AC Freezer 64 Pro: Overrated?

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:32 am

Hello,

I'm going to post some informal tests I've done on my own system, to compare the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro and the AVC 4-heatpipe top-down cooler. The latter came with my PIB (Processor In a Box)

Test Setup

CPU: Dual Core Opteron 165 - 2700 MHz - 1.30V VCore
Mainboard: MSI K8N SLI Platinum (MS-7100 PCB rev 1.0) + Titan CUV2AB chipset cooler
Memory: Kingston HyperX 3200ULK2 (2x512 MB TCCD; 2-3-3-6 1T; 2.85V VDimm)
Video Card: Asus EN6600GT PCIex + Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 6 revision 2
Additional Cards: Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeMusic
Hard Drives: 2x Barracuda 7200.8 232 GB
Case: CM Stacker
PSU: Enermax NoiseTaker II 495AX

Cooling setup

Back fan: Cooler Master 120x25 (A12025-12CB-4KN-L1) PL12S12L, rated for about 42 CFM and 1200 RPM @ 12V.
Back fan: Jamicon 80x25 JF0825-1H, rated for about 38 CFM @ 3000 RPM - downvolted (5V)
Back fan: Coolink 80x25 SWiF 801 Basic, the specs aren't worth noting (completely untrue IMO) - downvolted (5V)
Front fan (hard disk cooling): Cooler Master 120x25, same as before but this one is downvolted at 5V.

The system can suck air in from the bottom intake vent and from the front mesh. Both the side intake and the top vent were sealed. The PSU is on located the bottom to minimize the heat released in the case: it sucks fresh air in direcly from the outside of the case (92 mm fan). It never got worse than warm even at minimum fan speed (about 950 rpm)

The load applied to the machine was just its daily chores: two boinc work units, crunched in parallel; one from the CPDN and the other from QMC. Although Prime95 can generate a little more heat, the difference isn't that big actually. This system works 24/7 and the temperature readings were taken after several hours of continuous work to ensure the case has reached a stable working condition.

Both the coolers were cleaned with ArctiClean and then applied using a thin film of Arctic Cooling MX-1 Thermal Paste. The Freezer Pro was lapped because of some oxidation on the copper base (my fault); many people tried lapping the Freezer, but the opinions I found online generally agree with mine: while this can sound weird, it seems that lapping has no effect on cooling effectiveness of the Freezer.

On the other hand, the AVC was left untouched; this should not be a problem, because the MX-1 paste is designed to work well even with slightly rougher surfaces.

The MX-1 paste has a quite long curing time (AC states 200 hours): I could not wait that long, so I let one full day pass before making my test. I have to say I've never noticed any big improvements over time in my previous experiences with this paste, however I'll post an update if there's interest, and there is news.

Here are the photos of the copper bases, the difference in picture quality is due to different cameras being used, as a result the AVC base seems worse than it really is:

The Arctic Freezer was used with stock fan @ 100% (about 2200 rpm), while the AVC was tested with a Nidec TA275DC, which is capable of 6000 rpm max, but was throttled at about 3000 rpm. It is worth noting that the 70mm Nidec fan is slightly quieter than 92mm AC at the speeds they were tested.

For all measurements, I used the logging feature of Speedfan, so the temperatures are not accurate in absolute terms, but the difference has meaning. Ambient temperature is about 19 Â°C.

And now if you managed to delve through all this lenghty introduction

it's time for the graphs:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro (with lapped base)

AVC/AMD 4-heatpipe cooler

How to read the graphs:

All the lines are 10-period moving averages; the NBa reading comes from a "system" or "northbridge" sensor which is placed on the motherboard, I don't know exactly where. In both the graphs, NBa is constant and equal to 35 Â°C, which is good.

The salmon line (CPUa) is data coming from the motherboard CPU sensor. You will notice that both the coolers exhibit a quite stable CPU temperature, about 46 Â°C.

The green line (COREa) comes from the Opteron DTS; SpeedFan can only read the second core temperature on my system, which is usually slightly lower than the first core's, but within the range of variation for this sensor.

While both the coolers attain the same CPU temperature, the data from the DTS is different: the Freezer exhibits a higher core temperature (above the CPUa line), reaching 49 Â°C and averaging around 48 Â°C.

The AVC manages to keep the core under the CPUa temperature, with a peak of 46 Â°C and averaging around 45 Â°C.

One last note on the GPUa (light blue) and VGAa (blue) lines: while the card "ambient" sensor reads almost the same, the GPU core runs a bit hotter. This is easily explained: the AVC cooler is mounted with the fins parallel to the ground, however it has two slits on the top and the bottom, which are needed for the retention clip. A fast jet of warm air is exhausted through the bottom hole and hits the back of the graphics card, heating it up.

Conclusions
Under the conditions the coolers were tested, the AVC comes out as a winner, with a 3 Â°C better performance over the Freezer Pro.

It was quieter than the freezer, also having some headroom to cope with higher ambient temperatures: at about 5500 rpm (11V) it could push the core temperature down to 42 Â°C and reach 39 Â°C with some help from the 80mm case fans. The Nidec 70mm fan become noticeable over 3300 rpm, noisy at 4000, and unbearable at 5500

I can't really explain the difference between the Freezer and the AVC; while there was a difference in average VCore of about 0.010V between the two test runs, which could have adversely affect the Freezer performance, I don't think this can really be the reason.

The Freezer has received good reviews all around, and many tests (SPCR's own, too) showed it can achieve excellent cooling results, often on par with much more expensive coolers as the popular Scythe Ninja (+Nexus; see SPCR), the Zalman CNPS9500 (see Frostytech and Madshrimps), and even the Tuniq Tower 120 (+Papst: see Madshrimps)

It might be that my sample has somewhat less effective heatpipes than the samples these sites received.

I'm probably going to buy a new high-end CPU cooler soon, I'm comparing the Zalman 9700 (noisy), the Ninja Plus RevB and the Infinity, and the Noctua NH-U12F (which has uneven reviews). The Thermalright Ultra-120 and the Tuniq are hard to find in my country.

In that case, I'll repeat the test and will try to assess my Freezer performance against a new reference HSF.

That's all folks, I hope you find this post interesting

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:00 pm

My conclusion the CPUa is corrent, and the COREa temp is way off.

Also the fan speeds that you tested at would piss-off any hardened silence fan in <1 second, so its not even fair to compare those HS/fans at those speeds. The only way to compare HS/fan performance is by setting everything the same including the noise and then see what the temps are like.

A 1000rpm Nexus is too loud for me at 1000rpm, so that entire system would annoy me straight away, but everyone is different.

Andy

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:49 pm

andyb wrote:My conclusion the CPUa is corrent, and the COREa temp is way off.

Then it must be my Opteron, it likes no swiss-designed fans

But seriously, the DTS is regarded by most as more accurate than the the motherboard sensor. If the DTS reports a higher temperature for a HSF and a lower one for the other, there must be more to it.

I exchanged the two heatsinks several times and I was always left with the feeling that the Freezer was performing sub-par. Since it's regarded as performing largely the same as the Ninja (performance-wise), I was prompted to make a more objective test.

For the noise levels, the Freezer Pro is simply not meant to be a solution for hardened silence fans but just a cheap, effective cooler.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:55 pm

I must have mis-read which sensor is which......

The Freezer isnt superb, its good value for money and good enough for most users. The reason why that sensor went up might be because its near the socket, and as its a tower heatsink it might not blow any air over it, weras the standard one might.

I would try running the Freezer @ 1000rpm to see what the temps are like under load.

Andy

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:08 pm

The CPU sensor (on motherboard) pretty much reads the same, and the DTS is inside the processor itself.

With the AVC installed, the core is completely hidden by the large copper base (77x45 mm), so I can hardly imagine higher airflow in such a situation. It would be more likely to happen with the Freezer, which leaves the core exposed.

andyb wrote:I would try running the Freezer @ 1000rpm to see what the temps are like under load.

It would crash readily, the Freezer has tightly packed fins and thus performs badly in low airflow situation, the SPCR review shows it clearly.

roadie · Post by **roadie** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:01 am

You should use Coretemp to measure to the CPU temps. It reads directly from the sensor within the CPU and reads both core temperatures. I find the chip on my motherboard over reads my CPU temps by about 5 degrees.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:22 pm

I've run CoreTemp along with SpeedFan and they read pretty much the same.

The only difference is that SpeedFan reads only the second core temperature and not the first one, don't know why.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:56 pm

Just a little update: for some reason my previous case cooling setup was not good for the Freezer. I removed the seal from the left side and that produced a 4-5 Â°C drop in core temperature.

So I moved my HDD module up, and made a little styrene duct to connect the 120mm CM fan to the Freezer. I'm currently testing it to check if it's any good.

When I'm done I'll probably put the AVC back in. Some other shots of the new setup:

PS: the northbridge/system sensor must be located somewhere near the memory. Memory intensive stress tests (such as the blend test in SP2004) make for higher readings from that sensor only. It might be near the winbond hardware monitor, which is not far from memory...

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:19 am

I hope you paid a lot of money for that Freezer 64, because you're getting a heck of a lot of entertainment out of it. It wouldn't be fair to AC otherwise!

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:42 am

Being the frugal person I am just trying to put together a setup which is almost quiet, and cool enough to avoid spending another hundred euros on it

No matter what, I'll be probably end buying the Ninja (cheap!) or the Ultra 120 (ultraexpensive...). Can't get the infinity for the orientation would be wrong, and the Noctua has uneven reviews...

I'll have to mail order it, so I'm going to order a couple of new 80 mm fans (probably Enermax Enlobal) and one or two 120 mm fans (Scythe S-Flex, Noctua or Enlobal, I don't know yet)

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:05 pm

J. Sparrow wrote:No matter what, I'll be probably end buying the Ninja (cheap!) or the Ultra 120 (ultraexpensive...). Can't get the infinity for the orientation would be wrong, and the Noctua has uneven reviews...

The Noctua also has the wrong orientation (for most AMD mobos). The rave reviews here at SPCR for the Ninja are almost all for the original versions. The RevB has received a mixed reception because of various mounting problems.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:53 pm

The F revision of the Noctua should allow for 90Â° rotation. But I fear that the uneven reviews are due to different fans being tested on it; SPCR and others have tried slow/quiet fans and their results are not exciting.

The universal retention system (SCURK) for the Ninja has metal clips that snap on plastic ridges, so it doesn't seem any better to me that the new system (only difference are four smaller clips instead of two bigger ones).

I can buy the Ninja + SCURK for about the same price of the Noctua, but probably I don't need the copper spacer (939 system here).

To mount the Ultra 120, I need the S-type clip and an additional 120 mm fan, that boils down to spending as much as 2 Ninjas Rev B

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:23 pm

Update: I've put the Freezer back in use. I've built a new "2nd rig", and resisted the temptation of getting a Ninja for just 33 â‚¬, only because I had a Freezer Pro lying around.

This thing IS noisy as hell! The 2nd rig only has TWO fans: the S12 PSU fan and the Freezer fan... the Freezer alone is enough to drown out in noise my two other (not silent) computers.

I can only laugh when I think of this Madshrimps review where the Freezer Pro beat the Ultra-120 hands down: 57 Â°C instead of 67 Â°C!! and did even 2 Â°C better than the Ninja

hah!

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:42 pm

As much I consider myself as silence freak responsive slightest noise from computer. And I use AC Freeze Pro @ 12v in my gaming rig. And its not that noisy. I have gainward 7900gs which has Gainwards own cooler and that's tad more louder. But they are both surprisingly quiet in my P182B case, with Tri-Cools at low-setting.

But Freezer Pro is good value. Slightly undervolting you bringdown fan noise. Even you could add few bucks for freezer pro's price to get high end cooler ( around 20 to 25â‚¬'s in Finland ) which would be more quiet.

However I got my freezer pro almost half-free as it was former Testing piece of finnish hardware site. So considering value of my AC Freezer Pro and performance, its damn good. Although its not same level with Noctua's cooler, Ninja, Ultra-120 or other high-end products in terms of silence and cooling power.

but since gaming is high intensity activity where computer doesn't have to be 24/7 on, I can tolerate more noise in my gaming rig than in my primary computer, which I use a lot more.

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:11 pm

There's not much to complain about with this heatsink. It's $21CDN where I'm at... there's nothing better at that price point. It is not SPCR-quiet but it's easy enough to do a 7V or 5V mod if your mobo doesn't allow fan control.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:01 am

The AMD stock cooler IMO offers better value, being quieter than the F64P. It's not a tower, but you can have it all

I would be just tempted to say 'I must have got a really bad sample'. But then I listen to the soundclips, and I can clearly see we are talking about the very same product.

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:07 am

J. Sparrow wrote: I can only laugh when I think of this Madshrimps review where the Freezer Pro beat the Ultra-120 hands down: 57 Â°C instead of 67 Â°C!! and did even 2 Â°C better than the Ninja

it was louder than the Ultra-120 and Ninja and still managed to beat them temp wise, how illogical...

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:05 pm

To me it's just the other way round

the Freezer Pro at full throttle is about 8-10 degrees behind the U120.

The fan spins faster, that's true, but the F64P is way smaller and less capable to transfer heat quickly, it doesn't seem entirely illogical to me that the Ultra 120 performs better.

I usually like Mashrimps very much, but that article is misleading IMO.

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:31 am

I retested the Ultra several times, in my test setup, result didn't come out differently, Ultra-120 on the K8 underwhelmed me.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 7:45 am

The only explanation that comes to my mind is that both my F64P and your U120 must be below average samples.

I was really tempted to get the Ninja B to test it on my dual core Opteron just to see if it could really blow away the U120, but in the end I decided to save some cash

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:08 am

AC Freezer is by far the most popular aftermarket cooler around here. While not in the same league as the big boys, it performs good enough and does that quietly enough for the vast majority of its users. Some users are even running it in fanless mode with weaker and/or undervolted CPU's (fan is present but off and only kicks in under load). And who cares if you have to crank it up a bit to tame the CPU while gaming. My point is... errrr. What's my point actually? Uhhh, so, well, aaaah I got it - for its value this is one great HSF and you'd have a hard time finding a better one for a "quiet" (not "silent") rig - say, with a few HDD's or a powerful gfx card with an active cooler.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:31 pm

If you asked me what's the most popular cooler here, I would have answered with no doubt whatsoever, the Scythe Ninja.

Regarding the value point:

J. Sparrow wrote:The AMD stock cooler IMO offers better value, being quieter than the F64P. It's not a tower, but you can have it all

Quieter and cooler running (look at the core temperature); the Freezer Pro is plagued by a bad sound signature, too, Mike and Devon wrote:

The noise level was oddly variable. The variability came from air turbulence, but it didn't have the more-or-less constant whoosh that most fans exhibit. Instead, it seemed to go up and down in surges, sounding smoother one moment and "stormier" the next, sometimes a bit randomly, and other times in a more regular, cyclical rhythm. (...)

The volume of the noise was reasonable for a fan at full speed, but the variability of the noise emphasized its presence and made it harder to tune out.

We don't know why this fan sounded the way it did. The absence of a frame should have reduced the turbulence, if anything. There were no odd fluctuations of voltage seen in the variable power supply driving the fan, either. Call it a mystery for now.

It's more or less what I hear when I listen to the Freezer, I find impossible to tune it out. Only way I can stand it is undervolt it at 8V or less (~7V for a F7P like that has been reviewed)