ID-Cooling IS-VC45 SFF CPU Cooler Review

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

We have seen many ways to address low profile CPU cooling, just about every style possible, that was until today where we can add another first to that list. Most coolers that are smaller than 80mm fan based tower coolers have only a few options. There are the C-Style coolers that afford all sorts of surface area and typically do rather well at cooling. The issue is C-style coolers are often too tall still. This is where the much smaller coolers come into play. While some make coolers that look like stock coolers and perform about the same, there are others that offer an actual base, a transfer medium whether it is direct touch between them or heat pipes in some fashion. But this is the first time we see one use a vapor chamber with this style of cooler.

ID-Cooling knows there are plenty of Mini-ITX users out there having issues finding a cooler that will work well with all the restrictions found there. They also know many users build media systems that are super low on the power draw and do not need a ton of cooling to keep an i3 or 25 processor under control at stock levels. While we have indeed seen coolers such as this one, with its 45mm overall height, and a design that would require another cooler all together to accommodate AMD users, as the Intel hardware is also built right into this cooler to save time and effort during the install. For such a small design, ID-Cooling tried their best to make this tiny cooler as efficient as possible, while still staying within that 45mm maximum height.

Up front, the concept has been proven in coolers such as this, and we are interested to see how well the Vapor Chamber copes with our test system. Stick around and see if this cooler might be something you could use, and see how it places in our charts.

The ID-Cooling IS-VC45 is only capable of being installed on Intel LGA115X and LGA2011 sockets and offers a reliable TDP rating of 130W. The cooler itself measures in at 94mm long, 92mm wide, and with the fan installed stands only 45mm in height. We mentioned the Vapor Chamber in the base, which is made of copper then nickel plated, with aluminum fins standing off the top of the transfer plate. All told, including the fan this time, the IS-VC45 weighs in at only 330 grams.

The included fan is a 92mm square, it is only 15mm thick, and as you will soon see, it is brown. This fan will spin in a range from 800 to 2500RPM delivering 44.3CFM, and an astonishing rating of 3.24mmH2O for the pressure coming out of it. The cooler can be installed in any of four directions, and this also allows the fin gaps to point at say the memory or the power management system on the motherboard to use that airflow as it leaves this cooler as well.

The IS-VC45 is easily located on this side of the pond. If you are shopping with Amazon, expect to have to shell out $65. If you venture over to Newegg, they offer the same cooler at $48.63 and are including shipping in the deal. This is in the range of the Noctua low profile solutions as well as some others, so as we tally things up to this point, things are looking up for the IS-VC45, and being able to access them in the US is a great starting point.