Thermalright Frozen Prism 240 Black ARGB AIO Cooler

I’ll be upfront, I bought this for the heck of it. I was using a tri-stack aircooler that many regarded as legendary. But after one of it’s fans died, I decided to browse for a new cooler. Seeing many aircoolers lose LGA 2011 compatibility stung a bit, and seeing that the only options left were high in price stung even worse.

Then I stumbled upon this gem. At first, I thought it was some sort of scam, or a poorly made product. Seeing how, especially these days, many vendors such as Corsair would gladly sell you basically the same product for $150 or more. But for $48 at the time of writing… why not give it a shot?

I’m not unfamiliar with Thermalright, as I’ve used their air coolers previously and found them to be an impeccable value, albeit with unclear mounting instructions.

The box contains a cardboard placeholder and some foam, simple but effective. I took out all of the necessary paperwork and mounting parts, and began reading the manual.

It was decently laid out with a page for each socket, and the parts were labeled with letters, referenced in the manual. Not bad! Mounting my 2011-3 brackets was pretty straightforward.

After mounting, I hooked up the two fans with a PWM splitter, attached to the CPU fan header. I hooked my pump into a case fan PWM, which I set to run at max speed. I always put my pump to full speed to prevent any speed fluctuations, as the gears in most AIO pumps are very fragile to changes in torque.

It’s overall build quality is impressive; braided hoses with well sealed metal ends. The fans are already screwed in, with their correct orientation, and the finish on the radiator feels smooth to the touch. Albeit the mounting brackets for LGA 2011 had some rough edges that could cut you if you weren’t a seasoned system builder.

After that, I took my 8-core xeon, and gave it a thorough stress test in Aida64 (CPU/FPU/RAM/Cache). My 1660v3 was at 4.3ghz, and 1.220v at the time of the first test. After 1 hour, it *peaked* at 61 degrees. I was worried none of my threads were being utilized, but the cores all had load, and the idle temps were around 22-23 before starting.

Unreal. For this price? What are you giving up?

Simple. It’s not RGB. It does have an ARGB header for the screen on the pump to do temp readouts, but I couldn’t be bothered. My board is too old to have that anyhow. Alongside the fans being rather noisy even at low speeds, but they push an insane amount of air for being cheaper included fans.

But… considering the performance at a fairly heavy overclock, what happens when you punish it severely?

I chugged my pot of coffee, still scalding hot, and managed to put my chip at an eyebrow-scorching 1.455v. Pinned it to 4.5ghz, opened Aida64, and let it rip.

Max core temp? 87 degrees. Package hit 89.

After one hour, at 1.455v, at literally 125% of it’s base clock. On a platform known for making power bills turn into a medical bill.

If you paired this with a good set of quieter, high-RPM fans in push-pull, I’d see no issue with this cooling chips that draw 200+ watts under load effectively.

To say I am beyond impressed is an understatement. I am awestruck. I’ve used other cheap AIO’s, but this unit is something else.

Do not let the price scare you. It is not a scam, and in fact, it’ll gladly leave you another $100 in your budget for that higher-tier GPU.

Buy it.

Pros:

Solid Cooling Performance: For a 240mm liquid cooler, this one should handle even high-performance CPUs without a problem. Whether you’re gaming or doing heavy multitasking, it likely keeps your temps in check while staying fairly quiet.

Stylish Design: The all-black design with RGB lighting strikes a nice balance between sleek and eye-catching. Perfect if you’re going for that clean, modern build aesthetic.

Easy Installation: Liquid coolers can sometimes be tricky to install, but most users report this one being pretty straightforward. The included instructions are likely clear, making it accessible even for someone new to custom cooling.

Cons:

Fan Noise at High Load: Like most coolers, it may get a bit loud when the system’s under heavy load. While it’s generally quiet, you might notice the fans spinning up when pushing your CPU to its limits.

RGB Syncing Issues: A common issue with budget coolers is syncing the RGB lighting with your motherboard’s software. It may take a little tweaking to get it just right, depending on your setup.

Conclusion:
The Thermalright Frozen Prism 240 seems like an excellent choice for anyone building a mid-to-high-end gaming rig or performance PC. It’s affordable, looks great, and most importantly, keeps your CPU cool without a ton of noise. Sure, it’s not perfect, but for the price, it’s hard to beat.

 Great price for an entry PC to get an AIO. Easy to install, looks great, sound isn’t loud. It’s been in daily use for about a month now. No issues.