Cooler Master Seidon 240M CPU Cooler Review

Overview

 

This will be the first Cooler Master CPU Cooler that we have seen here at pcGameware, the Seidon 240M also marks a return to the water cooling market for Cooler Master. There are three All in One (AiO) CPU Coolers in the Seidon range, the 120XL, 120M and this the largest of them all the 240M. As the name implies this is a 240mm raidiator with x2 120mm fans and is a maintenance free fully closed loop.

The Seidon 240M came well packaged in a predominantly black box with a large image of the 240M CPU Cooler on the front. The front of the box also highlights the fact that the 240M is Maintenance Free, Designed for Overclocking and uses UltraFine Micro Channels for optimal water flow and heat dissipation.

The back of the box shows the dimensions of both the pump and the radiator on the right, while the left side of the box lists the following features:

• Pre-filled, closed loop liquid cooling system requires zero maintenance.
• UltraFine Micro Channel cold plate optimizes water flow and heat dissipation.
• Durable and powerful water pump – dissipates heat effectively and maintains temperatures through stable water circulation.
• Large aluminium radiator with a wide RPM range PWM fan creates a superb balance between cooling efficiency and noise.
• Universal mounting solution supports the latest Intel LGA 2011/1150/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD FM2/FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2.

 

 

Opening the box allows us to see all of the contents within. As you can see the Seidon components are all individually wrapped and protected by, what appears to be, recycled cardboard.

In the box, other than the Seidon 240M radiator and pump assembly, we find the following: x2 120mm 2400 RPM fans, a rubber fan shroud, fan cable splitter, some thermal paste and a plethora of mounting hardware for the various socket types supported. In addition to this there’s a User Manual and a Warranty Information leaflet.

 

 

Below left we can see the closed loop Seidon 240M Radiator and pump assembly, with its array of stickers; Do not tamper and Warranty void when removed etc. The all aluminium radiator is 273mm in length, 120mm wide and 27mm thick.

The image on the right shows the x2 120mm Cooler Master branded fans, these fans have an RPM range from 600 – 2400 and are PWM controlled. The airflow produced ranges from 19.17 – 86.15 CFM, with a noise level of 19 – 40 db respectively.

 

 

At the time of writing the Cooler Master Seidon 240M is retailing for approximately £88 and comes with a 2 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Cooler Master

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

First Impressions are good, it certainly came well packaged and everything seems intact and no signs of water anywhere, so that’s a good start.

 

 

The water block/pump itself seems a little ugly when compared to other offerings in the market place today, with a somewhat industrial look to it! It would have been nice to have seen a flatter top to the pump assembly, maybe with a nice illuminated Cooler Master logo!? The use of the ribbed tubing also means that some flexibility is lost, when compared to the more flexible tubing used in other modern AiO coolers.

As you can see from the image below right the CPU block has a cooper base-plate that has a good clean machined finish, but has obviously not been polished. The elbow joints on the pump housing also allow the tubing to rotate slightly, this helps ensure that the tubing can be placed in the tightest of spots. You can also see the braided pump power cable leading away from the pump housing, this needs to be plugged into a 3 pin fan header on the motherboard.

 

 

The 240mm radiator has a couple of warning stickers; ‘Do not tamper with or remove’, seems to be directed at the tube/radiator connection. But more interesting is the ‘Warranty void when removed’ sticker that is stuck to what seems to be a filler plug, that of course could be used to drain/fill the system should the need arise!? This makes me question whether or not this AiO loop can actually be disassembled and reassembled with relative ease!? Although as the stickers suggest Cooler Master don’t really want you to do this. I’m going to leave it all well alone for now anyway…

 

 

Finally let’s have a quick look at the x2 120mm fans supplied with the Seidon 240M. These, all black fans with smart Cooler Master logo, are 2400 RPM rated units with PWM control and are powered via the single Y splitter cable provided. This cable needs to be plugged into a 4-pin fan header on the motherboard to ensure full PWM control.

 

 

Hardware Installation

 

The Cooler Master Seidon 240M was installed into the HAF XB case which forms part of My Test Rig. The instructions supplied with the Seidon 240M are on a giant sheet of paper (a bit like a map), which is a little cumbersome, but the instructions therein are OK. You need to study the pictures (which are a little small) carefully to gain a good understanding of how to install the Seidon 240M.

The first job was to identify what mounting hardware was required for my Intel Core-i7 3770K and its associated 1155 socket. The image below shows the necessary parts required for a Socket 1155 installation. The retention plate brackets are simply slid into a recess in either side of the pump housing and secured with the 4 silver screws provided.

 

 

The next task was to identify the parts (a back plate and x4 stand-offs) required for a Socket 1155 installation. The parts required can be seen in the image below left. The part at the back of this image is actually a tool that allows easy installation of the stand-offs simply using a screwdriver, instead of a socket (very useful!). Also shown is the Cooler Master thermal paste that is supplied with the Seidon 240M, although this was not used (Arctic Silver 5 was for consistency across reviews).

Before the back plate is fitted the pins (that sit on small plastic slides) need to be positioned correctly. This is the central position if you’re install is for Socket 1155. Once this has been done the plate can be placed beneath the motherboard and the threaded pins can then be fed through the holes in the motherboard and secured the other side by the 4 stand-offs provided (see image below right).

 

 

The next task was to fit the the radiator and fans. I decided to fit the fans on the outside (that’s behind the front panel, see image below right) of the Cooler Master HAF XB case and have them pulling cool air in over the Seidon 240M radiator. Now cooler Master have provided an anti-vibration pad; the fans need to be mounted to one side, with the other side being the mounting surface itself, in my case that is the case (haha!). Paying particular attention to the fan’s airflow each fan was placed onto the front of the case (over the anti-vibration pad) and secured through the fan housing, through the case and threaded into the radiator itself. It’s also worth noting the orientation of fan’s power cables, to ensure correct lengths and that you can get at them later during final cabling.

Once the radiator was in place the two ends of the Y splitter cable were attached to each fan and the other end of the cable was then plugged into a 4-pin fan header on the motherboard (in my case this was CPU_FAN1). It’s important that a 4-pin header is used to ensure that you gain PWM control over the fans and control is via the BIOS/UEFI.

 

 

Finally the CPU was treated to some thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) and the block/pump assembly was secured using the 4 screws already attached (these were fitted earlier) to the pump housing. After the 3-pin connector was plugged into a 3-pin fan header on the motherboard (in my case this was CPU_FAN2), we should be good to go.

 

 

With the power now on and a blue light glowing (which I assume means that it’s working), it’s time for some testing…

 

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

I will be using Prime95 (Small FFTs) and Core Temp to help me in the evaluation of the CPU temperatures and the performance of the Cooler Master Seidon 240M.

Each Prime95 run was timed at 30 mins and the max temperature reading for each core was noted, the average core temperature was then calculated. Testing was carried out at both 3.7GHz (1.072v) and at 4.3GHz (1.136v).

 

Hardware Performance

 

PWM Control Setup

As the Cooler Master Seidon 240M is PWM controlled and this is controlled via the BIOS/UEFI, I set up two UEFI profiles one for maximum performance (MAX) and one for minimal noise (MIN). I noted that during the MAX performance runs the fans maxed out at 2261 RPM (below the 2400 RPM claimed but within the 10% tolerance). At the MIN setting the fans ran at around 1250 RPM and never increased as the CPU temps did not go above 65 degrees Celsius set within the UEFI. The two profiles are shown below:

 

 

Cooler Master Seidon 240M Cooling Results @ 3.7GHz (1.072v)

Ambient Temperature	CPU Temp (avg cores)	Delta Temperature	Noise Level
21.50	54.50	33.00	35db
21.50	52.00	30.50	51db

MIN Fan Speed (via PWM in BIOS/UEFI)

MAX Fan speed (via PWM in BIOS/UEFI)

 

Cooler Master Seidon 240M Cooling Results @ 4.3GHz (1.136v)

Ambient Temperature	CPU Temp (avg cores)	Delta Temperature	Noise Level
21.00	64.00	43.00	35db
21.00	60.25	39.25	51db

MIN Profile (via PWM in BIOS/UEFI)

MAX Profile (via PWM in BIOS/UEFI)

 

The Cooler Master Seidon 240M has performed really well, managing to keep the average core temperature of the overclocked (4.3GHz) Ivy Bridge CPU to 60.25 degrees Celcius with the fans at maximum. Of course while the temperature is fine the noise level at around 50db is not really acceptable. The good news is that dropping the fans to low speed via the BIOS/UEFI yields a far quieter 35db and the increase in temperature is only 3.75 degrees.

During the 3.7GHz testing the Seidon 240M kept the average core temperature at 52 degrees with the temperature only increasing to 54.50 degrees during the low fan speed testing, a difference of just 2.50 degrees.

The beauty of the PWM control is that you can effectively create your own profiles, with your own balance of temperature versus noise. As I know that while gaming the CPU never really gets above 60 degrees Celsius and that’s well within the CPU’s operating temperatures, I’m inclined to leave the fans on low speed.

Overall the Seidon 240M from Cooler Master is impressive, although the supplied 120mm fans are quite noisy beyond about 1500 RPM, but as the thermal difference between full speed and low speed is not massive, therfore the best balance between temperature and noise is with the RPM kept at around 1500 RPM or below.

 

Final Thoughts

 

The Cooler Master Seidon 240M has performed admirably in all of my testing, keeping the temperature of my overclocked 3770K down to 60 degrees when at full speed (via PWM), so there’s certainly no denying the Seidon’s cooling ability.

The Seidon 240M came well packaged with a host of mounting hardware allowing it to be fitted to most of today’s CPU Sockets (see above for full list). The inclusion of a rubber mounting gasket to minimise vibration/noise is also a nice touch. Despite this, at full speed the Seidon is far from quiet, but then you do have to consider that you have two fans running at close to 2400 RPM. The good news is that you don’t have to have the fans at high speeds to get good cooling. During my testing the difference between full and low fan speeds with the CPU overclocked at 4.3GHz (see PWM Profiles above) was just 3.75 degrees, but the difference in noise levels was a whopping 16db. Obviously this would suggest that you stick to lower fan speeds (I’d say around 1500RPM or less) as this will keep the noise down but still provide excellent cooling. As the Seidon is PWM controlled you should be able to find your own sweet spot of Temperature/Noise via the BIOS/UEFI. Also testing with Prime95 is not very real world, during gaming with the fans set at low you’re unlikely to see temperatures above 60 degrees (assuming an ambient of around 21).

The only real issue with the Seidon for me is the look, it’s a shame that Cooler Master didn’t do something a bit better with that pump housing, it just looks a little too industrial for my liking. Here’s hoping for a revised version with a nice flat top and an red illuminated Cooler Master logo!

Overall though the Seidon is undeniably a great All in One Water Cooler and for the price (currently around £88) it’s pretty good value too.

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Cooler Master for providing this sample for review