Reviewers Note:

Before getting to the conclusion I would just like to take this opportunity to state that this has been the most enjoyable CPU cooling solution that it has been my pleasure to test. This cooler really is fun to use, and the results speak for themselves. In fact this unit was so impressive it has now taken over from my Thermalright Ultima 90 (with 2 Noctua NF P12 fans) as my cooler for my beloved Q9450. Yes, it now permanently resides in my number one system, and that right there should speak volumes about not only how good it is but how much I trust it.

For those interested, the Q9450 is running with a mild overclock of 3.2GHz and the Elite dropped my idle temperatures from high 40’s to low 30’s (and one core is actually running at 28°C) and my sustained 4 hour prime load temp never goes above 52° whereas it was running in the mid 60’s with the Ultima 90. On days like this I really love my “job”.


Conclusion

When I was told that Coolit was sending us their Freezone Elite to review, my first inclination was one of cautious optimism. Based on the PURE’s level of quality we knew that they could deliver on their promises and walk the walk as well as talk the talk so to speak, but there was still some nagging doubts about how well a so called hybrid cooling system would work. After all, for less money you can build a kick ass water cooling setup that would put any air cooling solution to shame, so really how much better could the Elite really be?

Well we don’t know about you but the numbers that the CoolIT Elite posted are jaw droppingly impressive. Sub ambient temperatures under full load at stock speeds? That is simply impossible to do with water cooling no matter which way you cut it. Even better was the fact that the unit was not that noisy for the amount of performance it was producing. We have be long-time fans (pardon the pun) of Panaflo fans, as they are serious performers that create very little bearing noise and the model used on the Elite is no exception. Yes, it can be considered loud, but the noise it creates is very easy to ignore and more importantly it easily fades into the background. When you contrast this with some other high performance fans the competition use, said competition really are left behind eating dust with a big old side dish of crow.

Another thing that makes this unit so user-friendly is the included MTEC control software. Never before have users had this kind of cooling control at their fingertips and the options you can select are literally endless from extreme cooling to low noise. Even our performance tests were just scratching the surface of what the Elite can do since they just illustrated two seperate ends of the performance spectrum you can select through the software options.

When one gets over the astonishing performance results, other things start to become apparent as well. This unit is not only a great performer with a great fan but it is also pretty darn easy to install. CoolIT obviously takes the time to not only engineer a great piece of kit but also provides great installation instructions. Usually, the more exotic a CPU cooling solution is the more rube goldbergian the installation process becomes, and that is why the elegance and simplicity of the Freezone Elite’s installation process is so refreshing. Speaking of exotic systems, usually the more exotic the more electricity is required to run them and to a certain extent this is also true with the Elite. When Idling it uses about 30 watts more electricity than the same system using air cooling. When under full load the amount varied from 30 to 60 watts (dual stock to quad overclocked) and it was only during our extreme 100% tests that it hit 70W difference. All in all that is not bad for a system that can deliver what this bad boy can.

Now don’t get us wrong, this unit doesn’t take heat and produce golden eggs or dispense Unicorn giggles, and when it comes to the best bang for your buck, exotic systems like the Freezone Elite are not necessarily your best option. When the bottom line is all important, air cooling solutions are usually “good enough”. However, if you take into consideration the amount of overclocking potential it provides over and above that of water cooling things start to change. Then if you include factors like reduced noise levels and ascetics (as there is no external radiator hanging off the back of your case) the Elite becomes a viable option. Heck, when you consider the fact that we have recently seen this model on sale for 369.00 one can actually use terms like “value” in the same sentence as the Freezone Elite.

In the end we could go on and on in describing who impressed we were this CPU cooler, but sometime two little words sum it up better than a dozen paragraphs, those two words are of course: DAM GOOD. If you are in the market for a high performance CPU cooling solution that won’t cause your ears to bleed, yet won’t set you back a grand or more than this should be at the top of your list.


Pros
- Amazing performance
- Easy installation
- Great Fan
- Easy to use software
- Customizable performance to noise ratio


Cons
- Price
- USB header installation may cause confusion
- 1 year warranty

Thanks to CoolIT for providing us with this product to review