Review: Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler

[slaveofconvention]

A new story entry has been added:

Review: Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler



http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/banners/thermaltake/frio-1.png
(http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frontpage/?q=node/480)By Colin M. Ormsby (slaveofconvention)

Every now and then, we get the opportunity to review something that little bit special. Something brand new or even pre-release. Kayin recently took a pre-release Ultra 1050w PSU (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frontpage/?q=node/405)prisoner in his lab and this time it's my turn; the victim is the Thermaltake Frio cooler. The Frio is Thermaltakes brand new top-of-the-line air CPU cooler. Read on and see if it stands up to scrutiny as well as the aforementioned PSU did...more (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frontpage/?q=node/480)...

[msmrx57]

Great review :up: I've got a MaxOrb in my machine and thought it was huge, there's no way that montser would fit. I'll definitely have to keep this in mind when the wifes computer gets redone., as that case is big enough for it and it started life as a Tt case (unsure what model though).

[Oneslowz28]

Just wanted to jump in and say that it has been confirmed by Thermaltake!!!! We are the first site in the whole world to publish a hands on review of the Frio!!! Awesome work SoC.

[slaveofconvention]

Well while it may not be the cheapest cooler on the planet, after having it installed for a couple of weeks in both and Antec 900 and a Thermaltake Element T, I can assure you it'll be a purchase you won't regret.

[slaveofconvention]

Just wanted to jump in and say that it has been confirmed by Thermaltake!!!! We are the first site in the whole world to publish a hands on review of the Frio!!! Awesome work SoC.

:banana:

[msmrx57]

From what I saw on their site it's actually cheaper than my MaxOrb. Couple that with the fact that it performs as well as you showed and SWEET!

[BuzzKillington]

Very nice review. I leave for a few months and come back to some serious reviews! Keep up the good work guys. :up::up:

[TheMainMan]

Wow, that's a huge drop for air cooling! I might have to get one of these for the old Pentium D 950 space heater I have. It would match the Tt Element T case nicely to boot! Great review!

[slaveofconvention]

With the D 950 being s775, you shouldn't have any problems with installation (backplate issue aside but I already warned you about that so....) as for the Element T - odd you should mention that - I reviewed that case a little while ago and I've recently transferred my system into that case.... there is a lot more space in there for the Frio....


http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/images/reviews/thermaltake_frio/int.jpgStandard pic with everything set to auto - nasty mean flash!

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/images/reviews/thermaltake_frio/int1.jpgPretty colours cos I listened to Onesslowz28 and messed with the manual settings a lil bit lol

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/images/reviews/thermaltake_frio/int2.jpgMore shiny stuff!

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/images/reviews/thermaltake_frio/int3.jpgBling!

Odd thing is, I've never added any colour to this case by choice, all the light you see here is either from the 200mm red fan in the roof of the Element T or the vast array of status LEDs monitoring everything on the motherboard... Long story short, the gaudiness is NOT my doing - it just worked out that way lol

[Oneslowz28]

oOoOo pretty colors (the proper spelling :p ) Good to see you are learning your camera.

[slaveofconvention]

LOL - well, that's 3 of about 20 pics taken before I got what I wanted. Advantages of taking pics on an 8GB card - I can take 20 crap ones for every good one and barely notice the memory usage.

That 40fps stills feature is a prime example - took the dog to the beach - using that most of the time, took about 450 pics - ended up keeping about 30 of them!

On a seperate note - guess who DOESN'T much care about cabling lol...

I rip the PC apart entirely too often to try to keep the cables tidy!

[slaveofconvention]

And here we have it ladies and not-so-gentle men.... We told you we had the first review of the Frio - now it seems we actually did so by almost a week.... check the dates under the reviews on the official TT Frio webpage...

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/images/reviews/thermaltake_frio/firstreview.jpg

[Oneslowz28]

Freaking Awesome!!!! You made me a proud editor with this one.

[Trace]

Way to go SoC. Hope we get some i7 numbers soon

[winderic]

Just wandering if anyone know this cooler will fit into CM690? Thanks

[Lothair]

Just wandering if anyone know this cooler will fit into CM690? Thanks

Do you have measurements from between the processor and the side panel?

There shouldn't be a clearance issue, but that's my guess. SoC, unless I'm mistaken, transfered his rig into an Element T and the Frio seems to fit without issue. The CM690 is larger in width than the Element T. So I'd say it should fit.

[Oneslowz28]

Lothair is correct.

[slaveofconvention]

The Frio fits into the Antec 900 but JUST touches the side panel, so as Lothair said, I transferred my whole rig into a Thermaltake Element-T and there is definitely clearance there (not a lot, but there is no contact with the side panel). I also reviewed the Thermaltake v5 case and the Frio will NOT fit into that case.

A quick measure and it appears the cooler is just under 7 inches from motherboard to the top of the cooler, or just shy of 175mm, which ties in with the official cooler height of 165mm (allowing a few mm for the actual CPU socket and the CPU itself).

I have a few other cases coming my way at the moment, and they'll all be reviewed with my main rig in them I expect - so I'll be able to offer a little more actual experience-based information soon hopefully.

[winderic]

Thanks guys, information very helpful. I am planing to get it this Saturday. As my place is really getting hotter everyday, and my cpu is running 48c without any OC. I am using Thermaltake TMG atm. Hopefully this cooler can cool down more.

[slaveofconvention]

Well it made a monster difference to my temps over an admittedly overworked Zalman cooler....

[winderic]

HI guys, just though i share with you after i got my TT Frio today.
It fit nicely into CM690. Bought a Aerocool Shark fan when was at the store too, nice fan.
I though it will cool down a lot more then my previous cooler, now is CPU 45c (5-8c lower). Not sure if there is somewhere that i did wrongly, my case air flow seem pretty good. Anyway, enjoy the photos.

P/s: If this is not the right place to post out these, please feel free to remove it. Thanks

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j26/winderic/IMG_0233.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j26/winderic/IMG_0227.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j26/winderic/IMG_0231.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j26/winderic/IMG_0226.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j26/winderic/IMG_0230.jpg

[Oneslowz28]

Congrats on the Frio!

[slaveofconvention]

Hey - 5-8 is a decent drop considering you're using brand new uncured TIM - once that settles in properly, you may see another couple of degrees.... You really can't go wrong with this cooler - it is easily my favourite item - the one that impressed me the most, out of those I reviewed in 2010....