Review

Vigor Gaming Updates Its Peltier-on-a-Chip Cooler
by Victor Loh

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Final Thoughts: What to Buy

If you've got overclocking aspirations that push the limits of conventional air cooling, the Vigor Monsoon II is up to the challenge. At $149, it's three times the price of the Thermaltake Sonic Tower but a good deal cheaper than liquid and phase-change cooling solutions. It's also relatively compact since you won't have to deal with water blocks, tubing, coolant, or compressors. Our main gripe with the Monsoon II is its somewhat noisy 92mm fan. It's louder than the Sonic Tower at full wail, and you can hear a marked difference between idle and load as the fan revs up from 2000RPM to 2600RPM under heavy use. The noise isn't unbearable, but we're crossing our fingers for a quieter blower on the Monsoon III. In the end, overclocking is all about trade-offs. When you're pushing the envelope of performance, you're giving up a little reliability, lifespan, energy efficiency, and peace of mind. Unless you're ready to spend the big bucks, add whisper-quiet computing to that list.

Product:	Vigor Monsoon II Active TEC CPU Cooling System
Company:	Vigor Gaming Computer
Price:	$149
Pros:	Impressive cooling performance.
Cons:	Fan could be quieter.
Summary:	Effective Peltier CPU cooling from Vigor Gaming thanks to a new heat sink design and improved electronic TEC management.
Rating:

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