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 (Arctic
Silver 5). 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
*Online
temperature converter
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, Overclock
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.
You
can buy the ASUS Star Ice Cooler from our friends at Overclock.
If you have any comments or questions on this review, talk to
us in the Forums.
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