Cooler Master V10 Review

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Cooler Master V10


Late last year, Cooler Master gave us the V8 to review and we loved it. This year after being revealed at CES, they yet again threw their best at us and today we have the Cooler Master V10 with hybrid TEC for review and what an amazing cooler it is!!!

Just when I thought air cooling had already been pushed to the edge of the envelope; Cooler Master has come out and revolutionized what the world sees as extreme air cooling.

What is a TEC? This is the question most enthusiast will ask when they see the word TEC on the box of the V10. TEC stands for Thermo Electric Cooler commonly known as a Peltier cooler named after one of the men; Jean Charles Athanase Peltier, who helped discover the thermoelectric effect. A Peltier cooler/heater is a solid state heat pump which has the ability to pump heat from one side of the device to the other. I won’t get into exactly how it works as that is not part of the review.

Previously, air coolers featuring thermoelectric technology had the Peltier unit sandwiched between a cold plate and the air cooler. As CPU’s began expelling more and more heat, these crude designs which could only move the rated wattage of the TEC became useless to the computer industry. When a TEC is faced with more heat than it can move, it becomes a very efficient insulator and we can only imagine what that does to the CPU underneath.

Pictures circle the internet of motherboards with holes burnt through them due to TEC cooler failures. Cooler Master very bravely like many others has attempted to do what so many have failed at. That is to build a TEC cooler capable of cooling the 200+ watts of heat outputted by today’s quad core processor monsters.

Today we find out if they have succeeded at this daring endeavor.



Packaging


The package arrived in a brown shippers box which came in perfect condition.




The product inside was packed ready to be thrown into a tornado as we have seen over and over again from Cooler Master.




Why they ship small boxes in such large boxes is beyond my reasoning, but with all that extra packing paper thrown in with the product, there is no way normal handling through shipping could harm the cooler in any way.




I was already impressed with the shipping packaging but the product package impressed me a whole lot more.




From the outside, the box graphics let you know right away what is concealed inside. All over, the cooler’s name and description is printed on every side of the box and the top features a picture of the product.




The back has more pictures along with product specs and facts, all to aid the mouth watering anxiousness experienced by anyone holding that much cooling power in their hands.




Inside the box, the cooler is literally JAMMED into the precut Styrofoam support placed to keep the cooler safe. I am now thinking that this thing might even survive the shockwave of a nuclear blast… I struggled for countless minutes just trying to pry the cooler from the foams death grip. Be careful not to bend the fins whilst doing so as they are very fragile.




Included in a separate compartment was the hardware and paperwork included with all heat sinks. This comprised of the instruction manuals, warranty papers, mounting hardware and special cooler master thermal interface material called thermal fusion.






First Thoughts



As I pulled the cooler out of its safety foam, 2 things came to mind; Wow these is heavy and man this is HUGE!!!!






As the pictures show, the V10 is probably one of if not the biggest heat sink made for CPU cooling. It truly is massive! Buyers will definitely have to take the dimensions into consideration before buying as I can guarantee that this will not fit in all computer cases. Guys using memory with large heat spreaders like OCZ Reaper need to know that this will not work as planned by Cooler Master. The cooler sits over the memory and large ram sink coolers will definitely get in the way. Unlike the V8, when case mounting this unit, due to the size it can only do one way. Those benchmarking on a table will not have to worry about dimensions or memory as it can be mounted in any way that is suitable to make it fit.








From fully examining the unit we can see it has two 120mm fans. One sandwiched between 2 heat sinks vertically and the other mounted horizontally over the third heat sink.




The V10 actually has 14 heat pipes and not 10 like its name depicts. The base has 10, 6 of which are cooled traditionally by air and the other 4 going to the cold plate of the TEC unit. The cooler then has a further 4 heat pipes which cool the hotplate of the TEC unit. This is interesting as 60% of the CPU heat output is cooled like a normal air cooler; the other 40% is taken care of by the TEC. This is where we understand why Cooler Master’s uses the term; “HYBRID TEC.” It really is unlike any other TEC air cooler before it.






This cooler pulls a considerable amount of power. It is rated at 9.8A by Cooler Master. it has one 3 pin connector for the fans and a 4 pin molex for the TEC.




The TEC is also very clearly visible between the hot and cold plate.




The heat sink base was also well done. It is very flat and possess a near mirror finish. This is a huge improvement over the V8's base.







Specification


Model:
RR-B2P-UV10-GP CPU Socket

Compatibility:
Intel LGA 1366
Intel LGA 775
AMD 754
AMD 939
AMD 940
AMD AM2
AMD AM2+

Dimensions:
236.5 x 129.6 x 161.3 mm
9.32 x 5.11 x 6.36 in.
(L x W x H)

Weight:
2.65 lbs

Heat Sink Material:
Copper Base
Aluminum Fins
10 heatpipes

Heat Pipes Diameter:
6 mm

Fan Dimensions:
120 x 25 x 120 mm
4.73 x 1.00 x 4.73 in.

Fan Speed:
800 ~ 2400 RPM

Fan Airflow:
90 CFM (Max.)

Fan Air Pressure:
2.94 mm- H2O

Bearing Type:
Rifle Bearing

Fan Life Expectancy:
40,000 hours at 25°C

Fan Noise Level:
17 dBA (Min.)

Connector:
4 Pin

Fan Control:
PWM

Operation Temperature:
25 ~ 70°C

Power:
70 W (Max.)

Rated Current:
9.8 A (Max.)





Installation


Just like the V8, the V10’s instruction manual was very accurate and came in a multitude of languages. Some I didn’t know existed to be honest. Following instructions step by step to ensure everything was done to Cooler Master’s specifications, it was very obvious that the mounting is identical to that of the V8.






There is even new mounting made for the i7 socket LGA 1366 which the V8 previously did not have support for but is now being supported by all of Cooler Master’s new heat sinks.




After deciding which socket hold down was to be used, I got out the necessary installation tools, that being a regular Phillips screwdriver.






The hold down screws needs to be screwed into the hold downs before they are then attached to the heat sink base. They are left hand threads to ensure they don’t unscrew in the later mounting stages. This is a nice added touch by cooler master.




The hold downs are then attached to the heat sink using 4 small countersink screws. It all lined up perfectly and I experienced no problems there. I used both the LGA 775 and AM2 hold downs during testing, both working without flaws.






The next step is to attach the stick on insulation pads to the hold down; I guess this insulates the hold down so that there is no potential short circuit on the motherboard. Don’t want to forget these at all!





Before I mounted this onto the motherboard, I compared it to the V8… WOW what a difference. Here are some pics at various angles.






There are 2 ways to mount the unit to the motherboard, one is to use the back plate which I highly recommend due to the weight of the unit, and the other is to just use the supplied nuts and plastic washers.



I had to resort to the latter of the 2 methods since my motherboard is too badly warped from previous cooling endeavors to allow the back plate to sit flat behind the CPU socket. I did however get a chance to use it on the AM2 board I did testing on.

Mounted on the motherboard, you can see just how huge this thing is! It swallows the board whole and I was scared it wouldn’t fit when I had it mounted to the motherboard tray.






This pic shows how it barely fits in the completed system. I am grateful to have a full tower case now for sure!





Performance


All testing was done at ambient of 26.5 degrees Celsius. Also testing was done in case with side covered on to give accurate real life results for those looking to buy the cooler. It was compared to its smaller brother, the Cooler Master V8 in all tests. Please note that the TEC turns on 50% at 25 degrees Celsius and 100% at 35 degrees Celsius. That explains some of the idle temps as it only works as an air cooler before the TEC comes on. Also the CPU temps are not directly related to the TEC coming on and off as the temp change in the heat sink has to pass through the 10 heat pipes before it gets to the TEC control units temperature probe.

Test Systems 1:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, stock and over clocked to 4.5 GHz 500x9 FSB and 1.45 V core.
Asus Maximus Extreme X38 motherboard
Dual Sapphire 3870X2’s in crossfire X
OCZ Fatality DDR3 running stock
Cooler Master UCP 1100W PSU
V8 and V10 CPU coolers

Test System 2:
AMD Phenom II 940, stock and over clocked to 3.7 GHz 247x15 FSB and 1.525 V core.
DFI Lanparty Jr. 790GX M2RS motherboard
Dual Sapphire 3870X2’s in crossfire X
OCZ Reaper DDR2 running stock
MSI 1000W PSU
V8 and V10 CPU coolers


Well with no further ado, time for the results. Here you go!


















Final Thoughts


This is definitely a beast of a cooler and probably one of the best on the market right now. Cooler Master has done their homework and has given the world something they can truly be proud of.



At 6-7 degrees cooler than the V8 in almost all load cases, it is no wonder why this cooler had all the hype surrounding it. It truly is fantastic. Taking the E8400 up to 4500 MHz wasn’t possible on the V8 and although the temps were a bit high, the V10 held it stably and kept steaming forward through load test after load test.

This CPU is still running at 4.5 GHz daily with no sign of giving up. I can definitely see more companies aiming at this hybrid technology to push the envelope even farther and we have Cooler Master to thank. They chose to dive into that realm of air cooling and have come up head first in the heat sink market. This will definitely be aimed at the enthusiast and gamer wanting to increase performance of their system through over clocking and not by spending huge amounts on new hardware. I definitely believe that Cooler Master will succeed at this and capture a huge chunk of the quad core market with more and more people moving to more powerful hotter processors and wanting adequate cooling for their investments.





Overview


Packaging; 10 of 10 Frags: Packaging was perfect as usual. Cooler Master always does an amazing job of making sure their products stay safe.

Price; 8 of 10 Frags: At $140 MSRP, this is no small amount to pay for a cooler when one has just finished emptying $300-$500 out of their wallet for a processor that already comes with a rated cooler. But still a lot cheaper than water cooling for as close to similar performance as you can get.

Installation; 9 of 10 Frags: Some assembly required. Having to remove your motherboard is the only hassle but all new Cooler Master Cases have holes through the motherboard tray to allow these kinds of installations without needed to remove the motherboard. I guess it is about time I get a Cooler Master case.

Design; 9 of 10 Frags: It is too big and heavy. Otherwise a revolutionary new design and concept that will definitely change the heat sink market in the future. Not the very best looking but it is designed with functionality and not looks in mind.

Performance; 10 of 10 Frags: Best bang for the buck when you compare this to a good enough water cooling system that can keep up with the performance this puts out. Beat its younger sibling by 6 degrees in all load tests which is quite amazing since the V8 was already an incredible heat sink.


Overall the Cooler Master V10 gets 9.2 out of 10 Frags Overall Making it Clan Team Xtreme Approved