remove the motherboard (compare that to Cooler Master which has terribly bad design - from brittle plastic to hard to use metal mount).

10.11.2014

Installing this was a little trickier than what other people have written. For an AMD socket, the instructions show placing the metal tabs into the sides of the socket (and of course no obstructions like boards or power cables in the diagram!) with some supernatural force holding them there while you lower the heatsink down and turn the screws. In reality, the tabs will fall over and this procedure will never work. So I loosely screwed the tabs into the heatsink, lowered it down onto the CPU and carefully slipped the tabs over the socket before tightening the screws. This wasn't ideal because the heatsink did slide around on the CPU a little.And how much do you tighten these screws?

Arctic Freezer 12 CO - Reviews

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