Conclusion
When we started our adventure, we wanted to push this cooler to its absolute limits and our test bench certainly delivered that when its 18 cores were clocked to 4.7GHz. We’ll recap the performance below and see how the SilverStone IceGem 280 stood up to the heat in our kitchen!
Summary of Temperatures
While the SilverStone IceGem 280 was not quite able to tame our Intel 10980XE in all of our tests, it did do something no other AIO has done to date. In our Mild OC it was able to hold things together all the way down to a fan speed of 600 RPM as the processor was at 96 degrees Celsius and was not throttling. This is certainly an achievement worth mentioning as users looking for a quiet experience will be able to run this AIO low and slow even if they are doing some Mild OCing with the Intel 10980XE or some more extreme OCing with a more reasonable processor.
Ultimately, we were able to keep our Intel 10980XE in check at 3.8GHz very nicely and at 4.3GHz down to 1000 RPM very nicely as well. In the Max OC test, where our Intel 10980XE is clocking 4.7GHz, the SilverStone IceGem 280 (much like all the other 240mm and 280mm coolers we have tested to date) was not able to even begin to compete. This is, obviously, not the most desired outcome but expected from these smaller AIOs at this point. On the upside, it did do better than every other AIO we have tested in the Mild OC at 600RPM as mentioned above and it was routinely one of, if not, the best performing AIOs in each test we ran. Impressive.
Summary of Sound Levels
At the slowest and quietest settings that we could stably achieve, the SilverStone IceGem 280 easily blended in with the ambient room sound levels and we could not hear a thing. Moving up to 1,000 RPM brought some increase in recorded values but it was still easily blending in with the ambient environment. Moving up to 1,500 RPM it became slightly audible but still was not distracting. At its maximum fan speed, 1,600 RPM, it was essentially the same as the results at 1,500 RPM. Though, that is not that surprising given the small 100 RPM difference. made a defined contribution to our testing environment while doing its job. Overall, in relative terms, this is one of the quietest AIOs we have reviewed to date with the sole exception being at 1,500 RPM (weirdly enough).
Final Points
So, here we are today with another entrant; the SilverStone IceGem 280. This is a bit less beefy cooler than 360mm models but SilverStone was not afraid to throw this little 280mm cooler at the mighty Intel 10980XE we had waiting for it. So, we threw it to the beast and we were more than a little shocked at what happened.
Why? After putting it through our gauntlet, the SilverStone IceGem 280 more or less laughed at the stock and Mild OC testing. Our test bench really needs a custom loop to be tamed, so putting an AIO with a 280mm radiator on it simply isn’t fair. However, SilverStone seems not have cared what is fair or not as this cooler more than held its own relative to the other 280mm cooler we have seen and even outperformed a number of 360mm coolers while being one of the quietest (if not the quietest overall) coolers we have seen to date!
The SilverStone IceGem 280 is listed at a $159.99 MSRP. At that price there is very little to say here today other than this; If you have a case that will accept a 280mm cooler the SilverStone IceGem 280 is one appropriately named cooler as it is one quiet and cold beauty. It makes its case in no uncertain terms and even takes larger 360mm models and puts them on ice in its pursuit of cooling excellence. If you are in the market for an AIO then the SilverStone IceGem 280 should be at the top of a very short list that you are considering.
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