Final Score: 87 out of 100
Make no mistake Arctic had a lot riding on the success of the Freezer 35. To ensure success their design team, after much deliberation, focused in on 3 key areas. Performance. Ease of Use. Value. These are three cornerstones which make the difference between any old air cooler and a highly sought after one. However, just like a three-legged stool, if any one of these three pillars is out of alignment with the other two the whole thing falls over and the Freezer 34 series would have gone down as a one of event… with Artic going back to being best known for their TIM and other niche products.
Due to the increase efficiency of being in direct contact with the IHS, Heat Pipe Direct Touch cooling solutions excel at lower TDP levels. Conversely, as the TDP rises a thicker ‘solid’ base unit typically pulls ahead as all the heatpipes are heated evenly – instead of one having to handle more of the load than the others. Arctic understood this quirk of HDT designs and have limited the impact from uneven heat distribution by the simple expedient of upgrading the fin array in both its dimensions and its sophistication. Thus, noticeable improvements in performance were assured at all heat levels. The end result of all of this hard work is this new variant is almost as good as the Freezer 34 Sport DUO. Let that sink. A single fan i35 CO is darn near as capable as the dual fan previous generation version. Considering the Freezer 34 Duo Sport was no slouch regardless of the metric used that is indeed impressive. Mix in the fact that the Freezer i35 CO is cheaper than the Freezer 34 Sport Duo and that pretty much sums up how much Arctic got right.
On the ease-of-use front, the improved hardware may not be perfect but it does make the previous generation look a little clunky (and ironically ‘weak’) in comparison. However, with that said ease of use is more than just how easy it is to slap the unit on to the CPU. Memory and motherboard heatsink clearance is also a major concern. Once again Arctic got it right by making the fin array bigger… but not too big. Just big enough to maximize performance while eliminating RAM clearance issues and minimizing motherboard heatsink issues.
These two factors in conjunction with an actual price drop makes the Freezer i35 CO nearly a slam dunk success. One where in that all but a few niche scenarios is there any reason to ever look at the Freezer 34 generation. Sadly, going hand in hand with all these improvements is a few nits worth picking. Firstly, is the fact that you now must buy either Intel or AMD centric model that is also a single fan only capable model. Most buyers are probably going to either stick to Team Blue or Team Red for a system refresh or not worry too much about a cooler in addition to a new motherboard and CPU.
Most is not all. Does the cost of the AMD components really add that much to the bottom line? Enough to annoy system builders who now have to carry twice the stock just to use a Freezer 35 in their builds? Probably yes, but once again probably is not the same as absolute certainty. On the fan front… yes, most people use only one fan on their cooler and will not care. Most however will care about the fact that they cannot just swap out the default fan for a standard 120mm fan. Arctic really need to rethink this combo fascia+fan idea and go back to using their standard 120mm P fan series.
The other nitpick is both good and bad. That is the CO model costing less than the FDB models. If there was ever a premium model that deserved the black paint treatment, and higher asking price, it is the CO versions. The fact that Arctic believes that they are not worth more than the FDB’s just underscores how big a steal of a deal the CO variants are. Yes, they will be slightly louder. They however are based on an even better fan and the lack of RGB is just a bonus to us.
In the end the Freezer 35 series in general and the “CO” variant in specific is indeed a wonderful refresh to its already excellent predecessor the Freezer 34 series. So much so that for most system builds one need look no further than either the Freezer i35 CO or Freezer a35 CO model. Just understand that one little letter can indeed make a huge difference. Choose wisely. As such, if you want one of the better, arguably best, value air coolers going right now it is a Freezer 35 CO that you want to be looking for.
The Review
Arctic Freezer i35 CO
Make no mistake Arctic had a lot riding on the success of the Freezer 35. To ensure success their design team, after much deliberation, focused in on 3 key areas. Performance. Ease of Use. Value. These are three cornerstones which make the difference between any old air cooler and a highly sought after one. However, just like a three-legged stool, if any one of these three pillars is out of alignment with the other two the whole thing falls over and the Freezer 34 series would have gone down as a one of event… with Artic going back to being best known for their TIM and other niche products.
