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.
60 Comments on Cooler Master V10 Hybrid TEC Cooler Tested
Again, thanks for the kind words.
already done on XS with some true's and way better temps
www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=183509
I'm personally Glad that the V10 article got the stir up at Cooler Master. They need to know what they have given, and what the people is going to see! To Sugarcoat something of that nature, and of that PRICE would be so wrong. A Marketing Gimmic that is so uncalled for it's not even right.. So what if it has TEC... We've done fine without it, so why not develop it to IT'S STANDARDS?
They aren't understanding that there is Forums, where people go to and get help, TPU and others, for asking questions like this... "Is the V10 cooler good?" or " What's the best cooler for a 775 chipset?"... To me, their throwing out the V10 just for the lulz, or the fact to be First with something new.. And to get that "Easy Buck"..
ADD:: I'll be one to stand by that review that was done by Tweaktown. Not because I know the person(s) involved with it. But, for the fact that you haven't let down and allowed Cooler Master to make you their Puppets on a string. Something that reviewers of the Xigs 1284 should of done... The reviewers that got the bad batches...
Cooler Master isn't a company that pressures reviewers for awards and that sort of thing. If there is a problem they want to investigate to be sure it is not on their end. I have worked with CM for many years and can say that they are very honest and try very hard to come up with new products that have a practical purpose. I still hate their mounting hardware for CPU coolers but when that issue comes up we report it (&$*##^ reverse thread screws).
A good example of this is the V10. We performed some additional tests for CM tonight and didn't find an issue with the sample. To be fair to them we will have a new sample on the way and will retest with it to see if we get the same results.
200 watt loads with a mild OC, up to 270 when getting a good clock!
So you need at least a 270 watt TEC just to do anything so lets say a 320 watt TEC. 320 watt TECs are 60mm x 60mm and at 12 volts it draws 27 amps. You are not getting that many amps off of your ATX PSU with everything else plugged in. You are also going to melt molex connectors if you use just one.
So let's add this up, 320 watts via TEC and another 200+ for the proc, that is 520 watts you need to get rid of off of a 60mm square package. Good luck with that.
PS, you can do it, I have done it years ago but it is expensive, requires a machine shop that doesn't mind making you just one part and a high level of understanding of what you are doing.
Having said that, I bet it would perform better with the tec above the cpu.
LOL...