GlacialTech Igloo Alaska Cooler

Introduction:

Whether you’re looking for AMD or Intel cooler this cooler fits all! Well, not all exactly, but it’ll definitely fit into any of the latest sockets from AMD or Intel. GlacialTech was kind enough to send us their new Igloo Alaska from their multi-platform series. It boasts an interesting heat-sink and fan design that gives the cooler a “breathing effect”, which we will discuss later. GlacialTech’s philosophy stands for cost effectiveness, let’s see if that’s what this cooler has to offer:

GlacialTech Igloo Alaska

Specifications

CPU Compatibility
Intel	LGA775LGA1156 LGA1366
AMD	AM2 AM3
Cooler Dimension(mm)	130(W)x101(L)x156(H)
Cooler Weight(gram)	740
Fan
Bearing Type	Entering Bearing
Rated Voltage	DV 12V
Dimension (mm)	120 x 120 x 25
Speed (RPM)	PWM 700(+/- 300) ~1600 (+/- 250)
Airflow (CFM)	55.7 at 100% duty
Noise (dBA)	30 at 100% duty
Power Consumption (Watt)	4.32 (Max)
Rated Current (Amp)	0.36 (Max)
Operating Voltage (Volt)	6.0 – 13.8
Interface Material	IceTherm II

As you can see the fan is above average size at 120mm. Even when compared to other coolers it is quite robust. On the upside it fits all new Intel and AMD sockets that are currently on the market.

HIGHLIGHTED FEATURES:

•1) Six Φ6 mm high performance heat pipes with nickel coating

•2) Fins with breathing effect

•3) Copper base

•4) High efficiency axial fan with PWM function

•5) Multi-platforms (Intel LGA775, 1156, 1366, AMD AM2, AM3)

•6) Easy to install.

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Packaging

Front of the box

Back of the box

The design of the box wasn’t terribly impressive. Simple and plain would be the best words to describe it. I’m glad they included the specifications on the sides but unfortunately they omitted the power. This can be useful when checking to see if your motherboard can provide enough power to the fan. Fortunately it was included on the official page. The power consumption is 4.32 Watts at max operation. Which is small enough to be supplied by most motherboard fan headers.

This fan allows for power management if your motherboard supports it. With this technology the fan will speed up or slow down depending on the load on the processor/CPU temperature.

Top of the box

Package contents

The inside of the box was packed tightly but again, was not impressive as far as quality. It’s surrounded by carton. The packaging works, and will be safe to travel but was not the safest packaging I’ve seen.

Inside the box you will find a manual that is not well written, fan, and the needed tools. GlacialTech was kind enough to include a putty-knife-like tool to help you spread the thermal paste. No more dirty business credit cards!

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Closer Look

Bottom

Side

Here is a quicklook at the Igloo Alaska’s new honeycomb heatsink design which allows for the mysterious “breathing effect”. First of all, to get it out of the way, the breathing effect is the way air spreads out from the heat sink. The fan and heatsink design allows for air to blow out from all sides including top and bottom of the fan. In theory this should increase the cooling efficiency by allowing air to pass through with less resistance while also increasing the surface area of the heatsink itself.

glacialtech-igloo

Top

Mirror Coating

From the top angle you can see the V design of the heat pipes. This should allow for more even heat spread over the heatsink fins. Igloo Alaska also implemented mirror coating on the base. Mirror coating means that it is smooth and polished flat to the point where you can see your reflection. This way of polishing the base allows for tighter connection with the processor which in turn creates better heat transfer. Even though it wasn’t the best “mirror” effect it was still very nicely polished.

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Test Rig:

Case:	Thermaltake A90
Motherboard:	Jetway BI-600
Video Card:	Sapphire HD5870
CPU:	Intel i7 920
Hard drives:	600GB Seagate Barracuda
PSU:	CoolerMaster SilentPro M600

Testing

In practical application the noise produced by the Alaska was very low. It was quieter than anything else I had in the case. The way the heatsink was set up allowed for the back fan of the case to blow out the air coming out from the fan on the heatsink. This should be very impressive for those who would like to use this in a machine to watch movies or play games in their living room. This heatsink would allow someone to use the latest CPU without a screaming heatsink and still maintain a nice low temperature.

Temperature readings were solid. Again, not impressive but worked well and consistently. Here are the maxed out readings under 100% CPU load:

Idle: 39°C
50%: 43°C
100%: 48°C

Summary and Conclusion:

The Alaska proved to be unique with its adoption of a honeycomb hexagonal fin design in combination with cross-drilled vented fins. Glacialtech should be congratulated for thinking outside the box and providing a way to consumers to keep their machines cool while not producing a lot of noise. Added benefits of the Glacialtech Igloo are the included thermal grease IceTherm II, which is well above the standard white silicon grease included by many other manufacturers. Even though the Alaska is big it still allowed for space in case of tight builds where RAM to CPU spacing could be a problem. The scooping design of the fan and honeycomb design of the heatsink did provide “breathing effect” and the air definitely came out of all the sides instead of just the side opposite to the fan. Perhaps, the benefit of this design is reflected in solid low temperature.

As of today, the price is still unknown. We do know that Igloo Alaska should be an affordable CPU cooler. Judging all aspects of this cooler my guess the price range would be between $50-70, with lower end falling under strong consideration and higher end should be compared to other coolers.