Thoughts on the Artic Cooling Freezer 7?

[batmanuel]

I got one of the Intel Retail Edge bundles back in December. It was a cheap way to try out their new tech, so I jumped on the deal and got a LGA775 P4 3.4 GHz even though I knew it has heat issues. Right now I've got it running comfortably with the retail heatsink, which is reasonably quiet. The temps are within tolerances and there is no eveidence of throttlling under load according to ThrottleWatch.

As the weather gets warmer, I'm worried I may run into some thermal issues so I'm looking to upgrade to a CPU cooler that cools better, yet is still pretty quiet (I'm using a Sonata case). I also don't want to have to go through the hassle of pulling out the mobo to put on a mounting plate like I would with the Zalman CPNS7700AlCu, so I want something that mounts using the standard LGA775 push-pins.

So far the best candidate I've seen is the Artic Cooling Freezer 7, but the reviews I've read have been a bit mixed so I'm not sure if it would be a drastic upgrade over the stock cooler. Any one here used it? Any input you can give me on the cooler would be greatly appreciated. Sugguestions for some other good LGA775 coolers are also welcome.

 

[MisterChief]

Preshotts :roll:.
1. Are you overclocking?
2. What is your budget?

 

[batmanuel]

1. No OCing at the moment.
2. $40-$50 range.

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

I have that cooler and like it a lot.

 

[Queasy]

I've heard it works well. Especially when you point it towards your exhaust fans instead of up at your PSU. AMD64 doesn't have that option unfortunately.

 

[TRUMPHENT]

I'm impressed by the apparent diameter of the heatpipes. They look huge which is why there are only two of them. If your retail heatsink doesn't have heatpipes, this will definitely be an upgrade. Under load, it should be much quieter than the retail.

According to the specs, you still have a gigahertz of headroom to play in. I have never read anything but positive comments about the Arctic-Cooling line.