IceGiant ProSiphon Elite CPU Cooler

1 Year Edit 18 months since purchasing and the cooler still performs great, the mounting system is easy to put on, but somehow despite putting some force into mounting the screws find a way to undo themselves. I found out the hard way in 2 different instances the screws that go through the motherboard into the backplate loosen over time causing less mounting pressure. Since the initial review I swapped from Thermal Grizzly to SYY paste and spent about 6 hours lapping the cpu with 80 - 1000 grits, moving my parts into a Qube 500 and its running even cooler than before. ------ Since I'm not sure where to put my specifications of my build in the review, I'm just placing them here up top: Intel 11700F @4.4 all core at 1.15v 2x8gb 4000 mhz G.Skill Trident Z 17-22-22-41 Asus ROG B560-G Strix MATX motherboard Asus 1070 Strix 8GB 2100 Core /9064 Mem Too many Nvme's, SSDs, and HDDs Highly stripped down Windows 10 I chose this cooler to send my about 7 year old Cooler Master V8 GTS to rest which was long discontinued. Despite being hand-lapped for hours and having two aftermarket fans (120x120x25mm) on board secured with zip ties since the original fans (120x120x20mm) died, it did put up one mighty showing until a few days ago. Pieces of the heatsink were starting to come apart due the way I attached the fans, so whenever my PC would be on a horrible rattle on top of 60-80c temps just idling at the desktop. Before I ran into issues with the V8 GTS, my computer would idle in the low 40s, with my primary game Black Desert Online, which is a modern MMORPG, would send me straight to the low 50s. Bringing another game like Simcity 2013 into the mix sent me into the high 60s. The only time I would run into issues would be sustained 100% loads like Cinebench r15 which would send me straight to 100c throttling down its speeds to preserve its life. Originally 100 dollars for that cooler, which I bought open box for half price was a very good value. But when it comes to the usual suspects of high end cpu cooling, the Noctua NH-D15 is too wide for my case, Dark Rock Pro 4's one 135mm center fan makes me uncomfortable if I ever have an issue since I’m not sure where I could even buy one. Lastly AIOs and full custom loops are expensive though refilling coolant, maintenance and can leak leaving me with this product as the last viable option. However with the 10 year warranty on the cooler and the 4 included fans instilled security and took the gamble. At the time of writing this review I am aware of the IceGiant Copper prototype covered by LinusTechTips July 17th of last year, these still are not publicly available with the only information I found was on Reddit being sometime in "early 2023 is the plan". I just couldn't afford the downtime potentially for months since my brother and I both play on this PC. I'm also aware that this cooler is more optimized for TR4 since the heat load is more spread. What surprised me was when it arrived on my doorstep, it was just the retail packaging with my shipping information slapped on it. No tape to ensure it would stay closed during transit, just the cardboard latch. The product comes with the cooler, 1 pwm Y splitter, 4 120MM fans that can be daisy chained, mounting hardware for modern Intel/AMD sockets, Thermal Grizzly thermal paste + spreader, and lastly the manual. Using the Cooler Master V8 GTS for such a long time, installation was pretty standard for me. Removing the motherboard from the case, installing the mounting hardware, reinstalling the motherboard and as much prep work I could do prior to mounting the cooler on top. Other than the time commitment, I did not encounter much issue installing. From start to finish it only took me about 30 minutes. The other reviews and videos online didn’t seem to appreciate the cooler's increased distance away from the primary video card slot. With my current configuration, of two fans pulling air through the radiator flanked by 2 140s on top and a single 140 in the back exhausting, eyeballing looks to be about 2 inches give or take. When the summer comes and I need more cooling I will install the other two fans and have the fan leads all ready to go if the time comes. Installing/removing a video card will no longer be an issue. Previously with the V8 I would need a flashlight and a flat nose screwdriver to wedge between my GPU’s back plate and torquing the cpu heatsink just to disengage the PCI-E lock and I was always nervous to accidentally damage a capacitor on both my GPU and motherboard. As I’m typing this review with an ambient temperature of 17c, I’m idling at the desktop at 33-34 c. I have not done much thermal testing yet, however so far it has far exceeded my expectations. When I launch Black Desert Online the temps hover around 39-44c. Launching another 3D game on top sends me into the mid 50s. With Cinebench R15 running the multi-core test about a dozen times back to back with no rest time, the highest HWMonitor package temp recorded was 78c. Due to the cooler's increased distance from the primary card slot on top of being vented upwards instead of across and out the back, I have experienced drastic temperature reductions both at idle and at full gaming load. So far in Ready or Not 1080P (125% resolution scaling) mixed settings maxed out at mid 50s as opposed to the 70+c prior, so I’m receiving about +150 mhz on my core clock and sustaining those clocks very aggressively.