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When we reviewed the Thermaltake Contac 29 we used a variety of heatsinks to compare against on the AMD platform, but this time we wanted to see how well the Frio was able to handle an Intel Core i7 980X at reference speeds, then after overclocking with increased voltage.
Even though the Noctua NH D14 is much more expensive than the Frio we felt it was a good ‘extreme high end' baseline to compare against. We have also included a few other coolers available on the market today for comparion purposes.
We use the following for measurements as many onboard software based results are not accurate.
MultiMeter Thermal Probe
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Test System:
Thermaltake Frio
Noctua NH D14
Prolimatech Megahalems
Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Coolit Domino ALC
CPU: Intel Core i7 980x
Motherboard: Intel DX58SO
Power Supply: Antec 750w Truepower
Graphics Card: ATI 5870
Memory: Corsair XMS3 DDR31600
Chassis: Silverstone Raven 02
Hard Drive: Intel 160GB X-25 M SSD
With air conditioning, room ambient temperatures were kept at a steady 25c, comfortable conditions for most people. Load temperatures were recorded by looping Cinebench R11.5 for a 30 minute period under 100% load and recording the maximum results. These are real world conditions … the application uses the Cinema 4D rendering engine.
With the variable fan speed on the Frio we set them to various points to get results, although I personally would use the cooler at a mid way point (around 1,800rpm) – full speed is unbearable.
Next we cranked the Intel 980X to 4.2ghz and raised core voltage to 1.375 to get stability.
In our overclocking tests the NH D14 comes out top however at high fan settings the Frio is only 3c behind. That said, at high settings the noise is painful, so I would classify medium as a real world usable result. 5c seperates the two heatsinks at these settings.
As expected, with ‘high' fan speed settings the Thermaltake Frio is generating a hell of a racket with our meter. This is an unusable situation and thankfully when we turn both fans to a midway point (around 1,700-1,800rpm) the noise drops dramatically to 43.2dB. at the lowest settings the cooler is barely noticeable (39.2dB) and would be my ideal position for non overclocked settings.
Guys temporary problems with review pages, forcing back to first page, we are aware of it and are looking into it now.
Thanks for letting us know Zardon, i was wondering what was going on there.
i want to read this any news on a system fix?
we are working on it, sorry for this !
Well you can now see the content but unfortunately it is on a single page. we are aware of the issue now, we just need to sort it out. thanks.
Hey I have a FRIO ! I love it. was contemplating going to a Noctua NH D14 but its a bit much money for only slightly improved cooling. Might just change the fans to high end ones.
Cool. literally 🙂
Its a really good looking bit of engineering. not so sure about all the plastic and the fans seem a bit noisy, but I guess with variable controls you can adjust that to suit. Good reviews, thanks.
This is a great cooler, and I like the price. The NOctua NH D14 is better, but it costs a fortune.
Thermaltake standards are better lately they used to be really shoddy. last year they are putting out some solid products.
Good article, interesting to see the noise levels on this thing cranked ! over 60db, bloody nora.
Thank you for the review, very helpful in my purchase. decided to order one of these, seems really good value for money and I can set the fans on low as you say for my 875k
Nice article – good testing. I like the looks of the cooler and the design is good also. I never though Thermaltake could make something this nice, I have never liked their cases.
Most useful, especially the fan information.
£38 is a great price isnt it? cant believe they are selling it for £30 less than the noctua sandwich thingie
What is the fitting like for AMD?
I wonder what it would be like if they made it slightly bigger, almost the same size as the noctua cooler and put better fans on it, I bet that diference in performance would drop.
This seems like a good 2nd choice for people who find the Noctua D14 is incompatible with some of their hardware.