SilverStone Tundra Series TD02-E 240mm AIO Water Cooler Review

Introduction

Today is a great day, as I get to take a look at my second SilverStone branded water cooler. What’s so special about that you say? The first one that I tested, the TD03, was amazing. It offered exceptional build quality and performance and that’s more than enough to have me excited about one of their latest products. The key difference here of course is that this is a much bigger cooler, featuring a 240mm radiator and that should mean even better performance, especially when overclocking.

As you can see, the TD02-E is pretty well equipped and comes with support for all major socket types, including the aging 755, right up to the newer 2011-V3 and FM2 sockets. The radiator is a fairly standard size, so chassis compatibility shouldn’t be an issue and it comes with a pair of high-quality 120mm PWM fans.

The packaging is nice enough, with a clear image of the cooler as well as a quick rundown of socket compatibility.

In the box, you’ll find everything you need to get you started. There’s a pair of AMD mounting arms, while the Intel ones are pre-installed to the cooler. A high-quality universal mounting plate, fan cable Y-splitter, screws and a syringe of thermal grease.

Both of the fans are over a very high quality and come with a 9 fin design and cut edges to help improve noise from air turbulence; both fans are 4-pin PWM.

The radiator is stunning and feels immediately more durable than those from rival brands. The fin stack is thick and tough, no doubt thanks to the soldered heatsink design. This means that the fins are touching all sides of the liquid pipes, where most coolers use a folded fin design that simply touches two sides of the pipes.

The sides of the cooler are finished with a clear plastic guard that adds a little flair, but I especially like the minor detail of a carbon fiber pattern under the plastic; it’s not much, but it looks a little different from many of the other coolers on the market and that’s a good thing.

The water pipes are nice and thick and feel robust. They’re a little less flexible than some others, but still have enough movement to them to help with installation.

The real star of the show is the cooling block and pump. SilverStone differs from other manufacturers the most in this respect with their incredibly robust and simple looking design. There’s a nice Silverstone logo on the top and there’s more metal here than we usually find on the pump housing.

The base plate is thick and screwless, giving a more uniform contact surface and combined with the nickel-coated aluminum unibody design, it looks simply stunning. The Intel brackets are pre-installed and are made from thick aluminum, not the usual flat steel retention brackets we usually see.

The pipes are fitted on a hinge, allowing extra movement and this will further help with the installation process.

There’s a rubber pad over each screw hole, which helps provide a vibration free mount for the included fans.