Introduction

From the manufacturer Thermaltake:

Packaging

Thermaltake wraps the whole unit safely, so that nothing could crack and leak water during transport.

Box contents:

• VGA cooler with waterblock and radiator
• Screw package
• Instruction manual

The contact surface of the Tide Water is very flat but has some minor milling marks and scratches, nothing to worry about.

The Cooler

A metal backside helps make the Tide Water sturdy.


The fittings are attached using these clamps which make the connection VERY secure. I tried to pull them out, but no go.


This small black thing in the middle is the pump. It is very quiet - you can not hear it when the fan is running. Also it does not create any form of vibration.


Heat from the water is transferred to the air via this tiny radiator. It uses a full-copper design and seems to be custom-made for this application. I'm tempted to rip this unit apart and use it as a silent CPU cooler for my Media PC...


Here you can see the fill level indicator and to the left of it the fill cap. In case your water level goes low, you can add additional water here. This will most probably not be needed in the first year of operation. The Tide Water comes prefilled with a maintenance-free coolant which includes anti-rust and anti-freeze additives.


The green reservoir is well sized and has only a tiny bubble of air in it. Its design makes it very hard for air bubbles to remain in the loop - nothing is more annoying than the sound of air bubbles in your watercooling setup.


With this switch, located on the top of the Tide Water, you can switch between two fan speeds. Once you close your case this switch is not reachable. It would have made sense to add another switch near the back exhaust, or at least add a two-pin header where you could attach you own switch to.


Hot air is exhausted out of the case via an opening, which is two PCI slots wide.


The cooling fan sucks air in from the case and blows it out via the exhaust on the back.


To supply power to the pump and the fan, you have to connect this plug to an unused 5.25" power connector.