Arctic has launched its brand new next-gen CPU cooler range which has support for the upcoming Intel LGA 1851 socket, as Arrow Lake is on the horizon. Looking deeper into how the coolers interact with the latest socket reveals some changes have happened, too.
Chiefly, this is the fact that the LGA 1851 socket uses a new contact frame that looks to sit upon the processor differently than what happens with LGA 1700 sockets. This is evidenced in a render showing the contact pressure distribution against each other. There’s a black plastic mount that screws down onto the motherboard instead of revealing the socket itself, which indicates that Arrow Lake processors may be considerably different than what we’ve been using over the past few years.
What’s paramount is that the LGA 1851 coolers appear to work as they do with LGA 1700, which means there’s no need to rush out and invest in another bracket. This is similar to what AMD has done with the AM4 to AM5 sockets, but not something we typically see when Team Blue switches sockets – especially as the processors seem to be wildly different in approach; the former being the first disaggregated desktop architecture, building on Meteor Lake.
More air, the same principle
What the likes of the new Arctic Freezer 36 Tower CPU cooler also reveals is that air cooling has stepped up significantly. It measures 104 x 126 x 159mm (LxWxH) with a total weight of 890g, and there are four 6mm copper pipes that feed into the mount. It’s all powered by a 4-pin power connector, so while there’s a higher potential capacity for air there are no changes to how cooling will work on the Arrow Lake architecture.
There are five variants in the new coolers, available starting from $45.99 up to $59.99, which also hints at the fact that Intel 15th Gen could be coming sooner rather than later.
| Model | MSRP | Amazon (buy links) |
|---|---|---|
| Freezer 36 | $45.99 | $25.40 |
| Freezer 36 CO | $47.99 | $27.71 |
| Freezer 36 (Black) | $51.99 | $28.48 |
| Freezer 36 A-RGB (Black) | $58.99 | $33.10 |
| Freezer 36 A-RGB (White) | $59.99 | $33.87 |
As this is next-gen CPU cooling, you would expect greater performance from the Arctic Freezer 36 and according to the product listings, that’s exactly what you’ll get. Based on the benchmarks posted, it performs more efficiently than not only the company’s own Freezer 36 eSports Duo, but also the Noctua NH-D12L, Deepcool AK400 DZ Plus, and even the BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4 as well. If you want one of the best CPU coolers for this current chipset generation and next, it could fill that gap.
