Arctic Unveils Freezer 36 Budget CPU Air Coolers Starting At A Cool $25
Deviating from the stock cooler that came with your CPU (if it even came bundled with one) doesn't necessarily have to be a costly proposition. There's a thriving market of budget air coolers, and joining them is Arctic's newly unveiled Freezer 36 series offering a variety of trims. In addition to being aggressively priced, Arctic is claiming "significantly increased performance" against both the competition and its own previous-generation Freezer 35 series, as well as easy installation.
Part of the latter claim comes from the use of an improved fan mounting system. Fans click in place on either/both sides of the cooler, negating the need for fan clips. Depending on your chassis, that could make it a cinch to mount the cooler first and then click the fan(s) into place. According to Arctic, the Freezer 36 series is compatible with most 120mm fans.
These are tower-style coolers that measure 4.09 (L) x 4.96 (W) x 6.26 (H) inches (104 x 126 x 159 millimeters) millimeters and weigh 32.39 ounces (890 grams). They also feature four 6mm copper heat pipes and come with a pair of PWM fans.
Source: Arctic
We have not tested any of the Freezer 36 models, but according to Arctic's own testing and claims, they cool around 10.6% better than the Freezer 35 models, more than 12% better than BeQuiet!'s Dark Rock Pro 4, and a bit over 5% better than the Freezer 34 eSpoprts Duo (among other comparisons, as seen in the graph above). Those comparison are based on running Prime 95 (Small FFT) on an Intel Core i7-13900KF processor.
Regarding compatibility, the coolers work with AMD's AM4 and AM5 sockets, and Intel's current-generation LGA1700 and next-generation LGA1851 socket that will arrive alongside Arrow Lake. Additionally, Arctic is touting a patent-pending contact frame that it says won't deform Intel's CPUs.
"Intel's Independent Loading Mechanism (ILM) deforms the CPU by pressing it into the socket at two points with over 40 kg. This causes pressure in the PCB, the die, and the solder layer between the die and IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader). With high thermal load, this can lead to long-term problems," Arctic claims.
Arctic says its frame "massively" reduces the mechanical load on the CPU to minimize stress on the both the processor and motherboard.
Arctic is offering a handful of variants for the Freezer 36 series, all of them priced attractively. The company says these "special prices" are in celebration of its 23rd anniversary. Here's what they're going for on Amazon (from left to right in the image above)...
- Arctic Freezer 36: $25.40
- Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB (Black): $33.10
- Arctic Freezer 36 (Black): $28.48
- Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB (White): $33.87
- Arctic Freezer 36 CO: $27.71
The "CO" stands for continuous operation. That variant utilizes fans with dual Japanese ball bearings that are "particularly durable and resistant to external forces such as heat, dust, and vibrations." All of the Freezer 36 coolers are presumably backed by Arctic's standard 6-year warranty.
