Performance

After surviving the installation process and getting a good night’s sleep, I finally embarked on testing the Freezone. The first thing I noticed was the noise from the fan. . .it was unexpectedly loud, so it was back to the manual to figure out what I missed. In the “advanced users only” section, CoolIT reveals how to fine-tune the performance of the unit, by turning a tiny potentiometer. Oddly, the directions state that “[m]ost users will find that the factory setting for the Freezone is optimally balanced on their computers,” but I found the potentiometer pegged all the way toward “colder.” Cranking the control clockwise, toward the “quieter” setting reduced the unit’s fan noise to a bare whisper.

Alright, time to see what this baby will do!

In order to peg CPU load at 100% on my Dual Core 6700, I ran Prime95 “torture test” concurrently with PCMark05’s suite of CPU tests. Using the Asus Probe II software provided with my motherboard, I monitored CPU temperatures until I was satisfied that peak temperatures had been reached. Baseline results were obtained with the stock cooler, at stock speeds and mildly overclocked. The process was then repeated with the Freezone at full performance setting, and again at full “quiet” setting.

Don't have flash installed? then click here for a jpeg

 

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This is really fantastic performance for a unit this size, with zero maintenance, and total ease of operation. If you are unimpressed by the LOW setting numbers, you need to remember that the Freezone is extremely quiet at this setting, inaudible at 10 feet, even though it is automatically throttling up the fan under load. The same cannot be said for the stock fan.

And at high setting? Look at those numbers. . .35 degrees under extreme load and a 22% overclock. Mind you, the fan at this setting is louder than the stock Intel fan, but backing off the potentiometer quiets the fan rapidly with a marginal loss in cooling performance. A patient user could easily find a sweet spot, balancing noise to performance to taste. . .I am running my 6700 at 3.25 as I write this, on the quietest setting, and 54 degrees under load is well within safe specs for the Core Duo.