Heatsink Test – Joe
SUMMARY: Top performer and suitable for aggressive cooling.
The good guys at 3RSystem were nice enough to send a sample of their heatpipe heatsink called the IceAge 120. This unit consists of four heatpipes which directly contact the CPU’s IHS cooled by a 120 mm fan (speed controller included to moderate noise).
Key Features
- Features 4 heatpipes directly contacting CPU’s IHS
- Size: 126 x 75 x 150; Weight: 590 grams
- LED Fan: 120 mm; Speed: 1,000 ~ 2,200 rpm with speed control; Airflow: 53.3 ~ 78.5 cfm
- Intel CPUs: Core 2 Duo, Dual Core Pentium D, Pentium 4, Celeron D
- AMD CPUs: Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X 2, Athlon 64, Opteron, Sempron
Parts that ship with the heatsink includes a speed controller, 120 mm fan and a heatsink mount which does not require removing the motherboard from the case. The clip is very easy to engage and securely mounts the heatsink to the CPU:
The IceAge was tested on an Asus P5WD2 motherboard P4 Motherboard Test Platform with a modified Pentium D 805 to read CPU case temps (both supplied by Directron).
| Heatsink | Case Temp | Ambient Temp | C/W | On-Die Temp¹ |
| IceAge, 1973 rpm, 55 dBA² | 34.9 | 20.6 | 0.15 | 42 |
¹MBM on-die temperatures.
²50 dBA measured 8″ from the fan intake corresponds to about 30 dBA measured 3 feet from the fan, a very quiet noise level.
Results place the IceAge in the topmost rank of heatsinks tested to date (Heatsink Ranking) with the fan at its highest speed setting; at the lowest setting the fan is almost silent – inside a case, the fan on low will not be noticeable.
The IceAge 120 is a top performer and suitable for aggressive cooling with a speed controller to moderate fan noise for “normal” use at low noise – overall a very nice cooling solution.
Disclosure: Joe Citarella has a financial interest in a company developing cooling products for electronic chip cooling.
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