Cooling Solutions and Final Thoughts
Is Aftermarket Cooling Necessary?
Well, stock cooling was actually quite capable from AMD for their flagship APU, and the default solution is able to keep things well below thermal limits even with an overclocked CPU load (at the expense of fan noise). The Intel cooler on the other hand was not so impressive, as it struggled to cope with even a stock workload – measuring a toasty 82 C unless the fan speed was adjusted manually to 100%.
This was not a perfect CPU comparison, as AMD’s APU line present a more manageable thermal load to the cooling solution than an FX series processor, but they are a popular choice and do come with a stock cooler to compare against. The Intel Core i7 4770K is certainly a much higher-end part, and demands aftermarket cooling to manage temps under load (or even allow overclocking). As to the last-minute tests with the i7 4930K, that was just for fun! (Not that this $560 CPU would likely be paired with a budget cooler, but hey – it would work with either of these!)
Budget Air vs. Liquid Cooling: Decided?
In the case of the under-$50 examples here, air is the winner – if you have the space for a large tower, that is. The Hyper 212 EVO really stole the show, as it proved to be much more than just a capable solution for even higher overclocks – and it was nice and quiet all the way up to the highest load temps (where even at 100% the sound increase was predominately air noise). Cooler Master's Seidon 120V offers excellent cooling performance and can cope with larger overclocks with ease, so it's certainly no slouch – just slightly lower performing overall compared to the 212 EVO.
Though the temps were similar accross the board from both the air and liquid contenders, it was really fan noise that separated them. At stock speeds the noise levels were fairly low on the AMD system, but rose under load on the Intel Haswell platform. The overclocked workloads caused a lot of fan noise, but the tradeoff in being able to cool a high overclock is fair. Cooler Master has some very strong offerings in both the air and self-contained liquid cooler markets, and show just how much performance can be had for a minimum investment with the two coolers tested today. In fact, the performance of these solutions makes it hard to justify spending any more money, unless silence is at a premium for your build.
Final Thoughts
The Seidon 120V is a very capable cooler, and provides a significant improvement over stock cooling at both default and overclocked speeds across the board. If you are looking for an inexpensive all-in-one liquid cooler the 120V is a solid pick, and is able to cope with some massive heat. The only drawback is really fan noise, but then only in very stressful situations like the Prime95 tests. For desktop productivity it won't be a factor. Of course as the entry model this product is not marketed as an overclocking part, and it was really a bonus that the cooling power of the 120V is sufficient to keep an overclocked load in check, even with high fan noise.
The Cooler Master Seidon 120V is well made and easy to install, with some nice attention paid to the mounting hardware. Though not a winner in the noise and temperature testing today against Cooler Master’s own Hyper 212 air cooler, the flexibility of the 120mm AIO design helps to offset the deficit when compared to their larger tower style cooler. Indeed, the Hyper 212 EVO is such a strong performer at this price that it's really unbeatable for this level of performance. At under $35 shipped at the time of this review it’s an incredible value. The 212 EVO was also the quietest cooler of the group in both load and overclocked noise tests.
Bottom line, if your needs are dependent on your form-factor an AIO liquid system like the Seidon 120V is a great option. But for sheer cooling power larger air coolers are still king of the budget realm.
I read something intriguing
I read something intriguing about exposed heat pipe coolers like the 212 EVO when used with Haswell processors. The core of the Haswell is long and narrow and it usually runs horizontal on a motherboard mounted in a tower case. The question is will the exposed pipe cooler have better results with the heat pipes running perpendicular to the core so all the pipes pass over part of the core instead of parallel where the outside pipes miss the core? Any thoughts on this.
Logical answer would be that
Logical answer would be that running the heat pipes perpendicular would result in better cooling performance since the heat would be spread out evenly through all of the pipes.
However, things aren’t all that simple, there are so many variables that it’s impossible to know for sure. You could test it and end up with no difference at all or even an illogical conclusion (for example, having the fans blowing horizontal vs perpendicular could harm/improve cooling).
The reply from AirSKiller
The reply from AirSKiller answered this as well as I could – and it is an interesting question. I’d hope that the thermal material under the cap on my 4770K is good enough to distribute heat evenly on the surface, but I’d never know without some pretty destructive research 🙂
I’ve ran the heat pipes both
I’ve ran the heat pipes both ways…still hot as hell. Yes, I applied the thermal paste correctly, same result 4 out of 4 times.
I hit 70 degrees at 30 percent progress on prime95 with a i5 4590. The oem cooler maxed out at 55 degrees. One time I let the 212 test run all the way through and that thing hit 90 degrees.
Excellent review. I have the
Excellent review. I have the EVO on at least one my rigs, and it continues to be the little train that could based on these amazing results. But this seems to be a very nice AIO for the price, if you want to go that way. Thanks much.
Not bad for $50 I guess, but
Not bad for $50 I guess, but I’d still save my pennies and choose a Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo. Thing is a beast even on a i7 3930K. Silent and cool.
What is the “life span” of
What is the “life span” of these types of liquid kits? what kind of maintenance is required?
Units like the Seidon 120V
Units like the Seidon 120V have a 1-year warranty – and no maintenance is required during that period. Beyond this I'd have to go based on anecdotal information online…search around but they are pretty reliable. I haven't owned/used any one particular self-contained unit past its warranty period myself, but I haven't ever had an issue with one either. I think the oldest one I ever tested was 2 years old at the time, and had never received any maintenance…It was a Corsair H40 or H50 I think. Worked fine.
To improve the cooler, you
To improve the cooler, you have to add rubber dampers under the 4 screws which are “pressing” it on the CPU. The basic screw aren’t right enough to assure the best contact between the cooling plate and the CPU.
I did that and gained 5°C idle and 15°c when full load with FPU only test in Aida 64 or Prime 95. Now my cooler really squishes the cooling paste between the CPU and itself, filling all the gaps.
The cooler is good hardware (pump, tubes and fan/radiator) but the fixing isn’t so good and you have to perfect it yourself. Then this is absolutely fantastic, specially if you consider the price of it.
hi I am just wondering if u
hi I am just wondering if u could explain /give more details re the dampeners -as had never considered /come across -though it does seems very sensible/logical. Have you a best buy/recommended list for coolers generally at prices ranges 35,50,100 . Thank you – I am a nebie & a golden oldie! Regards, Tony
Thats is absolutely Fake, i
Thats is absolutely Fake, i got an A10-7850K apu running intergrated graphics, with stock Cooler!
On idle IT DOESNT GIVE 29Deg!!!!!!!!! I get around 62deg on idle…
and around 100deg on load with Stock cooler!!!
the seidon 120V was tested to give around 74deg on load and around 50deg on idle!!!
This review is Fake!!!
you need to inform us your
you need to inform us your ambient temp and your PC case. I myself use a Cooler Master Elite 120 Advance mini-ITX case. The CPU is Intel Core i3-2100 on stock cooler. I have 60C on idle and 100C under load. Due to the cramped nature of a mini-ITX case, those temps are expected and I can’t install a cooler taller than 5cm. The Seidon 120V shows respectable temps almost on par with the 212 EVO, which is why I went ahead and bought it. I have yet to install it, but I’m expecting idle temps of ~35C and load temps of around ~75C.
My ambient temp is constantly around 30C (I live in the tropics) with no air conditioning at the moment.
Hey my ambient temps are to
Hey my ambient temps are to low to get a proper reading on my amd FX 8320 as temps do not register properly till around 40C Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case with of course the amd fx 6320 cpu and a Sapphire radeon R9 270 2 gb graphics card.Had the same problems till I discovered Artic silver then I prime 95 on the chip at 51C and never raised any higher ! By the way could not even run prime 95 before the artic silver because of running too hot in a matter of minutes.I am running a Coolermaster seidon 240m on the chip .I am running Coolermaster 120 m on my sapphire radeon R9270 2gb graphics card.the card run at best on high settings and would get hot and bsod around 78C under full load.So I got 120 m Seidon liquid cooler and some Articsilver ceramique 2 compound ! Now i run this card on maximum movies lol whatever freaking settings the game offers. Currently running my card on maximum or ultra high settings with temps never over 41C hope this helps In my opinion the Artic silver changed how I set up and run my builds forever.I would never had bought into the compound making such a difference and liquid cooling a card such as mine ! But I did and it blew me away ths card performs 50% with the right cooler and compound !
Uh….no offense intended but
Uh….no offense intended but my DUH…brother installed this cooler (which I now have I liked his so much) and called me because his ideltemp was over 60. I disassembled the whole thing, and found he hadn’t removed the plastic film on the waterblock base. After removing it, and applying good thermal paste (I personally have always used Arctic Silver) he , and I, are getting 26-27 idle on AMD 8370’s. Is it possible you didn’t remove that film? Even clocked up it NEVER breaks 30 idle. Oh, and the guy who mentioned the rubber grommets….nice find, you were right. AND, included are two sets of scre2s to get a second fan to use a push pull config with the fans, under load it drops the temp about 8 degrees for my rig.
THE A10-7870 IS AT THIS TEMP.
THE A10-7870 IS AT THIS TEMP. CPU TEMP SAID IT WAS 22 ON MINE. ITS A GLITCH IN THE PROGRAM. IT DIDNT GIVE THE CORRECT TEMP FOR ANY OF MY AMD CPUS (FX 6300, 8350, A10). I HAD TO GO THROUGH THE BIOS AND AFTERBURNER TO GET THE RIGHT TEMPS. SO YOU SIR ARE CORRECT. I ACTUALY USED THE SEIDON 120V ON MY A10 WITH IC DIAMOND. IT SUCKED UNTIL I PUT PUSH PULL,THAN IT JUST SUCKED HALF AS BAD. BUT IT STILL COOLED MUCH BETTER THAN THE STOCK COOLER BECAUSE OF MY TINY CASE (IT WAS A HTCP/ MILD GAMING RIG). BUT ACCORDING TO LINUS TECH TIPS FORUM THEY RUN, AND CAN HANDLE HIGHER TEMPS AND MINE WAS FINE WITH NO THERMAL THROTTLEING.
Does the Seidon 120 V CPU
Does the Seidon 120 V CPU cooler supports MOBO FM2-A55M2-DS2 ??
I have this cooler with
I have this cooler with fx8350 and it idles at 15-20°C