Cooler Master’s Seidon 240M puts i7-3770K under water to reach 5.0GHz
The Specifications, Unboxing and Installation
The Seidon 240M arrived in a cardboard box packed with everything necessary to cool any modern CPU that you may buy. This cooler is “universal” – engineered to fit any modern Intel or AMD CPU’s cooling needs – overclocked or stock. Here are the Seidon 240M’s specifications and features charts from Cooler Master’s site:
Specifications:
The main difference between the Seidon 240M and the other watercooling units are in the thickness of the radiators versus length; the Thermaltake Pro has a much larger cooling surface area due to its being nearly two times thicker than the Performer, yet the Seidon is twice as long and uses its two fans side-by-side to cool the radiator, not in push-pull. Of course, we shall test the Seidon 240M with 4 fans – with two optional 120mm CPU fans on either side of the radiator making it our Seidon “480M”. However, first we will unbox the Seidon 240M CPU water cooler.
The Seidon 240M uses a copper waterblock with micro-channels to increase the contact area between the coolant and the cold plate.
The Seidon 240M Features
The contact plate itself is very smooth; smoother than the Thermaltake Water2.0 plates, but not as mirrorlike as the Noctua NH-DH14.
We like the tube of thermal grease that Cooler Master includes with the Seidon 240M. It definitely a better deal than getting the thermal interface material (TIM) pre-applied by the factory and then needing to reseat or reinstall the cooler and having to buy a tube. Of course, having the TIM pre-applied in addition to including a tube, might be a real plus as many enthusiasts generally apply too much grease.
The Seidon 240M is fully featured and the specifications are excellent so let’s get it out of the box and instal it.
Unboxing
The Seidon 240M box stresses – two times over – maintenance free, overclocking and the ultra-fine micro channels, but nothing is explained.
The back of the box shows the physical dimensions of the Seidon and mentions the features again with emphasis on the mounting being “universal”.
The other side panel shows the cooler and its mounting possibilities.
We see the specifications listed above on the other side panel. Below is the packing of the Seidon 240M.
Cooler Master’s instructions although brief are easy to follow if you have experience with water. If not, you might want to consult a Youtube walkthrough. Perhaps Cooler Master might consider including a CD or DVD with an installation video in the box.
Here is everything out of the box.
There are common parts and also parts included specifically for Intel and AMD CPUs.
We had no difficulty following the instructions for installing a watercooler on either an Intel or AMD CPU platform but we were already used to working with other liquid cooling systems.
Above is our Seidon 240M out of the box and ready for installation. Below is another view of the radiator next to the fans which are bolted to it before installation.
The fans work next to each other and they screw directly to the radiator.
We’re ready to go! Let’s install the Seidon.
Installation
The installation of the Seidon is pretty straightforward. The cooler head needs to be prepared.
The supplied holding rings are universal and the one used for Intel is assembled with parts that must be put together exactly right to fit your particular CPU. Refer to the installation guide to be sure it is correct. The parts are all easily identified and the installation is not difficult. Here it is ready for installation on a LGA 1155 platform.
Next we drilled out the 8 screw holes in our Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 as the Cooler Master Seidon uses screws to pass through the chassis and screw into the holes in the radiator. Since the fans and the rubber grommet all need to be held together tight to the case chassis while the screws are tightened down, we found it very helpful to use masking tape to temporarily hold everything together while we installed the radiator.
Next, the radiator needs to be installed with 8 screws. We removed our case top fan since the two Seidon 120mm fans are set to exhaust.
Here is the backplate for the Seidon 240M.
Next we installed the risers which come through the motherboard and are held firmly by nuts.
Below, all 4 risers are tightened down and await the Seidon 240M contact plate. 
The cooler head of the Seidon 240M is tightened down with a screwdriver into the risers and it is a very firm contact.
Next the question is where you want to have your radiator installed and do you want the fans to intake air from the outside or from inside of the case? A good location at the back of the case uses a smaller 120mm radiator to replace the exhaust fan, but this is not possible with the Seidon 240M. Instead, we chose the top of our Overseer RX-I’s case which has both space and mounting holes for it. Another choice would be to hang the radiator outside of the case.
In our case, cool air is drawn in from the front of the Overseer RX-I and also in through its side case panel opening (although optional, we installed a 240mm fan), and the hot radiator-heated air is exhausted from the top of the case by the Seidon’s two 120mm fans – in total, we have two large intake fans and three smaller exhaust fans.
It was not practical for us to bring air directly in from the top of the case as Cooler Master advises. Our case is designed to exhaust air from the top as there are no dust filters on top to protect if the airflow is reversed and it becomes intake.
If the end user reverses the fans to draw fresh air in from the top of the case, make sure to use a dust filter and also make sure that the case that you use can handle this kind of airflow. The only disadvantage with our choice of using the two Seidon fans as exhaust is that cooling might be compromised just a tiny bit compared with bringing cooling air directly into the radiator on top of the case instead of coming in through the front and side of the case.
Installing the Seidon 240M was a breeze and we much prefered its sturdy backplate and mounting system over the Thermaltake Water2.0 design which used plastic that deformed with multiple mountings. In contrast with using a bulky air cooler such as the Noctua NH-DH14, there is now plenty of room to access the connectors at the top of the motherboard; the Noctua cooler barely clears the video card and you have to remove a fan (and your video card) to insert DDR3 into a slot. Watercooling absolutely wins as far as roominess and convenience goes.
Noise
The Cooler Master fans do a fine job of keeping the radiator and the liquid cool at regular rpm using power management. However, when the cooler is under load the fans spin up and you can hear them. In contrast, the Noctua NH-DH14 is quieter even under full load although the Seidon 240M is quieter than the Thermaltake Water2.0 coolers.
The Seidon 240M wins for convenience although the air cooler wins in the quietness department. Let’s head over for the test.
