INTRODUCTION

Just when you think that just about everything has been thought of, there comes a new product that makes you go "DAMN!". Well, I'm gonna give ya a look at one of the products today. Its called the "Icehole". No, I didn't say what you thought I said. I said "Icehole"....not ...well nevermind. =) Pcmutants was one of, if not "the", first place in the USA to get a shipment of this product!

The Ice Hole is an acrylic 80mm to 60mm fan adapter. What is so unique about this adapter is the built in L.E.D. lighting kit and fan controller. The L.E.D. lighting kit has a dip selector that allows different combinations or color selections of Red, Blue, or Green. The fan controller has the same type of dip selector that allows you to choose between Normal, Medium, and Low speeds.

Depending on fan selection and installation, using an 80mm fan instead of a high RPM screaming 60mm fan, it is possible to lower your CPU temperatures while lowering the noise level.

 

Feeling PC...mmmm,mmmm good!

Necessary 3-Pin and 4-Pin connecting cables are included. Along with several types of mounting screws for different types of installations. The adapter only installs on heatsinks that use screws to attach the stock fan, not for use with heatsinks using clipped-on fans.

FEATURES

• 80mm to 60mm Acrylic Fan Adapter
• L.E.D. Lighting Kit with Red, Blue, and Green
• Fan Controller with Normal, Medium, and Low Speeds
• Possible Lower CPU Temperatures
• Lower Noise Level
• Size: 101.6mm (L) x 85.725mm (W) x 15.062mm (H)
• Size: 4" (L) x 3.375" (W) x .594" (H)

Note: Fans and Grills are not included. The adapter only installs on heatsinks that use screws to attach the stock fan, not for use with heatsinks using clipped-on fans. PCMutants.com will not be responsible for any damage while using this product. Please read the instruction manual before installing the Ice Hole Fan Adapter.

Take a good look at my Icehole!...will ya?

INSTALLATION

The first thing I noticed when gazing at the Icehole kit you'll receive is the amount of screws that come with this item. Now, I've had fan adapters before and they didn't come with squat! If they did is was 1 set of screws ( if I was lucky). This Icehole came with a ton of screws. All the same threads and width, just of varying lengths. The HSF I will be testing this Icehole on is the Alpha PAL6035. The Alpha has been known for its incredible quality and cooling abilities and we'll see how the Icehole fairs on it. Let's get to attaching the Icehole.....

Place your Icehole on the base!

First I simply removed the stock fan/grill from my ALPHA PAL 6035 and commenced to attaching the Icehole. Now, where the alpha used 4 screws to attach the fan and grill, using the Icehole adapter is gonna require 8 screws in all. Luckily they were all supplied in the package. Just weed out the appropriate length attach the innermost 4 screws to the base of the heatsink in the stock holes. ( as pictured above ) .

Now to attach the bigger 80mm fan to the Icehole. You can , of course, use any 80mm fan on this unit. But, to be able to utilize the built-in fan control on the Icehole, you'll need a fairly low power 80mm fan that uses a 3-pin connector. Of course, all I could find lying around the VH labs was a pretty beefy Delta 80mm fan. =\ ( Delta AFB0812SH 80x80x25mm , 4000rpm , 46.62CFM , 40.0dBA , Ball Bearing ) So I could not attach the fan to the icehole itself. S'ok though, it's just like the fan control on the Lian Li cases as far as it having a low, medium, and high setting. If you can see the two 3-pin connectors located on the Icehole, One of them is labeled "PWR" and one is labeld "FAN". The kit comes with a 3-pin to 3-pin cable and a 3-pin to Molex connector ( I didn't use this one). What I did was attach the "PWR" to the motherboard, and attach the fan directly to a molex connection on my power supply. The one bad thing about the whole way this unit is setup to run is that it's designed to get ALL its power from the Motherboards 3-pin connection. That includes the 3 LED's and the 80mm fan itself. That seems a bit much to me to be running directly off the motherboard. Especially if you have all 3 led's on at the same time (which looks kickass btw! ;). Anyway, Not a big deal, just wanted you guys to realize that point.

Also , one other thing I noticed was that the hole in the adapter seemed a hair too big for my alpha. This may affect the overall cooling of the unit because its gonna lose some of the sucking action being that it'll have a "leak". If you've looked closely at the above pics, you've already noticed this ;p

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