Arctic Freezer 13 CPU Cooler

Product(s): Arctic Freezer 13
Provided By: Arctic (Formerly Arctic Cooling)
Price:

Introduction: 

It's been quite some time since we've had an Arctic product on the BCCHardware test bench but today we are going to change that with the new Arctic Freezer 13 CPU cooler. We've had the chance over the years to see quite a few different coolers from Arctic (back then they were Arctic Cooling) and we've always been pretty impressed with the quality and performance but most of the time the value of Arctic's products is the biggest selling point.

The Arctic Freezer 13 isn't going to break the bank but is a huge step up from stock cooling. At the time of publishing we were able to find the Freezer 13 online for ~$28 USD which makes it one of the cheapest coolers we've reviewed.

Let's move onto the next section and see how this cooler can stack up against some of the more expensive options in the aftermarket cooling market.

Closer Look:

Arctic Freezer 13 - Packaging (Front)

Arctic Freezer 13 - Packaging (Rear)

 

If there was an award for the smallest packaging I think Arctic would win it with the Freezer 13. Not that packaging really matters at the end of the day, its just interesting to see Arctic go with a "no waste" approach to their packaging while pretty much every other company uses massive packaging for their products.

Arctic Freezer 13 - Front View

Arctic Freezer 13 - Top View

 

As far as design goes the Arctic Freezer 13 is a pretty standard "heatpipe tower" design. This cooler is designed to handle up to 200 Watts of heat so it should be able to handle all the current CPU's from both AMD and Intel as well as give you a bit of headroom if you want to overclock.

Arctic Freezer 13 - Rear View

Arctic Freezer 13 - Top V

 

Arctic Freezer 13 - Side View

Arctic Freezer 13 - Heatpipes

 

The overall build quality of the Freezer 13 is really good. Arctic Cooling has always done a great job of providing very well build coolers at a reasonable price and the Freezer 13 is no different than previous products.

Arctic Freezer 13 - Front View (Fan Removed)

Arctic Freezer 13 - Top View (Fan Removed)

 

As you can see in the next set of pictures (right) you get everything you need to install this cooler on pretty much AMD or Intel CPU made in the past 5 years. The thermal grease on this cooler comes pre-applied with Arctic MX-4 thermal paste but if you screw up with the install or want to move the cooler around later you will need to go buy some new thermal paste as you are provided with no extra with this cooler.

Arctic Freezer 13 - Heatpipes

Arctic Freezer 13 - Accessories

 

So there we go, that's what the Arctic 13 is all about, let's move onto the next sections to see how it performs.