Silverstone's No Frills Tundra Lite Liquid CPU Coolers Coming July 13
Silverstone's new water coolers add competition to the liquid cooling market.
As far as all-in-one liquid cooling goes, there are a handful of things that a manufacturer can do to stand out. Some manufacturers don't see that point at all, while others try to differentiate somehow. Silverstone gets it, and with its new Tundra Lite series of all-in-one liquid coolers, it approaches a budget-oriented audience. Meet the TD02-LITE and the TD03-LITE.
Both of the units feature the same basic design, with the TD02-LITE carrying a dual-120 mm (240 mm) radiator, and the TD03-LITE packing a single-120 mm radiator. Both of the radiators are 27 mm thick and are made entirely out of aluminum.
The CPU blocks that Silverstone uses are built with a plastic body and have a copper cold plate with a 0.2 mm micro-channel structure. The pump is built into the CPU block, and it will spin at up to 2500 RPM when powered on a 12 V line. It will draw 280 mA, so it's not the most powerful of pumps, but it also doesn't need to be.
The fans that Silverstone uses can spin at speeds between 1500 and 2500 RPM through PWM control and will push up to 92.5 CFM, at which point they will make 35 dBA of noise. At max RPM, they also produce 3.5 mm of static pressure, which is plenty to push some good air through the radiators.
Silverstone cited compatibility with all mainstream sockets, including Intel's LGA1150 and LGA2011-3, and AMD's FM2+ and AM3+ sockets.
All things considered, you're looking at some very simple all-in-one water coolers that get straight to the point: cooling your CPU, without any bells and whistles. This allows Silverstone to bring the prices to quite a friendly point, with the 120 mm TD03-LITE costing just $64.40, and the TD02-LITE selling for $83.44. You can buy similar water coolers for less, of course, but bear in mind that this is the MSRP -- actual retail pricing will probably be closer to competitive with various discounts and alternate retailer pricing. Shelf availability is slated for July 13.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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thundervore If they use the same radiator tech as they did in the TD02 and TD03 then this is a good deal. All other companies just use the same crappy radiators :(Reply -
Gam3r01 Unless these coolers can compete with big air in their respective price ranges, a simple approach of bring them at lower prices (which is nice) wont be enough to recommend them.Reply -
nukemaster They need to use closed corner fans or place a spacer in those fans because that is some serious bend going on.Reply
Even screws that are only threaded so far would work with most 120mm x 25mm thick fans. -
Blueberries ReplyThey need to use closed corner fans or place a spacer in those fans because that is some serious bend going on.
Even screws that are only threaded so far would work with most 120mm x 25mm thick fans.
They really should fire whoever attached those fans for the picture. I'm pretty sure they ship separately if purchased so you just have to be smarter than the screwdriver.