SilverStone Tundra TD02-Slim Review

SilverStone Tundra TD02-Slim Review

Manufacturer: SilverStone
UK price (as reviewed): £67.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): Currently unavailable

SilverStone's first entries into the all-in-one liquid cooler market, the Tundra TD02 and Tundra TD03, were unique looking and strong performers but came at a high price. Since then, the company has diversified its offerings, one result of which is the newly released Slim variant of both coolers. The TD02-Slim, the one we're looking at today, is SilverStone's least expensive double fan radiator model – its £68 price tag is certainly on the low side relative to other 240mm-based coolers.


The Slim nomenclature is accurate – the TD02-Slim has an aluminium radiator that's about as thin as they come at just 22mm deep, and the cooler also employs slimline, fans which shave 10mm off the size of regular fans. With the two fans attached, the entire apparatus is just 37mm thick, so if space in your case is at a premium the TD02-Slim is likely to be an attractive offering. That said, SilverStone also produces the TD02-Lite which has a 5mm thicker radiator and standard fans, and it costs about £5 less.


The plain looking water block is just under 40mm tall and uses a pure copper baseplate. Thermal paste is not pre-applied; instead, you get a small tube with easily enough gunk for three or more applications. The single flat cable emerging from the water block is a 3-pin connection that powers the pump.


You get a generous measure of tubing – 310mm. It's made well too, being easy enough to manoeuvre as necessary but thick and sturdy enough to prevent kinking.

The two slimline 120mm fans are black with nine white fan blades and they're PWM capable too, though their cables are multi-coloured rather than black like the pump's; a small niggle, but one worth noting. They have a maximum speed of 2,200 RPM or thereabouts and each have a noise rating of 16.5 – 27.4 dB(A). SilverStone sensibly supplies screws both for these fans and for standard 25mm deep fans in case you want to add your own fans at a later date.


Installation for both Intel and AMD sockets utilises a universal backplate which is plastic but still very solid. You need to put some screws through it and secure them on the front side of the motherboard with washers. After that, simply apply thermal paste and slot the water block onto the protruding screws, securing it with the four spring-loaded nuts. Note that AMD users will have to remove the Intel mounting arms that are pre-installed and attach the AMD ones, and naturally LGA2011 users do not need the backplate or washers – just a set of screws that are secured to the socket itself.


After that, the radiator installation is really quite simple thanks to the thinness of it and the fans. A fan splitter cable is provided so you can connect both fans to one header if your motherboard only has the one, and a Molex adaptor is provided too in case you want to bypass motherboard PWM control altogether.

Specifications

• Compatibility LGA775, LGA1366, LGA115x, LGA2011(-v3); AMD: AM3(+), AM2(+), FM2(+), FM1
  
• Radiator size(mm) 273 x 22 x 120 (W x D x H)
  
• Fan size (mm) 120 x 15 x 120 (W x D x H)
  
• Fan(s) 2 x 120mm PWM, 800~2,200 RPM
  
• Stated Noise 16.5~27.4 dB(A) per fan