Evercool HPC Ice Man
With so many options for heatsinks available, manufacturers not only need to offer heatsinks that provide sufficient cooling, but also a product that has a little something more. Many companies have included fan controllers with their heatsinks, in an attempt to allow users to turn their heatsink fans down to a quiet level. Some have gone the completely silent route with fans designed for noiseless operation. Evercool is one of the leading manufacturers of computer cooling in Taiwan with distributors worldwide. Today, we have one of Evercool's newest heatsinks, the HPC-925 "Ice Man". Evercool's Ice Man is a heatpipe tower that mounts on just about every platform. It aims for performance while maintaining silence. We'll find out if the Ice Man can take on the heat of an overclocked processor while producing minimal noise.
Evercool Ice Man
The Evercool
Ice Man comes packaged in a plastic casing with a cardboard backing. The
cardboard contains information on the heatsink and its fan as well as
pictures of the heatsink. It is nothing special, but enough to be
noticeable on store shelves. The Ice Man is cradled within the plastic
while resting atop the box of accessories. The installation sheet
explains installation instructions for Intel sockets 370, 478 and 775, as
well as AMD K7, and K8. The sheet goes over installation step-by-step
and includes images.
A blue
casing covers the fins of the Ice Man. The fan is also attached
to the casing. The plastic casing has a circular Evercool logo on top and has
openings on the sides for ventilation. Four screws secure the top to
the heatsink, which makes removal of the top easy. Evercool uses a 92
millimeter fan on the Ice Man, which is rated at 60 CFM with 28 decibels
at 12 volts. The fan is made of a plastic that matches the Ice Man's
casing and has chrome painted fan blades that match the heatsink.
Evercool Ice Man Continued
The
Ice Man makes use of three heatpipes, to cool the CPU. The heatpipes
and base are nickel coated for a uniform finish. The fins are aluminum
and soldered onto the heatpipes . The three heatpipes are mounted in
the center of the base and are bent in a U shape. The square peg on the
top of the base is used for the mounting brackets. The base is lapped
to a mirror finish and is very smooth for proper contact with the
processor.
Here are the
mounting brackets for the Ice Man. The K8 bracket, Intel 478, and 775
mount by use of screws, while the K7 uses a clip method.
Evercool
includes a fan controller to control the speed and
noise. The color scheme of the controller matches that of
the heatsink. For those concerned with aesthetics, Evercool earns some
points there. Also included is a small tube of thermal paste.
Specifications and Installation
Specifications:
Installation:
The
Ice Man will be installed on the AMD Athlon 64 platform, so the K8
mounting will be used. Installation on the A64 platform is very
straightforward; The Ice Man uses all of the stock mounting, except for
the screws. Once you slip the mounting over the square peg on the Ice
Man, you can screw it into the motherboard's mounting bracket. A very
straightforward process, but not simple. The screws included with the
Ice Man are nearly impossible to thread into the mounting bracket and
it took quite a bit of time to get them to catch. This would easily be
solved by including a screw that is only a few millimeters longer.
Test Setup and Results
Test Setup and Method:
Ice Man Test Procedures:
Testing
will be done on the AMD64 platform. Temperatures will be monitored by
the probe of a UEI DT150 thermometer placed on the side of the
processors heatspreader. Ambient temperature was kept at 22°C with
+/-0.1°C. Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal paste was used throughout the
testing process. One instance of CPU Burn-in was used to create maximum
load on the CPU. No scientific testing will be conducted, due to lack of
equipment. The purpose of this test was to determine the results a home
end user would obtain. The fan will be tested at 7v and 12v.
Results:
Conclusion and Thoughts One of the best things Evercool's Ice Man has going for it is silence. At 7 volts, the fan was barely audible while still offering decent performance. The Ice Man is universal, so if you are on an Athlon XP or an older Pentium 3 or 4 machine right now, you have the option to carry the heatsink over to a new system. Mounting the Ice Man on the Athlon 64 platform did not come without a struggle. The mounting screws' length made it a hassle to install the heatsink. That really seems to be the Ice Man's only fault, besides size. At 950 grams, it surely isn't a lightweight. Coming in at around $35, the Evercool Ice Man certainly won't break the bank and would be a viable option as your next heatsink. Pros:
Cons:
We would like to thank Evercool for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.
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