Installation

Fortunately, installing the Freezone is actually quite simple and they include all the proper hardware to support a wide range of components.  Let's first take a look at the main test system specs...

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First of all, the NZXT Trinity is a small case but what I like about it is that the rear of the chassis is designed to support 80mm-120mm fans out of the box.  Few cases do have this feature.  The first thing you want to do is remove the rear exhaust fan and CPU retention bracket from the motherboard.  Clean off the compound left behind from the CPU. I highly recommend some WD-40 followed by some Alcohol for a thorough clean. 

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Mount the included standoffs and tighten them with the included tool. 

Next, lay the cooling unit on the drive bay area so you can work with the CPU block better.  Place the block directly on the CPU and use the proper CPU clips and thumbscrews to tighten an secure the block in place.  That's practically all there is to it.  Just mount the whole unit on the rear case fan 90mm or 120mm fan mounts.

A final show with the unit installed on the small NZXT Trinity.  There were some clearance issues, partly due to the size of the case as well as the location on the memory slots on DFI's board.  I had to remove the XPERT display modules from the Corsair sticks in order to properly mount the unit.  Something to keep in mind! 

The final steps consists of mounting and connecting the kit to the including PCB.  It contains double-sided tape and while CoolIT instructs you to mount it on the side of your drive rail, this may be a problem for some.  The one large capacitor on the PCB itself can get in the way, not allowing you to put back the case side panel.  To avoid such issues, I would just mount the board on the bottom part of the case. 

Performance

Now, before I show you its excellent performance, there's one more thing you'll need to do...

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There is a potentiometer in the upper center part of the included PCB Thermal Control Module labeled RV1.  If you don't have a precision screwdriver handy, you can use the other end of the included tool to adjust it.  Now, at first, I was accidentally turning it the wrong direction.  This is because of the way I had positioned the control module on the case.  Just make sure the CoolIT name is on the upper left hand corner of the PCB.  This is where the magic happens!  The potentiometer basically will act as a thermostat.  It ships with it at center position by default but you'll want to turn it counter clockwise (to the left) to really unleash its max cooling capabilities.  You'll know you have adjusted it properly because the water block should now be cold to the touch rather than warm. 

Needless to say, the CoolIT Freezone provides exceptional cooling performance.  Over the years, I've had the pleasure of playing with a wide variety of cooling products, from standard watercooling kits, to thermoelectric coolers.  I can honestly say that the Freezone is by far, the best I've used.  It's cooling capabilities are phenomenal and I was able to push the test systems to new levels.  With that said, I was so impressed with the results from the AMD Socket 939 board, that I decided to compare the Freezone with the results from both the Koolance Aquian and high-end Koolance PC3-720BK watercooled chassis. 

Temps shown below are the results both running at stock and maximum overclock.  Temps were recorded both Idle (after 1hr) and under load.  To load the system, Sisoftware's SANDRA Burn-In wizard was used. 

1. Cooling Performance  Socket 939 - Idle

Let's start with the AMD64 setup...

The results here speak for themselves.  Honestly, it was these results that lead me to spend the extra time I don't really have to conduct further testing.  To be able to run today's high-end computing systems at temps under 30ºC is almost impossible unless your willing to dish out plenty of cash for a phase change cooling solution.  The CoolIT Freezone managed to keep temps below 30 during the idle tests.

2. Cooling Performance Socket 478 - Idle

After numerous installs, I had to resort to my trusty Arctic Silver 5 to properly re-install the Freezone for further testing.  The Socket 478 tests consisted of the excellent Abit IS7 pair with the now hard to acquire Intel 2.8C Northwood processor.  For overclockers, this is one of the very best setups you can have.  The Freezone was able to maintain temperatures below 30.  In fact, they were even slightly cooler than the AMD64.  Results were compared to two Koolance watercooling products that were previously tested along with this particular setup. 

3. Cooling Performance Socket 939 - Load

This is truly were a product like this is able to impress the most.  The stock HSF bundled with AMD64 processors is honestly quite horrible in terms of cooling and when loading the system, it reached some very alarming temps that I was just not comfortable with.  With the Freezone though, I was able to keep the temps at no more the 45ºC under load.  Every now and then, the temp would rise as high as 48ºC but very quickly jump down to 45.  Truly impressive.

4. Cooling Performance Socket 478 - Load

The results here were also very impressive.  Maintaining temps under 40º C with even one of the high-end Koolance systems was practically impossible.  The Freezone did not budge past 38ºC!

5. Overclocking

Now, let's get to the most important part...overclocking.  Considering I'm really testing its cooling performance, overclocking consisted of maximum OC rather than maximum FSB.  However, both were indeed tested and I could easily take the Lanparty UT Ultra-D to 364.  For this kind of testing though, multiplier was left at 11.0x. 

The results certainly exceeded my expectations.  Taking a 3700+ to 3GHz completely stable was truly impressive.  With the stock AMD cooler, I could take it up to 2.6GHz.  Anything above that just wasn't stable enough.  Also, I was only able to take my trusty old Abit IS7 as high as 3.5GHz.  With the CoolIT Freezone, I achieve a slightly higher stable overclock of 3.6GHz.  Anything above that, when considering the temps, was simply a limitation of the board itself. 

Next: Conclusions