1. Introduction
Vantec was founded in 1994 and is recognized as one of the premier thermal solutions manufacturers. Vantec is devoted to manufacturing and developing total PC solutions for every computer user, from mainstream to enthusiast. Utilizing technical expertise and innovative designs, with a constantly expanding product line, it offers advanced computer peripherals to meet the personal and industrial needs of modern computer users. The primary goal is to create viable solutions to satisfy the consumer’s needs.
Dubbed a universal cooler, Vantec’s iCEBERQ 6 introduces a new era of extreme VGA cooling. The sophisticated design of dual adjustable axles and multiple mounting holes solved compatibility issues with most prominent VGA cards on the market. In addition to effective GPU and memory chipset cooling, the built-in inhaling blower and wind tunnel help to drop the temperature in your computer case.
- Features
- Compatible with virtually all VGA cards
- Long life Silent Ball Bearing fans
- Excellent heat dissipating copper heat sink
- Specially designed wind tunnel for efficient airflow
- Easy installation
- Specifications
2. Retail package
Vantec provided us with their retail package of the iCEBERQ6. You can buy from online stores at the retail price of US$34.
Vantec has included all required components to make your VGA card run cooler:
To sum it up, the retail package includes:
- 1x Vantec iCEBERQ6
- 8x memory heatsinks
- 8x thermal patches
- 4x mounting screws
- 1x Case screw
- 4x Spring Nut
- 4x Cushion spacer
- 4x Insulation spacers
- 1x Power adapter
- 1x Thermal compound
The iCEBERQ 6 cooler is designed to fit on most currently sold VGA cards. Vantec has a supported VGA cards list available:
- GeForce 3 Ti 200/500
- GeForce 4 MX 420 / 440 / 460
- GeForce 4 MX 440 SE / 440 8X
- GeForce 4 Ti 4200 / 4200 8X
- GeForce 4 Ti 4400 / 4600 / 4800
- GeForce FX 5200 / 5500 / 5600 / 5700 LE
- GeForce FX 5600 Ultra / 5700 / 5700 Ultra
- GeForce FX 5800 Series
- GeForce FX 5900 / 5900XT
- GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
- GeForce 6200 / 6600 / 6600GT
- GeForce 6800 / 6800GT / 6800 Ultra
- GeForce 7600GT / 7600GS
- GeForce 7800GT / 7800GTX
- GeForce 7900GT / 7900GTX
- Radeon 9000 / 9000 Pro
- Radeon 9200 / 9200 Pro / 9200 SE
- Radeon 9250
- Radeon 9500 / 9550
- Radeon 9600 / 9600 Pro / 9600 XT
- Radeon 9700 / 9700 Pro / 9800Pro / 9800 XT
- Radeon X300 / X550 / X700 / X800 / X850
- Radeon X1300 / X1600 / X1800 / X1900
The cooler's heatsinks are manufactured from copper, resulting in excellent heat dissipation while the built-in air cooler drives heat out of box. Note, that if you install this VGA cooler, it takes up an additional backplane slot in your PC. This may be a problem with some motherboards that have few slots available.
For our tests, we will install the iCEBERQ6 on a passively cooled VGA card, the MSI 7600GT. The existing passive cooling system is rather big and temperature on the GPU core reach 80° C under full load. This will be a good test to see what effect the iCEBERQ6 has on temperatures.
3. Installation - 1
Before installing Vantec's iCEBERQ6, you have to remove the existing cooling system. It shouldn't be too hard...
Our card is now totally "naked". You can see the 4 memory chips and the big GPU core.
The first step is to install the memory heatsinks. Peel off a piece of thermal patch and apply it to one of the provided heatsinks.
Remove the protective tape from thermal patch and affix the heatsink to one of the memory chips on the VGA card.
Do the same for the remaining memory chips. All four memory chips are now covered with the memory heatsinks.
Next step is to install the iCEBERQ6 cooler. First you have to remove the protective film from the copper base. As you can see, there are several holes located around the main GPU cooler. They are numbered (1,2,3,4) indicating the positions where you should install the mounting screws. Vantec has an application chart included in the retail package, indicating the best positions for each VGA card. While the chart indicated we should use holes numbered with 3, this didn't line up with our VGA card so we had to find for ourselves the correct holes to use.
Next step, after correctly installed the mounting screws, is to place the cushion spacer:
4. Installation - 2
With the VGA cooler lying face down, place the VGA card face down onto cooler, allowing the mounting screws to pass through the card's mounting hole. Be careful with this step!
Next, place an insulation spacer on each mounting screw
Attach a spring nut to each mounting screw and fasten with a screwdriver. Give each spring nut a few turns until it is secure:
Our air cooled MSI 7600 GT is ready to roll! Note that now our card is double the width and will take up an extra backplane slot.
The copper core has enough distance between it and the surrounding components, not to cause any damage:
The time has come to install your card. There shouldn't be any problems here, just find two adjacent backplane slots and make sure that the card wont interfere with any nearby chipsets that could prevent the card from being installed correct. In our case (Asus P5B Deluxe), there is a capacitor close by, so we had to be careful when installing or removing the VGA card:
As we mentioned earlier, you need at least two empty backplane slots for the VGA card and the iCEBERQ 6 cooler.The photo below shows the setup at the rear of the case. Note the ventilation holes of the iCEBERQ 6, which blows hot air out of the case.
A panoramic view of the the MSI 7600GT cooled with Vantec's iCEbErQ6. As a last minute tip, don't forget to plug-in the cooler's power connector to a 3-pin fan header:
5. Tests
In order to test the efficiency of Vantec's iCEBERQ6, we ran the same test (3D Mark06) twice and recorded the maximum GPU temperatures as reported by the VGA card. Note, that for even higher temperature levels, we overclocked the card, raising it from the default 560/700 to 610/800MHz. All results indicate temperatures in degrees Celsius ...
Vantec's iCEBERQ6 does its job and cooled down our MSI 7600GT Silent card. The GPU core now runs at around 10°C cooler, showing the effectiveness of Vantec's iCEBERQ6 VGA cooling system
6. Conclusion
As a universal cooler, Vantec’s iCEBERQ6 is ideal for enthusiasts who want to provide maximum air cooling for their VGA cards. The design of the cooler is interesting. While big, it's not heavy but does take up a second slot on the backplane of your case. The installation process is easy, provided that you spend a few seconds reading through the printed instructions.
The VGA cooling kit is considered universal, meaning it will fit most currently sold VGA cards. It cools both the GPU and memory chips.
In our review, we showed how someone can install the Vantec iCEBERQ6 on their VGA card, which in our case was the passively cooled MSI 7600GT. More or less, the same procedure applies for all VGA cards. Now to the most interesting part, how did the VGA cooler perform. In our case, we saw a decrease of 10°C in temperature, which is noticeable, especially under full load. This will make your VGA card run smoother and of course permit higher levels of overclocking.
Concluding this presentation, the Vantec iCEBERQ6 is a good product at a good price of US$34.