SilverStone iCEGEM 360 Liquid Cooler Review

The market is filled with numerous liquid coolers ranging from budget segment to enthusiast grade AIOs. Each of these may have some unique offer though the level of customization would vary from brand to brand. We saw a change in trend when ASUS launched a display screen cooler back in 2018 or so. Ever since, the market has been flooded with AIOs using OLED, LCD screens, and software for display customization. Still, the major important component in any cooling solution is its pump. SilverStone has been releasing liquid coolers from time to time.

We have earlier tested their VIDA 240 SLIM AIO,  and this time, we are taking a look at their high-end liquid cooler named EGM 360. This cooler is also available in 240mm and 280mm versions but with one key difference. That 240mm version has a thicker radiator compared to the standard size of iCEGEM360. When AMD introduced the ThreadRipper platform, there was hardly any cooler that could provide full coverage of CPU surface (IHS) and able to handle high TDP.

SilverStone introduced its take on ThreadRipper. One thing SilverStone has managed is that they did not make this cooler compatible with one particular socket; instead, they have provided coverage for a variety of other sockets as well. This cooler was released before AM5 and LGA1700. We have an AM5 kit for iCEGEM coolers, but they are not compatible with the Intel LGA1700 socket.

This cooler has a large size copper base plate which is obvious. They have designed the top cover of the pump housing in quite some style. The top cover has a scintillating diamond-cut design which is RGB backlit. There is a SilverStone brand logo in the center as well. This gives one spectacular look to this unit.

Some of the salient highlights from SilverStone are:

• Pressure-optimized fans with brighter ARGB effects can effectively dissipate heat from the radiator
• Scintillating diamond-cut design with SilverStone logo plating.
• Integrated addressable RGB lighting for water block and fans
• Includes an addressable RGB controller with 10 lighting modes and the ability to adjust brightness and color-changing speeds.
• The pump motor utilizes a three-phase, six-pole design for smoother, quieter operation compared to most single-phase, four-pole designs. Energy efficiency also improves as well.
• Compatible with Intel LGA 115X/1366/1200/2011/2066 and AMD sTRX4/TR4/AM4/AM3/AM2/FM2/FM1 sockets
• Full block coverage to entirely cover the IHS of the Ryzen Threadripper processor

Specifications

Packaging Box

This unit is shipped inside a cardboard made packing box. There is a blue and white color finishing on this box. This is a High-Performance AIO product.

SilverStone has listed a table showing the specifications of this product. There are also diagrams showing the dimensions of the cooler. SilverStone has mentioned that this pump has a high flow rate for effective heat dissipation.

All components of this unit are nicely placed inside an egged carton. There is a white color Styrofoam pad over the top for further protection.

Contents

It is time to take a look mounting hardware provided in the box.

SilverStone has provided a user guide for the cooler’s installation, a guide for the RGB controller, and a warranty paper.

SilverStone has provided the following:

• 1x Intel/AMD backplate
• 1x AMD SP3/xTR4/TR4 mounting bracket
• 1x AMD Mounting Bracket
• 1x Intel Mounting Bracket

We removed the Intel mounting bracket for this picture. This bracket comes pre-installed on the block.

We have:

• 5x Black color Washers
• 4x Black color spacers/holders
• 4x Spring loaded thumb nuts
• 4x Intel/AMD long screws
• 4x Intel LGA20xx standoffs
• 4x AMD SP3/XTR4/TR4 standoffs

There are:

• 1x Thermal Paste
• 1x 3-Way PWM Splitter Cable
• 1x Molex Powered 2-pin Socket for Pump

• 12x Long Screws for the Fans
• 12x Small Screws for the Radiator

• 1x Spacer for Intel/AMD sockets

SilverStone has provided the following:

• 1x digital RGB Y-Cable
• 1x SATA Cable to the power controller
• 1x SATA-powered Adapter Cable

SilverStone has also included a dedicated RGB controller with this cooler. It is a slim design with three buttons for various functions. M button toggles among 10 pre-defined RGB modes. The + and – buttons increases or decrease the speed and brightness of dynamic modes. The controller also has an LED indicator with these effects:

• When Green, press + or – to adjust lighting effects.
• When Red, press + or – to adjust speed.
• When Blue, press + or – to adjust brightness.
• When Yellow, the lighting effect is on auto-mode. It will cycle through all pre-defined modes one by one.

This side of the controller has a 2-pin port to which the SATA cable is connected.

We can see a 4-pin port in the above picture. Since this cooler uses proprietary connectors (JST) for digital RGB lighting, SilverStone has provided a solution to daisy-chain all RGB components and connect them either to this port or directly to a supported motherboard (3-pin, 5V header).

Design

Let’s start taking a look at each component, starting with the radiator.

The radiator of this unit is made of aluminum material, and it measures 394x120x28mm. We always pay attention to the height of the radiator. Here 28mm is the height or thickness of this unit. Adding 25mm thick fans would give us a roughly 54mm overall height of the assembled cooler. This also includes the head of the screws. SilverStone has done a fine job in fin stacking. The FPI count is 20, and there are 12 channels for coolant flow. There is a gap of 105mm between two mounting holes on opposite sides. Like many other AIOs in the market, this unit also does not have protective plating under mounting holes to prevent damage to fins from excessive screwing.

The far end or block of this radiator is a slim design, and it is not rectangular.

The sides of the frame don’t have any branding. It also seems like these frames are riveted.

Looking at the tube end of this radiator, we can see two tubes connected to a radiator using barbed fittings under a cover. There is also a small size port cover or something on one end. It seems like this is a refill port. This is reserved for factory use only, and opening it may eliminate the vacuum pressure of the loop. There is a serial number sticker over the side as well.

The SilverStone uses reinforced rubber tubes in iCEGEM 360 cooler. These tubes have a length of approximately 400 mm. They are somewhat flexible and don’t kink. These tubes have nice nylon braided sleeves on them.

The pump housing has a dimension of 76x66x76mm (LxWxH). It is made of ABS material. The top cover has a scintillating diamond-cut design with a SilverStone brand logo plate in the center. This diamond or crystalline design looks quite dope with digital RGB backlighting.

The tubes are installed at a 90° angle which gives them the flexibility to be rotated towards right or left as per the user requirement though this is a limited movement. Two flat cables are coming out from the mid-section of this housing.

There is a flat cable with a 3-pin connector to power the motor.

There is a JST connector and a socket to power the digital RGB LEDs. These cables have a sufficient length.

The left and right sides of the housing are identical. There is no branding here. Looking closely, you will notice an inset or a gap between the base and main housing. This is where the mounting brackets are installed.

The pump motor utilizes a three-phase, six-pole design for smoother, quieter operation compared to most single-phase, four-pole designs. This also improves energy efficiency. Some key specifications of this pump are:

There is a copper base plate on this unit which has a dimension of 70x53mm. It sits in a perfect place over a base portion of ABS housing. The very reason for such a large size base is the full block coverage on the AMD Ryzen ThreadRipper platform.

SilverStone has provided 3x digital RGB fans in 120x120x25mm sizes. The blades are frosted and designed to generate maximum airflow. There is a SilverStone branded sticker on the center. The inner portion of a frame is circular in shape.

The frame of this fan is sturdy and features a line pattern on the sides which seems to be only an aesthetic touch.

Each mounting corner has a cut-to-size anti-vibration pad in black color to reduce the vibrational noise.

Looking at the backside of this fan, we can spot a 4-arm assembly with one arm catching the wires coming out of the center. This fan is shown to be taking 0.35A at 12VDC.

The fan is powered by a flat cable with a 4-pin PWM connector.

There is a JST connector and a socket on two digital RGB cables to power the LEDs.

The specification of the fans are:

Digital RGB Lighting

We have already covered the dedicated controller provided with this cooler. We have used RGB Fusion 2.0 on GIGABYTE X670E AORUS MASTER for light testing. The lighting is compatible with the following:

• ASUS AURA SYNC
• ASRock POLYCHROME SYNC
• MSI MYSTIC LIGHT SYNC
• GIGABYTE RGB FUSION 2.0
• BIOSTART RGB SYNC

Here are a few pictures showing the digital RGB lighting.

1 of 10

Installation

We have tested the cooler on AMD AM5 on GIGABYTE X670E AORUS MASTER using AMD Ryzen 7 7700X. Installation on AM5 is straightforward and convenient. We needed 9 components to set up the mounting hardware for the block. Installation is the same as is on VIDA 240 SLIM cooler. The steps are as under:

• Remove AMD’s stock mounting brackets.
• Mount 4x AM5 pillar screws on each mounting hole or standoff of AMD’s stock backplate.
• Install an AMD mounting bracket on the base housing of the cooler.
• Apply the thermal paste on the CPU.
• Place the block on the CPU by aligning the edged concerns of the mounting bracket’s holes with the threaded portion of screws.
• Use spring-loaded nuts to secure the block on the CPU socket.
• Install fans on the radiator.
• Connect the cables as per requirements, and you are good to go.

Clearance

This is a 360mm size liquid cooler having a dimension of 392x120x54mm with fans. The first DIMM slot may have some sort of interference if tubes face the DIMM slots. There is no clearance issue for a PCIe slot. All that you would need to check is that your case has enough clearance for the 394x120x54mm size of the assembled cooler.

Thermal Test

We have used below mentioned configuration to test the performance of this cooler: –

• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
• GIGABYTE X670E AORUS MASTER
• XPG Lancer RGB 2x16GB @ 6000MHz
• GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 VISION OC Rev.2 [For Display]
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe SSD [For OS]
• be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W Platinum PSU
• Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition in an open Frame Layout

Here is the settings table for testing:

Disclaimer: Every silicon is different; hence no two same SKUs are likely to take the same voltage to yield the same performance at the same thermals per see, but the margin would be close. Not every stress test run may yield the same result, which could be due to various reasons like thermal paste application, ambient temperature variation, the mounting pressure of the cooler, etc. This is very why we have listed our variables and their settings. Variables not mentioned are on the Auto setting.

Result

The SilverStone iCEGEM 360 has offered a somewhat better performance on AMD Ryzen 7 7700X clocked at 5.2GHz all cores compared to VIDA 240 SLIM. We see a difference of over 2°C.

Noise

We noted a noise output of roughly 55dB(A) on an ambient noise level of 32~33dB(A). These fans are a bit loud, so a custom fan curve would help in this department.

Conclusion

We have tested SilverStone iCEGEM 360 cooler in this article. Similarly, we tested their VIDA 240 slim cooler in the last content. The iCEGEM series of liquid coolers are available in 3 configurations:

• iCEGEM 240P
• iCEGEM 280
• iCEGEM 360

If you are wondering why the P letter is in a 240mm cooler, it stands for performance. SilverStone has provided a 38mm thick radiator on a 240mm cooler.

Anyhow, coming back to the topic of this content, the SilverStone iCEGEM 360 has an aluminum-made radiator having a dimension of 392x120x28mm. Here 28mm is the thickness of this radiator.

This radiator has 12 channels for coolant flow and a dense fin stack with an FPI count of 20. SilverStone has done a good job in terms of build quality. Unlike VIDA 240 SLIM, this cooler does not have an integrated pump into a radiator.

The total height or thickness of an assembled cooler would be 54mm, including the head of screws. The SilverStone uses flexible rubber tubes with nylon braided sleeves. These have a length of approximately 400mm.

These tubes are installed on a radiator using barbed fittings and have a nice cap hiding the connection. These tubes are connected to the block in a 90°orientation which could obstruct the first DIMM slot if the tube side faces the DIMM slots. Using 2x DIMM slots would not be an issue, though.

The most distinctive component in this close loop is the pump’s housing. It is made of ABS material and has a dimension of 76x66x76mm (WxHxD). This housing features a top having a scintillating diamond-cut design.

This top cover has a SilverStone branding plate in the center as well. This complete top area is digital RGB backlit. This looks dope when in action though it may not be a cup of tea for all depending on what they like in terms of aesthetics.

One particular design aspect of this cooler has a large size copper base plate. This cooler has full block coverage on the AMD Ryzen ThreadRipper platform. This gives a distinct advantage to iCEGEM series coolers.

These coolers are not only providing full block coverage on TR4 but also are compatible with Intel LGA 115x, 1200, 1366, 2011, and 2066. These coolers are not compatible with the Intel LGA1700 socket.

On the AMD side, these coolers are compatible with sTRX4, TR4, AM4, AM3, AM2, FM2, and FM1 sockets. This copper base has a dimension of 70x53mm. The flat cables are coming out of the housing.

One has a 3-pin connector to power the pump, and the other two connectors are JST to power LEDs. These coolers come with powerful 120mm fans, which are digital RGB backlit. These have a dimension of 120x120x25mm.

These are rated to spin at full speed of 2200 RPM, generating airflow of 93.4 CFM using an air pressure of 3.18 mmH₂O. The center of these fans houses digital RGB LEDs for which JST connectors are provided. Fan’s motor is powered by a 4-pin PWM connector.

SilverStone has also provided an RGB controller, which is SATA powered and has 10 pre-defined modes. Users are provided with a SATA-powered adapter cable to connect daisy-chain elements to this controller or to a supported motherboard using a standard 3-pin, 5V connector.

Installation is convenient and is similar to what we experienced with VIDA 240 SLIM. We need 9 items for AM5 mounting. However, you will have to deal with many cables at a time.

The SilverStone iCEGEM 360 has an MSRP of $159.99. The manufacturer is providing a warranty from 3 years to 5 years, depending on the region, which is nice to see.

This cooler has performed quite well in our testing. The fans are loud at full speed, and we would suggest using Auto mode or a custom fan curve.

Awais Khan

[Hardware Reviewer]

Awais Khan is a Tech Geek, conscientious, reliable, and hardworking individual who pays attention to detail with excellent time management skills. Alongside that, he is an expert in PC Hardware; dealing with Benchmarks, Analysis, and testing before sharing information with readers. Whenever free, Awais occasionally shares Gaming Videos on his YouTube Channel.

Get In Touch: [email protected]