After 10 years, a new Arctic paste from the MX series is here – 5

There is no more popular series of thermal pastes than MX from Arctic, which was released in the early phase of the company under the old name Arctic Cooling. Two years ago, Arctic boasted a statistical report on 10,000,000 sold pieces of MX-2 and MX-4 (in total) and now, without prior news, there has been a notice of the upcoming release of MX-5. The exact date is already known and you won’t have to wait long. Read more “After 10 years, a new Arctic paste from the MX series is here – 5” »

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 – Quality does not have to cost a lot

I’ve recently tested the popular Arctic Freezer 34 air cooler, which eventually won an editorial award. Now I would like to give a liquid all-in-one cooler from the same manufacturer a hard time on a hot processor. We will see if Arctic can design an AIO cooler as well as it did with an air cooler. Liquid Freezer II 240 should offer a very interesting price to performance ratio without unnecessary decoration. Read more “Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 – Quality does not have to cost a lot” »

Arctic Freezer 34 – Effective, quiet and affordable

Arctic has long focused primarily on the production of affordable coolers. Freezer 34 should be just one such cooler. At an affordable price, it boasts of a solid TDP rating (150 W) and also promises quiet operation. I’ve had it in my wishlist for a long time, but only now have I managed to get one piece for testing. So I’m wondering if it really lives up to its reputation that precedes it. Read more “Arctic Freezer 34 – Effective, quiet and affordable” »

Test of “chewing gums”: 3× Arctic and Thermal Grizzly Minus Pads

Thermal conductive pads are useful wherever a thermal paste cannot be reasonably applied. A good example are power supply circuit of graphics cards and processors, so the choice of test subjects was unambiguous. It was less clear, however, what thickness of pads is most effective, if it is better to pay for more expensive ones, and what improvement to expect. Read more “Test of “chewing gums”: 3× Arctic and Thermal Grizzly Minus Pads” »

Arctic Freezer 33 tasting different heat intensities

From the previous tests, you already know that Freezer 33 loses its breath quite quickly in tower cases. But it does not have to be always like that – the distinctive performance difference between the vertical and the horizontal position appears only with certain cooling efficiency requirements. At 90 W, the cooler performs differently than at 180 W. Interesting is also the comparison on the “big” Haswell-E and on the “small” Kaby Lake. Read more “Arctic Freezer 33 tasting different heat intensities” »

Arctic Freezer 33 face-to-face with SilentiumPC Fera 3 v2 (bonus)

Cooling the processor is one thing, but cooling its power supply circuit is another. How will the coolers handle this task? We specially focused on testing the heatsinks with Noctua reference fans. Notably, the weird Freezer had some real difficulties. We know where the problem is. We made some tests without fans too, and on this occasion we decided to include top-notch passive cooler Zalman FX70. Read more “Arctic Freezer 33 face-to-face with SilentiumPC Fera 3 v2 (bonus)” »

Arctic Freezer 33 face-to-face with SilentiumPC Fera 3 v2

With the i/A32 cooler series, Arctic made a really good impression and created a decent opponent for the excellent Fera 3. In the meantime, Swiss have strengthened their ranks and advanced to battle with Freezer 33. However, the expected drama with fight for every detail did not happen. Because of a design mistake of one of the players, the winner is quite dominant under standard circumstances. Read more “Arctic Freezer 33 face-to-face with SilentiumPC Fera 3 v2” »

Test of 27 thermal compounds, part 2

The second round will be especially interesting for people who want to find the best solution for a standard use. The winner is a big surprise. Gelid, Noctua, Phobya, Reeven, SilentiumPC, Thermal Grizzly or Zalman? We can give away that it is not an expected favourite this time. We enjoyed a nice competition in the middle category, where it takes a lot to keep making a difference. We also tested OEM paste from Scythe as a bonus. Read more “Test of 27 thermal compounds, part 2” »

Test of 27 thermal compounds, part 1

Thermal pastes can significantly affect the cooling performance, so we have compared several models that represent the current offer. Is the legendary Arctic MX-2 still a good choice? Or is it more reasonable to try newer Cooler Master and Cryorig? There is also a copper Coollaboratory to consider. Well, we have prepared some recommendations, but few warnings too because there are several products that you should rather avoid. Read more “Test of 27 thermal compounds, part 1” »