Introduction

Some time ago we had a little discussion going around on our forums. Some die hard water-cooling fanatics were convinced that no air-cooling could beat water-cooling. While the air-cooling enthusiasts were telling that water-cooling was not really worth the higher price tag.

Today we'll be testing the Silverstone Tundra TD01...


The external unit, with the very noticeable analog thermometer.

As SilverStone's first liquid cooling system, the Tundra TD01 is the first of its kind in the world. Inspired by the unibody construction first pioneered on SilverStone's flagship tower chassis, the Temjin TJ07 , the frame of the TD01 is also crafted from one piece of unusually thick and high quality aluminum extrusion. However, the similarity ends as SilverStone engineers found ways to enhance the unibody structure with advanced positioning of liquid channels and heat dissipating fins, creating a functional radiator frame. Using the enclosure's exterior frame as the radiator gives the TD 01 a tremendous amount of surface area in which to conduct heat exchange with the surrounding air without any use of fans, making this liquid cooling system perfect for low noise computing. And to be sure this spectacular patented (pending) technology can be appreciated in home theater environments and other areas where the TD01 is most needed, the styling and finish were fine-tuned to levels rivaling world-class audio components. If you thought liquid cooling in HTPC was not possible before due to integration issues such as size, noise, use of fans, or visual harmony, the TD01 will change all of that and offer a compelling reason to finally make the transition.

General information

Enclosure material: 8mm uni-body aluminum frame, 4mm aluminum front panel, 1.5mm top & bottom aluminum panels
Application: Intel LGA 775; AMD Socket 754/939/940/AM2
Cooling System: Fanless design, advanced radiator frame with uni-body liquid channels and integrated heatsink fins
Dimension : 380mm (W) x 132mm (H) x 320mm (D)
Total liquid capacit: 0.9 liter (2 x 0.6 liter bottle of thermal fluid included w/ TD01)
Power consumption: 10W (DC 12V)
Water block material: Aluminum and acrylic
Water block weight: 350g
Water pump: Dual submerged pumps integrated in reservoir
Weight @ full liquid: 5.8 kg
Liquid tubing length: 700mm TD01 to case x 2, 400mm case to water block x 2

The cooling consists actually out of two parts. One external unit, wich needs to be placed outside the computer case, and the water block that is looped into the computer chassis.

More information can be found on the Silverstone website.


Block

Water block material : Aluminum and acrylic
Water block weight : 350g

Those are the actual specifications that can be found on the Silverstone website. A bit strange as the unit we have here has a copper block. After looking and searching trough previous publications, we've found that there was indicated on the site "Copper and acrylic". I've been looking around on the web, but haven't found any pictures yet with the aluminum block.

On the upper left corner you can see the backplane, this one is only needed for the AMD installation. In the middle we see the hold-down for the AMD as well. The AMD mounting needs to be installend with screws (with the added springs); trough the mainboard. The Intel 775 needs to be installed with the push pins.



A view from the side, a (in this case) copper base, acrylic top and extra copper top.



The base from the block, spot the 4 holes where you need to screw the hold down into. The finishing is very good; you can almost see my reflection.



Ready for use, on a socket 775 setup !



Installation on the next page. >>>

External unit

As the external unit is an important part, we'll take a more detailed look, describing the internal parts and working.

First we see the built in reservoir. It has one tube incoming, and two outgoing that a few centimeters later are combined trough an inversed Y-split. Two pumps are taking care of the flow.



This bunch of tubes and springs route the flow correctly trough the casing. The unit itself is acting as a radiator, where the cooling liquid goes 3 times trough the casing.



On the rear side we have the in en outlet from the unit, and a power connection, needed to power the two pumps and the led from the thermometer.



Internally we find a molex connector, going from the power plug on the rear side to a little PCB. There the power is divided to the two pumps and de the thermometer, using the classic fan headers. Why Silverstone decided to use a molex connector instead of a fixed connection is not really clear, as there's no need for extra power inside the unit.




Installation; some extra details

In the box we found following items:

External unit

Water block (+ socket installation + imbus tool)

Cooling paste

4 Pieces pre-cut tubing

Power cable from computer case to unit

Two bottles of cooling liquid

PCI rear bracket to pass trough tubing + power

Short manual

The cooling liquid consists of

Pure water

Anti freeze agent

Anti corrosion agent

... and has a blue color.



The PCI bracket has decently indicated where to connect what cable or tube. This is also so on the rear side of the unit.



And this is how it should look when installed.



On to the testing >>>

Test Methodology

Testing the Silverstone was done on an Intel 775 based platform. Tested on 2 different processors and compared with a few other coolers we'll be making a comparison, verifying temperature and noise levels.

Test Setup
CPU	Intel Celeron 420 (1.6/512Kb/800) Intel Pentium 4 560J (3.6/1Mb/800)
Cooling	Silverstone Tundra TD01 Intel Boxed cooler Thermaltake HR01 + 120 mm fan
Mainboard	Asus P5K
Case	Revoltec Zirconium RT-101 ATX Case
Video card	Nvidia Quadro NVS285
Memory	2 * 1024 Mb DDR2 PC7200 EPP OCZ
Other	Seasonic 600 watt WDC 80 Gb Sata

Ambient temperature was measured at ~21°C for all tests, but temp fluctuations, different mounting and user error can account up to 1-2°C of inaccuracy in the obtained results. Please keep this in mind when looking at the results. Each heatsink was tested repeatedly; if I got questionable results the test was restarted.

Noise was recorded approximately 60cm away from the front of the system, ambient without any cpu cooler running (thus HDD and PSU; rest was passive) was 38.1 dBA.

Arctic Silver kindly send us their “Lumière” thermal testing compound which has the same color as Ceramique, but only a break in time of 30min!

Arctic Silver’s ArctiClean was used to clean off thermal paste between tests.


While the Celeron 420 is a very power efficient processor, only 35 watts, it might not be the best choice to test a cooling unit. Although it is the faster cpu in this test, we also decided to test the cooling units with an older Intel Pentium 4 560J. This processor was one of the last Prescott / Netburst processors released, with a very high clock speed. But this also came with a high power usage, 115 watt. Taking a look at the power usage of the entire system, we see the P4 560J equipped system consuming stressed about 100 watt more.

Overall Power Usage



Test results: Intel Celeron 420

Let's take a look at the performance, beginning with the lower end Celeron 420.




With the Celeron installed the maximum load temperatures remain fairly low, the Intel stock heatsinks tops out at 32°C which is on par with the higher end Thermalright HR-01 heatsink, the absence of any real difference in the results can be related to the low heat output of the Celeron CPU. The Silverstone TD01 runs hottest in this test.

Below you can find the graphs made with OCCT. During the 30 minutes, the first minute was idle, and then 25 minutes complete stressed, and finally a cool down of 4 minutes, from where we extracted the idle temperature.

OCCT Graph - Silverstone Tundra
OCCT Graph - Intel Boxed
OCCT Graph - HR01 - Low Fan speed
OCCT Graph - HR01 - High Fan speed


Test results: Intel Pentium 560J



There’s no mistaken this CPU is running hotter, all results are over 70°C, with the HR-01 in the lead, the Silverstone TD01 manages to keep the CPU cooler than the Intel stock cooling this time around.

Also here you can find the graphs made with OCCT.

OCCT Graph - Silverstone Tundra
OCCT Graph - Intel Boxed
OCCT Graph - HR01 - Low Fan speed
OCCT Graph - HR01 - High Fan speed

Pure temperature wise the TD01 doesn’t seem to be such a hot product compared to the Intel stock cooling, but let’s add noise into the mix, we take out our dBA meter on the next page ->

Noise levels

At a distance of approximately 60 cm from each CPU cooling solution we recorded the maximum noise level obtained, these are the results:



Both Thermalright HR-01 (with fan @ low) and Silverstone TD01 are very quiet, and you’d be hard pressed to hear them running. In contrast the Intel stock cooling can be heard, and when you’re building a Home Theatre PC the difference of only a few decibels can be important. While the HR-01 does match the Silverstone in noise and outperforms it temperature wise, you might be forgetting the major advantage of the Tundra kit, size. Any low profile HTPC case will be too small for the Thermalright air cooled heatsink, while the TD01 from Silverstone with its low profile water block will have no issue fitting inside, you can place the external unit a bit further away, reducing noise from getting to where you are sitting.

Silverstone did not neglect the noise aspect of the TD01 and it pays off, they used soft rubber feet and the inside of the housing is padded with foam, overall the device is very quiet when switched on, and it’s low profile will make fitting it next to your entertainment gear an easy feat.



Conclusion

So now we reached the end of this review. To be honest, I have some mixed feelings about this cooling unit.

The unit is easy to install, no cutting or modifications need to be done by the costumer, just plug everything in, fill it up with cooling liquid and you're ready to go. A short manual is guiding you to the few steps that are not dummy proof.

A very complete kit. The tools (expect for a regular screwdriver) and even cooling liquid are provided. Also kits for different processor sockets are included and easy to change.

Performance is cooling-wise normal. Performing a tad better than the boxed cooler on on level/slighty worse then a high end air cooler. The unit is very quiet, definitely a plus.

The finishing is excellent. Every detail, corner, border is perfectly done. I couldn't find any flaws aesthetic wise. The unit can be had in silver or black, to best match with your audio or multimedia equipment.

Unfortunately the price is on the high side, were talking here about 360 USD.



PRO
Easy installation
Complete kit
Silent operation
Stylish design and very high quality finishing

CON
High Price (~360 USD)
Average cooling performance


I would like to thank Stefan from Silverstone for providing us this sample and their patience while we stress tested the TD01.