Review

Vigor Monsoon II Review
by Thomas Gribble

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Discrepancies and Conclusions

It seems like every time we review something, we learn some obscure yet extremely useful tidbit of information about one thing or another. It just so happens that what we learned this time directly affected the review we were writing. When temperature monitoring software like Speedfan and Motherboard Monitor read CPU temperatures, they take readings off of diodes that are physically on the motherboard. Usually these diodes can be found in the void in the middle of the CPU socket on the motherboard. It's quite rare that the temperatures you read in any monitoring software are those of the actual surface of the chip. Furthermore, what temperature reading should concerned users be more interested in? With the Core 2 Duo, Intel engineers included an on-chip diode that is mounted on the back of the processor itself and theoretically reads the temperature on the actual CPU die itself. OK, so now we have three different (and all potentially the most important) values for CPU temperature. Well, it turns out that the most important temperature to look at is that of the actual CPU die, since that is where all the business is going down. Unfortunately, there is no really good standard method of getting this temperature on modern CPU's that have internal heat spreaders covering the brains of the processor. If we take the reading from Intel's diode as correct, then what do we have to compare it against? The temperatures that we are used to seeing in Speedfan and Motherboard Monitor are in the 30-40-50 range, where the preconceived temperature limits are somewhere in the 60's and never above 70. We saw when writing this article that Intel's diode reports well over 70C at times, and that while idle with normal air cooling, the diode reports 42C. Could a processor long touted for its thermal characteristics and low TDP really be idling at 42C when being cooled by the legendary Thermaltake Big Typhoon in ambient conditions of 26C? With the Monsoon II, this temperature was 33C. More realistic, sure. But accurate? Who knows? It's all kind of fuzzy.

However, the numbers are still numbers, and numbers don¡¦t lie. It appears that in every thermal test we performed, the Monsoon II handily outperformed the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. Of course, based on a price perspective, we would expect this - The Monsoon II costs about three times as much as the Big Typhoon. In the above charts that compare power consumption, you can clearly see that the TEC-based Monsoon II consumes quite a bit of power. Although we had some oddball results in our power consumption readings, it is safe to say that the TEC does indeed consume somewhere around 50W during peak operation, as advertised. Also worth mention is we run the Monsoon II in a system that operates under 100% load nearly 24/7, folding for GotFrag. The system has had absolutely zero instability problems in the more than two straight weeks we have been subjecting it to this load.

As is the case with so many of the other products we have reviewed at GotFrag Hardware, what this review really comes down to is price. The performance is there - the performance is almost always there. Question is, does the performance this product offers justify its price? A few weeks ago we would have said that yes, it absolutely does. That is when X-bit labs published an article about a cooler called the Amanda from Titan. The Amanda is just a different implementation of MACS Technology's base cooler, and it only costs a cool $90. We could see people paying $90 for a TEC cooler that is superior to any kind of air cooling available, but $130? Sure, the Monsoon II is probably the better version of the cooler thanks to the management unit; however, even though we have not tested the Titan Amanda on this setup to get relevant numbers, it is a safe bet to say the performance is going to be right on par with the Monsoon II. We're just not sure the fancy LCD screen is worth the extra $40. It undoubtedly is to some people, particularly those that like the high-tech, clean look on their computer cases. To the enthusiast that wants killer TEC performance without the budget killing price, it's more of a toss-up. One thing IS for sure, though - the Monsoon II TEC CPU Cooling System is one hell of a product that does its job admirably well. EDIT: Upon publishing this review we recieved word that Titan Amanda cooler is not available in the United States. This changes everything since it effectively eliminates that option for consumers in the United States.

Pros

• Good implementation of TEC
• Management unit
• Set it and forget it operation
• Reduces temperatures significantly beyond those acheived with top-of-the-line air cooling.
• Very well designed

Cons

• Somewhat expensive
• High power consumption

Rating

9.7 out of 10

While the Monsoon II is an amazing cooler in every aspect, the fact that it is $130 dollars seems like a hurdle for a lot of gamers that can achieve good, although not as good, cooling for heatsinks that are one third this price. Our previous review of the CoolIT Freezone TEC/Watercooling system yielded an Editor's Pick for that product. Due to the fact that this cooler performs just as well as that one, in fact better in some cases, as well as costs half as much, we have to at least give it a higher rating. Also, with the news that Amanda is not available in the United States, thus eliminating the main criticism we have with the Monsoon in regards to pricing, we have to give this thing an Editor's Pick award.

Editor's Pick - Ultra-affordable Extreme Cooling Solution

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