Cooler Master Seidon 240M and 12 More Coolers: The Retest and Mega-Roundup
by Dustin Sklavos on April 26, 2013 6:01 AM ESTSpec Tables
Today we're looking at six closed loop liquid coolers from NZXT, Corsair, Swiftech, and now Cooler Master. Representing Asetek are the Kraken X40 and X60 from NZXT as their packages are ultimately more feature rich than Corsair's curiously barebones implementations of the 140mm and 280mm Asetek coolers in the H90 and H110. Corsair's H80i and H100i are both popular models, so they fill in on 120mm and 240mm duty. As the best performing 240mm cooler I've tested, owing at least partially to the copper and brass radiator, the Swiftech H220 demanded to be retested. This time we're using a retail kit as well, instead of the preproduction press model we tested with before. And finally there's Cooler Master's Seidon 240M, which we discussed earlier.
Corsair H80i | Corsair H100i | Swiftech H220 | |
Type | 120mm | 240mm | 240mm |
Dimensions (in mm) | 120x152x38 | 120x275x27 | 127x269x29 |
Fans (Supported) | 2 (2) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) |
OEM | CoolIT | CoolIT | N/A |
MSRP (NewEgg) | $109 ($89) | $119 ($105) | $139 ($139) |
NZXT Kraken X40 | NZXT Kraken X60 | Cooler Master Seidon 240M | |
Type | 140mm | 280mm | 240mm |
Dimensions (in mm) | 138.4x172.5x27 | 138.4x312.5x27 | 120x273x27 |
Fans (Supported) | 1 (2) | 2 (4) | 2 (4) |
OEM | Asetek | Asetek | N/A |
MSRP (NewEgg) | $99 ($99) | $139 ($136) | $99 ($109) |
The competition is interesting. Corsair's H80i, at least for now, doesn't have to directly compete with anything on our charts except similarly priced air coolers. At 240mm, though, we have the H100i and Seidon 240M squaring off against each other, while the Swiftech H220 is more expensive owing to its higher quality radiator and vastly more powerful pump. Meanwhile the Kraken X60 is the definition of niche, though 280mm radiator mounts are becoming increasingly common in modern cases.
For the Kraken X40, I decided to try something different during testing. The X40 performed pretty poorly in our last roundup against competing 120mm kits, and I wondered if NZXT and Corsair hadn't hamstrung themselves by only including one fan. To even the odds, I swiped a fan from the X60 and attached it to the X40 in a push-pull configuration, and you'll see it made a huge difference.
Meanwhile, for air coolers, I elected to drop all of the DeepCool coolers as well as the Noctua NH-L9i. The Intel stock cooler also wasn't tested. I actually used the Noctua NH-L12 with just the 92mm fan as an upper heat bound; this is a notably more powerful solution than Intel's stock cooler, but it still had trouble keeping our overclocked i7-2700K under 100C.
Noctua NH-D14 | Noctua NH-L12 | Noctua NH-U12S | Noctua NH-U14S | |
Dimensions (in mm) | 158x126x120 | 93x128x150 | 158x125x71 | 165x150x78 |
Fans (Supported) | 1x 140mm & 1x 120mm (3) | 1x 120mm & 1x 90mm (2) | 1x 120mm (2) | 1x 150mm (2) |
Weight | 1240g | 680g | 755g | 935g |
Rated Noise in dB(A) | 13.2~19.8 | 13.1~22.4 | Up to 22.4 | Up to 24.6 |
Price at NewEgg | $81 | $69 | $65 | $75 |
SilverStone Heligon HE01 | be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 | CM Hyper 212 EVO | |
Dimensions (in mm) | 140x119x160 | 147x138x166 | 120x80x159 |
Fans (Supported) | 140mm (3) | 1x 120mm & 1x 135mm (2) | 120mm (2) |
Weight | 926g (w/o fan) | 1250g | 580g |
Rated Noise in dB(A) | 18~41 | 13.5~26.4 | 9~36 |
Price at NewEgg | $75 | $99 | $33 |
The two new Noctua coolers were included, but they don't have listings on NewEgg for pricing as of this posting. They're expected to be available soon. What will be interesting will be seeing how the addition of even a low-powered exhaust fan affects this group of coolers.
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DanNeely - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
In the last test it was 6C hotter than the worst cooler in this review. That would put the core temp in the high 90s and possibly result in thermal throttling.http://www.anandtech.com/show/6830/cpu-air-cooler-...
tsponholz - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
It would be nice to see this a baseline.Hrel - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
agreed, just mention the numbers outside of the graph, so it doesn't fuck up the comparative look.Torrijos - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
It's a little sad not to have the H110 on that test since it tends to be quieter than the X60 for the same level of performance.JustMoreFun - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
It's very sad that you up to now didn't test one of the Thermalright Coolers, as they are commonly referred to as being the reference when it comes to air coolers.davidthemaster30 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
If the NH-U14S, was mounted so that it pushed air towards the top of the case, would it still block the PCIe slot?marc1000 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
I don't believe it would fit inside the case in this position... it looks like it would go past the backplate.epoon2 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
You should check with Noctua, they have an FAQ listing motherboard compatibilityspidey81 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
First I'd like to say that I thoroughly enjoy your articles. In your recommendation of the U12S/U14S over the D14 I think you may have missed something. At your current 4.4 Ghz overclock the smaller/cheaper heatsinks performed, let's say, more efficiently. However, wouldn't the D14 be able to handle a higher thermal load that come with higher overclocks? So it's kind of like you said, it depends on your usage. It would be interesting to see at what point in overclocking would the D14 become worth purchasing over it's smaller siblings.epoon2 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
it scales in the same direction for all coolers as temperature increases, common sense or wrong?