At an event for gamers in Leipzig, Germany, Arctic demonstrated a prototype of one the industry’s first partially-passive cooling systems for AMD’s Threadripper processors. The Freezer 50 TR is a sizable heatsink-fan cooler that is specifically designed to be able to cool a Threadripper processor passively under low loads, allowing its fans to be turned off to minimize noise. And while it looks extremely big and will be an interesting challenge in fit in most modern PC cases, having cooler that can run noise-free under light loads certainly comes with its advantages.

The construction of the Arctic Freezer 50 TR generally resembles that of other so-called “mega coolers”. The Arctic Freezer 50 TR is comprised of two massive aluminum radiators outfitted with eight thick heat pipes that are in direct contact with the processor’s IHS. The cooling system can be equipped with two (presumably 140-mm) fans that stop spinning when PWM signal drops below 5%. As an added bonus, the unit has adressable RGB LED bars.

Arctic is not disclosing the TDP rating of its Freezer 50 TR cooler just yet (just like it does not disclose maximum rotation speed of its fans) as the product is still a prototype. Given that it's made especially for Threadripper, it's reasonable to to expect that it can dissipate more than 250 W, but the upper limit is unknown. For reference, there are air coolers capable of dissipating up to 340 W of power, but they are pretty rare.

Since AMD’s Threadripper (as well as Intel Core i9/Xeon W-3175X) processors are aimed at extreme desktops and workstations and usually get overclocked by their owners, CPU makers often recommend using closed-loop liquid cooling systems with them to ensure consistent performance and longevity. Meanwhile since not everyone trusts LCS, many suppliers offer air coolers for “extreme” CPUs.

Arctic did not disclose when it plans to release its Freezer 50 TR as well as its estimated price. Considering the fact that it usually takes months to finalize CPU coolers, it is possible that the product will be launched towards Computex trade show. Whether or not it will support next-gen processors is something that remains to be seen.

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Source: AquaTuning/Twitter, Arctic
Image Source: @AquaTuning

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  • JackTHEGOD - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - link

    "finalize validate", I'M THE GRAMMAR AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE GOD.
  • Opencg - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - link

    on this website. details; are more important. so stop worrying weather the grammars done good or bad.
  • Freakie - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - link

    ¡Butte good grammar: is vary importunate, too me¡
  • sonny73n - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link

    I could care less (I couldn’t care less). 😂
  • TrackSmart - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - link

    It's great to have more air cooling options on Threadripper. Noctua was basically the only game in town upon launch of the first gen CPUs. That said, the Noctua NH-U14S is already almost silent and only costs about $65 on Amazon. And it stays virtually silent if don't overclock your CPU and peg the fan speed to 100%.
  • AlyxSharkBite - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link

    Except it’s so gawd awful ugly.
  • nagi603 - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link

    And this isn't? With its plastic shroud and lightshow that's probably detrimental to cooling?
  • ajp_anton - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link

    So assuming that noise level is when the fans are turned off, why is it still making 0dB of noise?
  • mkozakewich - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link

    Please tell me the plastic on the sides comes off before you install it. Looks like it would be really good at holding all the heat in.
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - link

    That's a lot of heat pipes. Overall, I'd say the thing dips a couple of toes into the gaudy end of the spectrum, but maybe these days with all of the RGB hardware out there, it might actually come off as conservative.

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