ID-Cooling Frozn A620 GDL Review: Eye-catching gold bling without ARGB

The latest air cooling from ID-Cooling to land on our test bed is the Frozn A620 GDL, a limited production model that incorporates gold-color accents into the design of its towers and fans – “GDL” in its name stands for “gold line.”

Earlier this year, we tested the standard version of the A620 with Intel’s i7-13700K and found it to be a strong performer. For today’s review, we’ll take a look at its performance with the newer “Raptor Lake” Core i7-14700K and “Arrow Lake” Core Ultra 9 285K CPUs to determine how well (or not) ID-Cooling’s Frozn A620 GDL performs. Does the Frozn A620 GDL have what it takes to make our list of best performing coolers? Let’s take a quick look at the unit’s specifications, then we’ll dive into its features and the benchmarks.

Cooler specifications

Packing and included contents

The outside of the box advertises the essential design of the unit and its gold accents.

The contents are well-protected on the inside by a combination of cardboard and plastic coverings, with the main parts of the cooler in one larger box and the accessories inside a smaller one.

Opening the larger box reveals the heatsink and fans, protected by individual coverings.

Included with the box are the following:

• Two 120mm fans
• Dual-tower heatsink
• Fan clips for up to three fans
• PWM splitter
• Frost x35 thermal paste
• Mounting for modern AMD and Intel platforms

Features of ID-Cooling’s Frozn A620 GDL

Gold accents

The main thing that sets this version of the Frozn A620 apart from its competition, or even other SKUS of the A620, is the incorporation of gold-plated accents. They give the cooler some extra aesthetic appeal without incorporating ARGB lighting, which many will appreciate. I think it looks especially nice in a black case, as you can see in the image below.

If you’re not looking for a gold-accented look, you might want to look at the standard version of the Frozn A620 instead – which is often on sale at a cheaper price.

Fans

There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling and noise levels, as well as how the cooler looks in your case. In this product’s case, the looks are the primary selling point – and like the rest of the unit, the fans have been accented with gold-colored plating next to the fan blades and in the center of the fan.

Six copper heatpipes, nickel-plated copper base 

To transfer heat away from the CPU, the unit incorporates six 6mm copper heatpipes into two radiator towers. All of these parts are black, with the exception of the gold accents visible from a top-down view.

Frost X35 Thermal Paste

Included with the AIO is a tube of ID-Cooling’s premium Frost X35 thermal paste, rated at 14.2W/M-K. While this isn’t the best thermal paste on the market, its performance is close enough and works well with this CPU cooler.

Extra pair of fan clips

ID-Cooling recognizes that some users will want to mount a third fan for maximum cooling potential, and has included an extra pair of fan clips for those users.

Dual tower heatsink

The Frozn A620 GDL incorporates a dual-tower heatsink. Some of y’all like to see detailed photos of the fin design, so I’ve included a side-shot below.

RAM Compatibility

The Frozn A620 has moderate RAM compatibility – you won’t have any problems with standard-size RAM modules under 35mm, but if you’re using something taller like GSkill Trident DIMMs you’ll have to lift the fan up a few milimeters for everything to fit properly.

There are many factors other than the CPU cooler that can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system's motherboard can also influence this, especially if it suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU.

In order to prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, we’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of them showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.

I’ve also tested this cooler with Intel’s latest “Arrow Lake” platform, using the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K CPU.

LGA 1700 and 1851 Installation

1. You’ll first need to place the backplate against the rear of the motherboard, and then secure it using the included standoffs.

2. Place the mounting bars on top of the standoffs, and secure them with the included thumbscrews.

3. Apply the included Frost X35 thermal paste to your CPU. If you have any questions on how to do this properly, please refer to our handy guide on how to apply thermal paste.

4. Place the cooler on top of the CPU, and secure it with a screwdriver.

5. Attach the fans to the CPU cooler using the included fan clips.

6. Connect the fans to the included PWM splitter cable, and then connect that cable to your motherboard’s PWM CPU header – and installation is complete.