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
Final Words
No one really should expect the Alpine 7 (with PWM)/Alpine 7 Pro to challenge a Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme for top air-cooling performance. That would require suspending all notions of performance for the money. It's a bit more realistic to have higher expectations for the Freezer 7 Pro since it is a side-fan heatpipe tower similar in design to the top performers tested so far. However, the 92mm fan is not likely to give the big 120mm fan coolers a real run for their money. Still, the mid-sized fans sometimes can come close. Results did not upset our expectations, as neither the Alpine 7 nor the Freezer 7 Pro came close to dethroning our top coolers. However, that should definitely not be considered a negative for either of these value priced coolers.
For the money the performance of the Alpine 7 and Freezer 7 Pro are both simply outstanding. The Alpine 7 sells for less than $15 and it handily outperforms the excellent stock Intel cooler that comes with kit CPUs. Many higher-priced coolers barely outperform the Intel, and the Alpine 7 turns in a significantly better performance than the benchmark Intel retail design. The Freezer 7 Pro fares even better. This sub-$25 cooler exhibits performance scaling that is much better than we had any right to expect at this price point. It also pushes overclocking to a very good 3.85GHz, which is a record for this price point.
Both coolers are also superb in cooling at stock CPU speeds, under both idle and load conditions. In fact, they are so good at stock performance that it is easy to recommend one of these coolers as a way to extend your CPU life even if you have no intention of overclocking. That is particularly true when you consider how quiet both coolers are. Either cooler is near silent in most situations.
Arctic Cooling obviously used quite a few tricks with these coolers to keep noise low, and they succeeded very well in reaching that goal. Low-priced coolers are supposed to sacrifice noise and longevity to keep the price down, but neither of these coolers gives up anything on either count. They both use low noise, longer-life fan bearings and elastomeric fan mounts. This is expensive engineering, and this attention to sound engineering succeeds in making the Arctic Coolers amazingly quiet.
It is true the Arctic Cooling duo did not break through the top of our cooler performance charts, but they do something too few products do today. Both the Alpine 7 and Freezer 7 Pro meet or exceed their specifications. Both also deliver competent and silent performance with simple but effective engineering while delivering exceptional value for their price. Exceptional value is always a good thing and you will never regret the small amount you spend on either of these coolers. They are not the best performing coolers you can buy today, but both are the top performing cooler you can buy at their respective price points. There's nothing wrong with earning the distinction of "Best Buy for the Money".
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
48 Comments
View All Comments
Etern205 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Sorry for the triple post.Somehow the link code does not work so...
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/emea/eng/...">http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reselle...essors/c...
strikeback03 - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
Great, an LED fan direct from Intel.and it still uses push pins, though since it weighs about the same as the previous stock cooler I guess that is expected.
sparkuss - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Is there any reason you don't include with the new testbed/database your custom water cooling setup that you've been using to chart the X38/X48?I realize it may be extreme but it feels missing if only to show what that "next" level of cooling means in relation to the "top rated performers". I guess I'd also be remiss in not asking for at least one of the new Peltier/Water compact combo coolers in the mix just for those reference lines on the graphs.
If you only want to limit results to "available/ready to buy" I understand.
I'm still looking at all options for my next "technology-leap" (AMD 4000+ 939) system build and being able to see if investing in the extreme is worth the results would help with some of the choices.
Thanks
strikeback03 - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
I'd guess Wesley is in a different part of the country/world than Raja or whoever has the extreme cooling setup.mindless1 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Quote:"low noise, longer-life fan bearings and elastomeric fan mounts. This is expensive engineering."These aren't really longer-life bearings. Anyone can make a bearing and claim that in an ideal environment it will have really long life. That's shady marketing, the finished fan, as implemented, is not that ideal environment for several reasons such as thrust level, imbalance, ambient temp. Frankly I find the bearing on my Freezer 64 Pro to be below average compared to my major (fan manufacturer not PC parts relabeler) brands. I would rate them as well if not better than many of the crude fans one would find on cheap heatsinks at least, and the fan imbalance being offset by the rubber mounts does help.
As for the elastomeric fan mounts, no this is not expensive engineering. Maybe a penny a piece, no more expensive than screws to hold a fan on. Perhaps we could say the unique fan frame design cost a slight bit extra though when in volume the cost may be less than you'd think, particularly if not manufactured by a major label. Upon examination of the fan bearing anyone with a trained eye can easily see these are not premium sleeve bearings by any stretch, and they are a lot short on lubricant, you should expect them not to be so quiet within the life of the system. Relube the bearing periodically for best results.
While my comments seem (are) negative, overall these coolers are a great value, but we do need to be objective in recognizing the cons as well as the pros. I'm not aware of better value for the money so they are still 'sinks to seriously consider except for attempts at extreme overclocking.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
The Engineering is expensive - not necessarily the parts. What we were trying to say here is that these kinds of solutions are usually reserved for higher-priced coolers, and not often seen on coolers selling for such a low price.As for bearing life, most coolers in this price range don't even rate fan bearing life. The expected "life" of the fan on the under $15 Alpine 7 is 400,000 hours and the bearing is a Fluid Dynamic Bearing - like the Scythe Sflex 120mm fan which is $20 for the fan alone. These are both impressive specs for any cooler fan - especially one that sells with the complete cooler for less than $15.
mindless1 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
The life rating of 400K hours is nonsense.Their typical fan sells for $6, and that with a bit of profit built in. Their bearings are not special, just the marketing is.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
A minimum price is a better proof than an inflated one, as even the generic junk out there selling for $2 is also marked up 250% or more through relabelers.
forgotmypassword - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Your under load test is WAY TOO GENTLE. Same AC Freezer 7 can hardly keep my E6550 @ 2.8GHz Core Duo under 75C under 100% load... Compare it to your 41CRamarC - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
if your e6550 is hitting 75c you either don't have the freezer 7 mounted properly or your bios/fan control is configured to allow that level of heat.mindless1 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
You have no evidence of that. A higher ambient temp, worse case ventilation, and/or higher vcore can cause this.However, some mountings don't seem to put as much pressure on the 'sink, it can be mounted as "properly" as possible and still this (and especially along with a combination of aforementioned factors) could result in that temp.
The real question is WHY someone would have allowed their CPU to get this hot instead of reducing the o'c or taking whatever other measures are necessary.