SilentiumPC Grandis 3 in the test – Cheaper & large double tower

In my review of the Navis EVO AiO water cooling from SilentiumPC, I already briefly discussed the “effective design and intelligent cost reduction” company philosophy, today I have a really good example of a practical implementation of this resolution in front of me. You can find out in the following review whether the manufacturer’s largest cooler can prove itself in the test or whether savings were made in the wrong places:

Packaging / scope of delivery

Similar to the OVP of the water cooling, a simple design is also used here. Colored product images on the front and side, otherwise white and black areas with a little blue on the back. Info texts provide information about specifications and the most important features. Small seals that read “Quality Assurance in Poland” must be removed before opening.

The best way to describe the size of the box is “as small as possible, as big as necessary”. Compact and yet well protected on all sides by fans and accessories individually packed in cardboard boxes. There is a suitably cut foam sheet on the floor, which encloses the coldplate.

Everything you need is in the accessories box:
Mounting brackets, fan clips, and a small tube of thermal paste. In addition to the usual screws and spacers, there is even a mini wrench as a little bonus. A short installation guide is also included, which is actually missing on the manufacturer’s website. There is a suitable menu item, but the download link was forgotten at the time of the review.

The two enclosed fans are of different sizes, the smaller fan for the front should enable better memory compatibility:

Overall, hardly any plastic bags are used, so there is very little rubbish left, commendably. Other manufacturers should also make the leap to cardboard; it doesn’t have to be bagged individually!

Assembly / installation

The backplate of the mainboard is used again for the AM4 socket, four plastic spacers are placed on the holes and the silver mounting frame is mounted with screws. Two more screws then fix the cooler to the frame. The whole thing is easiest when the mainboard is lying on the table or the backplate is fixed with some adhesive tape.

The workmanship of the cooler is average to good, the fins are deburred and surprisingly stable. The coldplate is slightly convex and quite large. There is one little thing to complain about here, because my copy looks almost “dirty” with several stains. Even wiping with isopropanol could not remove them. It remains to be seen whether the residues from production have a negative impact on cooling performance.

Due to the symmetrical structure of the Grandis 3 and the direction-independent logo, it does not matter how the cooler is turned. However, the smaller Sigma HP should be 120mm forward so that the RAM banks are not blocked. The larger 140mm fan for the middle is a bit more difficult to install because hardly any extra space was left. With a little emphatic sensitivity it should work without any major problems.

In the last step, the fans are attached with the brackets. Optically everything is kept very simple, the black color scheme without special accents should adapt well to most systems. If you prefer something a little more colorful, you can choose the version with white ARGB fans.

Specifications

The following is an overview of the technical data; further information can be found on the manufacturer’s website as usual.