Verdict: Great performance at a ludicrously low price.

The mighty Freezer 7 Pro has been the obvious choice for an LGA775 HSF since it debuted more than a year ago.

At the time of its launch, the Freezer 7 Pro was the most powerful LGA775 HSF around and, unlike many of its competitors, you didn't need to have a PhD in origami to install it. However, since we first saw the Freezer 7 Pro, HSF designs have moved on considerably, so we were keen to see if the original could still hold its head above water.

The Freezer 7 Pro works by conducting heat away from the CPU into a contact plate and six copper heatpipes. The heatpipes move the heat into a nest of aluminium fins, which are cooled by a PWM-controlled 92mm fan. The fan spins at speeds between 900rpm and 2,500rpm, and is very quiet for most of the time.

Thanks to its use of the standard Intel push-pin retention mechanism, the Freezer 7 Pro can be mounted without having to remove the motherboard from the case. Also, by using the standard mounting mechanism, the Freezer 7 Pro can be positioned so that its fan also points in the correct direction (pushing air out of the case), regardless of the motherboard's layout. However, the Freezer 7 Pro doesn't provide significant extra cooling for your motherboard.

The Freezer 7 Pro was very effective when installed in our Core 2 Quad test rig; the CPU was an impressive 8ûC cooler than it was with the reference Intel HSF. This result is bettered by other coolers in this test but, considering the low price of £12, it's one of the best bargains.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

• OCZ Core Series 30GB - Hard disks / storage
• Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - Hard disks / storage
• Asus EAH4870 TOP - Graphics cards
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Sound cards
• Multiwinia - Games
• Zotac GeForce GTX 260² - Graphics cards
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 - Graphics cards