Thermaltake Releases New Frio Extreme CPU Cooler

By Doug Crowthers
published

Thermaltake has announced the release of its new Frio Extreme CPU Cooler, which made its first appearance earlier this year at Computex Taipei.

The Frio Extreme claims to be the first CPU air cooler that has implemented dual fans VR and PWM controller to control performance and noise levels. The controller controls both of the 140mm fans speed between 1200 to 1800 RPM (39 dBA max noise) upon users’ preferences on noise to cooling performance. The Frio Extreme has a maximum cooling capacity of 250W.

Frio Extreme measures 5.83 (L) x 5.94 (W) x 6.30 (H) inches and features a dual-tower design, 0.4 mm aluminum fins, a mirror-finish copper base, and six 6 mm-U-shape copper heatpipes. The Frio Extreme supports Intel LGA 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011 and AMD Socket FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, and AM2 processors.

Frio Extreme comes bundled with thermal grease and a VR & PWM function fan controller. Pricing for the Frio Extreme has not been announced but with the Frio OCK around $75, we would expect the Extreme to come in at a higher price. What will be interesting to learn is how it performs against similar priced air-coolers and sealed liquid CPU coolers like the Corsair's H80 or Antec Kühler H₂O 620.

Learn more about the Frio Extreme CPU cooler at its product page.

Doug Crowthers
30 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nikorr
    Looks great to me!
    Reply
  • extremepcs
    I bet it will work better with Noctua fans... :)
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Anxiously anticipating a comparison between this product and the Scythe SCMG-3000.
    Reply
  • BillboGates
    U12P-SE2 from noctura, installed in AMD 6 core black edition build 1.5 years ago, dual fan (maybe thermaltake found a marketing loophole because of their sandwich design). Performs beyond well beyond any of my expectations and i beleive can be purchased in the US for around $60 (before we OC his system at idle it ran 2 degrees above ambient, thats the only figure i accurately remember as it shocked me).
    U12P-SE2 is so quiet it added no noticeable noise over just running 4 of the 6 thermaltake case fans in that particular system.
    Its also worth mentioning they come with cables to adjust the voltage/speed of the cpu fans even if you dont have PWM slots on MOBO. Noctura are kings in my eyes.
    Reply
  • spasmolytic46
    Christ it looks like you lose 2 ram slots to that beast!
    Reply
  • BillboGates
    NH-D14 Noctua, turns out they even had a sandwich design which is years old. One test i saw has quad core AMD @ 4ghz running 51 under full load. Take that Thermaltake. (ps i know that cooler is massive and the fans are slightly ugly but i think gaming cases with LED's and clear side panels are vulgar, so is the design of almost every gaming case ever)
    Reply
  • tlmck
    I have often wondered how much heat actually dissipates to the top of those things. Pretty soon, your gonna need a separate case just for your cooler.
    Reply
  • aznshinobi
    Reminds me of the Thermalright Silver Arrow, just IMO.
    Reply
  • nebun
    aznshinobiReminds me of the Thermalright Silver Arrow, just IMO.they really need to start making the ram sticks a lot smaller
    Reply
  • memadmax
    The design looks wrong, one fan blowing its hot air onto another fan.
    It should be 2 fans blowing in opposite directions, drawing cold air down the middle...............
    Reply