Thermaltake Frio Overclocking CPU Cooler Review

Final Thought & Conclusions

When I built my new rig earlier this year, I took for granted that the cooling I was using was sufficient enough for me to run the latest applications and games. Because I wanted a machine to produce and edit video and play the occasional game, I decided on building a system around an Intel Core i7 and used some great components, but took for granted one major component the CPU cooler. Foolishly, I thought the stock cooler would do just enough to keep me going during my long sessions of video encoding. Boy was I wrong.

Even running at stock clock speeds put my CPU in jeopardy generating temperatures close to 100-degrees when running with Stock. The Thermaltake Frio really lets you and your favorite processor spread your wings. We went from 2.8 GHz stock clock frequencies to 4.1 GHz a jump of over 1 GHz!

That stability actually lasted for a few weeks and then I got tired of hearing the fans in my room. The fan noise is the only real downside with this stellar cooler. At full fan speed (2500 RPM) the fans are rated at 43dBA and and idle speed (1200 RPM) they are just 20dBA in case you are wondering what the noise level is on the cooling fans that come on the Thermaltake Frio. Of course you can always change the cooling fans down the road if you wanted to get a little better performance or if you wanted silence. The Thermaltake Frio uses standard 120mm x 120mm fans that are 25mm thick, which is a very common size. The Frio, like all of Thermaltake’s CPU Coolers and Fan products, carry a warranty of three years for parts and labor.

Other than that, the packaging and presentation of the unit is very nice and the Frio just looks ‘Cool’! The Thermaltake Frio supports all recent AMD and Intel processors up to 220W TDP, so not only does it cool well, but it also is compatible with pretty much every motherboard and processor on the market. Just make sure the Thermaltake Frio will fit in your case as it has a height of 165mm!

When it comes to pricing, Thermaltake has priced this cooler quite aggressively at under $60 plus shipping. With two fans, five heatpipes, and nickel-plated coatings, not to mention its performance, this really is a cooler you need to check out before you build your next computer!

Legit Bottom Line: The Themaltake Frio is everything you want from a CPU cooler: A great price and even better performance. Be sure to keep the Frio on your wishlist!