GELID Rev. 2 Icy Vision GPU Cooler Review

[PAGETITLE=Introduction][Top Ad] You know what "they" say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. What comes up, must come down. The hotter the GPU, the harder it is to cool. Well, I snuck that last one in, but it couldn't be more true in today's GPU market, especially when overclocking. One company trying to help keep things under control is GELID with its Rev. 2 Icy Vision GPU cooler. It has been a while since a GPU cooler has been reviewed so I am really looking forward to the results. The Rev. 2 supports a wide array of reference cards from both NVIDIA and AMD. With out-of-the-box support for the last four generations of GPUs from NVIDIA, including the new GTX 550 Ti and super-powerful GTX 580, GELID plans to release a VRM cooling kit next month that will allow full compatibility with AMD's Radeon HD 6950 and HD 6970. As it stands right now, only higher-end AMD Radeon HD 4800, 5800 and 6800 cards are supported. The design of the blades in the dual 92mm UV reactive fans is what grabbed my attention immediately. The specifications claim that the S-design allows for up to 20% more air to be pushed. These fans are attached to plastic brackets that clip onto the aluminum cooling fins for a secure fit. Flipping the cooler over gives a better view of the business end of things; the copper base that directly contacts the GPU processor. The finish on the base is not mirror smooth but it has been well machined with only light marks still visible. Another important fact is that the base is perfectly flat all the way across when checked with a straight edge, so there are no high or low spots that could affect temperatures. Aside from that, the five copper heatpipes can be seen running through the base to the aluminum fins. The included hardware reads like a grocery list. There's a mounting plate, VRM, NVIVO, MOSFET and memory heatsinks, thermal tape, a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter for those who wish to control the speed of the fans using a separate GELID fan controller, screws and risers, washers, GELID's own GC-Extreme thermal interface material (TIM) and a case badge for those who like to show off what's under the hood. "They" also say that the proof is in the pudding. I don't know what pudding "they" are eating, but proof sounds delicious. Let's see how this cooler installs and handles the heat of our test GPU. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Installation & Testing][Top Ad] On the operating table is EVGA's GeForce GTX 470. It's big, it's hot and it's loud when left to ramp up to full speed, so it's an ideal candidate. Put the kids to bed, because Techgage is about to get a little wild and strip the GPU naked! Installation will vary from card to card so I won't go into great detail, but the first step with our GPU was to remove the stock cooling solution. This was done in two parts; the first of which is the rear cover that acts as a second heatsink to pull heat away from the back of the GPU. After removing some screws from the rear cover, a few more from the back of the PCB under the cover and two from the PCI bracket, the stock heatsink came off cleanly. The stock fan was disconnected and then it was time for some clean up. I always wonder if a middle-aged, cafeteria lunch lady with a hair net and a ladle applies the TIM at the factory, because it's always slopped on. Luckily, some isopropyl alcohol and a handful of cotton swabs made short work of this and the GELID system was ready to be installed. Thermal tape was applied to the required heatsinks, which were then applied onto the corresponding circuitry. The standoffs were attached to the mounting plate and the mounting plate attached to the main heatsink. Finally, fresh TIM was applied to the GPU processor and the two parts were secured together by screws inserted through the original mounting points on the back side of the PCB. The entire removal, clean up and installation process took about 90 minutes, and most of this time was spent fumbling with the thermal tape; trying to remove it from the backing. As easy as it was, there were some issues with the installation. Users are left to look at very small, poor quality diagrams to figure out which heatsinks are needed. Since there is no break-down of each individual card for obvious reasons, some users may be left almost guessing at which heatsinks go where. I decided to download the PDF version from GELID's website since it would allow the image to be magnified, but the link was not active. I'm confident in the installation, but it may cause a problem for some. The second issue is that fully assembled, Icy Vision is about 3/4 of an inch taller than the stock heatsink, meaning it could block off some SATA ports on certain motherboards. Models with angled SATA ports or those using angled cables will be fine, but in my case all but one port was blocked, meaning a second hard drive and an optical drive were rendered useless. Hopefully these two hiccups will be offset by the performance. Testing was performed using two applications. The first is OCCT to fully load the GPU in order to generate as much heat as possible thanks to the built in GPU test. The second was MSI's Afterburner. This handy little tool pulled double duty by allowing us to record temperatures but also to overclock the GTX 470. In addition to this, it allows for voltage increases meaning we were able to reach higher-than-normal frequencies while generating even more heat. With the test system sitting at the desktop for 5 minutes, the idle temperature was recorded followed by a 15 minute run with OCCT. This was done with the GPU at stock clocks and while overclocked with both the stock heatsink and GELID cooler installed. Some may choose to run their tests longer but in my experience, GPUs top out at the maximum temperature within this time. The final overclock used for testing was 731 MHz for the core, 1470 MHz for the shaders since the two are linked with no option to set them individually, and a whopping 4000 MHz (QDR) for the memory! A voltage increase of 0.037 volts was required for the core to remain stable but no matter how much voltage was put into the GPU, it simply would not stay stable for a full 15 minute run at higher clocks. The final point to note is that because the GELID cooler does not feature pulse width modulation (PWM) to control the speed of the fans based on temperature without a separate controller, the stock cooler that does was run at 100% for all tests to ensure an even comparison. The components of the test system are: Component Techgage Test System Processor Intel Core i3-530 - Dual-Core (2.93GHz) Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3 - H55-based Memory G.Skill ECO 2x2GB DDR3-1600 Graphics EVGA GTX 470 1280MB Audio On-Board Audio Storage Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60GB SSDWestern Digital Caviar Black 640GB Power Supply SilverStone Strider Gold 750W Chassis Lian Li PC-50WB CPU Cooling Stock Et cetera Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Not too shabby! A 21 degree difference in temperatures with the GPU overclocked and under full load. I'd say that the GELID cooler certainly does what it was designed to do but some readers might be wondering why anybody would need an aftermarket heatsink if the stock and overclocked temperatures of the EVGA stock heatsink are virtually the same. The main reason in this case is for noise reduction. The stock cooler on the GTX 470 is very capable, even given the amount of heat the GPU generates. The trade off is that it's incredibly loud while running at 100%. Just for fun I ran the stock cooler with the fan on Auto so the speed would increase in relation to the temperature. It spun up to 81% while under full load with stock clocks and up to 89% while overclocked. Even with the GELID cooler running at 100%, it produced much less noise while keeping temperatures incredibly low. Not a bad way to get back in the GPU cooler scene. so let's bring this one home. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Final Thoughts][Top Ad] I'll let everybody in on a secret. This was my first aftermarket GPU cooler installation. Shhhhh! If I can do it, anybody can if they are prepared to put a little extra time in. In this case, patience certainly paid off. The cooler is well-designed, installation was easier than I expected and the performance was superb compared to the stock cooler. I just wished that our test GPU would have allowed for higher overclocking results. As I mentioned, there are some downsides. The instructions either need a revamp of the images or GELID needs to have the PDF version available on its website so the placement of some of the heatsinks would be clearer. On top of this, there were clearance issues with the SATA ports, so either check your motherboard configuration before buying or spend a couple of extra dollars and pick up some right angle SATA cables. One thing that I am torn on mentioning as a shortcoming is the lack of PWM control for the fan. The stock heatsink has PWM ability and at idle as well as in most games, is nearly silent compared to the Icy Vision that runs at 100% all the time unless the separate controller is purchased. Hardcore gamers who run their GPU flat out all the time will welcome the noise reduction but folks like myself who are casual gamers will notice an increase in overall system noise. This cooler is a mixed bag, but at $55 Canadian or US, it comes in at around the same price or lower than its competitors. I won't get up and scream from the roof how much I love this cooler but I'll leave it up to you to decide if the cost and extra overall system noise is worth the lower temperatures. "They" say you can't have it both ways, and in this case "they" are right. Discuss this article in our forums! Have a comment you wish to make on this article? Recommendations? Criticism? Feel free to head over to our related thread and put your words to our virtual paper! 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GELID Rev. 2 Icy Vision GPU Cooler Review

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