Testing
Methodology:
Baseline testing is done with one of the most
well known air coolers on the market: the XP-90 from Thermalright,
paired with a Panaflo 92mm fan. On all tests, the CPU is running at
2.75GHz with 1.51V unless otherwise noted. Idle is defined as
sitting at the Windows desktop with no other tasks. Load is achieved
with two instances of prime95 running large FFTs to generate the
most heat from the CPU. Temperature information was logged by
SpeedFan. Ambient temperature stayed in between 22C and 25C
throughout testing.
First off, our baseline test. The following
graph shows the system initially at idle, then both instances of
prime95 are started up simultaneously.
From the above graph, we can see exactly when
load is applied, and maximum temperature is achieved within a matter
of a couple minutes. The CPU peaks at about 49C. Idle runs at about
31C.
Under the "Quiet" Setting, the Freezone idles
in the mid 30s, and under load, quickly hits 50C and gradually moves
up to near 60C. Once it hits 60C, one of the instances of prime95
fails, and stops the CPU load, hence the low temp spikes. The PWM
temp heads up to about 70C, well within its thermal limits.
Here are the results with the Freezone at its
"midpoint" setting. The interesting thing here is, as temp started
increasing past 50C, the unit started working harder, and ultimately
settled in at 46C. Idle is still in the mid 30s.
Under Max Performance setting, things start to
get interesting. Idle temp is now at a frigid 22C, and the load
curve initially peaks at under 40C, though the constant load causes
the final peak to hit at 46C, a couple degrees shy of the XP-90.
So, I decided to see what the maximum
overclock I could get with this cooler. I was able to get another
80MHz by increasing voltage to 1.55V. And yet, load temps have only
budged a few degrees, now maxing out at 51C. Even more intriguing, I
tried to go for the gold and hit 2.9GHz, and even though the system
was unstable, load temps did not budge at all. This would be unheard
of in a classic heatsink setup.
Conclusion:
So, does this kit deliver on its
promises? Lets address each of the five points from CoolIT's
website:
Quiet:
The unit is pretty quiet all the way up to the highest setting,
and even then, it still pretty quiet, fairly equivalent in noise to
my XP-90 setup. The quiet setting should not be used on high power
systems, or at least not for any sustained amounts of time. The
midpoint setting is ideal for most users, here the system is quiet
when idle, but still applies sufficient cooling power when a load is
applied.
Compact:
The cooler fits pretty well in the mid tower Apollo, though the
Karajan Audio module had to be removed to make the fit.
Super-cool: The cooling performance of the Freezone is
satisfactory: it beats out my XP-90, especially at heavy loads when
cranked all the way up. It is doubtless that it would outperform
many of the water cooling "kits" on the market as well. However, it
is vital that the fan has unobstructed air flow. When I originally
tested the unit in the NZXT Guardian case, the kit actually
performed substantially worse because of the restrictive fan port.
Running the Freezone out of the case provided the best performance,
with load temps at about 40C at maximum performance settings,
however that is not a very realistic solution so I did not do the
review that way. Using a Dremel tool to cut out the fan grill may be
something to consider if you buy this kit, and want to maximize
performance.
Reliable:
The build quality of this kit appears to be of very high quality. I
see no reason why this cannot be a 24/7 unit.
Easy to
Install: For the most part, I agree with this statement.
For 90% of systems out there, installing this is no more difficult
than installing an aftermarket heatsink, however for the other 10%,
installing means removing the motherboard, which takes a lot of the
"ease" out of it.
One of the concerns about the
Freezone is the price. At $300, it prices many people out of the
market. Many people have noted that for that price, you can buy some
very high quality water cooling kits that cool more than the CPU. I
suppose this is the cost of the ease of installation, and zero
maintenance that the high end water cooling kits cannot claim.
Some improvements I would not
mind seeing in future iterations of the product would include
sleeving all the wires into a single sleeve, and perhaps even a
120mm version.
