I'll be installing the Igloo 5710 on my 5200+ X2 Windsor / Biostar TForce 570 SLI system. The first thing I noticed after swapping on the AMD socket clips and setting the 5710 on top of the processor was that it was going to be difficult, if not downright impossible to attach it to the motherboard with the fan in place. I ended up removing it and my video card as well to get some extra room to work. The cooler does overhang the first memory slot slightly although it clears the DIMM without much trouble. If it was too tight I could always move the memory to the second set of slots. The next thing I discovered was that the cooler had to be tilted at a pretty significant angle in order to get one of the hex nuts started. These thread into the stock motherboard backing plate and the amount of force required to press the opposite side down enough to get the second screw started is substantial. I would not want to try to install this heatsink on a processor that was not protected by an integrated heat spreader. It is likely that the core would chip or crack if directly exposed to that kind of stress. But as all modern CPU's do make use of an IHS, in part for this very reason, the clips keep the heatsink very firmly attached which should no doubt result in better heat transfer.



Once the 5710 is mounted the fan can be reattached. Because of how it mounts you will likely need a small phillips screwdriver in order to reach through the top hole to the screw on the bottom. After the fan is replaced the video card can be reinstalled. On an SLI board the card is much closer to the CPU socket than on most non-SLI boards. There weren't any clearance issues but if you have a GPU cooler that wraps over to the back side of the card you may have to install the 5710 fan on the opposite side of the heatsink. It's nice that GlacialTech has thought ahead and provided holes there.



The 5710 could be rigged for either a push or pull configuration however I reinstalled the fan as it was received, pushing up through the cooler towards the top of the case. On some motherboards the socket mounting may allow for a sideways flow, and the cooler could be installed so that air is directed through the fins towards the exhaust fans at the rear of the case. You have several options here so although I did not perform any experimenting to see which method might work best, you may want to. The only thing left to do is plug in the fan. Nearly all motherboards should have at least a 3-pin connector for the CPU fan and the current draw on the Silent model is very low, so there should be no problems running it from the board. The PWM fan includes a 4th wire for the pulse width modulation signaling, if your motherboard/BIOS supports this. PWM allows for smart fan control and enables you to specify certain temperature triggers in the BIOS to tell the fan when to turn on and when to ramp up speed to counter rising CPU temps. This is very useful for providing an automatic balance between silence and performance when needed.



Continue ahead to testing and conclusion.