Features:
Much like the Nexus HOC we reviewed here a few weeks ago, the Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer works on the same design principle. Instead of having a solid copper or aluminum base that sits on the CPU, the heatpipes themselves flatten out more at the bottom and are channeled through a top aluminum piece only. This allows the pipes to have direct contact with the CPU for a more efficient route of transporting that heat away. As we know from physics, the more surfaces heat has to transfer between, the greater it will be slowed down by each surface's conductivity. Since the base can only be so wide, this cooler has only four large copper heatpipes on it. These heatpipes form a "U" which holds all the aluminum fins.

  
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Cooling is provided by means of a 120mm MFDB bearing fan. This fan is held onto the side of the heat sink with two metal clip wires that are provided. These are much the same thickness as a paperclip so they are virtually invisible. To prevent vibrations the fan has four rubber pieces between each contact point on the fins. Although this is a rather simple way to isolate the fan it does get the job done just fine. I would have much preferred to see something like floating the fan above the fins on rubber mounts. The bearings in this fan are MFDB which stands for Magnetic Fluid Dynamic Bearing, a common term we're seeing lately on a lot of ultra-silent, long life fans. This fan has a rated life of 50,000 hours and has a rated decibel level of around 16-20dB(+/-10%).

Since the fan isn't PWM controlled (unfortunately), you can manually adjust it's speed using the included fan controller. This is a rather compact fan controller that will fit nicely into one of your available case slots at the back (so unfortunately it won't be the most accessible for some people). For those who are doing a lot of fan adjusting depending on how loaded their CPU is, it might have been a better idea to design this fan controller for a 3.5" bay at the front of a case instead of tucking it away at the back.

Something we commonly see in only good quality CPU cooler packages is to include some non-generic brand thermal paste. We all know that a lot of manufacturer's are really limiting the true performance of their coolers by throwing in the cheapest thermal paste they can. Included with the Core-Contact Freezer is a tube of Sunbeam's own Tuniq TX-2 thermal paste. After being quite happy with this paste in our review of it last year, I'm sure it will help to make this cooler really shine.

(It's even retail packed inside the box!)