Introduction
Cooler Master is making some bold products for 2009. It started off with the Black Label that we reviewed just yesterday and is now spreading to the company's CPU cooler products. If you thought the V8 was extreme, just wait till you see the V10. In all fairness the V10 should really be called the W16, or at least the V12; the gap between the V8 and V10 is very far apart. Think Mustang compared to a supped up Venom Viper.
Over the years we have observed a few peltier assisted air and water coolers. The water coolers usually did a very good job on our test bench when coupled with high volume high pressure pumps, but the air cooled variety typically didn't fair so well. The problem has always been saturation; when the fan is just not able to dissipate all of that heat fast enough. The result is just like a wave in an enclosed tank; heat goes up but gets pushed back down because it wasn't able to move on past a barrier.
Cooler Master has rushed us over their first peltier assisted, air cooled heatsink for a quick picture show. The original plan was to publish the preview on the first day of CES, but shipping troubles put a stop to that. So here we are today, V10 in hand and are able to give you a quick look at this impressive beast.
The new V10 will not be released until February and Cooler Master is keeping a tight grip on performance numbers, allowing everyone to get a chance to get samples for the launch. But since we asked nicely, we are able to bring you this exclusive pictorial a full month ahead of time. Let's have a look!
The Cooler Master V10
As you can see, Cooler Master has already got the retail box ready to roll out to retail and e-tailers. Right on the front of the package Cooler Master starts in with big claims; 200+ watts of cooling power.
The new V10 is big and looks even bigger with the fan shroud still in place. There are three banks of fins cooled by two 120mm fans.
Here we see that the TEC does not sit directly above the processor, but is off to the side and acts like a heat exchanger.
The view from your case window will look spectacular, but the V10 isn't all about the looks either. The side mounted 120mm fan will also aid in cooling your memory as well.
A Little Deeper
Here we see that the outside fan is at an angle so that warm air from the cooler and the memory will not be directed towards your hard drives and fight the natural up and out air flow pattern used in most of today's cases.
Your processor will be scared to see this one coming. Here we see six heatpipes leading to the cooling fins with the four inner-most being assisted by a TEC.
The naked view exposes the inner most secrets of the V10. There are three massive banks of cooling fins; one is dedicated to cooling the TEC and the other two are used exclusively for the processor.
Here we see that Cooler Master used a 40mm square TEC that is insulated to keep condensation out of the peltier.
That's all folks. To find out the power rating of the TEC and how the new Cooler Master V10 compares to our previously tested coolers, you will need to stop by on February 3.