Monsoon II Lite: Thermal Electric Cooling Tower

Final Words

In a past review a reader asked us why we didn't mention Peltier cooling in our list of processor cooling methods. We explained that it was similar in principal to phase-change cooling and not much used these days. Perhaps we spoke a little too soon about excluding Peltier or TEC cooling from our list. In the past, TEC cooling has been criticized because it consumed much more energy - two to three times more - than it could deliver in cooling. The extra energy became more heat to remove from the cooling solution. There has also been the thorny problem of condensation and frost in idle states, and the risk of catastrophic processor failure if the Peltier cooling failed.

Vigor has addressed all of these concerns in their second version of the Monsoon cooling system. Monsoon II combines a relatively low-power 50W TEC with an efficient heatpipe tower cooler. By running the TEC at a target temperature of about 25C and supplementing cooling with the heatpipe tower, they have effectively bypassed all of these problems. Below 25C the fan-cooled tower does all the cooling, while at highest speed overclocks under greatest stress the TEC runs almost constantly and handles the cooling. In between the TEC is turned on, half power, and off depending on the temperature requirements. To prevent catastrophic failure heatpipes cool both the cool and hot plate sides of the TEC.

All of this sounds good, but the proof as always is in the performance. The Monsoon II Lite matched the cooling prowess of the best air tower cooler we have tested, the Tuniq Tower 120, in cooling our test Core 2 Duo X6800. It went on to push the X6800 overclock to the highest stable overclock measured so far with this CPU at 3.96GHz. The overall performance of the Monsoon II Lite moved it to the top of our CPU cooler performance charts. Keep in mind that we have not yet compared the Monsoon II to water cooling, but beating the Tuniq Tower 120 is pretty impressive.

This week Vigor Gaming is introducing the Monsoon II Lite version that we tested. This version replaces a more expensive LCD readout controller with a PCI card controller. The new Lite version is the exact same Monsoon II cooler, but the price is reduced from $149 to a list of about $100 and an expected street price of $89. This is a really excellent value in a package that brings this much technology to the marketplace.

We do have complaints about the noise levels of the Monsoon II Lite. There is no reason this cooler should be noisier than the best tower coolers available. The coupling of the fan speed control with the TEC control generates all sorts of unnecessary buzzing and clicking. While this has minimal impact on performance, we encourage Vigor to fix this annoying behavior as soon as possible. We repeat that this problem mainly occurs during in-between states and it is not an issue at full TEC or full tower cooling. In fairness, though, most operating conditions fall in this in-between state.

The Monsoon II Lite kit is a very innovative cooler combining a TEC and a heatpipe tower. It works as advertised and it appears to correct the issues many have with Peltier cooling. It is not an extreme solution designed to compete with phase-change cooling, but it is effective in competing with the best air cooling and water cooling. Unlike either air or water cooling it is based on a cooling method that can actually create sub-ambient temperatures.

In the end the improvements the Monsoon II Lite makes over a top air cooler like the Tuniq Tower 120 are pretty small. Yes, it does reach a higher overclock than the Tuniq, but it is also a bit more expensive. For those who enjoy technology the Monsoon II Lite is an exceptionally interesting product at a fair price. It also performed as advertised in our tests. When stressed it is too noisy but the manufacturer is working on this problem.

Whether this is the right CPU cooler for you is something you will need to decide. The Editors at AnandTech are, by definition, technology freaks. Frankly, we never mind rewarding innovative products that work, like the Monsoon II Lite, with our hard-earned dollars. This is particularly true when they are also fairly priced and a reasonable value.