Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Today we are going to look at the Cooler Master Seidon 240M which is the latest 240 mm liquid CPU cooler to hit the market. We were very impressed with Cooler Master's first attempt at a liquid CPU cooler, the Seidon 120M, when we reviewed it back in January. It offered great value for money and was one of the cheapest all-in-one models on the market. Cooler Master has been fairly late to market with their all-in-one liquid cooling units, compared to the likes of Corsair and Antec. With the ever increasing popularity of Corsair's all-in-one models, it's not surprising that they have started releasing competing products. In this review we will be comparing the Cooler Master Seidon 240M with the Corsair H100i, H110 and the NZXT Kraken X60. Features Factory filled with coolant, then sealed and pressure tested - requires zero maintenance for years. Waterblock made with UltraFine Micro Channel enlarge the contact surface between cold plate and coolant. Durable and powerful water pump – dissipates heat effectively and maintains temperatures through stable water circulation. Performance 240mm radiator is designed for handling high wattage overclocked CPU. Double 120mm PWM fan with a wide RPM range to fine tune and balance fan noise and performance. The Seidon 240M is supplied in a rather attractively designed purple and black box which follows the same colour scheme we've seen with their air coolers in the past. The silver text on the front box makes it look quite exclusive indeed, alongside the large image of the cooler itself. Turning the box over reveals a breakdown of the detailed specifications alongside some blueprint-style drawings of the cooler. The box feels very high quality and should do a good job of protecting the cooler during transit. Inside the box, the bundle consists mainly of mounting accessories. There are also two fans included with the cooler, an installation guide and a large rubber grommet to prevent vibrations. We were quite surprised and pleased when we opened up the packaging and realised that the Seidon 240M isn't just another rebranded version of the same Asetek cooler. It seems that Cooler Master have designed it from the ground up, although it does appear to share some components with the 120M. As its name suggests, the Seidon 240M features a 240 mm radiator which is 25 mm thick. This is the same thickness as the other 240 mm all-in-one liquid coolers on the market. Rather than using the rubber tubing that most manufacturers are opting for these days, Cooler Master has chosen to use FEP style tubing. This isn't ideal as it is fairly rigid and less easy to bend during installation than the rubber tubing. Some claim the life span of this material is better however. There are plenty of cases out there these days that support a 240 mm radiator in the roof. Compatibility of 240 mm radiators is much better than the more recent 280 mm radiators such as the Corsair H110. When looking at the CPU block, there does appear to be similarities to the Asetek based coolers, however there are a few notable differences, especially in the mounting system The contact plate is made from brushed copper and is surrounded by triangular security screws and the top cover of the cooler has a rather unusual design. There are two fans included with the cooler which are PWM controlled Cooler Master models which can spin up to a maximum of 2400 rpm. Cooler Master thoughtfully include enough screws to install two further fans in a push-pull configuration. The included installation guide isn't the best we've seen but the process is fairly simple so this isn't a massive issue. We will be documenting the installation procedure on a Socket 2011 motherboard. Firstly, we are required to screw four stand-offs into the socket which we will later secure the CPU block down to. When installing the cooler onto a Socket 1155 motherboard, the backplate needs to be attached at this point. Next, we have to attach the retention brackets to the CPU block. There are different brackets supplied for AMD and Intel sockets which need to be inserted into the grooves on the side of the block and then screwed into place. Then, the thermal paste must be applied before screwing the block down into place on the motherboard. Finally, the fans can be attached to the radiator and the cooler can be screwed into your case. To test the performance of the Cooler Master Seidon 240M we built a powerful X79 based system on an open test bench to push the cooler to it’s limits. As we were testing on an open test bench, we directed a Be Quiet! Shadow Wings 120 mm fan at the VRM circuitry to better simulate the airflow generated in a case. Test System Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K Motherboard: Asus P9X79 Memory: 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) Mushkin Blackline 1600 MHz Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2 Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950 Graphics Card (noise tests): HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum P1000W Software Prime 95 (64-bit) CPUID Hardware Monitor Overclocking We manually overclocked the i7-3930K to 4.7 GHz by increasing the multiplier to 47x, leaving the baseclock set at 100 MHz. We set Load Line Calibration to ‘High’, and increased the CPU Current Capability to 120% with a minor voltage increase. Speed stepping was disabled for both stock and overclocked tests. For our temperature tests we loaded the system for 10 minutes using Prime 95 and recorded the CPU temperature using CPUID HWMonitor. We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 10 minutes before recording temperatures. The temperatures recorded are based on an ambient temperature of 20 degrees C. In this test we can see that hte Seidon 240M performs very well indeed, almost matching the performance of the Corsair H100i. In our noise level tests we switched off all the case fans and replaced the AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card with a HD 5550 passive model so were just taking into account the noise generated by the cooler fans themselves. We measured the noise level with a Digital Noise Level meter at a distance of 1 m from the front of the system. The noise level generated by the cooler with the fans running at full speed is deafening. We would definitely recommend using the fans' PWM capability. Overall we are impressed with what the Cooler Master Seidon 240M has to offer. It's clear that Cooler Master mean business in the all-in-one liquid cooling market as they have invested time and money into their own models to compete with the established brands in the market. The Seidon 240M is their first attempt at a 240 mm liquid CPU cooler and it really is a very capable product. It scored very close to the Corsair H100i in our performance tests, which is very impressive indeed. The Corsair H100i does have a number of other features, though, such as the Corsair Link software configuration utility that vastly enhances the coolers different functions and performance. Cooler Master's mounting mechanism isn't the best we've experienced as it can be quite tricky to secure the retention brackets onto the CPU block. It isn't a huge issue, as we have used some air coolers with more complex mounting systems. At a price of around £90 from Overclockers UK we feel that the Seidon 240M is a little expensive considering the better featured H100i can be had for only £10 more. We imagine it will come down in price a little over time as it's only just been released, at which point it will make a much better buy. If it hit the £80 mark we would say it's a must have. Pros Competitive performance. Generous bundle. Reasonable value. Cons H100i is only £10 more Mounting mechanism could be better. Kitguru says: An excellent cooler by Cooler Master, but the price means it is facing very stiff competition from Corsair.

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Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Cooler Review

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