Tundra TD01 vs. Nitrogon NT06-Lite or Liquid CPU vs. Air Cooled by SilverStone

Today, even well-known brands with a worldwide reputation that appeared on the market much earlier can envy the range of products manufactured by the Taiwanese company SilverStone, formed in the not so distant 2003. After less than 5 years of experience in this area, SilverStone is ready to offer the end consumer a wide range of computer cases of various form factors, a line of power supplies from silent to very powerful, a series of fans of all sizes, various embedded panels, home theater systems, accessories, and finally , cooling systems for PC components.

Specializing in the latter, from the SilverStone products I, in my opinion, are the most interesting, for testing I chose the Tundra TD01 liquid cooling system, the Nitrigon NT06-Lite air cooler, as well as three pairs of 120 mm fans, which we will introduce you to in one from the following articles. Today we present to your attention a review and comparison of the efficiency of the SilverStone liquid cooling system and air cooler.

The liquid cooling system was provided to us for testing in an ordinary cardboard box, inside which the main cooling system unit and a small box with accessories of the delivery set are comfortably located. The latter look like this:

The list of accessories includes everything you need to install the CBO on all modern platforms:

• frame for attaching the water block to motherboards with an LGA 775 socket;
• backplate for motherboards for AMD processors of the K8 family;
• mounting plate for installing a water block on motherboards for AMD processors of the K8 family;
• mounting screws with springs;
• small hex L-shaped key;
• thermal paste;
• rear panel bar with hose fittings and a power connector;
• power supply cable.

In addition, the delivery set of the system includes four sections of a rigid transparent hose 2 x 700 mm and 2 x 400 mm long, as well as an outer diameter of 8 mm and an inner diameter of 6 mm:

In the same box, you can find two bottles of coolant with an anti-corrosion additive:

The capacity of each bottle is 0.6 liters, and the liquid itself is poisonous blue and has a pungent unpleasant odor. In addition to the aforementioned components, there is also a water block for installation on the central processor, which I will talk about in more detail a little later.

The main cooling system unit is available in two colors: silver and black. SilverStone Tundra TD01 in black color was provided to us for testing:

The dimensions of this “box” are 380 x 132 x 320 mm and weighs 5.8 kg when fully filled and pumped. The first thing you immediately notice is the temperature indicator located on the front side of the system and made in the form of a dial gauge bordered with a golden ring:

It combines two temperature scales at once in Celsius and Fahrenheit. This sensor can be used to determine and monitor the temperature of the coolant.

The side surface of the aluminum walls of the main unit is made in the form of ribs with a depth of 8 mm, which clearly indicates the use of these walls as a radiator of the cooling system:

On the rear panel, you can find the inlet and outlet fittings of the system, as well as a connector for connecting the power:

We complete the inspection of the main block with its lower part, it is absolutely impossible to mark anything interesting on which:

But inside the box there is something to look at, and the system will still have to be refueled, so open the top cover with the included hex key:

As it turned out, in the very center of the main unit there is an aluminum tank with acrylic side covers:

Three tubes extend from the reservoir, two of which go directly to the walls of the main unit body, pierced with aluminum tubes:

Thus, as expected, the walls of the main unit are the radiator of the liquid cooling system. Two small pumps are built into the acrylic caps on the side of the aluminum expansion tank. Unfortunately, their performance is unknown, as there is no mention of it in the technical specifications. In the same places, thick pieces of foam rubber are glued to reduce the noise level of the pumps:

In addition, the bottom of the box is pasted over with foam rubber, as well as the top cover of the main unit. Here, perhaps, is the whole description of the main unit of the liquid cooling system. Now let’s move on to studying the water block.

The base of the oval waterblock is made of copper, and its cover is made of acrylic:

The weight of the water block is 380 grams. Two fittings with an inner diameter of ~ 5 mm are spaced around the edges of this oval, and the internal structure consists of a large number of copper rectangular pins:

The acrylic cover is pressed against the base with four screws through a rubber ring:

Apparently, the factory overdid it with tightening one of the screws, since a crack is visible near it in the lid structure:

Fortunately, there was no leakage in this place, so this defect in the water block did not affect the final test results.

The base of the waterblock is literally mirrored:

Its evenness is also ideal – the imprint on the glass surface, and then on the processor heat spreader, was uniform.

To install the waterblock on the processor, the appropriate mounting plate must be screwed on to its base in advance. In our case, we used the frame for the LGA 775:

Then we apply the thermal interface to the processor, install a water block on it and press it against the processor with plastic latches. After that, we attach the hoses to the water block:

The free ends of the hoses from the water block are connected to the fittings on the bar to the rear wall of the case:

I installed this bar in the topmost connector, as close to the water block as possible:

After that, it remains only to connect the fittings on the other side of this strip with hoses to the main block of the cooling system. In this case, it is imperative to take into account that the outlet fitting on the main unit is connected to the inlet fitting on the bar and so on along the contour. The method of connecting the hoses in this way, although reliable, is very inconvenient, since if it is necessary to rearrange the system, all the coolant will have to be drained from the circuit. Such connections are much more convenient, for example, in the Zalman Reserator XT.

The manufacturer’s instructions do not indicate the most correct, in terms of efficiency, location of the main cooling system unit relative to the system unit case. To tell the truth, it is not so easy to find such a “box” (the size of a small desktop case), but in my case I placed the “Tundra” right on the computer desk, about 10-12 cm above the system unit:

He ran the hoses behind the back edge of the table so that they were not visible. It turned out pretty neat and aesthetically pleasing. It remains only to fill the system with coolant according to the maximum mark on the expansion tank.

In order not to be surprised why the CBO does not start when the computer is turned on, you must remember to connect the main unit with a cable to the installed bracket on the rear panel, and that, in turn, connect it to the free Molex power supply connector. Well, that’s all, perhaps, we turn it on and watch how the coolant ran merrily through the tubes:

Please note that immediately after switching on, the water block was filled only by 2/3 of its internal volume. But there is no need to worry here, since after 10-15 minutes of pumping the system, the entire volume of the water block is filled with refrigerant.

I will add that the recommended cost of the SilverStone Tundra TD01 liquid cooling system is $ 349. Expensive – you can’t argue, but whether it is worth it – today’s tests will show. Before that, let’s take a look at the SilverStone air cooling system.