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
Noise Levels
For many enthusiasts upgrading cooling the goal is maximum stable overclock, and they will live with the inconvenience of a louder system. For other users silence is the most important factor, and these users will forgo maximum overclocking if that increases system noise levels. Those who expect silence to be the domain of high-priced cooling solutions are in for a very pleasant surprise with both these Arctic Cooling solutions. It is unusual to see this much attention paid to noise reduction in value coolers, but the use of elastomeric bushings and low noise bearings show that Arctic Cooling takes noise reduction very seriously. Do these features work?
The Arctic 7 (with PWM) and the Freezer 7 Pro turn out to be two of the quietest coolers we have tested so far in our new cooling test bed. All four test results are at the floor of our system noise, and the new test system noise floor is equivalent to a suburban bedroom at night in noise level.
Both Alpine coolers remain silent, even when pushed hard with load testing and overclocking, which increases fan speeds. It is rare to see such low noise levels on any cooling fan, but it is particularly impressive in coolers designed to sell for less than $25.
Neither of these sub-$25 coolers will really challenge the top of our overclocking performance results, but in their effective range - which is wider than you might expect - both coolers are extremely quiet. The frameless fan, low noise bearings, and elastomeric fan mounts are obviously doing their job very well.
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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.