Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
The looks of the SilverStone Tundra TD02-SLIM is very similar to previous Tundra products, one of which Brian Cheung reviewed, the Tundra TD02-LITE. There are no complaints from me, since it does look great, even though it will be in my case, and will not be seen at all on a daily basis. Unlike some others from the same series, it does not have a carbon fiber finish. Once again, since it is inside a chassis, it does not matter so much, unless you have a nice big window to reveal the internals. Otherwise, the water block has an LED to light up the SilverStone logo. Funnily enough, when the TD02-SLIM was installed in my case, the most convenient way for me to mount the radiator was to have the tubes cover the LED, so I could only see it properly from specific angles. However, it should be mentioned the LED cannot be turned off. The LED only lights up the edges of the logo, so the light is not too distracting -- although the ability to turn it off will be nice.
Much like its counterparts of the Tundra LITE series, the TD02-SLIM's radiator features a traditional fin design. With the TD02-E, the fins are soldered, therefore the surface area the fins touch the liquid piping is bigger, allowing for better heat transfer. The TD02-SLIM has a fin design where only two sides of each fin touches the liquid piping, resulting in a lower heat transfer rate. SilverStone had to keep the TD02-SLIM within budget, so some areas were inevitably cut to keep the cost of the product down. The tubing is 310mm long, and has a 12mm diameter, as well as a braided line to make it sturdier. To be clear, the braided line is within the tubing. This improves the reliability of the tubing, while preventing any leaks. The tubes bend easily, making top-mounted radiator installations convenient. Since the TD02-SLIM is an all-in-one cooler, there is no need to refill the closed water loop, so you can install it right out of the box.
The size of the TD02-SLIM is where it really shines. It is designed to fit nicely into tighter chassis, which allows for the best of both worlds in terms of a smaller sized computer and liquid cooling. The dimensions come in at 273mm in length, 120mm in width, and 22mm in height. The Tundra TD02-LITE has the exact same dimensions, except for the height, where the SLIM versions is 5mm thinner. On the next page, we will find out if bigger is always better, or if the performance can justify the smaller design.
Just like others in the Tundra series, the pump circulates the coolant through the closed loop. The pump connects to a three pin header on your motherboard, and is rated at a motor speed of 2500±200 RPM, and rated voltage of 12V. Similar to the Tundra LITE lineup, there are eight screws on the bottom of the base plate. The rest of the water block has a plastic body. Without the screws, the heat transfer would be even better, as seen in the TD02-E, but the screws in the base plate saves cost in production. The base plate is made out of copper, which has a thermal conductivity of 401W/mK, making it great for heat transfer. One issue with copper is under high temperature and in corrosive environments, there will be degradation over time. Nickel plating the base plate would solve the issue, since nickel performs much better in corrosive environments, but with a much lower thermal conductivity at 90W/mK. This will improve the longevity of the product, but not its heat transfer performance. However, the nickel plating is very thin, so it only decreases performance marginally.
The fans impress me the most, and two of them come included with the SilverStone Tundra TD02-SLIM. They come in at 15mm in depth, which is thin compared to other fans, and to previous versions of the Tundra series fans. Attaching the fans to the radiator is simple and straightforward. I easily figured out which configuration I wanted the fans to be in. With the fans screwed onto the radiator, the thickness of both comes in at 37mm, which is quite still slim. The TD02-SLIM deserves its name, as it does not shy away from being thin. On the next page, you will see I did not do a great job with cable management, as the tubes go across the water block while one of the fan wires go across it as well. This was my fault, because before installing the fans onto the radiator, I did not check where the wire was coming from, which ended up making cable management really tough. After installing the fans, the next important step was to install the backplate.
The backplate was easy enough to install. As well, the same backplate was used for both Intel and AMD sockets. The screws that are used have their heads cut in half, ensuring they stay in place during the water block installation while avoiding over tightening. On the other side of the motherboard, there are four little plastic stand offs to keep the backplate from falling off while you are preparing for the next part of the installation. The stand offs can be seen more clearly in the next picture.
Ah yes, the AMD CPU. This is quite the difference from the other systems here at APH Networks, as majority of them are on team blue. Perhaps diversity is good. As you can see, the stand offs and the screws are in place, meaning we are ready for the next part of our installation. I installed the radiator first, because I found it easier to finish the installation and make the tubes bend the way I wanted them to go. I found the top of my chassis to be the easiest place to install the radiator. With that step complete, I continued to add some of the included thermal paste onto the CPU. The next step I found a bit tricky, since you need some maneuvering to keep the water block on the screws, while the backplate is not pushed out. It was easiest to quickly screw on one of the spring thumb screws, and then check to ensure the backplate or any of the other parts did not shift. Afterwards, I plugged in the pump, fans, and turned on my computer. On the next page, we will find out how the TD02-SLIM performs under pressure.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
