Gelid Icy Vision Rev. 2 VGA Cooler Review
Luke Hill / 13 years ago
Final ThoughtsGelid have gone and done it again. They have achieved their goal with flying colours which has led to a very worthy VGA cooler at an even more attractive price of around £33.
With the best GPU, GPU (MEMIO) and VRM cooling capabilities we have seen to date, Gelid definitely have the performance aspect covered with their Icy Vision rev. 2 VGA cooler. We can finally say that our 4870 has had its ludicrously hot VRMs effectively tamed by an after-market cooler.
Installation was time consuming but fairly easy. The instruction manual is easy to follow as long as you have the ability to understand some words that aren’t written in English. Other languages seem to offer a complete instruction manual yet they happened to leave out a key feature in the English section directing you to use the spring nut F to tighten the VRM heatsink in place.
Noise isn’t the strongest factor that Gelid have to offer in the Icy Vision. The cooler isn’t loud, but it is audible at 100% fan speed. At least it is undeniably quieter than any of the jet engine’ imitating reference coolers. Another factor worth mentioning is that lowering the fan’s speed via the appropriate software didn’t seem to decrease actual noise output.
The amount of graphics cards supported by the Icy Vision rev. 2 is very impressive. The high end single GPU cards from the AMD Radeon 4000, 5000 and 6000 series are all supported. Likewise, nVidia’s high end single GPU cards from the GeForce 9000, GTX 200, GTX 400 and GTX 500 series are also supported. The sheer number of heatsinks included means that even the most high quality non-reference graphics cards have a very good chance of experiencing cooling via a Gelid Icy Vision rev. 2.
We feel that the Icy Vision rev. 2 is an aesthetically pleasing cooler, you may not agree but we will explain our reasoning. The blue UV reactive blades of the supplied fans help to create a gaming’ appeal which should look brilliant in a case with specific lighting especially that which is able to take advantage of the UV reactive blades. The 3 PCI slot design isn’t overpowering and ugly as some of the more bulky VGA coolers can seem.
Gelid have a great cooler in the Icy Vision rev. 2. It is compatible with the majority of high end graphics cards recently released, looks appealing, cools the whole card effectively and doesn’t break the bank at just £33. We would have no problem recommending it to anybody looking to cool their high end graphics card.
Pros:
- Well priced
- Wide range of compatibility
- Effective cooling performance for the whole card
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Quiet enough
- Fairly straightforward installation
- 5 year warranty
Cons:
- Small errors in the instruction manual