SilverStone Tundra TD01

If Maximum PC’s tests worked like a beauty pageant, SilverStone’s Tundra TD01 might win the swimsuit competition. Talentwise, however, this water-cooling rig would be akin to your average 18-year-old girl trying to belt out “Since You’ve Been Gone.” It isn’t horrific, but it’s no Kelly Clarkson.

The 1.2-by-1-foot enclosure works wonders as an aluminum footrest, though it also doubles as a large radiator. Coolant heading out of your machine wraps around the interior of the enclosure three times before getting dumped into the TD01’s 0.9-liter reservoir. Two silent submerged pumps push the coolant back out to your machine toward a single copper and acrylic water block for your Intel 775- or AMD-based CPU.

Setting up the TD01 is fundamentally the same as installing any other water-cooling setup, save for two real sticklers: removing the motherboard and attaching the block to an AMD chip with the god-awful spring-loaded screws. We definitely feared breaking our motherboard in half when trying to get those things in.

We also ran into a bit of trouble with the rig as a whole, in that nothing was pumping when we first plugged in the device. A bit of tweaking allowed us to bypass the problem—a faulty power connection—and SilverStone was speedy about getting us a replacement power cord.

But even when it works, the TD01 doesn’t stand toe-to-toe with equally quiet passive coolers we’ve tested. While it beats our stock cooler in the size category, it very much underperforms when compared to a basic air cooler, as well as other water coolers, in the simple sense that temperatures will actually rise if you use the TD01. Our CPU never reached critical levels, but it did get quite warm—at idle usage, mind you. Running a 100-percent burn made us a tad uncomfortable.

If you’re all about looks, the TD01 is for you. It’s a beautiful enclosure… with boo-tiful performance.