Tuesday, February 3rd 2009
Cooler Master V10 Hybrid TEC Cooler Tested
Cooler Master has gone full cylinders with innovation for the design of the V10 Hybrid TEC, a variant of the V10 cooler that employs a 70W TEC (Thermo-electric couple) element to indirectly cool the processor. The principle on which it works is fairly simple: A set of heatpipes propagate through the CPU contact block. The same heatpipes make contact with the cold-plate of the TEC. The hot-plate of the TEC is cooled by a dedicated aluminum fin array which is subjected to air flow. The heatpipes that cool the CPU propagate into two additional, independent aluminum fin arrays. All this, neatly packed into the shroud. The TEC part of the cooler has its own Molex power input, and is regulated by a temperature control module. The two fans in place to cool the fins use standard 3~4 pin fan connections. TweakTown put this cooler to test against most common high-end air coolers.
In theory, this is a good concept, though the indirect cooling the TEC element provides, isn't going to send temperatures down to sub-zero levels. Instead, the estimates on its spec. sheet shows it to maintain temperatures between 25 and 70 degrees Celsius. The cooler however, is rated for CPUs with TDPs of up to 200W (a figure achieved during overclocking). The findings of the review, however, show the cooler to be not much of an improvement over most high-end air coolers. The review can be read here.
In theory, this is a good concept, though the indirect cooling the TEC element provides, isn't going to send temperatures down to sub-zero levels. Instead, the estimates on its spec. sheet shows it to maintain temperatures between 25 and 70 degrees Celsius. The cooler however, is rated for CPUs with TDPs of up to 200W (a figure achieved during overclocking). The findings of the review, however, show the cooler to be not much of an improvement over most high-end air coolers. The review can be read here.