The Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth Review: Top-Tier Colossal Tower Cooler
by E. Fylladitakis on October 13, 2022 8:00 AM ESTEnthusiasts and other advanced PC builders seldom embrace the use of a stock cooling solution. Stock coolers are adequate for their intended purpose but often end up delivering mediocre acoustic performance, and they cannot handle the thermal loads of a gaming and/or overclocked system. As a result, what has been a rule since the first actively-cooled x86 processors hit the market almost 30 years ago remains a rule today: most enthusiast builds are made using aftermarket coolers. All of which has led to (and continues to sustain) the massive market for coolers and other PC peripherals.
In today's review, we are having a look at the IceSLEET G6 Stealth tower cooler by Iceberg Thermal. Iceberg Thermal is a relatively new player in the PC market, with the company founded in Tempe, Arizona, in 2019. Regardless, the company’s employees and engineers have many years of experience in the design and marketing of cooling products.
The IceSLEET G6 Stealth is, as hinted by its name, a cooler primarily designed around minimal noise output. Most of the company’s marketing efforts are also focused on how quiet the cooler is. Meanwhile, a quick glance at the specifications reveals that this is also a behemoth of a cooler, measuring 160 mm tall and wide, and weighting over 1 kg. With that much mass and considering its $80 price, Iceberg Thermal is definitely aiming for the top performance spots of the air-based CPU cooling market.
Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth CPU Cooler Specifications | |||
Type | Tower Cooler | ||
Dimensions | 156 x 123 x 160 mm | ||
Fans | 1 x 140 mm "Iceberg Thermal" Fans 600 - 1400 RPM, 85 CFM |
||
RGB | No | ||
Supported Sockets | Intel: LGA1700, LGA1200, LGA1155, LGA1151, LGA1150, LGA2066, LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3 AMD: AM5, AM4, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2, FM2+ |
||
Warranty | 10 Years | ||
Price | $80 |
Packaging & Bundle
Iceberg Thermal supplies the IceSLEET G6 Stealth in an inconspicuous box, with the artwork printed directly onto the brown cardboard walls. Basic information about the cooler is printed on the rear side of the box. It is aesthetically pleasing and at least partially ecological but, above all else, the box is strong and the cooler is tightly packed inside, ensuring safe shipping.
Inside the box, we only found the parts that are necessary for the installation of the cooler. Everything is very neatly packed and labeled, which should prevent any confusion during installation. All of the metal parts are plated, creating a titanium-like appearance and protecting them from corrosion in the long run. Iceberg Thermal includes a syringe of thermal compound, enough for at least three applications.
The Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth CPU Cooler
The IceSLEET G6 Stealth is a slightly unorthodox tower cooler, designed to engulf the 140 mm fan entirely within its fins. There are six copper heatpipes transferring the thermal energy from the tiny base to the fin array. The cooler is 160 mm (6.3”) tall, pushing the limit of standard ATX cases.
A close inspection of the fins reveals an uneven, abstract design. Manufacturers frequently implement different fin profiles in order to improve the overall performance characteristics of the cooler, yet the fins usually are uniform. The fins of the IceSLEET G6 Stealth form a total of six groups, with each group having nine identical fins. The lowermost group is a little smaller, allowing for a 56 mm RAM clearance. Above that first group, there are two distinct groups of nine fins each that alternate.
A plastic black/turquoise cap covers the top of the cooler, concealing the heatpipe ends and the cooling fan. The cap is held into place via four screws.
The top cap also serves as a support for the 140 mm cooling fan. It clips on the two top screw holes of the large fan, firmly holding it and concurrently operating as a passive shock absorber, reducing vibration-related noise.
The 140 mm fan hidden inside the humongous metal body of the cooler is rebranded by the company and we could not recognize who the OEM behind its creation is. We did find out that it has a fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) engine, an advanced sleeve bearing design with a significantly boosted lifetime. It can reach up to 1400 RPM, which is a very high speed for a large 140 mm fan.
All of the cooler’s metallic parts, including the heatpipes and the base, have been treated with a gunmetal grey plating. The plating is more than an aesthetic upgrade as it will protect the cooler from corrosion and oxidation in the long run.
The IceSLEET G6 Stealth has a very tiny base, disproportionately small for the size of the gigantic cooler. A small aluminum block serves both as the foundation of the steel brace that is used to mount the cooler and as the mechanical support for the copper heatpipes. It is the six heatpipes, and only the heatpipes, that come in direct contact with the CPU.
22 Comments
View All Comments
meacupla - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
That TPC 812 has the vapor chamber on the wrong side of the stack.It should go CPU | CPU heat spreader | vapor chamber | heatpipes. Kind of like how the RTX 4090 heatsink is designed.
Threska - Sunday, October 16, 2022 - link
Expensive, and more important no AM5 version.https://www.microcenter.com/product/635270/icegian...
WildBikerBill - Saturday, November 5, 2022 - link
Meanwhile, MicroCenter is still the seller and selling it with AM5 support here: https://www.amazon.com/IceGiant-ProSiphon-Desktop-...Foeketijn - Tuesday, November 8, 2022 - link
Then don't delid your CPU. The lid is 100% copper, so that'll take care of any unevenly spread out heat output.edzieba - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
Can you add a photo of it mounted on a motherboard to the article? Just the cooler on its own makes it almost impossible to judge scale (as cooler baseplates are not a standard size).Harry_Wild - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
Exactly what I want only it too high for my case which has 137mm limit on it! 160 mm is to high!
megadirk - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
Too bad it only comes with that color option, especially since it's called the "Stealth". At least it's easily removable to paint and not to difficult of an assembly to model and 3d print a replacement.thestryker - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
This seems like an interesting cooler, but like most of the high end air coolers there's so much weight. Would love to see something done bracing wise even if it's just some sort of attachment which can screw into the top of the case.Jonny314159 - Friday, October 14, 2022 - link
These results just tell me to keep buying the NH-D15.NeatOman - Friday, October 14, 2022 - link
I think there should be multiple loads they should be tested at. Heat pipes rely on a small amount of liquid in them evaporate (causing it to cool via phase change) and condense to then be wicked back, these evaporative temps can be change by modifying the liquid. This will in turn give you target temperatures that you have to balance with how well your cooling the heat pipes (fins and fans) and the thermal resistance from the heat pipes to the silicon die.Older chips with much larger die would be able to move much more heat into the IHS and it would benefit to set the gas off temperature higher inside the heat pipes. Now with chips so small it would be harder to move so much heat and a lower temperature would IMO help cool the CPU die better.
The next step is what I've seen on GPU's for a long time. Two stage phase change. First is a vapor chamber block sitting directly on the GPU die and then you have heat pipes on top to further move the heat away. It would be amazing to see the Thicc IHS on the Ryzen 7000 series chips be turned into a vapor chamber.
You can see how the new RTX 4090 can suck down just over 600 watts when overclocked yet with a volume of about equivalent to a max size tower CPU cooler it runs surprisingly cool.
DO IT AMD.. DO IT ! would be amazing if someone made IHS replacements that are said vapor chambers :-)