Thermaltake Frio Extreme CPU Cooler Review - PAGE 5

It's clear Thermaltake put a lot of thought into the Frio Extreme, and this can be seen when looking at the overall design of the cooler. Going all out and utilizing the dual tower design then expanding the surface area of the fins to help increase heat dissipation was a smart move. Taking it a step further, Thermaltake paired the cooler with twin 140mm fans capable of pushing up to 106.2 CFM with a maximum air pressure of 2.34 mmH2O.

The included fan controller was an added bonus, especially if your motherboard is equipped with a single 4-pin header, giving the end user a more flexible approach to fan control. This helps insure that both fans are operating at peak performance; without this added feature, one fan would be limited to leveraging the motherboard BIOS settings via a 3-pin header.

Performance wise I fully expected the Frio Extreme to steal the show, but as you could see from the results on the previous page it just wasn't the case. In the chipset category the Frio Extreme went toe-to-toe with its competitors with a mere 3 degrees Celsius separating it from the top spot. In the CPU portion of testing, the Frio Extreme placed 3rd with 10 degrees Celsius between it and the Cooler Master TPC-812. With Thermaltake's Frio Extreme being among the top of the line coolers I was surprised by this. We do however need to keep the plus~minus variable in mind when taking the results into consideration.

Placing third doesn't mean the Frio Extreme lacks the cooling performance required for overclocking. Thermaltake's Frio Extreme simply faced some tough competition with the likes of Noctua and Cooler Master.

Overall, the Frio Extreme is another fine example of a high quality product that we have all come to know and expect from the Thermaltake brand.

Pros:

• Dual Tower Design
• Fan Controller
• Easy Installation
• Excellent Craftsmanship

Cons:

• Price