German company EKL is a veteran of the OEM cooler business, and has been trying to get a foothold in the retail market for a while now. The V8, which was its first foray into this market in 2006, was only moderately successful, since the company focused too much on the cooler's looks and not enough on the technology. While the Frost Tower is a lot more Spartan in appearance than the V8, it features one huge technological step forward: its Direct Touch technology ensures that the heatpipes are in direct contact with the CPU, allowing the heat to be dissipated much faster. This technology has been adopted by several other companies as well.

EKL Frost Tower - The heatpipes are in direct contact with the CPU.

Installing the cooler is a very simple and straightforward procedure. The pushpins are arranged on two separate metal sheets that attach to the cooler using screws; the cooler can then be pressed into the motherboard in a matter of seconds. Uninstalling the assembly may be a bit more difficult, though, since two of the pushpins are obstructed by the fan. Should they get stuck, you may need to remove then fan to get at them.

One gripe we had with the cooler was that some of the protective plastic film that covers the cooler's contact surface remained stuck to the cooler, forcing us to clean it thoroughly before installation.

Mounting components

Retail box of the EKL Frost Tower

As far as cooling performance is concerned, the Frost Tower offered average results: at just under 73°C, its results weren't really very frosty at all. Also, with its noise level of 43 db(A) under full load, it's certainly not a quiet model. Since the fan blows the air over the cooler horizontally, the motherboard's voltage regulation modules are not cooled by the airflow, either; however, a small "spoiler" ensures that at least a minimum of airflow is directed downward and onto the motherboard.

Compared with the other coolers we've tested, we find the price tag of €35 too high.

EKL Frost Tower in action