Gelid Solutions Slim Silence iPlus Low Profile Intel CPU Cooler

If fitting to a motherboard in a SuperMicro SC512F-350 1U case, the underside fixing nuts are too thick; normal electrical M3.5 nuts just about fit as a workaround.

The fan’s noise level is higher once the case lid is on; it’s more noisy than I’d hoped, but acceptable cooling a 45W Intel Xeon E3-1265L V3 Haswell in a 1U case. It’s certainly much quieter than using the case’s stock jet-type blowers with a fanless heatsink.

CPU temperature over the few days it’s been running has been between 54 and 61 C (with fan speed typically at 1300-1400 RPM); although it’s not been pushed too hard yet.

The case is in a 12U rack cupboard with open back (and a few other devices) in a room that’s around 20 C. I haven’t had to resort to using any case or rack fans, yet.

Bought to replace a Scythe Shuriken in my HTPC. The stupid push-pin mounting system on the Scythe refused to remain securely attached after an enforced motherboard swap, so I was specifically looking for something with screw mountings.

The Gelid seemed to fit the bill, and the price was cheap enough. The two issues I have with it are:

1. The length/width extend slightly outside of the area guaranteed to be clear on the motherboard. With my Intel DH57DD board, there was a small capacitor in the way that needed a little ‘adjustment’ to get the heatsink fitted.

2. The fan is not at all quiet. Entirely unacceptable for a HTPC in a living room. I have the fan running at ~1300rpm which keeps my i3-530 at about 60C during video playback. And as the fan doesn’t really cool the VRMs on the motherboard, they were running at 70C. Given those figures, it is hardly worth trying to tweak the fan speed any lower to improve the noise. Better to start again with something more suitable for the task.

So in summary, a decent heatsink if you really need it to be 1U height and don’t really care about the noise. If not, I’d look elsewhere.

I needed a very low profile cooler for my htpc.

Pros It is beautiful. Really nicely finished. Doesn’t try hogging real estate from memory slots or PCI slots. Fits the stock Intel cooler footprint but has a much lower profile. It is a great size and shape. Really easy to install. Comes with a square of thermal paste already on it as well. Is really quiet.

Cons Really hard to think of anything. Top product. Only wish Intel would give you something sensible like this OEM.