Testing and Results

For this test, I used the following heat sinks in addition to the Thermaltake Frio OCK:

• Thermalright Venomous X
• Thermalright Silver Arrow
• Thermalright Macho HR02
• Cooler Master V6 GT
• Prolimatech Super Mega
• Corsair Hydro Series H50
• Corsair Hydro Series H70
• Coolit ECO A.L.C.
• Coolit Vantage A.L.C.
• Antec Kühler H2O 620

For heat sinks without a stock fan, I used a Thermalright TR-FDB-12-1600 fan, which puts out 63.7CFM at 28dBa according to Thermalright. This mid-range fan provides good air flow and reasonable noise levels. For "apples to apples" testing, where each heat sink is tested with the same fan, I used a Delta AFC1212D. This high-performance PWM fan is rated at 113CFM at a claimed 46.5dBa at full speed...which means that while it moves quite a bit of air, it's very loud.

The Intel Core i7-950 I used in this test runs much hotter than the Core i7-920 I've used previously. At 1.35 volts, with a BCLK of 175Mhz, the 4,025Mhz CPU pumps out enough heat to stress the very best heat sinks. AIDA64 would report throttling once any single core reached 100 degrees Celsius; any throttling resulted in canceling the test and recording a "FAIL". This overclocked and overvolted Core i7-950 represents an extreme that many heat sinks cannot handle.

The chart below summarizes the results with the stock fans (hotter temperatures towards the top of the chart, and cooler temperatures towards the bottom). The twin-fan coolers have a real advantage here, since their dual fans generally move more air than the stock single fan of any of the other units. Remember that the lower the thermal difference is, the better the heat sink is performing.

Stock Fan Tests

For stock fan testing, I left the Frio OCK's fans turned to their maximum speed. The fans were audible but less noisy than the Delta fan used in the next test. The Frio OCK turned in excellent results, beaten by only a few other coolers.

Delta High Speed Fan Tests

The Frio OCK is designed to be used only with its included fans; there's no way to attach other fans, and the plastic shroud will only accommodate the special fans that come with the cooler...so I had to attach the Delta fan with packing tape, taking care not to obscure any airflow. The Delta fan improved results by less than a degree. The included fans are rated at a higher combine air flow (121CFM) than the Delta (113CFM) and do a pretty good job.

I'll summarize my opinions on this cooler in the next section.

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