Sometimes a small form factor PC build can’t be finalized the way you envision it, because of a few mm of clearance. Well, SilverStone might help here since they have released the VIDA SLIM series of AIOs that have a narrower radiator and slim profile fans to match. We are talking about a 22mm thick radiator (where most are around 27mm) and 16mm tall fans (usually 25mm thick for a regular 120mm fan). Despite this slim overall profile, you still get ARGB for both the CPU block and the fans.
SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd is a company based in Taiwan, founded in 2003 that makes computer cases, power supplies, and other peripheral for personal computers. Their goal was to provide products that create inspirations and customers a wide selection of choices.
With distribution centres in different areas of the globe, SilverStone products can be seen all over the world, not just for computer users but also for home entertainment use. Thus providing leisure with integration of advanced technologies that is functional and making them enjoyable to use.
Prices and Availability
The VIDA SLIM series can be had in a 120mm or 240mm variant. The MSRP is $129.99 for the 240mm variant which is quite steep considering the overall AIO market.
Presentation and Specifications
* Courtesy of their website.
* 38mm total thickness for fan and radiator
* SilverStone’s unique 22mm radiator design, allows for effective heat dissipation in cases with space constraints
* Water pump integrated within the radiator
* Aluminum alloy cavity pump strengthens the overall structure
* Three phase, six pole motor design
* 9-bladed pressure optimized fan blades
* Rotatable CPU water block
* Integrated rubber padding on fan mounts to further reduce vibrational noise
* ARGB controller included with 10 lighting modes, and adjustable brightness and color changing speed
Visual Inspection
Classic SilverStone livery and packaging with everything you need to know about the AIO, highlighting of course the slim nature of it.
There are extra padding to make sure the slim radiator and fans don’t move inside the box whilst in transit.
Regarding accessories, you are covered for most scenarios, including the fact if you motherboard doesn’t have a 5v ARGB port available. The VIDA SLIM 240mm AIO supports all of the modern Intel and AMD sockets, including LGA1700 and AM5.
Thus we have:
1x Warranty leaflet
1x ARGB remote control user’s manual
1x Installation manual
1x Intel LGA1700 backplate
1x Intel LGA115x/1200 backplate
1x Mounting bracket for Intel
1x Mounting Bracket for AMD
4x Intel LGA20xx Standoff standoffs
4x Intel LGA115x/1200 standoffs
4x Intel LGA1700 standoffs
4x AMD AM4/AM5 standoffs
4x Spring-Loaded screws
8x Long Length Philips screws
8x Short Length Philips screws
1x thermal paste syringe
1x PWM Y-Cable for the fans
1x 2-pin socket to MOLEX cable (pump power alternative)
1x Y-cable for 3-pin A-RGB connectivity
1x dedicated A-RGB controller (with 3 buttons: the + & – buttons increases/decrease the speed/brightness of the dynamic mode whereas the M button toggles through the 10 pre-loaded modes)
1x SATA cable to power the controller
1x A-RGB cable
The bundled 120mm fans are 16mm thick and feature full ARGB lighting. All of the mounting corners have antivibration pads preinstalled.
With the help of their 9 blades, the fans are rated up to 1800 RPM, while pushing 66.83 CFM of airflow, with a static pressure of 2.59 mmH20 while not going over 33.9 dBA of noise output.
A cool feature of SilverStone’s latest cooling products, is the fact that you can daisy chain the fans’ ARGB capability.
The aluminium radiator measures 275 x 120 x 22mm which means adding the 16mm thick slim fans, the total thickness of the assembly will be at just 38mm (vs 52mm on a regular AIO). Then the rubber tubes are fully sleeved and measure 400mm long.
Regarding the fins’ density, the radiator features an 18 FPI count with 12 channels for the liquid to flow. As you can see on the right, the pump is integrated into the radiator. There are subtle cut-outs on each side of the radiator to have the pump’s power plug be routed properly out of the way.
It takes power via a 3-pin plug and the three-phase, six-pole pump motor is rated up to 4200 RPM.
On the other end of the tubes, we have the low profile CPU block which also features ARGB and can be further daisy chained to the fans’ cables. A cool feature is the rotating cover which let you have the SilverStone logo always orientate properly regardless of the block’s mounting angle.
The contact copper plate is a perfect square at 55x55mm and doesn’t have a mirror polish, with very fine grooves from the machining process.
A nice touch comes from these sponge-like material that prevents any dust entering around the CPU cap.
Installation is very simple since on the AM4/AM5 sockets you can reuse the stock motherboard backplate.
Then attach the custom standoffs that have integrated spacers.
Slide in the AMD side bracket which can only be inserted from one direction.
Apply the thermal paste and then bolt down the CPU block in an X-pattern with the spring-bolts.
Regarding socket area clearance, everything is perfect even the tubes exiting the radiator, have a few mm to breath with this case’s modular AIO top tray.
Wire management, just requires a firm cable tie and everything is easy to connect together and that radiator cut-out for the pump’s plug, comes in handy at the right moment.
The main problem comes from the stock installation screws for the fans. Due to its slim nature, it’s understandable that SilverStone made sure the top of the bolts will not protrude above the fan’s frame footprint. But the downsize is they have no extra room to accommodate a tray case installation like our testing case, since in a normal enclosure you attach the radiator to the case, not use the fan bolts. Alas, we used zip-ties for a temporary quick fix.
The ARGB is fully compatible with all of the lighting software of all of the main motherboard vendors and as you can see it makes quite the eye candy show.
Testing methodology
- The CPU AIO cooler will be tested in 3 different scenarios as follows: the AMD Ryzen 5 5600x CPU at stock settings, then at 4.0 GHz for 1.05v (as the main baseline to remove any inconsistencies in stock form where the BIOS will pump extra voltage for shorter periods) and finally an overclocked scenario of 4.7 GHz for 1.275v
- The SilverStone VIDA 240 SLIM will be tested against a regular sized 240mm AIO
- As the main torture test, we will employ a 2 minute run in AIDA64
- Room temperature was recorded at ~21°C
- For the noise testing, we used our Pyle PSPL01 placed 30 cm away from the setup – all other fans will will be off or set at minimum RPM and a lav mic was places at the same distance for the audio sample
- Thermal paste used Noctua NH-H2
- All of the side panels will be attached and the Slim Vida’s fans will be left on auto % RPM to simulate real life usage or manually adjusted and pointed out accordingly
- Any results over 90°C in any condition are considered a fail
Hardware used:
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
– Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B550-i Gaming mITX @ BIOS 2803
– CPU Cooling: SilentiumPC Navis F240 AIO
– Boot SSD: Samung 970 PRO 1TB M.2 Gen3x4 MLC PCIe NVMe 1.3
– Video card: ASUS GTX 1080 STRIX A8G
– PSU: Corsair SF750 SFX Platinum
– Case: Phanteks Evolv Shift XT ARGB mITX
Software:
– OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 21H2
– NVIDIA Drivers – 526.47
– CPU-Z v1.95 – To verify the CPU’s and RAM’s statistics
– Core Temp v1.17 – To see the temperatures in real time
– AIDA64 Extreme v6.60 – Memory analysis and Benchmark suite
– MSI Afterburner v4.62 – To record the FPS and load/temperatures
– Cinebench R23 – Great overall CPU benchmark tool
– 3D/Game(s) – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with latest update, set at 1080p, ultra quality settings, no V-Sync
Testing, Results and Analysis
The first series of tests come from Cinebench R23 which will put a serious load on the CPU while it renders a specific frame. Thus from top to bottom we have the basis (4.0 GHz @ 1.05v), stock and OC (4.7 GHz @ 1.275v) scenarios.
Considering its slim nature, the VIDA 240 did pretty good even in the OC scenario!
The 2 minute long AIDA64 stress test should impose the maximum workload just for the CPU, therefore we should get the highest stress scenario. R23 proves to be almost as demanding as AIDA64 so the delta increase in temperature is higher by 1 or 2 degrees while the OC scenario was a bit cooler.
If a CPU cooler manages to survive the torture tests, then a benchmark run in a gaming scenario, should be a walk in the park. Games are not as stressful as a synthetic torture tests but are a great indicator of real life usage.
The noise output test is an important challenge for any CPU cooler because if you can’t live with the noise, this negates any of the other advantages. Above 80% RPM the slim fans start to get really audible, so make sure to keep them below this threshold if you plan to have a silent build.
Conclusion
What we have here is a calculated compromise for better fitment over a standard 240 mm AIO. Luckily, SilverStone did manage to keep the balance in order and the VIDA SLIM 240 still performs as you would expect from an AIO. It managed to keep under control, in a stress test, an overclocked 5600x for 1.275v. That is plenty of proof, albeit at a higher noise footprint from the fans. The overall build quality is excellent, with that heads up regarding the included screws will not be long enough to clear a modular case tray installation, as we saw with the Phanteks Evolv Shift XT. Nice visual points go to the ARGB implementation in both the slim fans and the low profile CPU block and the rotating top cap for OCD purposes. It depends how you look at it really, because the thinner radiator and the extremely quiet integrated pump, alone these should warrant enough to get it and then upgrade to any fans that you like if you want even more performance around the available space.
The good:
+ Perfect choice for SFF builds
+ Great performance considering its slim nature
+ Long 400mm bendable tubes
+ Very easy installation process
+ Daisy chain for the ARGB with manual mode
+ Rotating CPU block cap
+ AMD AM5 ready
The bad:
– The slim design comes with some compromises, like the included fan bolts will no permit to install them over a case’s modular cooling tray (maybe include a separate longer set)
– Only 2 years warranty
– Quite high asking price
Glob3trotters “Innovative” Award – 4 out of 5
Many thanks to SilverStone for supplying us with this AIO!
