Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP CPU Cooler Review
Looking for a HTPC CPU Cooler? Then the Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP CPU Cooler is a great choice for you. This cooler has a compact design, ultra quiet PWM fan, and easy installation for HTPCs. The cooler supports CPUs up to 90 Watts and only Intel LGA 775 and 1156 processors. This silent CPU cooler should be something you should have in mind if you’re designing an HTPC system. Read on further to find out more.
Special thanks to Arctic Cooling for providing us with the Freezer 11 LP CPU Cooler to review.
Features
Optimized heatsink designed for slim cases- Ultra quiet 92mm PWM fan
- Dual heatpipe for efficient heat dissipation
- Patented fan holder to eliminate buzzing sounds
- Pre-applied ARCTIC MX-2
- Easy installation with push pins
Specifications
| Dimensions | 115L x 106W x 53H (mm) |
| Minimum PC Case Height | 70mm |
| Fan | 92mm |
| Fan Speed | 900-2000 RPM (controlled by PWM) |
| Air Flow | 27 CFM / 46 m³/h |
| Maximum Cooling Capacity | 90 Watts |
| Noise Level | 0.4 Sone |
| Bearing | Fluid Dynamic Bearing |
| Weight | 225g |
Packaging
The Freezer 11 LP comes in a compact plastic clamshell package, which is form fitting to the cooler. Three plastic latches hold the two plastic parts together. On the front of the package you can see the fan, with the Freezer 11 LP logo on the center of the fan housing, while the back shows the features and specifications.
The Freezer 11 LP comes in a compact plastic clamshell package, which is form fitting to the cooler. Three plastic latches hold the two plastic parts together. On the front of the package you can see the fan, with the Freezer 11 LP logo on the center of the fan housing, while the back shows the features and specifications.
Arctic Cooling really makes the packaging small and perfect for the small amount of parts to fit inside of the case. This cooler only supports LGA 775 and LGA 1156 sockets, so multiple parts aren’t needed.
Overview
The Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP CPU Cooler is designed to be a low-profile (hence the LP in the name), CPU cooler for HTPC systems. The cooler isn’t meant to be a powerful one, but to be a step above stock coolers that are sometimes included with the CPUs. The 92mm PWM fan, along with the aluminum heatsink, and two copper heatpipes help cool to a maximum of 90 Watts.
The Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP CPU Cooler is designed to be a low-profile (hence the LP in the name), CPU cooler for HTPC systems. The cooler isn’t meant to be a powerful one, but to be a step above stock coolers that are sometimes included with the CPUs. The 92mm PWM fan, along with the aluminum heatsink, and two copper heatpipes help cool to a maximum of 90 Watts.
The cooler isn’t very large at all, measuring in at 115 x 106 x 53mm, which makes it pretty easy to fit in the palm of your hand. The Freezer 11 LP comes equipped with a 92mm PWM fan, which has its own patented fan holder to help eliminate noise. The holes in the four corners aren’t used to attach the fan to the heatsink, but to attach the whole cooler to the motherboard.
The 92mm fan blows over the small aluminum heatsink, in which the two copper heatpipes run through. Each heatpipe takes a side of the heatsink. While the surface area isn’t very big for the Freezer 11, I think that Arctic Cooling could have added a third heatpipe down the center to help improve cooling some more.
The two copper heatpipes extend to from the top of the heatsink to the bottom of the heatsink where they connect midway onto the small base of the cooler. The base is also pre-installed with ARCTIC MX-2 thermal grease.
The base and copper heatpipes are nice and shiny, but will it be enough to cool?
Installation
The installation for the Freezer 11 LP was interesting to say the least. The cooler only supports two installation methods, LGA 775 or LGA 1156; we used a LGA 775 processor. A unique pushpin design is used as this installation method. To install the cooler you have to gather up the plastic pushpins and plastic support bracket.
Then grab your support brackets and align them in whichever direction will fit on your motherboard, just make sure they’re parallel. The direction won’t really matter since the air is going down on the heatsink and not across. Once you get it aligned you can then take the four tan colored pushpin parts and align them in the four holes. You then take the four black push parts and, well push them in. It wasn’t very easy to push them in, but I found it easier to grab another object to help force them in, since the small plastic tips aren’t the greatest for pressing with your fingertips.
Once your bracket is attached all you have to do is align the cooler up so that it will fit on the support brackets. You don’t have to apply any thermal grease, since it’s already applied to the CPU cooler base. Once they’re aligned, you then take the four long screws and fasten the cooler to the support brackets.
Then make sure you attach the PWM power cable and you can install your motherboard back in your case. As you can see from the pictures, it takes up little room inside of the case, making it ideal for HTPCs.
Conclusion
The Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP isn’t the ideal CPU cooler for enthusiasts it may be a choice for HTPC builders. It wasn’t designed to be a performance cooler, but to be slightly better than stock coolers and most likely quieter as well. Its compact design and pushpin installation can be seen as a benefit and a con for some, but I can see both sides of the story. While it’s hard to put this cooler on either a good or bad side due to the pros and cons of it, I’d really have to say it’s a middle of the road cooler. Since the cooler is relatively new to the market, it’s hard to find a pricing or even a product page on the manufacturer’s website. If I were buying this cooler, I probably wouldn’t pay more than $25 for it, but we’ll have to wait and see on that. Custom modding would rate this product 78%.
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