Test setup and results …
Test with AMD Ryzen 5 5600G …
First, we test the Freezer 36 A-RGB on an AM4 system with a Ryzen 5 5600G processor and let it compete against a supposedly superior opponent, the Deepcool Assassin IV, which we recently had in our test.
The AM4 test system consists of the following components.
| Motherboard | ASUS Prime B450M |
| SSD | Crucial P3 500GB M.2 NVME SSD |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600G |
| RAM | 2x 16GB DDR4-3600 |
| PSU | BeQuiet 400W |
| Case | Deepcool CH650 digital |
| Operating system | Windows 11 – Version 22H2 |
To determine the cooling performance, the 65W CPU was overclocked using PBO and loaded with the extremely demanding Prime95 Small FFT test. This resulted in a power loss of 104W, which had to be dissipated by the cooler. The PC case was always closed during the tests and the 4 case fans were constantly running at 50% PWM. The average CPU temperature was evaluated after a warm-up phase and the ambient temperature was between 23 and 24°C during the tests. First, the Freezer 36 was tested with both fans and then we removed the pull fan and determined the temperature values again to find out how much influence the second fan has on the overall performance of the cooler.
Measured values with two fans …
As expected, the 104W of the Ryzen 5600G processor does not pose a major problem for the new Freezer 36. It is remarkable that the fans remain surprisingly quiet and even the maximum speed of 2000 rpm does not cause any particularly disturbing noises. Although the Freezer 36 is an average-sized Sigle Tower cooler, it is only just behind the more than 50% heavier cooler monster Assassin IV. At 78°C, the Freezer 36 A-RGB achieves an excellent temperature value at 100% PWM on the overclocked 6-core processor. The Freezer 36 can also underpin its performance with a low 40% PWM control of the two 120mm fans, which results in a very quiet operating noise at 820 rpm and still a good 82.3°C. In this case, throttling the processor clock frequency is a long way off, as the maximum operating temperature of the Ryzen 5600G is 95°C.
Measured values with a fan …
We then removed the rear fan from the Freezer 36 and repeated the series of measurements to see how much the second fan contributed to the overall performance of the Freezer 36. As so often in life, the answer is “It depends”. At maximum fan speed, the temperature difference of 0.6°C is not worth mentioning, but at low speed the temperature rises significantly compared to operation with 2 fans. At 40% PWM, the CPU temperature with only one fan is almost 4°C higher than with 2 fans. So if you want a quiet system under load, you should definitely install both fans on the Freezer 36.
Test with AMD Ryzen 5 7600X …
As the next step up, we also placed the Freezer 36 A-RGB on an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X processor, which is still difficult to cool despite only having 6 cores due to the small 5nm structure size. The 7600X was also overclocked with PBO, which meant that the Freezer 36 had to dissipate 112W of heat during the Cinebench 23 benchmark. But even under the more difficult conditions, the Freezer 36 can shine and impresses with practically the same measurement result as the significantly larger Assassin IV. Only the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 water cooling can set itself apart by around 3°C. With measurement results between 83.3°C and 86.8°C, there is no need to worry about thermal throttling even with an overclocked AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.
Due to the excellent measured values of the Freezer 36 so far, we also dare to start the Prime95 Small FFT test on the AMD Ryzen 7600X processor, which puts extreme thermal stress on every processor. This time, the Freezer 36 A-RGB has to dissipate 132W of heat, which is a particular challenge with the 5nm CPU. But the Freezer 36 doesn’t disappoint this time either and keeps the overclocked Ryzen 7600X in check quite well. This time it is even only approx. 2°C behind the 360mm water cooling, which is a very impressive result.
Finally, we would like to point out that we do our best to test the various coolers under the same conditions as far as possible. However, we cannot keep the ambient temperature absolutely constant and can only test one cooler model at a time. The processors and CPU retention mechanisms are also subject to manufacturing tolerances, so pairing identical components elsewhere may not necessarily result in identical temperature values.
Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB Lighting …