SilverStone IceGem 240P AIO Liquid Cooler Review

Today, we will be reviewing one of SilverStone‘s latest all-in-one CPU liquid cooling solutions – the IceGem 240P. Unlike the Permafrost Series, the IceGem Series features a scintillating diamond-cut design on its translucent water block housing with delivers sophisticated and vibrant RGB lighting. The SilverStone IceGem Series would be a perfect complement with components with similar RGB lighting such as the G.SKILL Trident Z Royal and Trident Z Royal Elite memory.

Aside from RGB lighting, the IceGem 240P comes equipped with a thicker 38mm “performance” radiator, the SilverStone PF240-ARGB‘s 240mm radiator is only 28mm thick. The IceGem 280 and IceGem 360 variants are also fitted with a slimmer 28mm-thick radiator. The highlight of the IceGem Series would be its addressable RGB lighting. Find out if the IceGem 240P is an ideal cooler for your gaming or workstation PC build.

To learn more about the IceGem 240P all-in-one liquid CPU cooler, please visit the SilverStone website.

SilverStone IceGem 240P Features

• Full block coverage to entirely cover the IHS of Ryzen Threadripper processor
• 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 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 design. 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

Cooler Specifications

Model No.	SST-IG240P-ARGB
Supported Platforms	Intel LGA 115X/1366/1200/2011/2066 AMD Socket SP3/sTRX4/TR4/AM4/AM3/AM2/FM2/FM1

Water Block Specifications

Dimension	76mm (W) x 66mm (H) x 76mm (D) 2.99″ (W) x 2.6″ (H) x 2.99″ (D)
Material	Copper base with plastic body

Radiator Specifications

Dimension	120mm (W) x 38mm (H) x 274mm (D) 4.72″ (W) x 1.5″ (H) x 10.79″ (D)
Material	Aluminum
Tube Length	400mm
Tube Material	Rubber

Pump Specifications

Motor speed	3000 ±10% RPM
Rated Voltage	12V
Rated Current	0.42A
Connector	2510 – 3 pin & 3 pin ARGB (5V LED)

Fan Specifications

Dimension	120mm (W) x 25mm (H) x 120mm (D) 4.72″ (W) x 0.98″ (H) x 4.72″ (D)
Speed	600~2200RPM
Max airflow	93.4 CFM
Pressure	3.18mm/H2O
Noise level	7.3 ~ 36.6 dBA
Rated Voltage	12V
Connector	4 pin PWM & 3 pin ARGB (5V LED)

Testing and Performance

I will be using the same setup I used for the Noctua NH-U9S chromax.black cooler review. I just added a platform on top of the testbench to mount the radiator. This ensures that any air pocket inside the AIO cooler’s loop will not end up circulating and reduce the cooling performance which also poses a risk of wearing out the pump faster.

Testbench Specifications

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
• Motherboard: ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate
• Cooler: SilverStone IceGem 240P
• Memory: 1x HyperX Predator DDR4-2666 8GB
• GPU: ASUS Dual Radeon RX 580 4G
• PSU: SilverStone SX750 SFX 80PLUS Platinum
• Storage: Transcend 256GB SSD
• Operating System: Windows 10
• Chassis: Custom Open-Air Testbench

Testing Methodology

I will be using AIDA64‘s CPU stress test feature to test the load temperatures of the processor after a 10 minute period. The average temperature will be taken, the room temperature is around 20~21°C. I’m using an open testbench to remove airflow restrictions present in cases. This setup gives the coolers the best-case scenario of having no airflow restrictions.

The SilverStone IceGem 240P delivered superior cooling for the processor under 100% workload, as expected for a liquid cooler with a thicker than usual radiator. However, the air coolers are noticeably cooler in terms of average temperatures during idle. For liquid coolers, the heated coolant needed to travel 400mm of tubing to get cool. That also means the cooled coolant also needs to travel 400mm from the radiator back to the water block to cool the CPU. I would say that it explains why the AIO cooler lags behind the air coolers in idle temperatures.

For air coolers, heat dissipation happens very near to the heat source so cooling. But given that computers are intended to have some form of workload whether gaming or productivity, all-in-one liquid coolers show strength for computers with multi-core processors subjected to heavy and intensive workloads.

At gaming workloads, the SilverStone IceGem 240P can be quite noisy with its two 120mm PWM fans that can spin up to 2200 RPM. It is significantly louder than any of the Noctua coolers I’ve tested. This becomes obvious having an open-air testbench. Acoustic reading from approximately 2 feet away from the cooler gets around 52 dBA of noise level. Well, the cooler is geared towards performance anyway and not silence.

Conclusion

The SilverStone IceGem 240P is designed to deliver superb cooling for performance-oriented PC builds for gaming and content creation. SilverStone intended the cooler to support the AMD TR4 high-end desktop platform powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. This performance AIO cooler is marketed to both hardcore gamers and professional content creators. The addressable RGB lighting elements are also appealing with its uniqueness delivered by the diamond-cut design pump shroud. I am positive the ARGB lighting would easily appeal to RGB lighting enthusiasts. Let us wrap up this review and discuss the important variables of a cooler below.

Cooling (Excellent)
For cooling, the IceGem 240P is likely one of the best AIO coolers using a 240mm radiator to date. Its thicker 38mm radiator paired with high-RPM fans that can spin up to 2200RPM is sure to deliver the cooling you need.

Aesthetics (Good)
If you like RGB lighting, the IceGem 240P with its diamond-cut design offers something unique and different. It would even be the perfect cooler to complement some of the gaming hardware available today such as the G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Elite and Palit’s GeForce RTX 30-Series GameRock graphics cards. Furthermore, it comes with its own ARGB controller with 10 lighting modes or can be synchronized with the motherboard using the included ARGB connectors.

Acoustics (Average)
Geared towards performance cooling, the SilverStone IceGem 240P can be loud with its high RPM fans. Replacing them with quieter fans is an option and additional investment.

Ease of Use (Challenging)
Designed by Apaltek, the mounting mechanism of the IceGem 240P can be very challenging. If you noticed in my demonstration which you can watch in my YouTube video, the screws and backplate are loose not until you secure them with the thumbscrews. It is very easy to accidentally push the mounting screws to the backside when trying to install the thumbscrews to secure everything in place. This becomes even more challenging when you already have the motherboard installed on the case.

Value (Good)
At $146.90 in the market today, I find the IceGem 240P fairly priced against similar ARGB 240mm AIO coolers. Arguably, you can find cheaper offerings but without AMD TR4 support. AMD Ryzen Threadripper support is one of the selling points of the IceGem Series coolers. Most of the 240mm AIO coolers with TR4 socket support come around the $200 price range.

The SilverStone IceGem 240P is the ideal liquid cooler for gamers and content creators seeking superb performance in the 240mm AIO CPU cooler form-factor – particularly for AMD Ryzen Threadripper users. The thicker 38mm radiator does offer superb heat dissipation and the scintillating addressable RGB lighting is very appealing and unique. If you plan to build a gaming PC built around components with sophisticated RGB illumination provided by the diamond-cut design – the IceGem 240P AIO cooler is the perfect cooler you are looking for.

Where to Buy
United States: Amazon
Europe: CaseKing.de
Australia: PC Case Gear
Japan: Amazon Jp