Kaby Lake 7700K 5GHz AIO Cooler Mega Test

SilverStone Tundra TD02 Slim

Price @ OCUK:  £79.99

Technical Specification

 

Up Close

Gone is the white and Blue packaging of the “E” line, and in its place we have the Black and Blue packaging of the Slim series.  Not only is the 02 Slim…well thin, but as a result the box weighs noticeably less than a 240mm AIO box usually does.

  

 

As we usually bang on about how a box gives relevant key features and product details, we thought we’d actually show you what me mean when it’s done well.  Nice laid out figures, not hidden in the product of a graphical artist’s orgasm. (yes Scythe, we’re looking at you)

  

 

Before we look at the super slim rad, let’s take a shufty at the pair of 15mm thick fans that come as part of the package.  at 2200RPM they’re fast spinners, let’s just hope they’re not too noisy.

  

 

Wow, that is thin, or as the saying goes, ” I wish my wife was this thin”  Actually, I don’t, because if she were only 22mm thick she’d be quite unhealthy never mind the fact that there’d be nowhere for her internal organs.  Anyways, we think you catch our drift.

  

 

Gone is the Aluminium unibody of the “E” series, replaced instead by the plastic body of the Slim.

  

 

Have a look at the SilverStone web pages for the the TD02 E and TD03 E and read the bit about how they think the screw-less copper contact plates are much superior to screwed ones, and how plastic housings are less durable, and like us you might wonder why they then use them on another product in the same Tundra line, and no, this wasn’t meant rhetorically, we really are genuinely confused as to why they would contradict themselves within the same product line.

  

 

Remember the bit about how they think the brazed fins of the “E” series increase cooling efficiency?  Yeah us to.  But look, conventional fins!  What are SilverStone playing at.  It just doesn’t make sense to us to say how inferior a certain material, method or technology is in one part of your advertising blerb, and then use exactly that material, method and technology in another of your products in the same line.

  

 

However you look at it, there’s no denying the TD02 Slim is one skinny AIO assembly.  How thin>  well it’s only by angling the camera slightly upwards that we’re actually able to see it inside the case.

  

 

Here’s a better shot that allows you to actually see those super slim 15mm thick fans attached to the 22mm thick rad, making the whole shooting match just 37mm thick.  I’ve had chocolate bars thicker than that!  Seriously though, this ultra compact solution will mean that this AIO will fit into cases that won’t accept standard set ups.  In use the slim performed well, but unfortunately for it, those fans made a hell of a racket, clocking in at some 64.1dB(A).  Not only were they loud, but they emitted a really irritating and fatiguing high pitched hum.