The Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth Review: Top-Tier Colossal Tower Cooler
by E. Fylladitakis on October 13, 2022 8:00 AM ESTConclusion
Iceberg Thermal is a newly founded and by all means small company, with only a few CPU coolers and closely related products summing up its entire product lineup. There have been many similar startups that came and went over the past couple of decades, with but a small percentage actually succeeding and staying in business. With the IceSLEET G6 Stealth, Iceberg Thermal is boldly challenging the top players of the PC cooling market, trying to establish a reputation with enthusiasts and other performance users.
The quality of the IceSLEET G6 Stealth is impeccable. No matter how closely one examines the cooler, there is not a single weak point, a bent fin, or a flaw on the plating. The mechanical strength of the cooler is excellent and, in combination with the plating, it ensures that the cooler will be unscathed by the passage of time and multiple installations/removals. It would be extremely difficult to mechanically damage this cooler – only the fan may fail after several years of use but any quality 140 mm fan can easily replace it if that happens.
When it comes to performance, the IceSLEET G6 Stealth does not disappoint either. The company’s marketing efforts are not hollow, as the cooler’s noise figures are exceptionally low. Under normal operating circumstances, the IceSLEET G6 Stealth should be practically inaudible, even with the system under load if it is called to cool a mainstream CPU operating at stock frequency. The design and colossal proportions of the cooler allow for the handling of extreme thermal loads with relatively little airflow, placing the IceSLEET G6 Stealth among the first slots of our performance charts.
The Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G6 Stealth is a strong contender for one of the best CPU air coolers ever made. Nevertheless, it is not without flaws. The massive size of the cooler necessitates a very roomy case and we're concerned that its hefty weight could easily cause damage to the motherboard if the case is to be transported. Its size also means it will almost certainly cover some of the RAM slots – the clearance of 56 mm will allow for some RAM modules to fit but there still is some compatibility risk with high-performance RAM modules, plus it will prevent the installation/removal of the RAM modules while the cooler itself is installed. Such flaws are not unforeseen for any tower cooler that large and are relatively minor for most system builders, but these are factors that need to be assessed nonetheless. Otherwise, the retail price of $80 is a bit steep but we believe it to be fair considering the quality, performance, and sheer mass of the cooler.
In summary, the IceSLEET G6 Stealth is an excellent top-tier air cooler, designed for top-of-the-line thermal and acoustics performance. For a product from a small company that's still working to make its name in the packed cooling industry, Iceberg's towering cooler makes a very big and very good impression.
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Avalon - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
Seems like a good cooler and quite similar to the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. Any chance you'll be reviewing the latter?ballsystemlord - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
That tower cooler is amazing at higher heat outputs. Perfect for the new AMD/Intel CPUs.rickeo - Sunday, October 16, 2022 - link
That direct heatpipe contact will likely NOT be good for modern AMD chiplet CPU's.Threska - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
Should have covered ease of installation. Some can be difficult especially dealing with weight and size in an already installed motherboard.meacupla - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
I'm surprised direct touch heatpipes are still a thing. I would have expected the manufacturers to have added a vapor chamber by now. The heat output on these newer chips aren't evenly spread out, unlike when the NH-D15 was released.DanNeely - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
As long as reviewers are sufficiently scared of random temporal variations that they use isothermal resistive heating elements lazy manufactures don't need to bother with actual CPU thermal distributions in the pursuit of fake internet points in review scores.Meanwhile manufacuers that do try to take such factors into consideration (a decade ago there was a CPU waterblock manufacturer that offered different flow guides for different CPU families for an extra 1-2C cooling vs a generic setup) at best get no benefit for their work and at worst actually score worse because they're not as efficient at cooling a space heater where actual CPUs don't put much of their heat.
thestryker - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
While I agree with you in principal you're also asking reviewers to do a *lot* more work and have results which can't be directly compared. Intel's CPUs, at least until MTL, the heat is right in the center whereas AMD has been off to the side which means you'd have to test both if you want useful results. On top of that you'd also have to test with an offset (or whatever other method is being used) and without to see if there is an actual benefit (Der8auer tested AMD offset on Zen 4 and found no difference).In the end so long as reviewers address the availability of any extra features which may assist specific platform cooling that's good enough for me.
404NotFound22 - Friday, October 14, 2022 - link
Actually no, while Der8auer himself didn't find a difference, his comment section sure did. The benchmark score went up, while the temperature remained the same, as is expected from Zen 4. He admitted not seeing this and said a revised video is coming.So yes it did make a difference.
thestryker - Friday, October 14, 2022 - link
He's running a manual OC on the chip, so no that behavior is not expected at all. We won't know what's going on until he's able to rerun the testing.(I'd missed the benchmark performance entirely though since I was only listening to the video)
Stuka87 - Thursday, October 13, 2022 - link
There have been vapor chamber coolers in the past, such as the CoolerMaster TPC 812. With the way current CPUs have very uneven hot spots, vapor chambers do start to make more sense.The IceGiant ProSiphon is the closest thing we have these days, and it does work really well, though its on the large side.