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Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Cooler Review

Cooling/Water Cooling by leeghoofd @ 2011-11-21

One of the main remarks we had when testing all the different all in one cooling solutions was the size of the radiator, which limited the heat dissipation. Secondly the modern units generate a fair amount of noise, if it's user opted for maximum cooling capacity. A bigger radiator increases the cooling surface, thus logically should aid in lowering the processor temps. Another big plus is that it allows for more fans to be used, which can spin slower and yet have the same or better cooling capacity then it's single or dual 120mm fan solutions. A while ago Corsair bundled forces with CoolIT, to manufacture it's latest generation of Hydro coolers. And the feedback from it's numerous users resulted finally in a 240mm rad version baptized the Hydro 100.

Thermal Performance with Socket 775

Performance with Intel S775 Q9950@4ghz

Time again to fire up our overclocked S775 quad core CPU. Still being able to keep up with most modern games. Ofcourse newer platforms are more responsive and will pump out higher FPS. Yet with a modern videocard this setup still warrants hours of fierce online gaming action. Hence why we still include this platform, next year the socket 2011 CPU and probably Ivy Bridge will be added to the charts.

Test setup comprises of the following hardware :

Asus Rampage Extreme X48 DDR3 board

Intel Q9550@4Ghz with 1.35Vcore ( 470FSB )

4Gb Corsair PC12800C8 ram

We compare all of Corsairs offering versus the two previous generation CoolIT products. For air cooler reference I included the Thermalright VenomousX cooler in a push and pull fan configuration.

As you can see the Hydro 100 puts itself on top of the charts. When lowering the fan setting to balanced, it still manages to keep up with the H80. However the latter is running full blast, thus generating a lot more noise. It's quite obvious to the ears that the fans of the H100 are rotating at a lower speed then the H80, even when performance mode is selected. It seems the bigger dissipation cooling surface keeps the fluid temps far lower and/or the algorythm of the liquid temp vs fan speed has been fine tuned.

Comment from Teemto @ 2011/11/21

I upgraded my H70 for a H100 a while back and can only recommend it.
I use it to cool my main gaming PC (1090T).
The 3-way button is easy to use. Cooling performance is better than the H70 and with less noise. Mounting the unit on the CPU is also much easier.
And it's prepared for use with corsair link commander.

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