ID-Cooling FROZN A620 PRO SE CPU Air Cooler Review

TweakTown's Rating: 92%

The Bottom Line

It may not be perfect, but the FROZN A620 PRO SE delivers in all aspects that matter when it comes down to it. You will not find a more affordable solution with this level of thermal performance.

Pros

• + Performance
• + Low-ish noise
• + Compatibility
• + Ease of installation
• + Cost

Cons

• - Cheaply built
• - Low QC

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Not long ago, ID-Cooling sent over the FROZN A620 Black, and we found it to be a fair mix of performance, cost, and aesthetic appeal to warrant recommendation. Still, not long after we finished, we were asked to look at another CPU air cooler with a similar name. However, even with the shared vocabulary between what we saw in the past and what we have in our hands, we can assure you we are dealing with an entirely new critter with the release of their second cooler, sharing the FROZN A620 name.

Even with the shared naming, there are many changes between the two. First, while the FROZN A620 was a unique design, the newer model is based on the X24 DUET, and we know this because it says so on the manual. The heat pipes are not grouped like with the Black, the stickers on top of the towers have changed, there is a new Intel backplate and a wider gap between the towers, and you can use 40mm tall RAM and keep the specified overall height of the tower. There is also one factor we have yet to mention: cost; this new addition to the ID-Cooling lineup will cost you a little more than half of what the FROZN A620 Black currently sells for.

With many changes to discuss, an all-new aesthetic for the series, and the super-low cost involved, the FROZN A620 PRO SE is something you will want to read about. From what we have seen, ID-Cooling has once again found their bottle of magic sauce as seen with the FX360 PRO, where you not only get performance, decent noise levels, and low cost, but is something you wouldn't mind in the slightest if it were currently cooling your CPU as it is a decent addition to any system.

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The FROZN A630 PRO SE is also the first to offer LGA1851 support, along with other current Intel and AMD sockets. ID-Cooling figured out a way to use the same hardware for both camps. The TDP is said to be 260W, contained within a dual-tower design that stands 157mm tall, 120mm wide, and 142mm thick with both fans in play.

Materials used are standard fare, but there are some tricks of the trade applied. First mentioned are the 6mm diameter heat pipes. These are evenly spaced across the tower and are called powder-groove combined heat pipes, which deal with a specific amount of powder used with an internal grooved structure to create better heat transfer no matter the cooler's orientation. Next comes the copper base, which is nickel-plated but also soldered to the heat pipes for better thermal transfer and longer functionality through many heat cycles. The last mentioned is the aluminum used for the fins. The towers start with twelve shorter fins for RAM clearance but are followed with another forty-four above that, doubled, as there are two stacks. Lastly, with the cooler and fans together, the FROZN A620 PRO SE weighs in at a hefty 1190 grams.

Things abruptly move to the fans cooling the towers, a pair of 120mm ID12025M12S or AS120-S fans, shown to spin in a range of 300 to 2000 RPM. At full tilt, the fans can deliver 58 CFM with 1.94 mmH2O of pressure, staying around 27 dB(A). Using 12V to power them, the fan will draw 0.1A and 1.2W, spinning on hydraulic bearings, powered with a 4-pin PWM connection.

As the last line shows, the FROZN A620 PRO SE has been backed for three years by ID-Cooling, another plus on top of the low cost. With many mentions of the low price and nearly half the cost of the FROZN A620 Black, seeing the listing on Amazon at only $29.99 puts the FROZN A620 PRO SE into a very small class of CPU cooling solutions. Likely, the most known of these were the ARCTIC and Cooler Master offerings from years past, but we can say with confidence that you have never seen this much cooler for such little cost, except for the FX 360 PRO from ID-Cooling.

Packaging

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ID-Cooling chooses matte black and bright orange to package the FROZN A620 PRO SE. The front panel has ID-Cooling and their tagline at the top, an image of the cooler in the center, with the name and description at the bottom.

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The right-side panel is bright orange to match the front, but this time, we see the cooler's name only with no additional information.

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The back of the box returns to black, this time with a condensed specifications chart provided in six languages covering all but the materials. At the bottom, we see the company info on the left, their social media names in the middle, and the model shown on the right.

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The left side of the packaging gets us looking at bright orange. In the tiny text, we get the company name and tagline at the top, while we see the socket support list at the bottom.

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Inside the cardboard packaging, we find more cardboard used as the inner packaging for a dual-layer approach to protecting both the cooler and the fans in the larger box. The thin box at the right contains all the hardware, while the manual is put on top of everything inside the box.

ID-Cooling FROZN A620 PRO SE CPU Cooler

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The PRO SE variant has two towers of fifty-six fins, each with heat pipes evenly spaced across the towers. The top is capped with a plastic cover and a sticker, while all other tower parts are left natural or nickel-plated. Even with the packaging being what it is, we still see uneven spacing and deformation of some fins, and this being the second of two coolers with damage, quality control is not a high priority.

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Our initial sample shown from this angle would have been two bowed towers. ID-Cooling has sent this second sample, and we can see it leans a bit to the left, and the towers are not even across the top. However, we can see the easy access to mounting the tower with the wide gap in the center, and we also see the notches at the bottom, which are cut for RAM clearance.

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Both towers are identical, and once laid down, we can see the central V-groove and the notches with wings down the center of either side. These allow for pressure to build while disturbing the airflow to work along with ID-Cooling's microwave fin design.

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Glancing at the sides of the towers, we can see the notches cut in two ways to allow fans to be installed on either side of them. You can go with a single fan in the middle, a pair, or one on the front array and two on the back.

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The top portion of the base is made of steel and is screwed to the rest of the mass that makes up the base. On either side are spring-loaded screws to secure the cooler to the rest of the provided hardware.

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The fins are press-fit to the heat pipes after they are plated. ID-Cooling uses what they call mature fin penetration technology. While it may sound a tad dirty, it involves the way the fins are gripped, enabling better heat transfer than standard methods.

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The base is copper, but it also gets the nickel-plated treatment once the circular machining is finished. The base is convex for added pressure to the CPU, and as mentioned, the heat pipes behind it are soldered to the copper base.

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The top of the towers is a letdown. In our humble opinion, the all-black stickers should go with the A620 Black, and the silver highlighted ones on the Black should go with the PRO SE. Even so, it is a nice-looking way to dress up the tops of the towers.

Accessories and Documentation

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All the hardware is black to help it blend into the motherboard, but there is a new Intel black plate along with the Intel brackets on the left and the AMD brackets to the right. Typically, the holes would be smaller, but larger openings allow AMD and Intel to use the same standoffs.

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Universal standoffs are at the top, with one side using a thicker stud and standard threads and the other end thinner and metric. They even have spaces on the other end to allow AMD backplate protruding bits to be covered and cleared. Across the bottom are the knurled nuts with Phillips and standard screwdriver access for mounting the brackets to the standoffs.

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We also encountered six wire fan clips, ensuring users can add a third fan. Along with that is a Y-splitter PWM cable for two fans to be powered from a single motherboard header. We also received a tube of FROST X25, a 10.5W/M-K thermal paste.

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The manual we found inside is clearly made for the X24 DUET cooler, but it also applies to the FROZN A620 PRO Se. You will only find words with the names of the parts at the beginning, as all instructions are done with images only. There is a single page for Intel, another for AMD, and one showing how to power the fans. The manual ends with information on how to get any questions answered.

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The ID12025M12S or AS-120-S 2000 RPM fans use a five-blade design to scoop more air with less noise. The entirety of the fans is black and powered by 4-pin PWM connectors.

Installation and Finished Product

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Using the backplate that came with our motherboard, we installed the standoffs into it until we ran out of threads, tightening it with just our fingers. We then set the AMD brackets on in their proper orientation, with the tabs facing out, and locked it all down with the knurled nuts. Again, we took them down until we ran out of threads, but this time, using a screwdriver to ensure they were tight.

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After applying paste and mounting the cooler, we can install the fans and get a look at the entire PRO SE cooler as it stares back at us. The fans can stay at the 157mm cooler height with our choice of RAM, and the fan does a great job of covering the bulk of the fin arrays.

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The Vengeance we use has plenty of clearance, and the sticks are almost naked stick height, which adds perspective to what you may be able to use. Of course, should you choose to use taller sticks, you may end up pushing the fan up, needing more depth in a chassis for fitment.

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A third fan is possible, but it would block access to the 8-pin EPS connectors that we have now. From this angle, you can also see the aged design, allowing for RAM clearance on HEDT systems yet lacking the mounting support for its original intent.

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Once installed and the motherboard is back in the chassis, you are left with a view like this, where the PRO SE becomes more of a sleeper than we initially thought. With fans covering the natural aluminum fins, the plastic used atop the towers, and the blacked-out stickers, the FROZN A620 PRO SE virtually disappears into the background.

Test System Setup, Thermal Tests, and Noise Results

Chad's Chad's CPU Cooler Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII HERO [Wi-Fi] (AMD X570) - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X - Buy from Amazon
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 4000MHz 4X8GB
• Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 6GB OC - Buy from Amazon
• Storage: Galax HOF Pro M.2 1TB SSD
• Case: Hydra Bench Standard
• Power Supply: ASUS ROG Thor 850W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit - Buy from Amazon
• Software: AMD Ryzen Master, AIDA64 Engineer 6.25.5400, and CPU-z 1.92.0 x64

To see our testing methodology and to find out what goes into making our charts, please refer to our 2020 CPU Cooler Testing and Methodology article for more information.

Thermal Results

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With stock settings applied and PWM controlling the fans, we took the FROZN A620 PRO SE out for a spin. After the allotted time, we found it to average out at 57.1°C, which leaves it an air cooler in the land of AIOs. Compared to the A620 Black and the SE-207-XT ahead of it, they are not ahead by much, as there is half a degree between the three of them.

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With more speed and voltage applied to the CPU, still allowing PWM control of fans, we find the PRO SE to land at 64.2°C, only six-tenths of a degree warmer than the A620 Black.

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Checking to see what was left in performance from the PRO SE, we allowed the fans to run balls-out, taking us down to 60.9°C, which is 3.3°, but with a lot more noise involved to sneak up to within a tenth of a degree to the A620 Black.

Noise Level Results

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Returning to the stock run with PWM control, we saw the fans top out at 1091 RPM. During the run, we pulled out the meter and found it to be 27 dB, slightly quieter than the A620 Black in this run.

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Trading spots with the A620 Black this time, the PRO SE gave us 34 dB of noise with the overclocked CPU and PWM control still applied. The fan speed was reported at 1141 RPM, which is 100-ish RPM slower than we saw when testing the Black.

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When we tested the FROZN A620 Black, we saw fans turning over 2000 RPM and emitting 55 dB. With the PRO SE, the fans stopped at 1890 RPM while dumping 51 dB into the room.

Final Thoughts

While we hate to start a conclusion as we are about to, we need clarification. From what we gathered, the A620 Black, while not specifically deserving of a special award, was and is a solid solution to the CPU cooling game. However, the introduction of the PRO SE almost negates the point of the Black version. Of course, some want the all-black aesthetic, but it is worth nearly double the cost when both solutions run head-to-head. When we look back through the images, once the FROZN A620 PRO SE is installed inside a chassis, the view we get is black on black. It is almost like ID-Cooling is shooting themselves in the foot while doing something amazing simultaneously.

Our only reservation in recommending this solution came down to quality control. With the packaging being two layers of cardboard, and both samples came in near-perfect packaging, we found damage and spacing issues. This means the coolers are assembled and passed by inspection with little attention to detail. We get it: the cooler is super-affordable, and the Freezer64 and Hyper212 weren't perfect either. Still, the amount of curvature in the first samples towers, along with both coolers having fin damage and the plastic caps screwed down so tight they compress the top three fins, we feel things could have been looked over with a more discerning eye.

When it comes to performance and noise, you get way more than you pay for with the FROZN A620 PRO SE. We could care less that it is an old design; ID-Cooling found something and is making it work across the CPU cooling game. The FX360 PRO was an outstanding deal, all things considered, but with the PRO SE, you get AIO-level thermals and decent levels of noise from the fans, and to top it off, it is likely the most affordable part of your build.

We are glad we did not go with the initial assumption that this was the same cooler with quiet fans stuck to it, as the PRO SE is a whole other animal. Whatever the magic sauce is that ID-Cooling has right now, it's working, and we cannot wait to see what they come up with next.

Considering that what you just saw will set you back just $29.99, this takes us back a decade to when this sort of cooler was popular and gives us more performance than we ever expected. While we assumed this would flounder, attempting to keep up with some of the chart-topping air-cooling solutions for CPUs, it is easy to guess that the appeal, performance, noise, and, of course, the low cost blew us away. If you are a system builder or anyone looking for the best solution on a cost-effective basis, look no further. Keep everything in perspective, and do not expect perfection for $30, as it will not happen.