Tech Reaction

Hey,

I recently picked up the Thermaltake Massive23 Cs. For those of you who don’t know what the Massive23 is, it is a notebook cooler. Thermaltake the manufacturer of this cooler, has more than a 10 year history making parts for computers, originating in 1999 in Taiwan. They also make computer cases, fans, heat sinks, liquid cooling, power supplies and a few other accessories for personal computers. The cooler comes in a box with a plastic handle, a picture of the cooler on the front with the various LED configurations. On the back, the box onagain shows the various led configurations that are possible, lists the specifications, and suggests you visit the Thermaltake website, in various languages, which is probably overkill. Upon opening the shoebox type box, you’ll see the cooler wrapped in a thin plastic bag and supported on the two sides by large foam pads. Underneath the cooler are the user manual as well as the power cable.

This cooler is a fancier, and slightly more expensive version of the Massive23 ST, also made by thermaltake A comparison of the features:

Massive23 CS $59.99

Massive23 ST $39.99

As you can see from the specifications sheets, found on the manufacturer’s website there truly isn’t that much difference. The Massive23 CS is made with aluminum and has a multicolour led fan instead. However, the aluminum build does results in Massive23 CS being much heavier than the plastic Massive23 ST version, being almost double the weight.  The price difference is there too, with the CS being $20 more expensive. In terms of the cooling performance of Massive23 performs amazingly. A great feature that Thermaltake has implemented in the design of this cooler is the meshed base the laptop sits on, further enhancing the cooling capabilities by providing efficient airflow.

In terms of testing, I ran my laptop at idle, and it put out about 40C, without a cooling pad. With the Massive23 pulling in cool air to the bottom of the laptop, the temperatures drop to about 35C, a 12.5% drop. At load temperatures, tested running folding at home, the temperatures without is were 63C and with the Massive23 were 57C. In terms of computer parts a 5-6C drop is quite good, since cooler hardware will definately result in a longer life span for your laptop. It should be noted that the cooling difference between the Massive23 CS and the Massive23 ST is marginal, and can probably be attributed to the fact that the components of the laptop do not actually interface with the cooler. The cooling mainly results from the large 20cm fans, both of which have the same rpm and CFM.The Massive23 is also extremely quite and are much quiter than the laptop fan itself, which makes it virtually inaudible. Another great feature of the cooler is that it can be turned off, with an on/off, unlike many other coolers on the market, and ones i’ve owned before this one, however it might not be necessary since as forementioned, is inaudible over the laptop fan.

One thing that still remains in question, is how long the laptop cooler will actually hold up. Being a heavy user of laptops I’ve gone through a number of them including a: Belkin laptop cooling pad as well as a Targus laptop cooling pad, both of which died in less than a year. However, knowing thermaltake, this cooler may just withstand the test of time. All in all, the Massive23 CS performs fantastically. However, the cost for the upgraded features from the Massive23 ST in my opinion are not worth it, and would suggest that instead if budget is an issue.