Installation of the ASUS Star Ice Cooler takes a bit more effort and work than your average cooler, mainly due to the weight factor involved. ASUS have including a mounting system that requires you to remove the motherboard so that you can bolt the mounts through the motherboard holes. There is also a rear bracket (insulated of course) to help spread the weight a little. I'm using the ASUS Star Ice Cooler on a i925 with Intel 540 (3.2GHz) CPU and whilst it was a little fiddly in places and certainly not straight forward, the installation went well.
First up I needed to bolt the rear bracket (and insulating foam) to the motherboard using 4 screws into 4 copper hex shaped pegs on the front side. ASUS have thoughtfully included this 'spanner' to hold the pegs in place while you screw the bracket in (this spanner also happens to fit motherboard standoffs as well which is handy). So turning the motherboard back over we now have 4 copper hex pegs half an inch long surrounding the socket, waiting to accept the bracket for that clamp the cooler down.
Moving back to the cooler, the bracket comes in three pieces so as to facilitate its use with differing socket designs and hole spacings. About the only thing ASUS didn't include with the extra's is a second pair of hands which would have come in handy for both rear bracket installation and making up the 3 piece bracket on the cooler. Although fiddly, I managed to get it all put together alone (I win a cookie) which left only one last thing to do; mount the cooler onto the 4 hex pegs. Again another pair of hands would have come in handy (no pun intended), but screwing in the three piece bracket was eventually done.
The only other issue worth mentioning was that my eyes are not exactly the greatest so the small text in the manual slowed me down slightly and of course the many steps involved (switching to the parts list, the manual and then back to the cooler, wash, rinse, repeat) made the installation probably the longest installation of a cooler I've had to do. It's wasn't a problem or anything but it is something to be aware of; don't expect to take the ASUS Star Ice Cooler out of the box, mount it and be ready to go in under 5 minutes. I would set aside at least ½ an hour to an hour to be safe. End result was a perfectly installed cooler, it doesn't move around or anything like that, but one thing I would have liked to have seen is spring loaded screws to attach the cooler and to make sure you have the right pressure on the CPU.
Ease of installation? I'm pretty sure that thanks to the very well documented manual that anyone could install this cooler, possibly with a few hiccups on the way, but eventually get the correct end result. It's obviously not a straight forward install, and there are certainly other coolers on the market with easier installations, but hopefully the performance and the versatility of this cooler will go in its favour here. The only real problem I found and I can see this being an issue in more than just my setup, is that the clearance behind the Star Ice is close to where the majority of rear exhaust fans will be. Now while this sounds like a good thing, since you are pretty much going to be exhausting the hot air directly out the back of the case, it does leave little room to mount the second fan.
Now I would be a liar if I said I didn't have reservations about the weight on the motherboard and I still look at it askance now and then, but the mounting system does its job well, and the rear bracket spreads the weight evenly so I don't anticipate any future problems in that regard.
Test Setup
Albatron PX925X Pro, Pentium 4 540 (3.2GHz) @ 1.4v, 2 x 512 Kingston PC2-5300, Albatron Trinity 6600GT, Antec P160
This is currently the only performance Socket T cooler I have, so I'm only going to include the standard Intel HSF numbers for a baseline comparison. Prime95 was run for six hours, with Folding @ Home running in the background everyday for two days to allow the thermal paste to even out (). During the actual tests, we ran Prime95 with Folding @ Home running in the background. Readings were taken at intervals of approximately one hour using the Antec P160 Temperature probes, one taped against the side of heatspreader on the CPU. Ambient room temperature was maintained at 23°C/74°F (+/- 0.5°C) during the recording of the temperatures and any readings taken from the CPU outside this room temperature range were ignored.
Temperatures in Celsius, Lower is better
The numbers here seem high and indeed they are but this is quite common with Prescott CPU's. Notice the rather large decrease in temperatures between the stock HSF and the ASUS Star Ice Cooler. Even at 1500rpm (the lowest the fan will go) the difference is 5°C at idle and a whopping 11°C under load. Increasing the fan speed to 4500rpm gives yet another 2°C drop, although it is my personal opinion that the trade off in the sound increase is not really worth it. This can be a loud cooler at 4500rpm (nearly 'Delta' loud), although keeping the cooler around the 2750rpm mark is very acceptable and comparable to other HSF's on the market for sound, and puts us around the 56°C mark for load temperatures.
Using the included temperature probe for speed adjustments was for me not something I would use. My limited usage of the temperature probe taped to the copper base of the ASUS Star Ice Cooler near to the CPU heatspreader yielded pretty much a constant 4500rpm from the fan. Sometimes during first boot up and on the odd occasion that it got a lot colder than 23C in the room, then the fan speed would drop, but it was never for very long and never by all that much. I've no doubt that others with CPU's that don't put out as much heat will fair better, but for me the temperature probe wasn't really a good option for fan control.
Final Words
It's actually been quite a while since I reviewed a HSF since I've been very happy with my watercooling setup, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to return to watercooling. That said, when you total up the performance, the looks, the versatility and the price, the ASUS Star Ice Cooler is certainly a great bit of kit.
Numbers when compared to a stock HSF are very good, although that can be pretty much said about any non-stock cooler. An 11°C drop in temperature under load compared to the stock HSF is nothing to be scoffed at however, and this was at the fans lowest speed.
From a looks point of view, you are either going to like it or you won't; I personally think it looks quite good when mounted, especially if you have nothing else to show off in the top half of your motherboard area. ASUS have 3 different colour options for the Star Ice Cooler although I've personally only seen the blue one for sale. The top window and LED setup is a nice addition and should appeal to those with windows. It is large, absolutely no way you can think otherwise, but rather than detracting from it's appeal it becomes part of it instead.
The ASUS Star Cooler can be mounted on pretty much all the current generation and last generation boards thanks to its multi-piece and somewhat complex mounting kit. You will need to remove your motherboard to mount it, and this is no 5 minute job, but the excellent installation manual and parts list should see you finished in under an hour start to finish. About the only thing ASUS don't include to help you is a second pair of hands, as the 3 piece mounting bracket can be a little fiddly. You have three options of fan speed control, two Rheobus options and a third temperature probe, and you can mount a second fan (80mm) on the rear of the unit for a Push-Pull configuration. The only real issue here is that the ASUS Star Ice Cooler is so large that I think many users will discover that mounting a second 80mm fan won't be feasible as it will be too close the rear case exhaust fan to fit.
From a price point, have the ASUS Star Ice Cooler at £34 (at time of writing) which makes it very competitive, especially when you think of the plus points. Obviously you need to bear in mind its size (you won't be putting this in a Shuttle) but for the money, the ASUS Star Ice Cooler is certainly worth a good look.
Pros: Performance, 3 Fan control options out of the box, Multiple mounting setups, Monster looks, Top window and LED's, Lot's of presence, Great installation manual, Price.
Cons: It's really big, Installation must be done with the motherboard removed, Installation can be fiddly, Large size makes for little room for mounting a second 80mm fan.
Bottom Line: Big doesn't always mean better, but the ASUS Star Ice Cooler has a lot going for it, from performance and versatility to aesthetics and price.
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