SilverStone Tundra Series TD03-RGB AIO Cooler Review

Mike Sanders / 5 years ago

How Much Does it Cost?

Retailing for a price in the region of £45, this is certainly one of the least expensive AIO liquid coolers currently on the market. As such, in that remit alone, this is something of a bargain based on how well it performed in our testing.

The price, however, is strongly reflected in what you get out of the box. This is a ‘value’ approach to AIO liquid cooling and while it does a more than solid job, there are obviously more than a few shortfalls compared to it’s more expensive rivals.

Overview

In terms of value for money AIO liquid coolers, the SilverStone Tundra Series TD03-RGB is one of the best currently on the market. Our testing showed that in regular operation it was more than capable of providing a very solid cooling solution and can do so without making a lot of noise.

There are, however, clear limitations that have been made with this product in order to achieve the price.

Firstly, this is 100% not suitable for overclocking. Well, not unless you are hard of hearing and in which case noise wouldn’t be a factor. If you do, however, want to overclock and do place importance on sound levels, then this isn’t for you. Secondly, you are given the absolute basics out of the box. The lack of a physical manual is more than a little disappointing and it’s a factor that’s compounded further with an online version which isn’t nearly as detailed as it should be. Finally, the lack of a good manual control option for the RGB lighting (let alone a simple method of getting it all hooked up) is a problem.

Should I Buy One?

Well, that honestly depends on exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re after a highly-inexpensive and compact AIO liquid cooler, then this is without a doubt one of the best bang-for-buck products around at the moment.

As above, however, there are a few caveats that stop us giving this our full praise. Not that you wouldn’t expect a few for an entry-level AIO liquid cooler.

Put simply, to get the price this low, I suspect that they ended up cutting too many important corners. Not necessarily in the design (which appears more than bullet-proof) but simply in terms of what you get to help you install this to your system. For a cheap and cheerful AIO liquid cooler, however, this has more than enough going for it to be a very attractive option for the budget-friendly PC build.

Pros

One of the least expensive AIO liquid coolers on the market.
Strong performance for standard PC operation.
Excellent aesthetics with nice RGB features to the fan and pump head.
A surprisingly solid feel for such a low-price.

Cons

The lack of a physical manual is very disappointing. In addition, the online manual isn’t detailed enough to make this ‘beginner’ friendly.
The lack of clear instructions makes the installation far more difficult than it needed to be. This isn’t a complicated mounting design, but the lack of good instructions make it so.
No manual RGB lighting controller/hub.