Thermaltake’s Frio & Frio OCK can take the heat!
The Unboxing and Installation
The Frio and the Frio OCK coolers each arrive in a cardboard box packed with everything necessary to cool any modern CPU that you may buy. These coolers are “universal” – engineered to fit any modern Intel or AMD CPU’s cooling needs – overclocked or stock. First we will unbox the Frio CPU cooler.
The Thermaltake Frio
The Thermaltake Frio is designed for overclocking and it is engineered to easily fit any modern socket as it is held securely in place using a custom Thermaltake backplate to fit your motherboard. There is also a control for the fan’s rpm as seen above. Our only issue is that the cord is too short and we need to reach into our PC pretty deeply to adjust the CPU switch. However, we found that once we set the highest rpm for the compromise between quietness and cooling, it is a matter of forgetting it after that initial successful setting.
Here is the Frio box that advertises its features at retail emphasing overclocking as supporting CPUs up to 220W:
The box also displays its features on the other side as it is sold at retail.
Here are the specifications from Thermaltake’s site:
Intel® Core i7 Extreme (Socket LGA2011/LGA1366)
Intel® Core i7 (Socket LGA2011/LGA1366 & LGA1155/1156)
Intel® Core i5 / i3 (Socket LGA1155/1156)
Intel® Core 2 Extreme / Quad / Duo (Socket LGA775)
Intel® Pentium & D / 4 (Socket LGA775)
Intel® Celeron & D (Socket LGA775)AMD® Latest Llano & 6-Core Processors
AMD® Llano Processors (Socket FM1)
AMD® Phenom II X6 / X4 / X3 / X2 (Socket AM3/AM2+)
AMD® Phenom X4 / X3 (Socket AM3/AM2+)
AMD® Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 (Socket AM3)
AMD® Athlon 64 & FX / X2 (Socket AM2/939)
AMD® Sempron (Socket AM2/939/754)* Supports All CPUs up to 220W TDP
Thermaltake instructions although brief are easy to follow. Here is everything out of the box.
There are common parts and also separate packages with parts included specifically for Intel and AMD CPUs.
The instructions are excellent, well written, and easy to follow. We had no difficulty following them for installing the Frio CPU cooler on either an Intel or AMD CPU platform. The Frio comes with one fan pre-installed. It is easy to install the second one if you wish using the rubber connector plugs. Here is the Frio ready to install.
Above is our Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler out of the case and ready for installation. Notice how the hardware has been prepared with the rubber grommets on the ends of each screw. The entire CPU cooler is then placed so the screws of the CPU cooler line up with the motherboard holes and they are inserted through the backplate where nuts are tightened on them, fixing them firmly, as illustrated below:
It is a very simple and straightforward installation that does not require the end user to install the fans after the CPU cooling radiator is installed, and so we connect the fan leads and turn it on. There is no frustration with this CPU cooler’s installation.
But is it quiet and effective? Before we test it, let’s set up its bigger brother, the Frio OCK. The method of installation is quite different as the cooling design is different; the Frio OCK uses a two-piece design and the two fans are built into a single housing that is designed to slip over the Frio OCK’s radiator’s after it is installed and secured to the backplate on the other side of the motherboard.
Removing the Frio cooler is just as straightforward as installation. Loosen the 4 nuts, then remove them from the back of the motherboard while supporting the cooler and just pull it out together with its fans.
The Frio OCK
The OCK stands for OverClocking King. The Frio OCK is designed very differently from the Frio including regarding mounting. This 6-heatpipe CPU cooler comes in two sections. The radiator is attached through the motherboard with screws directly into a backplate with nuts that secure it. After the radiator is installed, the fans are installed over the radiator as part of a second one-piece section that houses both fans.
Notice the two hardware pieces that are attached through the motherboard to the backplate on the other side. In turn, the radiator housing attaches to the hardware with two screws. 
The backplate holds the hardware securely in place on the other side with 4 pins through the motherboard.
As you can see from the image below, the shell holding the fans easily slide over the radiator after it is locked down to the motherboard. There is no more frustration of using clips to installs fans onto a radiator in a cramped space. Both the Frio and the Frio OCK score high marks for ease of installation and convenience.
Before we install the Thermaltake Frio OCK, let’s look at its box. This time it is not just, “Designed for Overclocking”; it is a “Design For OverClocker King“, and it proudly supports CPUs up to 240W including Intel’s LGA2011 and AMD’s FM1.
This is an interesting CPU cooler that makes use of a molded plastic shell to house two 120MHz fans. It appears to be designed as a response to making the cooler installation easier, but we actually prefer the design of the Frio since the fans can be customized and the installation was just as easy. Of course, this cooler is larger and the same mounting system and design cannot be easily copied from the smaller cooler.
Here are the features on the Frio OCK box. We did not realize that the cooler was actually designed with Star Craft 2 in mind.
We also see the international nature of Thermaltake’s market.
Compatibility is nearly universal and we see the detailed specifications:
Here are the specifications from Thermaltake’s site:
Compatibility Intel® Latest Sandy Bridge & 6-Core Processors
Intel® Core i7 Extreme (Socket LGA2011/LGA1366)
Intel® Core i7 (Socket LGA2011/LGA1366 & LGA1155/1156)
Intel® Core i5 / i3 (Socket LGA1155/1156)
Intel® Core 2 Extreme / Quad / Duo (Socket LGA775)
Intel® Pentium & D / 4 (Socket LGA775)
Intel® Celeron & D (Socket LGA775)
AMD® Latest Llano & 6-Core Processors
AMD® Llano Processors (Socket FM1)
AMD® Phenom II X6 / X4 / X3 / X2 (Socket AM3/AM2+)
AMD® Phenom X4 / X3 (Socket AM3/AM2+)
AMD® Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 (Socket AM3)
AMD® Athlon 64 & FX / X2 (Socket AM2/939)
AMD® Sempron (Socket AM2/939/754)
* Supports All CPUs up to 240W TDP
The Frio OCK is well packed and the accessories sit inside in a cardboard box above the cooler.
We see separate manuals for AMD and Intel CPU installation and they are in several languages. The are easy to follow.
All of the part are clearly labeled and thoughtfully separated from each other for the ease of installation. High marks to Thermaltake for keeping the end user’s convenience in mind!
Here are all of the parts.
The Frio OCK is a handsome cooler and the surface contacting the CPU is very true and polished to a mirror like finsih.
Looking at the paste marking after the cooler is removed, other than it being applied a little thick, the contact between the surfaces is excellent. Thermaltake supplies their own thermal paste but we find it a bit thick and difficult to spread evenly so we use our “standard”, Arctic Cooling AS5.
With the mounting pieces of hardware firmly attached through the mother board to the Thermaltake Intel backplate, you can see two screw holes where the Frio OCK cooler is attached and locked down. And you can now see the reason that the fans have to go over the cooler after it is installed, unlike with the Frio which has a very different mounting system.
It is quite easy to lock down the screws as they have springs to keep you from overtightening them. As you can see, the two-piece design is brilliant! There would be no room to install fans with clips in the traditional way.
When the radiator is locked down, slide the shell with the cooling fans over it until you hear the clips catch. Connect the fan leads to the CPU fan header on the motherboard and prepare to adjust the maximum rpm. This is the easiest installation with a large cooler – ever. Cool!
The Frio OCK is physically large and it is fortunate that it is designed for ease of installation. Otherwise, installing the fans onto the radiator with the traditional clips would prove to be quite difficult.
The only issue is that the control rotary switch is hard to reach as the cable is short. We would much prefer automatic power management (PWM) from the BIOS instead of reaching into our case to adjust the maximum rpm.
Both coolers are very similar but the Frio OCK on the left is definitely made for cooling hotter CPUs by having more heatpipes and a larger and denser radiator than the Frio’s.
Both coolers sport mirror-like surfaces that contact the CPU and we can see the very different kind of mounting systems that they use.
To cool well, there has to be a great contact surface. Both the Frio and the Frio OCK have very smooth mirror-like surfaces. The end user should only use a dab of any thermal compound; specifically, a drop 4-5 mm in diameter in the center of the HS contact plate. Applying too much compound will lower the thermal conductivity and adversely affect the cooling performance of your CPU cooler.
We do not recommend polishing these coolers as they already have a mirror-like surface. It looks like we may have a performance cool and quiet winner by the specifications and the “look” and feel of these precision built CPU coolers. These coolers look great. Let’s check our test bed and then see how far we can push our Core i7-920 over our current limit of 3.8GHz that we run with our Noctua cooler.
