'IceGiant Prototype Thermosiphon Cooler Review: Frosty New Tech' - Tom's

[gorobei]

Does the design have to be one long piece or could it be split in two like tower coolers?

Unknown. Might need to be one piece the accommodate the novel heatpipe design (or they just don't want two clusters of pipes).

the engineer in the pcworld interview indicates there are 3 condenser loops (horizontal bars in the fin stack) so theoretically you could try to separate the fin stack in two like the noctua d-series. the overall size seems to be mandated on matching aio 240's, so if 3 loops are needed to beat aio performance i cant imagine a smaller 2 loop split fin stack matching that performance on an epyc rig. maybe if they switched to copper, but she indicated that they are a very small startup so radically different designs arent likely for many years until they actually start seeing return on investment.

for those that dont get why this exists: wick burnout as explained in the videos is the limiting factor on heatpipes and water aio isnt 100% guaranteed on leaks so for any professional users this is the safer and slightly more performant option. if you arent running your epyc chip at 100% for a long term render/solve/simulation then this product isnt for you. when the company brings out a smaller copper version for r9 3950 builds is when most of the users here should start paying attention.

 

[Glo.]

if you arent running your epyc chip at 100% for a long term render/solve/simulation then this product isnt for you. when the company brings out a smaller copper version for r9 3950 builds is when most of the users here should start paying attention.

She mentioned that they plan on a cooler that will run passively, and will be able to cool anything that is on the mainstream platforms.

Which might include the likes of 9900K or 3950X.

Passively.

 

[gorobei]

She mentioned that they plan on a cooler that will run passively, and will be able to cool anything that is on the mainstream platforms.

Which might include the likes of 9900K or 3950X.

Passively.

that passive claim sounds highly conditional on your case having multiple 120 fans on the top given the single orientation required by the cooler. it just means you have to have better case fan controllers with pwm to ramp when it turbos vs a set of fans on the cpu fan header which bios has better access to.

 

[Glo.]

that passive claim sounds highly conditional on your case having multiple 120 fans on the top given the single orientation required by the cooler. it just means you have to have better case fan controllers with pwm to ramp when it turbos vs a set of fans on the cpu fan header which bios has better access to.

The ThermoSiphon is able to cool down with ease way more capable hardware than 250W ones. Cooling down 125W passively will be piece of cake even for a cooler that is half as big but still uses this tech.

 

[Fir]

Great way to wreck your board. Unless, perhaps if your chassis has the motherboard in a horizontal position. That's a rare design these days with tower boxes.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@Fir

Doubtful. TR4 coolers are already massive. I doubt the final model weighs much more than a dual tower, and those things don't crack AM4, TR4, or LGA1151 boards.

 

[Fir]

I've never been a fan (pun not intended) of these huge hulking beast tower coolers. The mechanical specification is often exceeded with the large ones. If the system is never moved, it's probably OK. A chassis designed around this with proper support to take the weight off the (cooler) would certainly make it a moot point. Then again, what would be the point?
AIOs are OK but just don't have the thermal capacity as seen by the best (tower) coolers matching and even beating them. Sure, a quick benchmark that heats the system for a minute or two is one thing, but a system under heavy load 24/7 is another. I'm talking about overclocked systems in particular. Like drag racing, there's no substitute for cubic inches.

When pushing the limits on HEDT particularly the 3970x and 3990x, a custom cooling circuit is THE only way to go.

Unless you're an influencer that does nothing but run benchmarks.

 

[aigomorla]

We had some monster sinks back in the LGA775 days, which would essentially WARP The board.
This problem tho was fixed quickly with a backplate, which most boards now have.
Even the intel stock retention will offer some protection, but it adds to physical stress on the board of having something that heavy.

Lucky for me tho, i love horizontal builds for that exact reason, and also the fact GPU blocks are heavy as heck, and vendors have gotten smart to use a form of riser on them and mount them seperate on the very high end systems cases.

 

[gorobei]

linusTech on the latest production sample. same issues as before: need for large heat aperture ihs and actual higher temps for the siphon effect to beat the limit of heatpipes.

 

[Justinus]

linusTech on the latest production sample. same issues as before: need for large heat aperture ihs and actual higher temps for the siphon effect to beat the limit of heatpipes.

Also note the "custom loop" he compared it to on threadripper used EK's notoriously bad threadripper block and a tier 240mm radiator only.

The entire point of custom loops (outside SFF cases) is you can size the loop to your needs and mix and match parts. A better designed Threadripper block even with the same anemic radiator would have easily outperformed the Ice Giant.

Not to mention you'd be an idiot to use a single 240mm radiator for a threadripper if you were spending custom loop money. (Again, excepting SFF cases. Good luck even fitting an ice giant into practically any SFF case where you could actually fit a 240mm AIO or custom loop.)