Founded in 2001, Arctic Cooling is a well known manufacturer of cooling solutions for personal computer systems focusing on CPU, GPU and PC-Case cooling. Some time back, we reviewed the very good Freezer 64 cooling system, designed for AMD Athlon 64 processors.

More recently we reviewed the new PRO series with the Freezer 64 for AMD platforms. This time we will be looking at the same cooler but for Intel socket 775 platforms, known as the Freezer 7 PRO. More heatpipes and fins, improved air flow and fan mounting method are some of the new characteristics of the Freezer 7 PRO.

The updated Freezer 7...in PRO version

The heatpipes are now 6 instead of the four with the previous Freezer 7 series. The fins are 42 for the Freezer 7 PRO, two more than in the case of the Freezer 7. The three fins near the base have a new design helping cool components around the CPU. The base is still made of copper.

profile of the F7 PRO....

...the rear of the F7 PRO...

In comparison to the stock cooler, the Freezer 7 PRO is much larger, while both have exactly the same mounting method for easy installation.

A comparison with the P4 stock box cooler...

The 4-pin connectors for Intel's stock cooler and the Freezer 7 PRO.

...four-pin connector for both...

The retail package includes the Freezer 7 PRO and an installation guide. No thermal compound is included in the box since the cooler comes with ARCTIC MX-1 thermal compound pre-applied.

Specification/Features by Arctic-Cooling

Extremely Quiet
The low speed 92 mm fan reduces the noise level to a minimum. The patented fan holder is able to practically eliminate the typical buzzing sound emanating from 92 mm fans. The PWM chip in the motor allows exact fan speed control from the BIOS (4 wire).
The noise level is measured in Sone (loudness) instead of dB (sound intensity). The loudness depends upon ear's response curves and tells you exactly, how bothering a certain noise is.

Powerful cooling
6 Heat Pipes (three on each sided) are able to transfer heat up to 200 Watt. The heat exchanger comprises 42 fins and constitutes a surface area of over 4700 cm2 and allows for resistance free energy transfer to air.
All Pentium 4 CPUs have an integrated "Thermal Throttling" i.e. in case of overheating risk, the number of working cycles is reduced, thus lowering performance and preventing the CPU from over heating. Therefore, to reduce the noise level, a Pentium 4 CPU cooler can work at its limit and this way drop the noise level significantly. The Thermal Throttling is usually activated at 85°C core temperature. Good system ventilation is crucial for CPU cooling. The temperature in the area of the CPU cooler should never exceed 38°C. Therefore we recommend using a temperature controlled Case Fan.

thermal resistance and noise differences to the stock box cooler..

Integrated Cooling of Voltage Converters
Air is drawn in from the side of the fan to cool the components around the CPU. Some air is blown out towards the voltage converters on the mainboard through the fins (bent) at the bottom.

Patented Vibration Absorption
The four rubber connectors on the fan case act as a vibration dampers to absorb the vibration of the running fan and prevent vibration transfer to the heatsink and the case.

...the new patent for vibration absorption..

Easy Installation
The cooler is easy to install in seconds and requires no tools.

Long Lifetime / 6 Years Warranty
The ARCTIC Ceramic Bearing provides an unmatched Life Time of 137'000h L10@40°C) resp. an MTBF@70°C of 163'000h and thus a 6 year warranty.

Thermal Compound
All Arctic-Cooling coolers comes with ARCTIC MX-1 thermal compound. According to the manufacturer, this compound hardens during the first 200 hours while the performance improves steadily. By heating it, up the hardening process can be shortened. Performance is very steady from the outset, good enough to cool your CPU reliably.

Now that we have a more detailed picture of the Freezer 7 PRO CPU cooler, let's take a look at the installation procedure, on the following page...