Thermaltake Frio Extreme CPU Cooler Review - PAGE 2

When Thermaltake packaged the Frio Extreme, they certainly kept in consideration the importance of keeping components in one piece during transport. Upon opening the box you will find two highly detailed instruction sheets, one for Intel the other for AMD as well, as Thermaltake's warranty card. And in case I forgot to mention it, the Frio Extreme has a ten year warranty!

With the instructions and warranty card out of the way, we can finally remove the cooler from the box. As you can see, the cooler is well protected from damage thanks to the foam cradle surrounding it. Every item in the package is tucked inside this foam, right down to the package of accessories. Now that we have everything unpacked we can begin a closer inspection of the included items. First we have the two 140x140mm fans and their retention clips. Don't let the look of the clips fool you, they work extremely well given their design. They are also very easy to use, unlike some other retention clips I have worked with. Next up is the accessory package; inside this box you will find everything needed to mount the Frio Extreme onto all of today's newest sockets, and to make things even easier for you Thermaltake has included a combo backplate that works with both Intel and AMD setups.

The cable laying next to the backplate in the photo may look like an extension cable for the fans, when in fact it connects a variable speed control to the CPU fan header pin on the motherboard, thus giving you the ability to control the fans' RPM via a fan controller. The controller has a dial on it where you can crank the fans up to their maximum rotational speed or dial them down to their lowest setting. Regardless of which extreme you go, you will most likely not hear these fans as their minimum and maximum noise rating is between 19~39dBA.