Ok, here is my brief and technically unsound review of my Glacialtech Igloo 4300. Please bear with me, I understand I'm not a 'reviewer' per se, and that my methodology is likely to be very flawed.I'm also writing this in notepad, so the spelling/grammar will be awful 
Today I have had the good fortune to have tried 3 P4 (socket 478) coolers in the last few days. These being the default Retail cooler the 'Hot Dog from AVC (site is down right now) and the Glacialtech Igloo 4300. I'll largely ignore the retail heatsink/fan and simply compare the two 'after-market coolers'
The Hotdog came in a small blue cardboard box. The only description being the words 'AVC Mega Cool' printed on it. However looking at the AVC webpage it looks identical to the Hotdog. If i'm wrong i'm sure i'll be corrected.The Hotdog is a pretty boring heatsink. An aluminium rectangle with 2 rows of long fins and 2 rows of short fins. A thin layer of thermal paste comes ready mounted on the heatsink.It is fitted to the processor by the std 'two removable clamps method' It seems to work well, but it is far from a joy to remove this heatsink. The fan on the cooler is AVC branded and according to MBM spins at about 5000rpm.It is very noisy, it doesn' make the dreaded whining noise but rather a veryloud 'wooshing sound' that can be heard 2 rooms away.
The Glacial Tech igloo 4300 came in a slightly more appealing package, with snazzier artwork and a plastic window so you can see the cooler. Also the instructed were printed on the inside of the box.The Heatsink comes in two parts. The basic unit is also a large aluminium block, slightly less deep than the Hotdog, covered by a series of long fins. Thermal paste also comes ready mounted on this unit. The second part of the Igloo is the Fan/clamping mechanism. The clamping mechanism is quite ingenious, you simply place the hooks over the holes in the mouting mechanism, put the latch and 'voila'However this mechanism was not without some snags, the capacitors(?) on my P4T-E are very close to the Heatsink mounting area.I physically had to bend them with my hand to get the clamps in place (the latch needs a little more room to work). They only needed to be move a couple of millimetres, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
However mounted the mechanism fits very securely. On a more forgiving motherboard this would be the best mounting system I have seen.
The Igloo 4300 comes with a YS Tech Fan, which MBM picked up at running at 4900 RPM. This fan, however, is much quiter than the one on the AVC cooler.It isn't unplesant at all, but doesn't compare to the default cooler for those that like 'silent running'
The Test
All 3 processors were tested using ASII thermal compound. Each Heatsink was lightly tined with AS II and a small amount of the compound was applied to the processor as per Artics silvers instructions. Betweens tested the processor and heatsinks were thoroughly cleaned with 100% IPA and a lint free cloth. Each test was conducted 3 times and the results are the average.
The test was pretty simple and by no means the most stressful CPU test available. I simply ran a looped 3Dmark 2001 benchmark, while running the SETI App in the background. A more rigourous test would have produced more accurate or better results, but i'm just doing this for fun.
Idle temps were all pretty similar. The Stock cooler running at an average of 31.75c, the AVC cooler at 30.37 and the Igloo at 30.22.
However the 'load' temps were a little more interesting. The 'stock' cooler came through my tests with an average reading of 46.73c, the 'Hotdog' at 43.21 and the Igloo at 41.97
It is significant that all of the coolers did an admirable job.
I have nothing but respect for the stock cooling solution. It cools extremely well in my opinion and does so more quietly than my old Golden Orb.
The AVC cooler failed to impress me, being loud and not a lot better than the stock cooler. I'll note however that AVC also produce the 'Sunflower' which Dan's Data considered to be a slightly superior solution to the Igloo 4300.
In my little experiment I was extremely impressed by the Igloo 4300 (aside from the slight mounting issues). It cooled very well and I don't consider it to be excessively noisy. For most enthusiasts the latch alone would make this cooler worthy of serious consideration. This cooler wont be leaving my PC in a hurry
On a sidenote I'd like to thank Shawn Hsieh at Glacialtech and the kind people at Cassa Distributors in Australia. Without their help I wouldn't have easily been able to source an Igloo for my PC.
TIme to go and see if I can O/C anymore
Today I have had the good fortune to have tried 3 P4 (socket 478) coolers in the last few days. These being the default Retail cooler the 'Hot Dog from AVC (site is down right now) and the Glacialtech Igloo 4300. I'll largely ignore the retail heatsink/fan and simply compare the two 'after-market coolers'
The Hotdog came in a small blue cardboard box. The only description being the words 'AVC Mega Cool' printed on it. However looking at the AVC webpage it looks identical to the Hotdog. If i'm wrong i'm sure i'll be corrected.The Hotdog is a pretty boring heatsink. An aluminium rectangle with 2 rows of long fins and 2 rows of short fins. A thin layer of thermal paste comes ready mounted on the heatsink.It is fitted to the processor by the std 'two removable clamps method' It seems to work well, but it is far from a joy to remove this heatsink. The fan on the cooler is AVC branded and according to MBM spins at about 5000rpm.It is very noisy, it doesn' make the dreaded whining noise but rather a veryloud 'wooshing sound' that can be heard 2 rooms away.
The Glacial Tech igloo 4300 came in a slightly more appealing package, with snazzier artwork and a plastic window so you can see the cooler. Also the instructed were printed on the inside of the box.The Heatsink comes in two parts. The basic unit is also a large aluminium block, slightly less deep than the Hotdog, covered by a series of long fins. Thermal paste also comes ready mounted on this unit. The second part of the Igloo is the Fan/clamping mechanism. The clamping mechanism is quite ingenious, you simply place the hooks over the holes in the mouting mechanism, put the latch and 'voila'However this mechanism was not without some snags, the capacitors(?) on my P4T-E are very close to the Heatsink mounting area.I physically had to bend them with my hand to get the clamps in place (the latch needs a little more room to work). They only needed to be move a couple of millimetres, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
However mounted the mechanism fits very securely. On a more forgiving motherboard this would be the best mounting system I have seen.
The Igloo 4300 comes with a YS Tech Fan, which MBM picked up at running at 4900 RPM. This fan, however, is much quiter than the one on the AVC cooler.It isn't unplesant at all, but doesn't compare to the default cooler for those that like 'silent running'
The Test
All 3 processors were tested using ASII thermal compound. Each Heatsink was lightly tined with AS II and a small amount of the compound was applied to the processor as per Artics silvers instructions. Betweens tested the processor and heatsinks were thoroughly cleaned with 100% IPA and a lint free cloth. Each test was conducted 3 times and the results are the average.
The test was pretty simple and by no means the most stressful CPU test available. I simply ran a looped 3Dmark 2001 benchmark, while running the SETI App in the background. A more rigourous test would have produced more accurate or better results, but i'm just doing this for fun.
Idle temps were all pretty similar. The Stock cooler running at an average of 31.75c, the AVC cooler at 30.37 and the Igloo at 30.22.
However the 'load' temps were a little more interesting. The 'stock' cooler came through my tests with an average reading of 46.73c, the 'Hotdog' at 43.21 and the Igloo at 41.97
It is significant that all of the coolers did an admirable job.
I have nothing but respect for the stock cooling solution. It cools extremely well in my opinion and does so more quietly than my old Golden Orb.
The AVC cooler failed to impress me, being loud and not a lot better than the stock cooler. I'll note however that AVC also produce the 'Sunflower' which Dan's Data considered to be a slightly superior solution to the Igloo 4300.
In my little experiment I was extremely impressed by the Igloo 4300 (aside from the slight mounting issues). It cooled very well and I don't consider it to be excessively noisy. For most enthusiasts the latch alone would make this cooler worthy of serious consideration. This cooler wont be leaving my PC in a hurry
On a sidenote I'd like to thank Shawn Hsieh at Glacialtech and the kind people at Cassa Distributors in Australia. Without their help I wouldn't have easily been able to source an Igloo for my PC.
TIme to go and see if I can O/C anymore
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