Arctic Freezer 33 TR – Budget 120mm air tower Threadripper cooler

The key thing about the Arctic Freezer 33 TR is the TR suffix stands for Thread Ripper. That’s right, this diminutive 120mm tower cooler claims to have the ability to deal with AMD’s mighty Threadripper that has up to 16 hardware cores and a TDP of 180W.

The secret is that Freezer 33 TR has a larger base than the basic Freezer 33 that is better suited to the enormous AMD Threadripper CPU and this increases the TDP capability from 150W to 200W.

As a neat touch Arctic has chosen a red and black colour scheme that is evocative of the traditional ATi/AMD colours.

Specification
Intel Socket LGA 2066, LGA 2011-3, LGA 2011
AMD Socket sTR4, AM4
Max. Cooling Capacity 320W
Recommended Max. TDP 200W
Heatpipes 4x 6mm
Cooler body 49 aluminium fins, 0.4mm thick
Fan 1x 120mm 200-1800rpm, PWM, FDB
Dimensions 155mm tall, 123mm wide, 89mm deep

Installation
Arctic calls this cooler Freezer 33 TR but that is only part of the story as the cooler is also supplied with mounts for Intel LGA 2066/LGA 2011-3/LGA 2011 and AMD AM4, in addition to Threadripper. Intel LGA 115x is specifically not covered.

When you unpack the cooler you will find it comes without instructions. All you get is a small card with a 3D barcode and a note that you need to visit Arctic’s website for further information. In fairness the website is pretty good but this seems like a slightly laborious approach for the customer that might be confusing.

Initially we found the cooler was difficult to install as one of the two brackets didn’t fit the TR4 socket. After a conversation with Arctic we were told this was a fault with the initial batch of 20 TR coolers and some work with a pair of pliers quickly fixed the problem.
With that snag out of the way we had the cooler installed within a couple of minutes. While the Freezer 33 TR looks neat and tidy it doesn’t look especially impressive and we had our doubts about how well it would cope with Threadripper.

Testing
Test system:
CPU AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1920X
RAM 32GB G.Skill FlareX DDR4-3200MHz
Motherboard ASRock X399 Taichi
Graphics MSI GTX 760
SSD Samsung 960 EVO
Power supply 1000W Sea Sonic Prime Titanium

We ran the Threadripper 1920X at stock clock speeds with all cores running at 3.7GHz and then overclocked to 4.0GHz with a core voltage of 1.4V. We also used three different cooling systems on the Threadripper 1920X. The first is the Arctic Freezer 33 TR, the second is the Fractal Design Celsius S24, which is a 240mm Asetek All In One and the third system is a custom loop. The components in the loop are a 240mm Alphacool copper radiator, 2x 120mm Alphacool fans, an EK DDC pump/reservoir unit, an EK Supremacy EVO Threadripper block and Mayhems Pastel coolant.

Cooling Performance
For the first test we ran Cinebench R15 a number of times until the temperature stabilised. At the stock clock speed of 3.7Ghz the Arctic and Fractal Design coolers were inseparable and the custom loop was marginally better. With the CPU overclocked to 4.0GHz the Arctic and Fractal Design coolers again performed identically while the custom loop slightly increased its advantage under load.

For our second test we ran Blender which is a more extreme test as it fully stresses the CPU for some three minutes. At stock clocks the Arctic once again matched the Fractal Design AIO at 57 degrees while the custom loop was notably cooler at 50 degrees. With the CPU overclocked to 4.0GHz the Fractal Design ran at 82 degrees and the Arctic went slightly higher to 85 degrees, however the CPU did not throttle. The custom loop was significantly cooler at 72 degrees.

We didn’t expect much from the Arctic Freezer 33 TR and were astonished to see it performing at the same level as a 240mm liquid cooler.

Acoustics performance
Throughout our testing we had fan speed set using PWM control and all three coolers were very quiet indeed.

Closing Thoughts.

We started this review with the view that the Arctic Freezer 33 TR was likely to suffer when it faced Threadripper. Arctic’s claim about 200W TDP seemed optimistic yet the fact is the Freezer 33 TR surpassed expectations and did a fine job. If you want a cheap and simple cooling solution for your Threadripper this could very well be the answer, especially if you run at stock clock speeds and don’t fancy overclocking.

While this makes sense on paper we question how it will work in the real world. How many people build a system with a £500, £725 or £900 CPU and then look for ways to save a chunk of cash on their CPU cooler. We could be wrong but human nature can be funny like that.

The Arctic Freezer 33 TR is a perfectly respectable cooler for Threadripper however it doesn’t make much of a visual statement and ultimately we suspect that will count against this nifty little tower cooler.

Buy from Overclockers UK for £37.99 inc vat HERE

Pros:

• Surprisingly good cooling for a 120mm tower.
• Quiet PWM fan.
• Base plate makes good contact with CPU.
• Matt black finish seems appropriate for Threadripper.

Cons:

• Installation guide is not included.
• Mounting hardware feels cheap and cheerful.

KitGuru says: Against the odds Arctic Freezer 33 TR keeps the mighty Threadripper under control.

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