INTRODUCTION

    AIO liquid CPU cooling systems may not be quite as worry-free as their air counterparts (primarily due to possible pump issues) but for the most part they offer better performance, are easier to mount, look better and have zero clearance issues with motherboard components, RAM and even graphics cards. Also, the fact that most AIO liquid CPU cooling systems currently in the market are based on the same topology (radiator, fans, tubes, pump/waterblock combo) pretty much means that choosing the proper model comes down to cooling efficiency, noise levels, looks and cost. Iceberg Thermal has only been around for around 5 years now, but their products have received numerous awards worldwide and since their very first AIO CPU Cooler called the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2 made their debut a few months back i really wanted to test it out.

   Iceberg Thermal Inc. was founded through the belief in the entrepreneurial spirit, passion, and creativity in innovating technologies, and bringing excellence to the electronics industry. With decades of experience in the industry, we believe in bringing our customers the best thermal conduction solutions. We do it all, design conception, product manufacturing, and direct sales to our customers. We follow our products through the design and manufacturing process to ensure the products our customers receive are of the highest quality. We manufacture a full range of cooling products including CPU coolers, VGA coolers, case fans, thermal paste, thermal pads, and water coolers.

    Iceberg Thermal currently only offers the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2 in black color and as mentioned earlier it also follows the typical combination of a 360mm aluminum radiator (397mm in length), EPDM sleeved tubes (460mm long), three 120mm fans and a copper waterblock and pump combo (3100RPM/100.000 hours lifespan/7-year warranty/360-degree rotatable pump cover). Both the three IceGALE Lightning ARGB Gen 2 fluid-dynamic bearing 120mm fans Iceberg Thermal has used (2200RPM/76.74CFM/2.8mmH2O/28.9dBA) and the top of the pump feature several ARGB LEDs which are fully compatible with all the latest sync technologies (ASUS Aura, ASRock RGB, MSI RGB, and Gigabyte RGB Fusion). As for warranty Iceberg Thermal covers their IceFLOE OASIS line of AIO Liquid CPU Coolers with a very generous 7-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A partial product picture is located at the front of the box next to the product and company names.

4 of the main product features are printed at the base of the box.

The product specifications are printed at the rear of the box right next to a drawing of the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGN Gen 2 inside a case.

Typically, the entire bundle is placed inside plastic bags and inside a formed piece of cardboard.

Along with the IceFLOE OASIS 3 ARGB Gen 2 and its three IceGALE Lighting ARGB Gen 2 fans inside the box you'll also find a y-splitter fan cable, 3pin to Molex fan adapter, thermal paste tube, two backplates, social media paper, quick start guide and all the bits and pieces required to mount the unit on Intel LGA 1150/1151/1155/1156/1200/1700/1851/2011/2011-3/2066 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/AM4/AM5/FM1/FM2/FM2+ compatible motherboards.

THE ICEFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB GEN 2

As expected, the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2 looks like most AIO liquid CPU coolers in the market today.

The 397mm long and 120mm wide aluminum radiator measures roughly 27mm in thickness.

FPI (fins per inch) count for this radiator is 19.

A fill/empty port is located on the other end of the radiator, but it shouldn’t be accessed by the user.

The EPDM sleeved tubes are no less than 460mm in length and yes, that's a very good thing for a long AIO.

Not only has Iceberg Thermal placed their logo on top of the pump/waterblock combo (ARGB lighting) but they've also made it possible for you to rotate the top to match the how you end up mounting it onto your CPU.

Typically, the tubes rotate up to around 90 degrees from the waterblock.

The copper coldplate might not be very large but should be plenty for consumer oriented CPUs.

Moving to the IceGALE Lighting ARGB Gen 2 fans (2200RPM/76.74CFM/2.8mmH2O/28.9dBA) they all feature rubber pads on all 4 corners.

With all three fans mounted the aluminum radiator of the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2 now measures almost 55mm in thickness.

Iceberg Thermal also send us three extra fans to use eventually in one of our test rigs and their gaming RGB can cooler which actually works (not about to replace the mini bar in the lab but it can keep a can of coke somewhat cold, and it can be placed on the desk).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Testing complete water cooling kits or individual radiators is no different than testing CPU Coolers and since i want all of you to be able to compare similar products, i created new and separate charts (you can still cross-compare results however since we are using the same test rig). So once again single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of the test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests complete water cooling kits or radiators with bundled fans are measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside that said room. Finally, much like when testing CPU Coolers, it's very important to point out that just because a water cooling kit outperforms another when tested with my test rig (when i test complete water cooling kits) that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

   To successfully record the load temperatures, I’ll be using the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded, I’ll wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests, but this way not only can i deliver real world results to all of you based on real CPUs but i can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests (when fans exist in the bundle) are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the radiator. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here, we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

    When Iceberg Thermal reached out to announce their IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2, I was quite interested to see what they had been working on. However, it too longer than expected from that moment until the AIO made its way to the lab so my review didn’t get released in early March as I had hoped. With that out of the way cooling efficiency as it’s evident from the charts is very good, perhaps not as good as some other much more expensive models but still very good. Noise levels landed right in the middle actually and so the IceGALE Lighting ARGB Gen 2 fans are neither the quietest nor the loudest fans out there. Moving to looks nothing exciting here to be honest, yes both the fans and the top of the pump look nice, but they don’t really stand out, certainly nowhere near models with LCD screens.

    Cost is usually what makes or breaks a product by a rather new player and well I am happy to report that Iceberg Thermal has done very well here too since the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2 currently retails for just USD89.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 93.73Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). When i uploaded this review a couple of days ago EU pricing was a bit off but after talking about it with Iceberg Thermal it's now at normal levels and so since the IceFLOE OASIS 360 ARGB Gen 2 represents great value for your money that’s also one of the reasons it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Cooling Efficiency
- ARGB Lighting
- 460mm Long Sleeved Tubes
- Rotatable Pump Top
- Easy Installation
- 7 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Overall Availability