The manufacturer Arctic has long been a very well-known manufacturer of CPU coolers, GPU coolers and case fans. Especially the CPU coolers of the Freezer series and GPU coolers of the Accelero series have made this brand famous worldwide. With the Arctic Freezer 7 X, the manufacturer introduced an upgrade for the Evergreen Freezer 7 Pro in February this year. Despite less weight and the use of the Heatpipe-Direct-Touch process, the Freezer 7 X is supposed to perform better than its predecessor. This is to be achieved mainly by a better design and layout. Arctic estimates a price of € 21.80 *[/atkp_product] for the Freezer 7 X and a price of € 21.79 *[/atkp_product] for the CO-version, which was equipped with a better fan. Thus both coolers are in a competitive price range. How the Arctic Freezer 7 X CO performs in general and if it has a chance against the competition, you will find out in this review.
Technical Details
Cooler specifications
| Dimensions (with fan) | 110.5 x 132.5 x 74.3 mm (W x H x D) |
| Weight (with fan) | 425 g |
| Material | copper (base plate, heat pipes), aluminium (cooling fins) |
| Heatpipes | 2x Ø 6 mm |
| Compatibility AMD | AM2 (+), AM3 (+), AM4, FM1, FM2 (+) (retention module required) |
| Compatibility Intel | LGA1200, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1151, LGA1150, LGA775 |
| Price | € 21.79 * |
Fan specifications
| Type | double ball bearing |
| Dimensions | 92 x 92 x 25 mm |
| Speed | 300 – 2000 rpm (PWM controlled) |
| Volume | max. 0.3 Sone |
| Flow volume | N/A |
| Power consumption | 0.84 W |
Packing & scope of delivery
The Arctic Freezer 7 X CO comes in a compact box, which is designed in the typical Arctic style. The cardboard box is mainly printed in blue and shows all technical information and pictures of the cooler or fan. The general product information is written in several languages.
If you open the lid, you will find the heatsink with the fan premounted. To protect the components, the cooler is wrapped on one side in brown cardboard. The supplied accessories include a mounting frame, four mounting pins and a card with QR code for downloading the mounting instructions. A tube of thermal paste is not included. However, this is also not necessary, as it has already been applied to the radiator base. The packaging and scope of accessories are appropriate and keep the price low.
Design & workmanship
The Arctic Freezer 7 X CO has a simple and straightforward design. The cooler is based on two 6 millimetre heatpipes, 44 aluminium fins and a base plate with Heatpipe Direct Touch technology. Arctic has decided not to anodise the fins for the sake of price. However, in order to improve the airflow, the fins are bent at the sides to form a kind of tunnel. Furthermore, the fins are jagged behind the fan. This design should make it easier for the fan to move the air through the fins.
As already mentioned, the Freezer 7 X CO is based on two copper heatpipes which are directly connected to the heatspreader of the CPU. To make the installation easier, especially for beginners, the manufacturer has directly applied a thin layer of the in-house MX-2 thermal compound. As with the fins, the heatpipes have not been anodized to keep the price down.
Arctic goes its own way when designing the fan or its mounting. In comparison to the competition, no conventional 92 millimetre fan is used. Thus, the fan, fan frame and the cover plate for the end of the heat pipe form a common unit. Thus, if the fan breaks down, it can’t easily be replaced by a standard fan. We think this is a bit of a pity, but Arctic also shows confidence in its product with the six-year manufacturer’s warranty. The CO version of the Freezer 7 X relies on a grey fan with six blades and a “Dual Ball Bearing” bearing. The connection is made via a black 4-pin PWM cable.
Mounting
A test system on a benchtable is used for the review. This enables us to exclude factors such as heat accumulation in the case. The test system consists of the following components.
- AMD Ryzen 5 1400 @ 3.8 Ghz at 1.25V
- MSI B350 PC Mate
- Crucial Ballistix Sport LT grey 16 GB DDR4-2666
- Plextor PX-256M8 NVMe SSD
- Gigabyte AORUS GTX 1060 6G
- be quiet! Pure Power 10 400W
- Cooler Master Tech Bench V2.0
When mounting on AM4 boards, the Arctic Freezer 7 X CO is completely mounted with the help of the AMD retention module. To do this, first loosen the two screws on the mounting bracket of the base plate. Then the cooler is placed on the CPU (heat transfer paste is pre-applied), the clamps are hooked into the lugs of the retention module and the two screws are tightened again until the cooler does not move any more. Finally, connect the fan cable to the CPU fan connector on the mainboard.
When mounting on an Intel socket, the mounting is done using the enclosed plastic mounting frame. This is pressed into four openings on the mainboard and then secured with four pins. The enclosed mounting frame has the same lugs as the AMD retention module. The remaining steps are therefore analogous to the AMD socket.
The mounting system is simply designed, but connects the cooler firmly to the mainboard. When mounting the cooler on a board with Intel socket, however, we would recommend to remove the cooler before a longer transport of the PC (e.g. shipping by mail). If you should still have difficulties during installation, you will be directed to an installation manual by scanning the enclosed QR code. With regard to RAM compatibility, no (m)ATX mainboard should have problems. The fan is far enough away from the first RAM slot.
Volume and cooling capacity
As already shown in the previous chapter, we use an AM4 system based on the Ryzen 5 1400 and the MSI B350 PC Mate as test hardware. The Ryzen runs overclocked at 3.8 GHz at 1.25V.
In order to heat up the processor, the processor was loaded with Prime95 for 15 minutes. The CPU temperature was then read out using the CPUID hardware monitor. This test was then compared to the achieved values of the AMD Boxed Cooler (Wraith Stealth) and the Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure. During the temperature measurements, the room had a temperature of 22° C.
| cooler | Operating scenario | RPM | temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Wraith Stealth | 50% PWM | 1500 rpm | 101 °C (crash) |
| AMD Wraith Stealth | 100% PWM | 2650 rpm | 87 °C |
| Arctic Freezer 7 X, 1x 92mm | 50% PWM | 1060 rpm | 75 °C |
| Arctic Freezer 7 X, 1x 92mm | 100% PWM | 2000 rpm | 63 °C |
| Alpine hairdryer Matterhorn Pure | 50% PWM | 1100 rpm | 63 °C |
| Alpine hairdryer Matterhorn Pure | 100% PWM | 1900 rpm | 59° C |
For a price of € 21.79 * you can of course not expect a high-end cooler. Nevertheless, the Arctic Freezer 7 X CO delivers respectable results in terms of its size and despite overclocked CPU. At a similar volume, the CPU stays about 25 degrees Celsius cooler than the AMD boxed cooler. Moreover, if the fan doesn’t exactly run at 100%, the Arctic Freezer 7 X CO also has a quite acceptable volume and produces minimal to no ambient noise. The temperature and volume levels of a large CPU cooler with a 120 millimeter fan can of course not be achieved. But that is not the goal of a CPU cooler in this price range either.
Conclusion on Arctic Freezer 7 X
The Arctic Freezer 7 Pro was an often chosen CPU cooler some years ago. With the Freezer 7 X the manufacturer has created a worthy successor to the former evergreen. Despite its compact size, the Arctic Freezer 7 X CO offers good cooling performance and is therefore a sensible alternative to all boxed coolers. Due to the dimensions, there should also be hardly any problems with high RAM heatspreaders or narrower tower cases. Although the mounting system is simple in design, it fulfils its purpose very well and should be easy to handle even for beginners. The overall package is rounded off by a six-year manufacturer’s warranty and the pre-applied thermal compound.
Negatively noticed are the noise of the fan in the speed range above 1500 rpm and the fact that the attached fan cannot simply be replaced by a conventional 92 millimeter copy. But if you consider the purchase price of € 21.79 * and look at the total package offered, the Arctic Freezer 7 X CO is a sensible upgrade for those who find their boxed cooler too loud and too bad.
Arctic Freezer 7 X
Design
Workmanship
Mounting
Cooling
Volume
Value for money
82/100
Compact CPU cooler with good performance and a reasonable price.
