Okay now for most people stock cooling is fine, they set it up and all works well. For those who decide to overclock, stock cooling just might not cut it. There are other cooling options available, water-cooling is more widely used now than it used to be and phase-change cooling is extreme and expensive but provides some of the best cooling available. But what about people who want things quieter? Want Things cooler? Don't want water or phase change cooling? What"s left for them? The answer is simply air-cooling. The Arctic Cooling Freezer 4 (socket 478, other socket models available) is a beast of a cooler, measuring in at 92 x 114 x 120 mm it isn't small, but for such a big product it only weighs a mere 488g. This is because of the copper base/heat-pipes and aluminium fin combination, if it were made completely of copper it would have weighed too much, they"ve got the balance just right here. With a noise rating of 1.0 Sone, air movement of 32CFM and fan speed of 2200RPM this looks like it should shape up to be an impressive cooler. Let's look at the full specs of this cooler Heat Sink: 92 x 72 x 120 mm Fan: 77 x 77 x 42 mm Overall Dimensions: 92 x 114 x 120 mm Rated Fan Speed: 2200 RPM Power Consumption: 0.13 Amp. Air Flow: 32 CFM / 55 m3/h Weight: 488 g Noise Level: 1.0 Sone Thermal Resistance: 0.20°C/Watt Warranty: 6 Years First of all lets look at the packaging: [attachfull]1042[/attachfull] It"s a mighty big box for a cooler (but then again I'd read about the coolers size, maybe the phrase good things come in small packages is wrong?), and displays all the necessary information. Including basic installation instructions on the outside of the box itself. I was pleased to learn that the cooler comes with a 6-year guarantee. Opening up the box reveals the cooler itself, sitting under a plastic cover. The cooler comes with Arctic Cooling MX-1 thermal compound. However when installing I will be using trusty old Arctic Silver 5. Here"s the cooler in all its glory: [attachfull]1043[/attachfull] The Fan is attached to the heatsink permanently, and cannot be removed. And the clip to attach it to the motherboard is fixed to the copper base. The instructions are very clear, showing what is needed to do, although fitting a heatsink/fan should be a very simple affair. Applying thermal compound isn't hard, but for those who don"t know here’s a basic guide on how to do it: Step 1: Clean the CPU die with some 99% Isopropyl Alcohol or special cleaning solution (available from most good computer stores) Step 2: Rub a small amount of the compound onto the bottom of the heatsink and then wipe off carefully with a cloth. Step 3: Place a small amount of compound on the CPU die itself and spread thinly and evenly across it using something like a razor blade (anything with a good, slightly bendy flat edge should do…credit cards etc) Step 4: Place the heatsink onto the CPU and gently move around a little, this will fill the gaps between the micro-sized pockets where the compound doesn’t get into upon first placement. Installing this cooler is a bit trickier than I first expected. To clip it onto the motherboard requires some pressure and care, but once its on it won’t budge unless un-clipped, which is a good and a tricky thing. [attachfull]1044[/attachfull] The cooling of this cooler is extremely good, with my old stock heatsink my CPU was idling at around 30*C, with this new one its idling at around 20*C, that’s an incredible 10*C drop in temps! Even with my Celeron 2.6 overclocked to 3.15GHz the CPU still only idles at around 20-24*C. Under load my CPU still reaches 35*C but that is still a very acceptable temperature. Another thing about this cooler is the noise, or should I say lack of it. The special fan arrangement does cut down on noise and the fan is near silent as well, the only time I can really hear it is when I am down close to the computer. This cooler is quite frankly astonishing, cool temperatures, weight to rival stock cooling and noise levels so quiet you could sleep next to it. All of this plus the fact it cost a mere £15 makes it an ideal air-cooling solution for any PC enthusiast.
