Thermaltake’s Frio & Frio OCK can take the heat!
Conclusion
When it comes to cooling your overclocked hot Intel or AMD CPU efficiently and quietly, Thermaltake is the company to turn to. Just as we saw the Hyper 212 Plus quietly eclipse the stock cooler and the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 silently passes the budget cooler, we see the Frio OCK surpass our Noctua. If you have a Core i7 or i5 that you really want to push to its maximum overclock by safely using air-cooling, the Thermaltake Frio OCK may be for you. If you want to save money and have less demands on your cooler, the Frio is an excellent cooler and it is more efficient at cooling than even the more expensive Noctua cooler that we are now moving to our Core i3-2105 system. Thermaltake’s Frio and Frio OCK come highly recommended by this reviewer!
Thermaltake’s two-piece design for the OCK is unique in that it allows for a very large cooler to be installed without having to suffer in a cramped installation space; and the Frio installs just as easily. For your money, you get a good choice for a super CPU cooler that will fit into almost any mid tower easily.
Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler
Pros:
- The Frio is a great mid-priced cooling solution for overclocking almost any modern Intel or AMD CPU and it beats our much more expensive Noctua in cooling performance.
- Two adjustable and quiet 120mm fans provide excellent bang-for-buck cooling.
- Everything is included for installation including thermal compound.
- It is easy to install into our mid-tower
- Instructions are clear and well written
Cons:
- The fan adjustment is on a short cable and we would much prefer PWM over reaching into our case to adjust maximum rpm; at maximum, the fan noise is noticeable.
Thermaltake FrioOCK Cooler
Pros:
- Thermaltake’s Frio OCK CPU cooler is an excellent high-end cooler that provides superb cooling – well above the Frio’s and the Noctua NH-U12P SE2’s ability to cool our CPU
- A brilliant two-piece design simplifies installation for such a large cooler; probably the easiest large CPU cooler installation to date!
- Everything is included for installation.
- Instructions are clear and well-written
- The parts are well identified and separated intelligently for ease of installation.
Cons:
- The fans’ adjustment switch is on a short cable and we would prefer PWM to reaching inside of our PC for adjusting maximum rpm. At maximum rpm, the fans become rather noticeable.
The Verdict
There you have it. Thermaltake’s Frio CPU cooler is an excellent all-in-one quiet cooler for a reasonable price considering its build, ease of installation, and all-inclusive package. It is well-deserving of our “Editor’s Choice” award. Recommended.
Thermaltake’s Frio OCK is a top CPU cooler that will allow you to get your maximum overclock and we will be using it as our own flagship cooler. It comes highly recommended for its superb cooling and its well thought-out two-piece design for ease of installation as well as intelligent packaging of the parts.
Our next article will be published this week continuing with Part Two of our “The GTX 680 Arrives!” series with expanded coverage of maximum GTX 680 overclocking versus the maxed out and voltage-juiced HD 7970. Check our our ABT forums as we already have the GTX 680’s overclocked performance benches up for 21 modern games.
Happy Gaming!
Mark Poppin
ABT Senior Editor
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