SilverStone TD02-Slim Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Installation
Although the TD02-Slim is designed to be installed in smaller tighter cases you shouldn’t find the installation process to be that difficult at all. If you are familiar with SilverStone, the mounting system is identical to that of their other AiOs.

We’ll begin by attaching both fans to the radiator. SilverStone recommends mounting the radiator such that the tube end is furthest from the rear panel of the case. We’ll go ahead and follow this directive while also attaching the fans to the bottom of the radiator so they pull air into the case and through the radiator. You’ll want to orient the fans so that the place where the wires exit the fan body is facing towards the back side of the case. There are two complete sets of screws for attaching the fans to the radiator. One is for mounting the fans through a section of case, the other for direct mount. If you are following our example you will want the shorter direct mount set. In the photo below that would be the one on the left.

TD02-Slim (25) SilverStone TD02-Slim

Loosely attach all eight screws before fully securing them. I found that some of the taps for the screws were a little tight and required a little effort, but none of them cross threaded.

TD02-Slim (27) TD02-Slim (28)

The next step is to attach the radiator to the case itself. You will want to select the shortest set of screws in the kit. You may or may not need to pass the fan wires through to the back of your case at this point, depending on individual case design. Holding the radiator in place in the top of the case start several of the small screws in the holes by hand to temporarily hold the rad in place. Once secure attach the rest of the screws and snug them all tight with a Philips screwdriver.

TD02-Slim (29) TD02-Slim (30)

Now we’ll move to the back of the case to install the pump backplate and connect the wiring from the fans. We used the Y splitter to condense the fans to a single 4 pin output and attached that to our fan hub.

TD02-Slim (31)

On to the backplate we orient it for our Intel socket 1155. This actually means that the side that states “THIS SIDE FOR AMD” is facing up. Inserting the four silver standoff screws we create a small four legged table which we insert from the back of the motherboard into the front.

TD02-Slim (32) TD02-Slim (33) TD02-Slim (34)

Back in the front we fasten the backplate in place with the four squat black plastic standoffs. These narrow at one end when inserted correctly and keep things in place. After that go ahead and place a grain of rice size bit of thermal paste onto the surface of the CPU.

SilverStone TD02-Slim SilverStone TD02-Slim

You’re now ready to actually mount the pump. Align the correct holes on the ends of the Intel bracket with the four standoff screws and press the pump firmly onto the cpu. The individual holes are really unnecessary here and a single long slot would have been preferred. Hold the pump in place with one hand and secure with the thumbscrews. Once you have all four threaded on a bit, start to alternate them in a cross pattern to get an even pressure across the surface of the CPU. Stop when you’ve fully compressed the springs.

SilverStone TD02-Slim

The last step is to attach the pump’s 3 pin connector to the CPU_FAN header on your motherboard. As you can see when installed there is ample room between the cooler and our Ram or 8 pin connector on our motherboard. Looks like that slim design really works.

SilverStone TD02-Slim SilverStone TD02-Slim

Once you are all connected go ahead and button up your case aside from the side panel. Connect your PSU and peripherals and power on the PC. Visually check that the fans have spun up and carefully check with your hand that the pump is working. You should feel a slight vibration at the very least. You should also have a blue LED backlight coming from the pump.

SilverStone TD02-Slim SilverStone TD02-Slim