Deepcool Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240

[testman78]

Introduction

Deepcool are one of the biggest cooling companies in the world, and while they may not be the leading name here in the UK or America, they are still the largest cooling company in mainland China. The company has been around now since 1996 and literally started out with the company founder making products in his garage, a far cry from the 700 people the company now employs in its 20,000sqm factory.Gamer Storm is a new division of Deep Cool and as you can probably guess,the focus of Gamer Storm is,of course,gamers.The Gamer Storm logo even has a backstory.From the Gamer Storm website:"The face Logo of GAMER STORM represents a gamer.A drop of blood and tear on the left part of the face reflects the hardships gamers have been through and they never lose faith in their belief.The right part is the Sanskrit of GS, meaning that gaming is the religion of gamers and they show their enthusiasm about extreme gaming performance and gaming products.Under the Gamer Storm umbrella there are several items,including the new Maelstrom 240.The Deepcool Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 is a sealed All-In-One / AIO water cooler for your CPU.



All the Maelstrom series are equipped with 0.2mm high-density water micro channel and cooper block to offer a highly efficient thermal conduct along with 120mm X 27mm Aluminum fin to maximize their cooling performance. Fan replacement is available with the standard built-in mounting holes. Innovative adoption of unique pump with closed impeller which offers bigger power and de-vibration. Long lifetime zirconia ceramic bearing is made to ensure 120,000 safe running hours.Meanwhile, all the maelstrom series are compatible with all sockets of Intel and AMD processor.Strong FEP tubing owned anti-bending, flat crush resistance are attached for easier and more stable installation. Bionic LED breathing light design of Maelstrom offers amazing visual presentation while operating.



As you can see from the specifications below,the Maelstrom 240 packs plenty of promising specs.




Packaging,Contents & Fans

The Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 comes in a large,but sturdy box.he front of the box shows the cooler and the fans with the pump.Some of the all-in-one liquid CPU cooler's features are also listed.



The lef side lists the product name in large and easy-to-read font.



The right side just shows the same image of the cooler as on the front, with no additional information provided.



With a direct feature list that includes the cooler's and fan's specifications,this side covers the meat and potatoes.



This side comes with a quick paragraph on the cooler's purpose and its abilities.



The back of the box shows the pump and radiator.A list of supported sockets is also readily visible.



Everything is packaged,cushioned and bundled safely in the box.Once unboxed you'll spot the liquid cooling unit consisting out of the radiator,fan, tubing, pump/cooling block.



You'll spot a backplate that supports a wide variety of CPU sockets:Intel LGA 2011 / 1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 1150 / 775 and AMD Socket FM2 / FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 based processors can be used in combination with this cooler.That's extensive socket support alright.



Also included in the box is an easy to follow user's manual which will guide you through the installation process.



You can plug up to four 4pin PWM fans into the bundled fan hub.



Here we have the fans.You get two of these,both 120mm and PWM based as stated.Overall these are pretty good fans,once the fan reaches full RPM (roughly 600~2200) you will hear them.



The fans use a fluid dynamic bearing for long life and the plastic frame is 100% wrapped by a TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) layer to reduce vibrations.The fan impeller is detachable for quick, easy cleaning.




A Closer Look

Wanting to look at the meat of the box first,I pulled out the radiator and water block.The radiator is painted a nice black throughout,and everything else is black.



The liquid that is inside all Maelstrom Series coolers is a mixture of distilled water and propylene glycol to help prevent corrosion and organic build-up.



The tubing connects to the pump with swivel fittings.The Swivel fittings allow for flexibly for installing the cooler.



The top side of the block is functioning as heat-sink a bit as well.While not blasted with logos and bright LEDs etc,we do find the GamerStorm logo twice a bit much.Once the pump is activated /powered up a dim white LED will show.Very subtle though.



The radiator,made from aluminum,supports quad 120mm fans.



The radiator has a fin count of 20~21 fins per inch, and the spacing between fans is 15mm or 0.59”.



The tubing connects to the radiator with straight fittings.



Long lifetime zirconia ceramic bearing to make 120,000 hours running safely.



Out of the box,you’ll notice that Deepcool has the thermal compound applied to the block already,and it has a plastic protector on it.You'll notice that quite a bit of wiring leads towards the cooling block, this is for the pump residing in that block.It is nice to see these cables being sleeved in black.



When we flip the CPU cooling block / pump around we see an all copper base.Not exactly a mirror/lapped finish though but definitely very flat.




Installation Process

DeepColl managed to keep the installation simple,just the basics for installation are needed.Here we have the 240 unit,we'll need to mount the two variable PWM fans (each 120mm),with the pump and radiator assembled in one single unit.Both fans are pre-wired on one connector and are controlled from a RPM/PWM controller on your motherboard or.



So here is the phase where i slowly start assembling a test setup.First we mount the two fans to the radiator,four screws each.A very simple process.



Once done,you need to decide where you'll be positioning your radiator and how the tubing and wiring will be managed.The two fans have connectors you can merge together with a y-splitter cable that is included and leads towards the CPU FAN header on your motherboard (or whatever source you like to control the fans from).For this kit please understand that the motherboard controls the PWM fans as well as the option to use a max RPM setting on each individual fan.



Mounting the cooler is a fairly easy thing to do, though the motherboard needs to come out of the chassis unless you have a chassis with a mainboard cutout for CPU cooling. Now you first prepare the backplate, nuts need to be aligned with the holes by shifting them into position.



So basically this is the setup:backplate, then motherboard, then mount four standoff studs and then the cooling block.You should have already inserted your processor,you can apply the supplier thermal paste.With the backplate in place we now install four standoff studs on which we are going to mount the cooling block.The next step is to place the mounting bracket onto the top of the pump so we can screw stuff together tightly.Once we seat the cooler in position it aligns with the four standoff studs.We can secure the four screws with a normal screwdriver.Turn them tight until they can go no further.Once seated you can now connect the pump lead to a motherboard FAN header,make sure it will get enough power.Once the motherboard is out this all takes like 15 minutes work tops,we positioned the cooler and are ready for the first test run.Once powered on you'll notice one white LED.This is done so that you can see the pump is active and working.And yeah,installation wise that is all there is to it.A very simple and clean installation.




Test System & Methology

Test System:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3570k-4.5GHz (1.35v)
Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
Memory: 16GB Mushkin
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 6970
Power Supply: Antec HCG 750W
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Chassis:dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5



Software:

CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime95 v27.1

I am testing the performance as follows:

Ambient temperatures are kept at 23C throughout my tests.
The CPU Fan is set to 100% to eliminate inconsistencies as a result of PWM control.
Idle temperatures are obtained after booting the PC and idling on the desktop for 30 minutes.
Load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95′s Small FTTs test for 15 minutes.
To measure noise levels i disable the two front in-take fans, rear exhaust and GPU fan.

On the following pages you'll have the opportunity to read what Deepcool Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 is capable of.


Temperature

These temperatures reflect almost exactly what i would expect from the Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240.They are similar to competing coolers,although can’t quite match the performance of the comparable Swiftech H220.




Noise Level

As you can see,once you switch the fans to full rpm,the noise will increase.With a non overclocked setup it's not bad at all. My advice,keep the fans at the low rpm.It is worth noting that the noise level drops to under 37 dBA when running the fans in PWM mode.




Conclusion

Can manufacturers really improve on the all-in-one liquid coolers that have become so widely available in recent years? With a pump on one end and a radiator on the other,there isn't a great deal of room for innovation in what has quickly become a crowded market.Yet credit where it's due,the latest crop from Deepcool,launched under the Gamer Storm brand,have managed to raise the bar for build quality and construction.Using aluminium materials and machined copper,the Maelstrom 240 is one of the most robust all-in-one liquid coolers i've seen,and it's clearly a step-up from the largely-plastic alternatives.Overall i am impressed with what the Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 Liquid CPU Cooler has to offer.The Maelstrom 240 from Deepcool manages to put up a good showing in the increasingly crowded AIO liquid-cooling market.Now,i did have higher hopes for a bit more performance,but with these radiator sizes,that might be wishful thinking.So yeah,the cooling performance is comparable towards the better class heatpipe based coolers.Its unique appearance and easy-to-work with mounting hardware leaves a good impression as well.Not only is it easy to install,but it also looks good because of its uniquely designed pump top and radiator.The white LED will also add a bit of flair for those that enjoy adding lighting elements to their rigs.The packaging is also good,so you want have to worry about the unit arriving banged up unless it gets used in a game of football.The two fans Deepcool include with the cooler are quite good.At their maximum speed of 2,200 rpm,they are loud.But,the fans are PWM models so they can be set up to be almost silent in operation.If you do this,obviously expect to run at slightly higher temperatures.



The Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 by Deepcool ultimately proves to be a great performer with unique looks.It even packs some nifty features to stand out from the crowd.With an MSRP of 105 US dollars,the Deepcool Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 is priced fairly competitively.Deepcool's latest should certainly be on your radar.