At Computex 2010, GELID Solutions launched their latest GPU cooler called the ICY Vision. The GPU cooler is aimed directly at the latest graphics processors from ATI and NVidia. And, since the latest GPUs produce a lot of heat, we’re anxious to give it a shot. We’re going to put it on the world’s hottest GPU (literally), NVidia’s Fermi GTX480 to see how it performs and see if it’s able to accomplish what NVidia’s reference cooler can’t.
Features and Specifications
GELID Solution’s ICY Vision GPU Cooler utilizes heat pipe technology for its overall cooling performance. There are a total of five 6mm heat pipes spanning the length of the cooler for optimal heat dissipation. Two 92mm “S-shape” UV blue reactive fans provide an impressive 67 to 114 CFM of air at a max speed of 2000RPM producing noise levels around 26 dBA. Woosh!
Currently, the GPUS support by the GELID Solutions ICY Vision include…
- ATI: HD4850, HD4870, HD4890, HD5830, HD5850 & HD5870
- NVidia: 9800GT, 9800GTX, GTS250, GTX260 trough GTX285, GTX465, GTX470 & GTX480
Something to keep in mind is whether or not the video card you are cooling has a reference cooler or not. Some non-reference cards may sport a modified layout as well and may not work properly with a cooler engineered for the stock mounting locations. As long as the GPU location hasn’t been modified too much, this cooler should install properly with perhaps only the memory modules giving you some troubles. Keep in mind, this is the case with any aftermarket GPU cooler and not just isolated to the ICY Vision.
The GELID Solutions ICY Vision GPU Cooler launches this week and should be hitting the store shelves for UNDER $55 US MSRP.
What’s in the Box?
Well, what you see through the plastic packaging is pretty much it. Besides the ICY Vision cooler itself, there’s plenty of tiny little thermal pads, thermal tape, and screws that are to be used to install the cooler.
Also included are many aluminum heat sinks. There are sinks for the video ram, powering MOSFETs, secondary ICs (ATI cards), and what appears to be some for CHOKEs. Basically, there’s a heat sink for every and any component that can get hot. Thermal tape is provided to allow you to stick these wherever you need to beat the heat.
Taking a Closer Look
Like many of today’s performance coolers, the ICY Visions relies on its copper heat pipe design as well as the pipe’s special contents, if any. The pipes are pretty well polished and have very clean ends. There are no soldered joints at all even where the pipes pass through the aluminum fins which results in a clean appearance overall. Speaking of fins, you can see that they’re very straight. Each fin attaches pretty solidly to the next all the way down the line.
Moving to the base, we noticed that it’s not perfectly polished. However, it’s smooth enough that any ridges can’t be detected while sliding a your finger nail across it. The best time to polish a base is when it’s cooling a very, very hot surface. This is probably one of the very few GPUs that would benefit from a little extra finish quality.
A very useful feature is that the two 92mm fan shrouds are removable, or looking for a better word, adjustable. One could slide the fans either direction to better aim the fans towards hot spots. Or, if you really want to get creative, you could add your own after market fans.
Let’s Install This Thing
The first step in the installation process is to remove your stock card’s GPU cooler and shroud, or housing if applicable. The GTX480 we’re using here has quite a few screws holding both of these in place. Once the card was stripped, the GPU IHS was thoroughly cleaned with Arctic Clean Thermal Remover and Purifier. We made sure it was as clean as a washed dinner plate.
Next, following the ICY Vision manual, the appropriate standoffs were pre-installed on to the chrome base plate. Then, the base plate was screwed on to the cooler’s base. Other than spreading on some heatsink paste, that’s it for the cooler prep.
Now, all of the included aluminum heat sinks find their place. There should be enough to cover every heat producing component whether it be an ATI or NVidia card. Our particular GTX480 only needed so many for video ram leaving a few extras. The sinks that would normally line the MOSFETs next to the PCB fan hole are spread a little wider than the sinks can completely cover. We suspect GELID will either extend those three or add three longer ones since they aren’t exactly costly and would add value to the overall package.
Finally, the included thermal paste was applied to the GPU IHS and spread evenly. It’s hard to know if thermal paste is good stuff or not. But, usually, its consistency gives us a hint. The stuff they include seems a little on the dry side which could bode poorly in quick testing, but as we’ve found out in the past, GELID Solution paste is quite good if you give it time to setup.
Test System Setup
Testing was kept simple and based on real world scenarios. In other words, the GTX480 was stressed under full load using intense 3D applications. Temperatures were taken when at full load, desktop load, and when idle. We also take noise level readings to give you an idea of how the stock and the new hotness compare.
- Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Processor
- CPU Cooled By: Zalman CNPS10X Extreme
- GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5 Motherboard
- Patriot Memory ViperII 6GB 2000MHz DDR3 Memory
- ZOTAC Geforce GTX480 Graphics Card
- Cooler 1: Reference Cooler
- Cooler 2: ICY Vision (as tested)
- Kingston SSDNow V+ 128GB SSD
- Antec TPQ-1000 Watt Power Supply
- Test Enclosure: DangerDen Torture Rack
For our test environment we measured ambient temps at 20C which was the norm during testing. If you live in a hot region and/or your computer case is poorly ventilated, your temps will definitely be higher.
Preliminary Test Notes
Users should keep in mind that the height of the ICY Vision cooler may or may not allow for certain SLI or CrossfireX configurations. This will depend on the placement and proximity of your motherboard PCIE slots. If your PCIE slots are a little farther apart than normal you’re good to go. In some scenarios, you might find that longer and more flexible SLI/Crossfire brides are all that are needed to seal the deal.
While all the heat sinks kind of round off the kit, they aren’t as polished as the GPU cooler. They are essentially made from the simplest form of aluminum and don’t completely match the theme. It would be nice to see a little extra something that would “wow” the onlookers. But the produce is going for value so we can forgive that.
In our test of the ZOTAC GTX 480, we realized just how hot nVidia’s new chip and reference design get. Obviously nVidia engineers know what they are doing when they create a cooler right? Let’s see if that holds true in our head to head test.
Temperature Results
The first thing you can expect from the ICY Vision is a nice drop in temps across the spectrum as it should be with any aftermarket cooler. The card idled at 37C and reached 59C while running Heaven 2.1 demo repeatedly. That beats the reference coolers usual 90C average while just gaming. To take it up a level, and to ensure the card was pushing maximum amounts of data through the GPU, we used the extremely punishing Furmark benchmark.
When Furmark was set to Stability Test and Xtreme Burning Mode, temps heated up even higher which is to be expected. However, temps were still much, much lower than the stock cooler topping out at only 74C. It’s a far cry from the stock cooler’s 100-105C which isn’t really acceptable at all. I guess nVidia’s cooling engineers needed a bit more time to get their design right.
Noise Levels
Let’s discuss fan noise, or the lack thereof for a moment. The Vision’s fan specs list a CFM range that suggests the fans spin at a lower RPM which means generating much less noise. It would be nice if we could experience the Vision at a lower RPM range. But, measuring the fan noise from 24 inches away, the cooler averaged 26dBA even at desktop.
While not sure if it’s the fault of the latest NVidia drivers or the card’s firmware, the Vision never went below 24dBA and just hit 27dBA during Furmark benching. We aren’t complaining though. Whether using a fan controller or plugging straight in to the GTX480 fan port, the Vision is still much quieter across the spectrum than the reference cooler.
Closing Thoughts
The GELID Solutions ICY Vision is a very good GPU cooler. It’s obvious that the ICY Vision caters a little more to gamers and enthusiasts who like to show off their pimp hardware. And, it couldn’t come at a better time for both ATI and NVidia users who buy the best performance video cards, especially NVidia fans. It controls GPU temps and fan noise far better than the reference cooler on our GTX 480 could ever hope. Granted, installing any aftermarket GPU cooler will require a little dexterity and patience. But, in the end, it’s well worth the benefits as you can see here today.
The best part about the ICY Vision is the price. For its lowly $55 US price tag, which will probably be $45 US by the time it hits the streets, users will enjoy peace of mind that you just can’t get from a reference GPU cooler these days. GELID clearly realized that users are already hurting enough after spending $400 bucks for a video card so it’s great that they provided so much value for the buck. It will be interesting to see what other concepts GELID Solutions comes up with in the near future and at an affordable price.
Pros
- Great cooling performance
- Low noise GPU cooler
- Includes plenty of heat sinks
- Good installation components and methods
- 4-pin power cable fits GTX480 header
- Removable & adjustable cooling fans
Cons
- Cheap, plain mini heat sinks
- Size may not allow certain SLI configurations
Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0
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GELID Solutions ICY VISION GPU Cooler – Photo Gallery
| Last edited by Stephen Fung on June 28, 2010 at 10:35 pm |
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