Components and Design

The Asus Star Ice CPU cooler comes packaged in a traditional blister pack that can be easily opened by hand (without having to resort to the use of machine tools or a cutting torch 🙂 

 

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The package contains all the parts and hardware needed for installation:

 

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Notice there are two separate speed controls included: one that can be mounted up front in a spare 3.5′ bay or a rear PCI slot bracket mount.  The included manual goes into good detail and has many pictures and graphics but is so small it can be quite hard to read.

 

The Stare Ice includes one fan built in to the front of the cooler.

 

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The backside of the cooler has provisions for mounting a second 80mm fan if desired.

 

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As we mentioned before, the Star Ice CPU cooler comes with what Asus calls a 3-in-1 smart fan, which allows the end user to select full speed, adjust the CPU cooler fan speed manually, or have the fan speed controlled automatically based on a remote temperature sensor.

 

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Either the 3.5′ bay speed control pot or rear PCI bracket pot can be used to manually adjust the fan speed.  To control the fan speed based on CPU temperature, the included temperature sensor can be mounted under the cooler base beside the CPU.  For full speed, all out performance, a small jumper is attached to the fan lead.

 

Three copper heat pipes are used to conduct the waste heat generated by the CPU up into a relatively large array of copper fins where the heat is transferred into the jet stream.

 

On the top of the Star Ice CPU cooler’s main body is a transparent window that is illuminated from below with two UV/Blue LED’s to highlight the ASUS logo.

 

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The stepped, copper base has a rather course machine finish and as we will see in a minute is unfortunately far from flat… 🙁

 

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