X-bit labs

Air-, Liquid- and Thermo-Electrical Cooling Technologies in One: CoolIT Freezone Review (page 10)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 08/24/2007 | 12:54 PM ]

Conclusion

I had expected much more from the CoolIT Freezone in terms of noise as well as cooling performance than it actually showed in my tests. Yes, this cooling solution has its strong points. It is universal and can be mounted on each modern platform as well as on the outdated Socket 478. It is ready to be installed right out of the box and does not require that you assemble it, fill it up, etc, as you have to with most other liquid cooling systems. As opposed to them too, the Freezone resides inside the system case without interfering with any components (except for the system fan on the side panel). Unfortunately, this is all the good I can tell you about this cooler. The rest are much heavier drawbacks.

I acknowledge that CoolIT has created a high-performance cooler that can cope with an overclocked quad-core processor that generates almost 200W of heat. But does its performance match its price? The answer is a definite No. I can recall the recent article about the XIGMATEK HDT-S963 cooler in which the Cooler Master Hyper TX with a recommended price of $22 (and available in retail for about $30) cooled the same CPU just as well. I don’t even mention such coolers as Enzotech Ultra-X. Added to this are the high noise level and high power consumption of the Freezone.

The CoolIT Freezone can be improved. For example, they can install a larger radiator, for a 120mm fan at least (there is enough room in the system case) and with better design (like wavy ribs to enlarge the total area, corrugated butt-ends of the ribs to reduce the resistance to airflow). They can also increase the amount of coolant, perhaps even include an expansion tank into the circuit. After these minor improvements it will be clear if the performance of the Peltier elements and of the pump should be increased as well. But will the developer improve the system further? I’m not sure at all.