The best cooler for Raspberry Pi power users

If you push your Raspberry Pi to the limits, then you are going to come across issues relating to overheating. While sticking passive heatsinks onto the chips is enough for most, serious overclockers are going to need serious cooling.

Also: How to overclock your Raspberry Pi

But what's the best possible cooler out there? Well, I've tested about a dozen of the most popular Raspberry Pi coolers, and narrowed the field down to one – the Raspberry Pi Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler. 

Raspberry Pi Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler tech specs

• Ultra-thin cooler
• Copper heat-pipe technology
• 40mm 5400 RPM low-noise fan
• Support fan speed regulation
• Supplied with 1 x Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler, 4 x stand-off screws, 4 x screws, 1 x screwdriver, 4 x thermal pads, 1 x acrylic base

Also: Raspberry Pi: Where to buy the hard-to-find latest model and its alternatives

Fitting the Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler is easy.

If you plan to use fan controlling software, the blue wire attaches to GPIO pin 6 (fourth pin along on the top row).

How good is this cooler?

Good.

Very good.

I used the stress-testing tool Stressberry to push a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B to the limit. Yo can get more information on how to install and run Stressberry here.

I carried out a number of stress tests, and here are the output charts showing how hot the Raspberry Pi got.

The first test is of an uncooled Raspberry Pi running at the stock speed.

Peak temperature: 67°C/152°F

Next up, an uncooled Raspberry Pi overclocked to 2000MHz.

Peak temperature: 83°C/181°F

Next up, a Raspberry Pi 4 running at stock speed in an Armor Case with dual cooling fans running.

Peak temperature: 49°C/120°F

Note: I tried to run the Raspberry Pi with a 2200MHz overclock both with no cooling and in the Armor Case, but this was unsuccessful, with the Raspberry Pi crashing.

OK, let's test the Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler with the Raspberry Pi overclocked to 2000MHz.

Peak temperature: 41°C/106°F

Next, the Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler with the Raspberry Pi overclocked to 2200MHz.

Peak temperature: 45°C/113°F

So, the Ultra Thin ICE Tower Cooler can keep a Raspberry Pi overclocked to 2200MHz cooler than an uncooled Raspberry Pi running at stock speeds. 

Absolutely stellar performance for a cooler that costs $16!

Highly recommended for Raspberry Pi power users.