Cooler Master Seidon 120M Review

Performance Analysis

In both the AMD and LGA2011 test systems, the PWM-controlled fan of the Seidon 120M spins up to a rather loud level in order to cope with the high thermal demands of these systems. In the less demanding LGA1155 rig, the fan has lower temperatures to contend with and is less noisy, but still whirs at an audible thrum This makes its delta T result of 41°C here a bit disappointing, as it's only on par with air coolers like the Enermax ETS-T40-TA and Zalman CNPS14X which are whisper quiet in comparison. If you manually adjusted the fan speed via your motherboard, it could likely shed a few degrees off this result, but you'd be unnecessarily sacrificing noise levels to do so.

Our LGA2011 system is the only one that shows a discernible difference between the delta T results across exhaust and intake modes. The exhaust delta T result of 54°C is 2°C lower than the intake one, probably due to the cool air introduced to the system by the roof mounted 140mm intake fan needed to keep the motherboard components of this system stable. 54°C is actually a very respectable result for the Seidon 120M, as although it trails the more expensive H80i and H100i coolers, it trumps both the Intel Thermal Solution RTS2011LC and Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer liquid coolers as well as Phanteks PH-TC14PE air cooler, all of which are more expensive.

The Seidon 120M seems to favour our AMD rig more than the others, and it's delta T result here of 45°C is a very impressive one. This is likely down to a redesigned contact plate, allowing for more efficient thermal transfer. Thermaltake's Water 2.0 Performer is more expensive and at least as noisy as the Seidon 120M but is a whole 11°C warmer in this test, and even Antec's Kühler H2O 920 can't keep up. You'll find better and much quieter water-cooling potential in Corsair's latest two coolers, but you'll also pay a hefty price premium for the luxury. That said, the Thermolab Trinity performs almost equally well, and though it too generates substantial noise at higher speeds, it's still cheaper than the Seidon 120M.

Conclusion

Whether or not the Seidon 120M is right for you will naturally depend on the setup you're running. LGA1155 users will find plenty of tower air coolers that offer a much better compromise between price, noise and performance than Cooler Master's budget closed-loop-cooler. Even though it's inarguably a nice and cheap option for a water-cooling setup, it's louder than it should be for the temperatures it produces in such a system.

However, for toastier systems like those based on AMD or LGA2011 chips, Cooler Master's offering is far better placed in the market. Naturally, higher end offerings like the new H80i and H100i from Corsair offer many more bells and whistles, and excellent low noise performance too. Nevertheless, the Seidon 120M is still easy to install and excellent value in these systems, with its AMD performance being especially impressive. Though we've yet to look at other water-coolers around the same price, the Seidon 120M would make a good entry point to water-cooling for users of such systems on a budget.