Thermaltake Tidewater (Dual) VGA Water Cooling Kit

Manufacturer: Thermaltake Technology
Supplied by: Thermaltake Technology
MSRP: $106

by Dean Barker (4/18/2006)
 

 

Introduction

Until recently, water cooled video cards was only for folks with existing water cooled systems.  Adding in an extra water block really isn't a big deal but it is a bit troublesome to have to partially drain out a system so you can add in the extra parts.  This is in addition to the concern of a graphics card processor adding heat to the H2O circuit for cooling for your CPU.  Thermaltake first launched their Tidewater VGA cooler some months back to a warm reception from folks looking to avoid these headaches.  But what about the SLI and CrossFire people... 

Today, we have a look at the Thermaltake Tidewater VGA Cooler for DUAL VGA systems.  Since we never had an opportunity to look at the original Tt Tidewater, we are going to look over the entire unit.  Before we get started, we need to thank the people over at Thermaltake for making this review possible.  On with the show!

Specifications

• Application: NVidia GPU, ATi VPU

• Main body observed dimensions: 232 x 127 x 35mm

• Cooling fan(s): One 60mm variable speed turbine type fan

• Fan RPM: 1700 ~ 3400 RPM

• Fan Sound Level: 17 ~ 25 dBA

• Pump: DC 12V Water Pump (72 L/hr)

• Water block observed dimensions: 60 x 40 x 11mm

• Water block construction: Copper

What you get

Aside from the Tt Tidewater Dual VGA Cooling assembly, you also get a manual, mounting hardware for most all current ATi or NVidia based graphics cards as well as 16 small aluminum memory heatsinks.  The RAM sinks are designed for BGA type memory seen on most current cards.  A piece of double sided thermal tape is affixed to one side allowing the end user to apply them with ease.

  

NEXT

Pg 1 - Introduction
Pg 2 - The Unit
Pg 3 - Inside and Installation
Pg 4 - Concerns and GPU Performance
Pg 5 - Memory performance and Conclusion