[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
We just tested the GlacialTech’s Siberia CPU cooler, which has a horizontal heatsink, six heatpipes, one 140 mm fan over the heatsink, and a 92 mm fan under it. Check it out!
The Siberia box is large, with a frontal transparent window affording you a look at the cooler.
Figure 2 shows what is inside the package: the cooler itself, thermal grease, manual, and installation hardware.
In Figure 3, you can see the GlacialTech Siberia.
Figure 3: The GlacialTech Siberia
This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.
[nextpage title=”The GlacialTech Siberia”]
In Figure 4, you have a front view of the cooler. Here you can see the two fans that come with the cooler. Note also the small heatsink at the base.
Figure 5 shows the side of the cooler. The heatpipes are all at the same side, and the lower fan (a 92 mm one) does not touch the small heatsink over the base.
Figure 6 reveals the rear side of the cooler, where the six heatpipes are visible.
In Figure 7 you see the top of the cooler, which reveals the upper 140 mm fan.
[nextpage title=”The GlacialTech Siberia (Cont’d)”]
Figure 8 shows the base of the cooler, which is not polished enough to have a mirror-like look.
In Figure 9 you see the fans. They are connected to the same cable, and there is no way to disconnect them from each other. The bigger fan has red, green, and blue LEDs. The connector is that of a four-pin.
Figure 10 shows the heatsink without the fans. They are easy to remove, thanks to the metal wire holders.
[nextpage title=”Installation”]
Figure 11 shows the base of the Siberia with the metal clips needed to install the cooler on Intel processors. After screwing the clips, put the backplate on the solder side of the motherboard and attach four screws (with springs) from the component side.
In Figure 12 you see the cooler installed on our motherboard. Because of the shape of the cooler, there is no way to fasten the four screws without removing the motherboard from the case. Actually, the GlacialTech Siberia was probably the trickiest cooler to install from all the models we tested using this methodology. It could be far easier if the clips on the cooler base had the screws attached to it, so you just needed to screw the nuts from the solder side.
Figure 12: Installed on our motherboard
Figure 13 presents the GlacialTech Siberia installed in our case.
Figure 13: Installed in our system
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
We tested the cooler with a Core i7-860 CPU (quad-core, 2.8 GHz), which is a socket LGA1156 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 3.3 GHz (150 MHz base clock and 22x multiplier), keeping the standard core voltage (Vcore), which was the maximum stable overclock we could make with the stock cooler. Keep in mind that we could have raised the CPU clock more, but to include the stock cooler in our comparison, we needed to use this moderate overclock.
We measured noise and temperature with the CPU idle and under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all threads, we ran Prime 95 25.11 with the "In-place Large FFTs" option. (In this version, the software uses all available threads.)
We compared the tested cooler to the Intel stock cooler with a copper base (included with the CPU), as well as with other coolers. Note that in the past, we tested coolers with a socket LGA775 CPU, and we retested some "old" coolers with this new methodology. This means you can find different values in older reviews than the values you will read in the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that accompanies it.
Room temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer. The core temperature was read with the SpeedFan program (available from the CPU thermal sensors), using an arithmetic average of the core temperature readings. During the tests, the left panel of the case was open.
The sound pressure level (SPL) was measur
ed with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed 4" (10 cm) from the fan. We turned off the case and video board cooler fans so they wouldn’t interfere with the results. This measurement is only for comparison purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which isn’t the case here.
Hardware Configuration
- Processor: Core i7-860
- Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD6
- Memory: 2 GB Markvision (DDR3-1333/PC3-10700 with 9-9-9-22 timings), configured at 1,200 MHz
- Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
- Video card: Zotac GeForce GTS 250
- Video resolution: 1680×1050
- Video monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 2232BW Plus
- Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
- Case: 3RSystem L-1100 T.REX Cool
Operating System Configuration
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Software Used
Error Margin
We adopted a 2 °C error margin, meaning temperature differences below 2 °C are considered irrelevant.
[nextpage title=”Our Tests”]
The table below presents the results of our measurements. We repeated the same test on all coolers listed below. Each measurement was taken with the CPU at idle and at full load. In the models with a fan supporting PWM, the motherboard controlled the fan speed according to core load and temperature. On coolers with an integrated fan controller, the fan was set at the minimum speed on the idle test and at full speed on the full load test.
Idle Processor |
Processor at Full Load |
||||||
Cooler | Room Temp. | Noise | Speed | Core Temp. | Noise | Speed | Core Temp. |
Intel stock (socket LGA1156) | 14 °C | 44 dBA | 1700 rpm | 46 °C | 54 dBA | 2500 rpm | 90 °C |
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 G1 | 14 °C | 47 dBA | 2050 rpm | 33 °C | 56 dBA | 2900 rpm | 62 °C |
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme | 14 °C | 45 dBA | 1400 rpm | 27 °C | 53 dBA | 1950 rpm | 51 °C |
Thermaltake Silent 1156 | 14 °C | 44 dBA | 1200 rpm | 38 °C | 49 dBA | 1750 rpm | 69 °C |
Noctua NH-D14 | 14 °C | 49 dBA | 1250 rpm | 27 °C | 49 dBA | 1250 rpm | 53 °C |
Zalman CNPS10X Performa | 14 °C | 46 dBA | 1500 rpm | 28 °C | 52 dBA | 1950 rpm | 54 °C |
Prolimatech Megahalems | 14 °C | 40 dBA | 750 rpm | 27 °C | 60 dBA | 2550 rpm | 50 °C |
Thermaltake Frio | 14 °C | 46 dBA | 1450 rpm | 27 °C | 60 dBA | 2500 rpm | 50 °C |
Prolimatech Samuel 17 | 14 °C | 40 dBA | 750 rpm | 40 °C | 60 dBA | 2550 rpm | 63 °C |
Zalman CNPS8000A | 18 °C | 43 dBA | 1400 rpm | 39 °C | 54 dBA | 2500 rpm | 70 °C |
Spire TherMax Eclipse II | 14 °C | 55 dBA | 2200 rpm | 28 °C | 55 dBA | 2200 rpm | 53 °C |
Scythe Ninja3 | 17 °C | 39 dBA | 700 rpm | 32 °C | 55 dBA | 1800 rpm | 57 °C |
Corsair A50 | 18 °C | 52 dBA | 1900 rpm | 33 °C | 52 dBA | 1900 rpm | 60 °C |
Thermaltake Ji ng |
18 °C | 44 dBA | 850 rpm | 34 °C | 49 dBA | 1300 rpm | 60 °C |
GlacialTech Alaska | 18 °C | 43 dBA | 1150 rpm | 36 °C | 51 dBA | 1600 rpm | 60 °C |
Deepcool Gamer Storm | 18 °C | 43 dBA | 1100 rpm | 35 °C | 48 dBA | 1600 rpm | 62 °C |
Corsair A70 | 26 °C | 56 dBA | 1900 rpm | 40 °C | 56 dBA | 1900 rpm | 65 °C |
Deepcool Ice Blade Pro | 23 °C | 45 dBA | 1200 rpm | 38 °C | 52 dBA | 1500 rpm | 64 °C |
AC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 | 23 °C | 47 dBA | 1750 rpm | 44 °C | 51 dBA | 2100 rpm | 77 °C |
Corsair H70 | 27 °C | 60 dBA | 1900 rpm | 37 °C | 60 dBA | 1900 rpm | 61 °C |
Zalman CNPS9900 Max | 27 °C | 55 dBA | 1600 rpm | 38 °C | 58 dBA | 1750 rpm | 63 °C |
Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP | 25 °C | 45 dBA | 1700 rpm | 51 °C | 49 dBA | 1950 rpm | 91 °C |
CoolIT Vantage | 26 °C | 60 dBA | 2500 rpm | 37 °C | 60 dBA | 2500 rpm | 62 °C |
Deepcool Ice Matrix 600 | 25 °C | 46 dBA | 1100 rpm | 41 °C | 53 dBA | 1300 rpm | 69 °C |
Titan Hati | 26 °C | 46 dBA | 1500 rpm | 40 °C | 57 dBA | 2450 rpm | 68 °C |
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 | 27 °C | 49 dBA | 1950 rpm | 41 °C | 53 dBA | 2300 rpm | 70 °C |
Noctua NH-C14 | 26 °C | 52 dBA | 1300 rpm | 37 °C | 52 dBA | 1300 rpm | 61 °C |
Intel XTS100H | 26 °C | 49 dBA | 1200 rpm | 42 °C | 64 dBA | 2600 rpm | 68 °C |
Zalman CNPS5X SZ | 23 °C | 52 dBA | 2250 rpm | 38 °C | 57 dBA | 2950 rpm | 69 °C |
Thermaltake SlimX3 | 21 °C | 50 dBA | 2700 rpm | 46 °C | 50 dBA | 2750 rpm | 99 °C |
Cooler Master Hyper 101 | 21 °C | 50 dBA | 2600 rpm | 38 °C | 57 dBA | 3300 rpm | 71 °C |
Antec Kühler H2O 620 | 19 °C | 52 dBA | 1400 rpm | 34 °C | 55 dBA | 1400 rpm | 58 °C |
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro | 20 °C | 46 dBA | 1100 rpm | 36 °C | 49 dBA | 1300 rpm | 62 °C |
GlacialTech Siberia | 22 °C | 49 dBA | 1400 rpm | 34 °C | 49 dBA | 1400 rp m |
61 °C |
In the graph below, at full load you can see how many degrees Celsius hotter the CPU core is than the air outside the case. The lower this difference, the better is the performance of the cooler.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the GlacialTech Siberia CPU cooler include:
- Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, AM3, AM2+, AM2, 939, and 754 processors
- Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.9 x 4.7 inches (146 x 150 x 120 mm) (W x L x H)
- Fins: Aluminum
- Base: Copper
- Heat-pipes: Six copper heatpipes
- Fan: one 140 mm and one 92 mm fans
- Nominal fan speed: 1,400 rpm / 1,300 rpm
- Fan air flow: 72 cfm / 19 cfm
- Maximum power consumption: 4.92 W
- Nominal noise level: 33 dBA / 18 dBA
- Weight: 1.37 lbs (620 g)
- More information: https://www.glacialtech.com
- Average price in the US: We couldn’t find this product being sold in the US
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The GlacialTech Siberia is an eye-catching CPU cooler. It has excellent performance, too. The unique design, with a 140 mm top fan and a 92 mm bottom fan, seems to work very well. Furthermore, it helps cool the parts around the CPU, like the motherboard chipset, voltage regulator transistors, and memory modules.
The great drawback we found in this cooler is its mounting system. It seems as if the engineers who designed this system never had to actually mount it. There were two simple solutions, one opening holes on the heatsink in order to pass a screwdriver through it, and another allowing the user to screw it from the solder side of the motherboard. The way it is, this cooler has the most laborious mounting system we’ve seen so far.
The GlacialTech Siberia is a good cooler, with excellent performance and nice looks, receiving the Hardware Secrets Bronze Award just because of its awful mounting mechanism.
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