Date: January 16th, 2005
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product Submitted by: SCYTHE USA <--Shop for a Freezer 7 from Scythe Here
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PRODUCT WALKTHROUGH & PICTORIAL

So let's see what makes this cooler tick.

Moving from the base to the top, we first come in contact with the full copper base which is physically connected to the large upper heatsink via the four heatpipes. The copper block itself has no direct mounted heatsink like what I have previously seen when reviewing other heatpipe coolers such as the Cooler Master Hyper6 here.

The complete cooler is attached to the motherboard through the standard four point Intel reference cooler design which is remarkably easy to install and equally easy to uninstall. Although it is easy to install, the strength of the Intel design is still yet to be determined. With only four pushpins holding the heatsink in place, the mechanism is not intended to be used in high load applications. This is probably why Arctic Cooling has gone with the aluminum radiator heatsink construction rather than using the heavier copper.

Although the copper block is level, the surface is nothing close to the smooth mirror finish I would have used in designing a heatsink of this nature. For maximum cooling efficiency, use a high quality thermal paste (I recommend Arctic Silver always) and maybe consider lapping the surface for a better heatspreader to heatsink interface.

The incorporated fan is ceramic sleeve bearing based for quieter operation. While pushing 36cfm of airflow, this cooling was even remarkably quieter even when running at its' maximum speed of 2500rpm. When the motherboard did not require higher airflow, the fan speed dropped to just above 500rpm and was acoustically undetectable over even a small videocard fan close to it.

The fan is supported through a small two point brace which allows the lower portion of the heatsink to not interfere with the stock northbridge heatsinks included on the Intel reference design and even on the higher end boards from third party manufacturers. As you can see above, any lower brace assembly will hinder any proper installation.