Arctic Cooling Duo: Alpine 7 & Freezer 7 Pro Attack Value
by Wesley Fink on January 29, 2008 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
CPU air-coolers are relatively cheap compared to other computer system components. With the top air-coolers selling in the $45 to $75 price range it is easy to forget that many buyers are really looking for that killer $15 cooler, or at least a $15 cooler that does its job without bringing too much attention to itself with overheating or a loud fan.
In the Intel cooling arena finding a good cheap cooler is particularly difficult, because the stock Intel cooler - included at no cost in Intel Retail CPU packages - is today both a very good performer and very quiet. This makes competing in the value segment particularly difficult for companies aiming at the Socket 775 market.
One company that targets this value market segment is Arctic Cooling. Arctic Cooling is a privately owned company founded in 2001. Headquarters are located in Switzerland, with offices in Hong Kong and the USA, while production is in China. The company specializes in producing thermal cooling solutions for CPUs, GPUs (video chips), and PC cases.
In the few years since its inception, the Arctic Cooling family of coolers has earned a solid reputation for good value in the cooler market. Reputation is one thing and performance is often quite another, so it is time to give that reputation a test in the harsh reality of our cooler test bed. The questions we aim to answer are:
- Does the entry Alpine 7 outperform the stock Intel cooler? This is another way of asking whether anyone should bother with the Alpine 7; if the cooler does not outperform the stock Intel unit there is no real reason to buy it.
- Are noise levels well controlled at both stock and overclocked settings?
- Does the price increase of the Freezer 7 Pro buy equivalent performance improvements? I.e., is it worth the extra cost to buy the Freezer 7 Pro over the Alpine 7?
- How do performance and noise levels compare to the best coolers tested at AnandTech?
To provide answers, we dropped the Alpine Cooler pair into our new cooling test bed.
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Spyvie - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
I've only had my Freezer 7 Pro for about 9 months, but the equally excellent Freezer 64 Pro on my NF3-250 rig is 3 or 4 years old.the AC CPU coolers seem to be ignored on most of the hardware sites.
kristof007 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
So I see that you guys used this with a Core 2 Duo processor. I went on Newegg and I cannot find the sub-$15 model (Alpine 7) that matches with a LGA 775 layout motherboard. Am I missing something?Here is the search that I found:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...x?Submit...
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Alpine 7 Pro for Socket 775 is $43.99 at http://www.xoxide.com/arctic-cooling-alpine-7-hsf....">http://www.xoxide.com/arctic-cooling-alpine-7-hsf..... The Alpine 64 for AMD is $12.99 at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8.... The Alpine 7 models are widely available in the $12 to $15 price range.Freezer 7 Pro is $22.99 at http://www.priceguidenetwork.com/computer-componen...">http://www.priceguidenetwork.com/comput...r-pentiu... and $24.99 at http://www.xoxide.com/arctic-cooling-freezer-7-pro...">http://www.xoxide.com/arctic-cooling-freezer-7-pro... based on a quick search. New Egg is selling the Freezer 64 for $24.99
Martimus - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
I bought a Freezer 64 Pro for 19.99 about a month ago. I just checked NewEgg, and it went up $5 in price since yesterday.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
CORRECTION: The Alpine 7 Pro for Socket 775 is $14.99 at http://www.xoxide.com/arctic-cooling-alpine-7-hsf....">http://www.xoxide.com/arctic-cooling-alpine-7-hsf.....Stas - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
I'm so glad to see an affordable yet quality cooling solution. I was tired of seeing products like TT BT for the same price as it was when the cooler came out 2+ years ago. Same for Zalman HSFs. Now compete with this, you price gougers :)jkostans - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Two more coolers with amazing bang for your buck:KINGWIN Revolution RVT-12025 - $24 (after $10 rebate at newegg.com)
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 - $37
They are actually the same heatsink as far as I've been told (kingwin may have a poorer quality fan but I'm not sure). Both are on par with the Ultra-120 if the frostytech review is to be believed and include a fan for a much lower price. Maybe these should be the next coolers up for review?
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articlei...">http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articlei...
mixim - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Yeah bought the freezer pro for my 2 Ghz Core 2 Duo, with a chassis fan it turns out 22 degrees celsius! Amazing, this with half the stock fan speed, beeing practicly silent. And here in sweden we get theese for $20!After i bought the CPU fan, i actually swaped my system for the entire experience :D. Using their silentium case and with the inredible AND cheap Accelero S1 GPU cooler! Beeing cool has never been easier or cheaper haha...
Anandtech should test their Accelero S1 cooler with and without a fan, here in sweden it also sells for $20.