CoolIT Systems - Freezone CPU Cooler, about to pull the trigger, will I regret it?

[Gregz]

I'm about to purchase a CoolIT Systems - Freezone CPU Cooler based on the results I'm seeing from this guy's thread at dfi-street.com:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=616132&postcount=11

I wanted to post here to see if anyone had any warnings about this cooler, or perhaps suggestions for a better cooler(at or around $300). I live in Atlanta, GA on the shore of a lake so humidity/condensation is a very big problem for me. The Freezone cooler is self-regulating and doesn't cool the chip below the dewpoint/ambient so that's a big plus in my book (not having to worry about condensation). So I'm pretty wary of phase-change coolers. But, I'm not very knowledgeable about them so please enlighten me if I'm misguided here.

All comments and suggestions are appreciated,

-Greg

[crfracer290]

Not sure what it is...like a phase unit or a water chiller?

[Neuromancer]

http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79

OP linked to a thread where it was mentioned...

Thought I would drop that link since I had to google it to find it. No clue wwhether its worth it or not

Chillers are en vouge right now, but tec cooling still needs alot of power I believe. I wouldnt do it... but doesnt mean its not a good idea. Straight WC would be a better option IMHO or look through the forum here for Chiller how tos.

[crfracer290]

Oh ok... definately not worth it. Not very efficient and for 300 you can build a comprable WC loop...If you had classified access their is a phase unit for sale at 250 :)

[leojharris]

I'm about to purchase a CoolIT Systems - Freezone CPU Cooler based on the results I'm seeing from this guy's thread at dfi-street.com:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=616132&postcount=11



i dont' think condensation will be a problem for you, even in the most humid of ambients ... the cpu block just won't get cold enough to be a problem. also, the warmer your ambient ... the cooler your cpu temp will be (roughly anyway). point is ... with a TEC system ... warmer ambient air actually produces a better cpu block performance.

otherwise ... after looking at 4 or 5 user tests/reviews ... i think it's a pretty good value considering everything is pre built and turn key. most likely would smoke just about any water cooled setup.

as far as an upgrade and were i to have a spare 300 bills or so laying around ... i'd buy it in a heartbeat. i live in houston and my room is always near 80F. i could probably run 24/7 at 4ghz with that thing, considering i'm at 3.6ghz now, on air.

my poor modified zalman is working *overtime*.

:p

[crfracer290]

It uses unefficient TECs to cool the chiller, theres not a pelt on the CPU. And no matter what there is a delta between ambient and water temp...so it is incorrecnt that higher ambients would make lower cpu temps.

[praxis1452]

DONT DO IT!

it crap. Using TEC's to chill water can be ok but if you look at units that do so they may draw 800W etc and are used for different purposes.

[leojharris]

It uses unefficient TECs to cool the chiller, theres not a pelt on the CPU. And no matter what there is a delta between ambient and water temp...so it is incorrecnt that higher ambients would make lower cpu temps.

check out this guy's test/review; i think i mis understood his point.

what he does demonstrate is that ambient temps do not *dramatically* effect the TEC coolers performance as they do with air and water cooling setups.

for those of us in hot climes ... this is nice.

here's a link:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=313&type=expert&pid=7

[crfracer290]

However ineffective ambients might be, this system is still a POS. On their little chart it shows the max CPU load as 35C. On my 250 dollar water setup, my stick e6600 loaded at about 31, and that with Houston ambients as well ;)

And like I said before, a decent phase can be had for a little more than 300 and a self made water chiller for even less.

[leojharris]

However ineffective ambients might be, this system is still a POS. On their little chart it shows the max CPU load as 35C. On my 250 dollar water setup, my stick e6600 loaded at about 31, and that with Houston ambients as well ;)

And like I said before, a decent phase can be had for a little more than 300 and a self made water chiller for even less.


:-)

personally ... and speaking from a personal dualprime95 load temp of around 60 to 61C ...

i'd pay $250 *or* $300 to get 31 *or* 35 degrees celsius at the same cpu load level.

do you have any info on the phase application you mention for a little more than 300?

i'll eventually drop some change on something in the future.

[crfracer290]

Used phase units can come by very cheap, and by cheap I mean the sub-400 dollar range. If you are looking to get a nice custom new, case enclosed, mint condition phase unit, you will be spending upwards of 600.

However it is very easy to find used units for a great price. A used mach 1 can be had for around 300, used Vapochills for around 400, all depending on the condition and parts utilized.

Right now I would check out the classifieds because there is a great deal for a phase unit for 250.

[greenmaji]

I'm pretty sure we had an old thread here were this product got much bashing.

[phlow]

I got better cooling with my 110.00 dollar thermaltake water cooler I put together for my nephew.

the freezone is pretty looking, quiet, and maintenance free but no good for overclocking.

A good fan and heatsink will do better for cheaper or the water cooler I mentioned above.

I had the freezeone it was disappointing

[XeonStrikeForce]

High end air cooling will even beat a Tt water cooler.

Looka round for some coke vending machines that are getting scraped, the type with sliding doors. They will have a rather powerfull cooling plant in them all pre built. All you do is take thast out, bring it home, then build a coil into a container connect tubes. find another compressor thats for scrap and buy some basic stuff from ebay (Up tot his point you may have spent about 20 bucks for paying the salvage fee of the scrap yard and a mates gas to drive it home for ya if you don't have a car) Ebay you need to buy: POE Oil, Guages, Can tap.

At this point you will have a res with coil built, a condencing plant good for 6K BTU or so. Now you need to coneect the two some how and switch out the old oil with the new. Total cost? 200 Bucks or less, depends on your ebay luck and hunting skills. that solution will decimate any thing that comp can offer.

[Farwalker]

I have a Cool It FreeZone in my system described in my sig.

It cools only slightly better than a Typhoon air cooler. I even changed the stock fan to a 38mm thick fan that is rated about 100cfm to see if I could get better cooling. The greater air flow did help a little, but the noise level was not acceptable to me. I still run the FreeZone because it keeps my opty 165 running 20C idle and 39C at full load with two apps of Prime95.

I live north of Atlanta, GA on Lake Lanier, and I do occasionally get condensation.

I am investigating a water cooling system for my next build with a Intel core 2 duo E6600, 680i motherboard, and 8800GTX. I plan to cool the cpu with a swiftech Apogee, gpu with something that has not yet been manufactured, and northbridge with a swiftech mcw30. Got to figure out which case and where to mount the radiator and reservoir. I have not yet decided on which radiator . . . possibly a Black Ice Extreme III that can take 6x120mm fans.

I have not purchased anything yet. In the research stage at the moment.

[darkcow]

im getting a top of the line w/c system. and im still debating whether or not to pic up an old Meanwell PSU and a pelt. im very very handy with building stuff so it'll probably won't blow up on me.

but i like the idea of a pelt because its a hella lot smaller than a phase change. and i'm alll about portability here. (but not to a point where its a mAtx, but also not a heavy 80 pound machine)

[Pf.Farnsworth]

Thats why I like chillers. You can have them in a separate and pretty small case and use quick connects to connect and disconnect coolant lines if you need to move the machine. And with nice quick connects you don't loose a drop of coolant.

[4od]

Go for what i call a chiller
I have a thread on using an old air conditioner to "chill" my w/c rig, and it actually turned out very, very well - link below - 56k beware
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=487529

Cost me 0$ and probably chills as well if not better

BTW, its not really a chiller, just a way to make your w/c far below ambient

[Speedpc]

I got mine here and it has free shipping:
http://www.xoxide.com/coolit-systems-tec-water-cooling.html

I also got the info on this product from OldGuy at the dfi forums, and i'm here to tell you I LIKE IT :)
EVGA 680i + E6600 running at 3.2 (this is the max overclock) idles at 18C and never goes over 35C under load (using Core Temp Software) the bios actually shows it cooler under load but now days the temps fluctuate so much i'll never now what is right. In my opinion it is quiet and very effective and does not draw alot of power , now i live in WI so humidity is not an issue. As far as Tech Support it is AWESOME !!!! I called them twice when i was setting it up to make sure i was doing it right, because i thought that this is to easy, and they always picked up on the 1st ring. They have new products coming out shortly. This is just my experience with this product i give it 5 stars :) :clap:

[Pf.Farnsworth]

Thats such a horrible waste of power. Given the pets are bad enough they slap water between them and the heat source. I don't know who was the bright guy who came up with that but then again, today is all about having stickers on your civic and thinking it makes you go faster.

The only things I see is a plus is portability but at this point you might as well just put a tec on your cpu and one on your gpu and get both portability and better performance.

Of coarse not that I am a big fan of pelts as it is given we have phase DD and chillers, but to each his own.

[Hipcrostino]

It cools only slightly better than a Typhoon air cooler. I even changed the stock fan to a 38mm thick fan that is rated about 100cfm to see if I could get better cooling. The greater air flow did help a little, but the noise level was not acceptable to me. I still run the FreeZone because it keeps my opty 165 running 20C idle and 39C at full load with two apps of Prime95.



The noise isn't a problem for me, and when running my 220CFM delta fan through my Typhoon, the temps will hold really well. The highest temp i have seen my overclocked 146 run is 39*c, and it was 32*c ambient. with the fan full speed it will idle at ambient. If noise is no problem, then its the only way to go. Very cheap and very worth it. I used to run my XP-M 2600+ at 2.7Ghz(1.975v) 24/7 with this cooling. Kept it below 50c

[Pf.Farnsworth]

You would get much better results if you use pelts directly. They are inefficient enough as it is with out any help from half-baked engineering.

[LordFrank]

I'm not sure if this is a dead subject or not, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents (and trust me, it's probably not worth two cents even). = )

The system does exactly what it says, keeps "normal" things running cold at idle and well cooled at load.

When I run my system at stock, idle temps are 17-ish C and never hits load above 35C during Prime95's max heat and power stress test.

Though I don't run my system at stock... oh shoot, I guess it'd help if I let you know what my system is. heh

evga 680i
600w PSU
evga 8800GTX
XMS2 Dominator 800MHz ram
XEON 3070 (2.66GHz cpu)
CoolIT Freezone


This is my CPU OC'd to 3750MHz, idle's at about 20C. I think I just about broke 40C with Prime95's power and heat stress test.

Some screens...
http://www.the-roost.com/vault/images/3750MHzStock.JPGhttp://www.the-roost.com/vault/images/3750MHzStockCoreTemp.JPG
http://www.the-roost.com/vault/images/3Dmark06_900MHz_RAM_00.JPG

The issue I have with the Unit, is I want to push it harder... and it has a breaking point where it just becomes useless.

I hit the breaking point here:
http://www.the-roost.com/vault/images/4GHz.JPG

Over heats with any load greater then tooling around in XP. The unit doesn't handle loaded temps very well, period. Unless you are running low to stock voltages, you'll Idle well but once the heat rises, the system just can't cool it down fast enough before it reaches the CPU block again.

I am ordering parts to mod mine, as I want to push my system harder... I'm going to add a resevior to it at minimum, and I'm toying with the idea of adding a single fan rad to it just after the liquid travels out of the CPU block to have it travel into the rad with fan to help cool it down before it reaches the chiller. So basiclly I want to make a WC loop that "also" has a Freezone in there somewhere. = )

I don't know if any of this will work, as Ima noob to all this... but I'm gonna find out. = )


So Bottom Line = The higher the consistent heat, the worse this thing gets and it ends up being a very short water loop without rad. If you are not going to push your system hard, or atleast not "extreme", then it is a good all-in-one package with no muss no fuss approach...

I plan to tear mine apart and make it stronger... faster... hopefully it just don't cost me 6 million dollars. = )

[ppe1700]

lol 3999.9

[Pf.Farnsworth]

I wouldn't trust 17C without insulation. All you need for disaster is for air temperatures and humidity to rise a little like in the summer, maybe rain a little, and you would be in trouble.

http://www.vulomedia.com/images/35067dewpointchart.jpg