Before putting it inside my case, I took time to admire the craftmanship of the unit. The first thing it brought to mind was the high tech radiators used in many stock cars. The vertical heatsink uses two U-tubes to feed cold air into the bottom heatsink, and both are thoroughly supplied with air by the large 80mm fan. Okay, I’ll admit, despite its nice design and the obious airflow that it could produce, I still had my doubts.
It was just so damned small, I didn’t see it cooling off my CPU, which undergoes F.E.A.R. and Far Cry for hours at a time. In case you are not familiar with these games, that is one heck of a workload, and creates massive heat after a while. So I went about the tiring task of removing all the Monster Energy cans and empty Twinkie wrappers from the top of my case and prepared to hook this baby up.
Right away I noticed something I didn’t notice before. My usual cooler uses simple plastic pins to hold it in place. The Igloo uses screws. I shudder. I detest the thought of aiming a screwdriver at my precious motherboard. The fear of slipping an punching a hole straight through is always there.
But my fears where eased once I began installation. Each screw is surrounded by a plasic “cup” that prevents you from turning your system into Swiss cheese. Regardless of the screws, installation was relatively easy. Unlike OEM heatsinks, the Igloo must be screwed into a metal plate on the underside, which requires removal of the motherboard.
