Net-N-Dude Glacier 4500C Arctic Cap Celeron Cooler

Was AnandTech's experience with the Glacier 4500C Arctic Cap combo a success? Well, it wasn't as big of a success as it was hyped up to be. The Glacier 4500C Arctic Cap combo did decrease the CPU temperature of AnandTech's 300, 333, 366, and 400MHz Celeron A processors by a noticeable margin, and it did manage to increase stability in those cases where the temperature of the CPUs approached the mid to upper 40's (:C). Unfortunately, the combo did very little for the overclockability of AnandTech's ABIT BX6 Revision 2.0 test system.

The 300A test system still made it up to 103MHz x 4.5 - 464MHz (504MHz wouldn't boot into Windows 98, even at a 2.2v core voltage setting) just as it had before with the standard Glacier 4500C cooler as well as with a standard Cooler Master Celeron cooler. The 333A managed to boot up at 500MHz, however that success did not last too much longer as the system was not reliable enough to be considered a viable option for extensive usage.

The 366 and 400MHz parts were quite a distance from hitting those 550MHz and 600MHz marks, and their stability at all other overclocked speeds using the 75/83MHz FSB was hardly a change from the previous levels without the Arctic Cap add-on.

The only users that would benefit from the Arctic Cap add-on are those users that have 300A or 333A processors that can run at 450/500MHz however are still unstable during normal or extensive usage at those speeds. The Arctic Cap would most likely help improve stability in cases such as the semi-stable 300/333 processors, however other than that, the Arctic Cap is little more than a $12 add-on that adds to the already noisy computer sitting at your desk.

The final word? The $45 spent on a Glacier 4500C/Arctic Cap is more than the price difference between a Slot-1 300A and a Slot-1 366A. With the 366A almost guaranteed to work at 413MHz (75MHz x 5.5) and with the 366A having a good chance at hitting 458MHz (83.3MHz x 5.5), you're better off going with a 366A from the start than wasting your time on a 300A with a huge cooling contraption. The performance difference between a 300A at 450MHz and a 366A at 413MHz is about as noticeable as a 2 fps improvement in Quake 2, because that is exactly the type of performance difference you'll be getting.