Installation & Testing:

This is one of the easiest coolers to install. It's easier to install than even the stock retail heat sinks. First, the current CPU cooler was removed and CPU cleaned. Second, after consulting the instructions, the black CPU motherboard bracket gets placed in to the four holes in the board's PCB. Third, insert the four black tabs in to the four holes which in turn spreads the brackets four prongs underneath the board. Fourth, apply thermal paste evenly. Fifth, center the CPU cooler and secure the two tabs on each side to the black bracket. That's it.

Inserting Bracket Tabs

The installation is pretty simple and works with the cooler pretty well given its weight. If it were a much heavier cooler, the method would probably end up involving brackets, screws, and plates. However, in this case, the Core Freezer is very secure. You can pick up the motherboard by grabbing the cooler and there's absolutely no movement or flexing that would suggest it's insecure. With that minor question answered, the system was powered up.

Fan & Clips Installed

Before continuing in to Windows, I checked the BIOS to see what the preliminary CPU temps were at so as to confirm it's doing the job. A temperature of 27 C suggests we have successful installation. Orthos and Prime95 were used off and on for the first 24 hours to allow the paste to properly set. This offers real world temp results.

Let's Heat Things Up

These are pretty decent results given the design and installation method of the cooler. You're not going to come close with a stock or average cooler no matter how many LEDs are on it. And this was achieved with the fan at medium speeds.

Idle temps of 27 are pretty decent. Regular desktop temps of 31 to 33 aren't bad either. Full 100% load temps were around 44 C for hours. of   Photos of product installation and benchmark graphs will be in here.

Increasing the fan's speed to maximum, dropped temps an average of 1 degree indicating the cooler is operating pretty efficiently at about two-thirds fan speed. Again, there's no way a stock cooler can compete. Even all of the comparable coolers available on the market will come up short including the OCZ Vindicator. The only cooler comparable in results is the SilenX ICX-120HA2, which curiously looks very similar.

Overclocking proved a little tougher to cool as it does with most coolers. At 3.6 GHz, the CPU temps averaged 57 C while running several hours of Orthos. This is on par with the SilenX, cooler than the Vindicator, and obviously far cooler than a stock heat sink. As a matter of fact, the stock cooler just can't keep up.

Conclusion:

There was a time when coolers like this just weren't feasible whether it be marketing or fabrication limitations at the time. When a new concept comes along and everyone reads how good it is, they tend to follow in droves without considering whether or not other designs are equal or better. A good example of this is the heat pipe. Another one is the tower cooler. It's not necessary, but it's the most popular current design.

When we all see tall tower coolers, we assume we need brackets, screws, washers, and bolts for a secure installation. That really depends on the weight of the cooler. The method that the SunbeamTech Core Contact Freezer uses works surprisingly well. I have no concerns with the installation method that it can indeed do the job.

Approved & Recommended!

I like that the cooler is so easy and quick to install. If any one thing could be improved it would be the heat pipe tips seen at the top of the cooler. They could use a cap to finish them off nicely. And while the techs are at it, perhaps they could find another color to use for the black mounting bracket that could blend in better with the cooler itself. It's really a very minor thing, but then we're here to offer up ideas as well as testing.

After tabulating the results, CPU temps are kept well within very reasonable levels across the entire spectrum of testing. While standard system use is really good, at a full 1GHz overclock, we start to see the limitations of copper and heat pipes as is the case with most every air cooler. Above these frequencies, most every cooler starts to suffer simply due to physics. If you're cranking out the insane frequencies beyond this, you'll naturally want to consider water cooling. The speed and ease of the installation coupled with the performance have me considering recommending the SunbeamTech Core Contact Freezer as the ideal cooler for those who build gaming or performance systems.