V3 Components Voltair TEC CPU Cooler Review

V3 Voltair Packaging and a Closer Look

If you managed to skip directly to his page without reading the first and you don’t understand how this cooler works, I strongly recommend you check out the first page for an explanation. V3’s Voltair is not like your average cooler, as it uses Thermoelectric Cooling elements, which makes it fairly unique.

Overall the box is pretty generic on the outside, but starting with the face, you have a crop shot of the cooler, some bullet points regarding the cooler, and socket support.

The left and right sides don’t show you anything, so flipping to the back side, this is where we find all of the technical specifications and a small blurb about what TEC technology is and how it works.

Finally, one flap gives a couple more of the specifics about the Voltair cooler.

Flipping open the box, we see that the cooler itself is sandwiched between two formed pieces of thick plastic.

Getting right to the goods, here’s what you’ve been waiting for. I present you with V3 Components’s Voltair TEC CPU Cooler. This cooler utilizes dual 120mm fans, configured in a push-pull configuration, which are both attached to the black shroud that you see around the cooler.

Looking at the top of the cooler, we see the nice V3 logo and four flat thumb screws. You simply remove these (The shroud is seen off under the Installation section of this review) and you gain easier access to installing the cooler.

Just for comparison’s sake, I grabbed my favorite sports drink (a 20 fl oz Powerade) and set it next to it. Here is the cooler standing up and next to my drink.

Here’s the cooler laying on its side. You can see how large this cooler really is with this comparison!

This is the other side that shows the pull fan.

Here is one additional shot of the cooler, this time showing you the TEC 2-pin Molex power connector and a 3-pin fan header. With this being 3-pin, you can only have your motherboard statically control the speeds and will not receive the benefits of a PWM connection. Fortunately, V3 includes a manual fan controller for this variable operation, which you will see in the accessories towards the bottom of this page.

The bottom of the heat sink does not come with any pre-applied paste, but it is protected with a sticker from the factory.

Removing the sticker, you gain a clearer understanding that the heat pipes are flush with the base, which means they’ll take direct heat instead of having to go through a separate copper block.

This is an underside profile shot with nothing much to see here. The four screws that surround the copper heat pipes will be used for your mounting CPU’s mounting bracket.

Snapping a side profile shot of the sandwiched base and how the TEC plate fits in-between.

Finally, here are the included accessories with the Voltair kit. You have separate brackets for Intel or AMD mounting, but a single universal back plate. On the top right you’ll find the included fan controller. For your reference, the thermal paste that is included in this kit is Dow Corning TC-5121.

This wraps up the introduction to the cooler and the packaging, so let’s move on and see how easy this beast is to install!