Introduction 

Over the past few years, Thermaltake has experienced tremendous growth ... so much so, they've recently opened their brand-spanking new headquarters in Taiwan. This is all thanks to strong sales for their power supplies and chassis, and an increase in product awareness, as well as recognition in the professional gaming arena. Not to mention the infamous endorsement by BMW during 2009, for their Level 10 gaming chassis, which received a huge amount of attention.

Ever since I can remember, Thermaltake have always supported the enthusiast and DIY markets. Some of their products have been specifically designed with overclocking in mind ... take for example their chassis, some of which have a very spacious interior, with plenty of fans and a great air-flow design. While their power supplies offer great features such as a power 12V rail, good stability, the use of high quality components and excellent power efficiency. There's also the CPU coolers ... Thermaltake are known to make innovative and excellent CPU coolers, many of which have won numerous awards.

After releasing the very impressive Frio CPU cooler last year, Thermaltake has gone one more step by introducing their next model ... the Frio OCK (OverClocking Kings). Not sure why they name it that ... but after watching a recent promotional video by Thermaltake, I kind of understand what they're trying to achieve. You can watch their video on YouTube, which stars one of Thermaltake's Marketing Managers ... Thore ;)

Today's advancement in processor design, means that with each new generation, less heat is being produced by the processor. Take for example Intel's current Core i-Series of processors ... the new Sandy Bridge and older Westmere, which are all based on 32nm technology. They produce less heat than Intel's previous generation of processors, the Nehalem and Penryn, which are based on 45nm technology. This is good news for consumers (especially enthusiasts), as you now get more power efficient processors that produces less heat ... and less heat means more overclocking ability. It's now a fact that most Intel Core i-Series (32nm) processors can easily overclock to 4.0Ghz or higher, just by using traditional air cooling ... something which wasn't achieveable 18 months ago. I can wait to see what Intel's next 22nm based processor can do ... the Ivy Bridge.

As we've mentioned before, Thermaltake is one of those big brand names that everyone seem to know. They have been producing computer chassis, CPU coolers, power supplies and other cooling accessories since the early days of 1999. For those who are not familiar with Thermaltake or its products ... here's something taken from their website.

In this review, we'll be taking a look at the Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler, designed for OverClocking Kings. It's designed for both AMD (AM2, AM2+, AM3) and Intel processors (LGA 775, 1155, 1156, 1366), and features a nickel-plated copper base and large array of Aluminum fins. There's also a total of six heat-pipes with a thickness of 6mm for great cooling capacity. According to Thermaltake, the heatsink can support upto 240W of thermal resistance, which is one of the highest I've seen for a CPU cooler. Also included are dual 130mm VR fans, which generates a massive air flow of upto 121 CFM, which is pretty powerful. The fan speeds are adjustable from 1,200~2,500 rpm using the included rheostat controller. At the lowest fan speed of 1,200 rpm, the noise level is around 21dBA, reaching a fairly loud 48dBA at the maximum speed of 2,500rpm.

The Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler does look very impressive and it's one of the largest CPU coolers available on the market. It's definitely bigger than its predecessor, the original Frio CPU cooler, not quite as big as the huge Noctua NH-D14. The dual tower design, along with the 6 nickel-plated heatpipes should give us some good temperature readings, during both our overclocked and non-overclocked tests. It'll be interesting to see how well the Thermaltake Frio OCK can compete against other CPU coolers in its class. What's also interesting, is the VR fan controller ... at 48dBA at the maximum speed of 2,500rpm, I think it's too loud for most users. But for the overclocking enthusiasts ... noise, size and looks isn't something important, only cooling performance.

We'll be testing the Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler on our test rig which consist of an Intel Core i5 - 650 @ 3.2Ghz, Gigabyte P55 USB3 motherboard, Geforce GTX 460 OC, 4Gb Crucial Ballistix DDR3-2133 and a Thermaltake ToughPower XT 875W power supply. It's the same system we've been using to test other CPU coolers.

OK ... let's take a closer look at the specifications and features of the Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler in our next page ...

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