Cooler Master V10 CPU Cooler Review

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Introduction

We all know Cooler Master as one of the leading manufacturers computer cabinets & heatsinks, which specially cater to the enthusiast’s need. In recent past we have seen Cooler Master deliver a beautiful, yet very effective heat sink Cooler Master V8; specially designed to cater the cooling needs of Intel’s Core 2 Quad & AMD’s Phenom range of processors.
This time, Cooler Master has really pushed their Research Technicians above the edge to craft a Heatsink that can cool off almost every CPU available in the market, and can serve the need of an enthusiast. So what do we get this time, Cooler Master V10 with Integrated T.E.C.
Before we go any further with the T.E.C., lets first see how the whole bundle looks like.

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The top of the box clearly states that this beauty comes with a Hybrid TEC and can cool off a 200 Watt CPU with AIR Itself. This CPU cooler does come with Cooler Master’s latest thermal past Thermal Fusion 400 nice touch to the overall bundle. Seen on the box is a LGA 1366 Ready logo, so this is certainly designed by keeping the cooling requirements of Core i7 in mind. However it is compatible LGA 775, as well as AMD 754, 939, 940, AM2+, and AM3 sockets as well.

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The back of the box shows the regular specifications of the product inside the box and does have a logo which clearly indicated that this Heatsink comes with TEC Activated technology. At the bottom we see the three majors of the Heatsink, being:
• With TEC.
• Triple Heatsink Design.
• Dual PWM Fans.
It does mention he dimensions of the Heatsink as well.

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Either side of the box pictures Compatible Socket Type logos which make it easier to choose, as you’ll know that it supports your CPU type without consulting the manual or any website for that matter.

Now lets move ahead and check the Content of the BOX.

[BREAK=Out Of The Box Experience]

The Content

The packaging is made in such a manner that the product should not even move a millimeter while in transportation, hence arriving at destination in perfect condition. It’s all Styrofoam inside the box and has a small hole cut in it to keep the accessories of the Heatsink, specially the mounting brackets, a truly Bravo packing for such a beautifully designed Heatsink.

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What comes with it? The LGA 775 & LGA 1366 Mounting kits; The AMD Mounting Kit & mounting screws. The best thing is that this comes with a trial pack of Cooler Master’s newly launched Thermal Fusion 400 Thermal grease. And usual Installation Manual.

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First look of the Heatsink makes me say that Its Huge & has a Engine Like Design with the same concept as that of a V8. The side of the BOX pretty much looks like an engine’s graffiti. It’s even bigger than the Scythe "OROCHI".

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At the bottom of the heat sink, just above the Contact Plate, we see the TEC mechanism installed. However the point we need to note is that the TEC system is not installed just above the contact plate, rather it is installed at an elevated position above the TEC Control Mechanism. 4 Heatpipes directly are soldered on to the Cool Plate Side of the TEC. At the back of the HOT Side of TEC Plate, we see 4 Heat pipes soldered and are cooled by the 120mm, vertically mounted fan.

Now the benefit of putting the TEC away from CPU Contact surface is that for any reason if we have any droplet of water over the TEC due do condensation, then we could be rest sure that it is not directly getting into the CPU Socket on the motherboard. Not to forget that the TEC itself takes a 70watt of power at maximum output.

So what is TEC and how does it work?
It stand for Thermoelectric Cooling. Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other side against the temperature gradient (from cold to hot), with consumption of electrical energy. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier diode, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC).
Or say in basic words TEC is a technology which uses the properties of Semiconductor material for generating Cold & Hot contacts on Opposite Side of the Peltier Plate, certainly using electricity while in this process.

Product Specification Sheet

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So now let’s take a closer look inside the Monstrous V10.

[BREAK=The Inside Stuff]

The Design

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At the bottom we have the TEC Control mechanism just above the contact place of the Heatsink. The thing to note is that we happen to have 10 heatpipes going through the contact plate. 4 of them, and certainly the most lengthy ones go at the back of the Heatsink which are cooled by a horizontally placed PWM fan. Another 2 heat pipes go to the centrally placed Heatsink. 4 of the heatpipes, which happen to be the shortest in length, go to the Cool side of the TEC peltier, and at the Hot side of the peltier we have 2 heatpipes soldered which are cooled by the last most Heatsink mount.
Another thing that I liked about this CPU cooler that it pretty much takes care of all the cooling requirements of your Processor, as well as other components on the motherboard, specially the -Northbridge and RAM. In our test-bed we were successful in installation of the Heatsink over our Corsair Dominator series of RAM.

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Removing the shroud of the heat sink reveals the true construction of the Heatsink. We should note that the Heatsink fin cluster connected to the TEC happens to be the biggest fin set of them all. Making it sure that when we need that extra cooling, we should have it.

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And the surface finish certainly is a flat surface with polished copper block.

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Not to forget that the TEC system itself takes a power of 70W, and hence comes with a Molex Connecter. The best feature that I personally love in a Heatsink is the PWM Fans, which cooler master has provided with this Heatsink

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are the PWM Fans.

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Next Stop, Testbed.

[BREAK=Under The Scope]

Test Configuration

Now for the purpose of testing this Heatsink, we made it sure that we test it against the best Air Cooling solution available in themarket & hence we decided to benchmark it againt TRUE & S1283. Here is what the configuration looks like.

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Inside the cabinet.

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Here we can see that the heatsink has pretty decent clearance with most of the components, and the positioning of the heatpipes is made in a horizontal fashion, rather then the vertical placement as that of a TRUE.

The corsair Dominator sits right at the bottom of the horizontal fan, getting the best cooling when compared to any other heatsink in the market.
The Results

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It is clear that the TEC does work like a wonder when the temperatures go up. This Heatsink can certainly handle any kind of CPU available in the market.
Now let’s take a look at the Motherboard Temperature Specs, just to check whether the horizontally placed fan of works as is it supposed to be.

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Certainly the overall design of the Heatsink does solve the purpose and is a must for all the high end RIGs.

And now the final thoughts.

[BREAK=Thoughts & Conclusion]

Conclusion

When it comes to Cooler Master, they have always delivered the performance as expected from them. However this time they have really gone a step ahead by incorporating their AIR Cooling technology with the upcoming TEC technology and have successfully delivered a Heatsink which will act as a benchmark for future Heatsinks, specially with the Hybrid Techs. Persionally i think that if you happen to have a Core i7 or a Phenom II for that matter, then Cooler Master V10 is a Must Have for your RIG.

Pros.

• Excellent Cooling Performance.
• Super silent even when the CPU is under full load.
• Hybrid TEC Cooling.
• Cools the RAM & other components.
• Easy to install.

Cons.

• A bit pricy for a usual user, however worth it for Hybrid Cooling performance.

As a reviewer I give Cooler Master V10 With Hybrid TEC Cooling a 5/5 Score.

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hmmm....results certainly seem impressive though a bit different than the one on the net, also Testbed says E6600, I guess it needs to be changed to Q6600 and finally whats the price????
 
thebanik said:
hmmm....results certainly seem impressive though a bit different than the one on the net, also Testbed says E6600, I guess it needs to be changed to Q6600 and finally whats the price????

All changes done. Priced between Rs. 7500-8000.
 
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^^the price negates all the advantages. Its 3x times costlier than other coolers. One wudnt choose water cooling instead?. Nevertheless nice review
and its huge pretty huge. Is it supported on all boards??
 
WingZero said:
^^the price negates all the advantages. Its 3x times costlier than other coolers. One wudnt choose water cooling instead?. Nevertheless nice review
and its huge pretty huge. Is it supported on all boards??

Yes it certainly is supported by all the motherboards.
I would say that price is not high but decent enough, after all you get the TEC, adding to it it cools off major components on the motherboard as well, so i would love to get this for my rig.
 
Coming Up Next.

Cooler Master N620 Heatsink.

Cooler Master Scout Computer Cabinet.

Cooler Master HAF 922 Computer Cabinet.
 
A standalone 226Watt TEC is for 2500 odd bucks. The additional power consumption and the massive price make this totally not worth it.
 
The review made a good read, thanks. My opinion - v10 is rather pointless. Its like the aquagate s1 of air cooling.
 
Aphro_EVO said:
The review made a good read, thanks. My opinion - v10 is rather pointless. Its like the aquagate s1 of air cooling.

Please dont degrade the level of v10 to that shitty aquagate level, which was worse than even the best air coolers and still costing almost twice/thrice than them. Atleast this one is giving performance albeit at a higher price.........
 
I perhaps didn't make myself clear, apologies. What I mean is that it is using Peltier cooling to the effect that s1 uses WC. Peltier can be used to achieve much lower temps, just like WC can be used in a much better way than s1. It seems to be like an introduction to peltier cooling without you having to get your hands dirty, albeit at a price.
 
Very nice review :) Though I don't agree on rating :P

1. The cooler is way too costly and we can get same or better performance from TRUE Black + Scythe 110CFM Fan, which cost 3times as less than this..
2. The cooler inhibits memory management. .So in order to clean the memory you need to remove the whole CPU cooler which is pretty time consuming..
3. The cooler is very heavy and big and might not fit in many cases.. I wonder only handful of midtower will be able to accommodate it with few space left to work on..
4. For that much price and just 2-3*C improvement I would rather spend in WC kit or buy myself a TRUE Black which provides as good result as V10..

Anyways .. very nice review and clean pics ;) Keep up the good work. :)
 
^ totally agree with darkstar. One can get watercooling for that price. Nevertheless, reps for the efforts.
 
The one thing I hate about these new breed of high end $100+ coolers is that they use TEC. It works and its not something new, but TEC has a one big issue. If ever it decides to conk off, or if the fan malfunctions or fan connector gets disconnected, the TEC will go soo hot as to cause damage to the chip.

This is why TEC + WC combo which many ocers used to and still do use never really took off or gained popularity.

Now these modern coolers are coming with TEC @ heavy price tag and I simply dont trust them when it comes to durability :P
 
what's worse is that the peltier in this case is not sandwiched between the heatsink and the cpu. it is switched on after a preset (?) temperature to cool off the heatpipes.

Farookh's work here easily puts this contraption by cm to shame.

btw, checkout this awesome video review by 3dgameman in 720p glory:

[youtube]DyXxfe0IAxU[/youtube]
 
^^Yea :D I always save all his review in 720p :D

Edit : FR .. Why you keep on editing and messing the youtube link ? all you need to do is post the code that appears in the URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyXxfe0IAxU

[youtube]DyXxfe0IAxU[/yutube]

You don't have to insert the whole link in BB tags !
 
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