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Corsair Hydro Series H80i and H100i Liquid CPU Coolers Review

Cooling/Water Cooling by leeghoofd @ 2012-12-02

Corsair is renewing it's all in one liquid cooling solution series. After overhauling the high end AX series power supplies, their high end Hydro 80 and 100 models are getting a facelift too. Baptized as the H80i and H100i models; Without any clue what the i really stands for, however ignition or injection seem logic options. Most important upgrade is the inclusion of the new Corsair Air fan series, which already are renown for improving the cooling performance by a small margin. However that's not the only part where the new Hydro I series differ from their predecessors. Time to explore Corsair's latest addition.

Conclusion

After testing the Air Series FANs and especially the Static Pressure versions, we applauded the fact that Corsair equipped the latter with the two Hydro I all in one liquid cooling solutions. Okay to keep the price down, we have to settle with slightly trimmed down versions, meaning no changeable coloured rings, no rubber anti-vibration grommets, but as long as they perform I'm a happy camper. When swapping the stock fans of the previous Hydro generation with these high performance fans we noticed already an average 2-3°C temp drop.

However there's more to these new Hydro units then just a FAN swap. The new look is more refined and the new mounting mechanism is far more practical to use. No more unscrewing and changing plates, just slide it over the top and secure it with the thumbscrews. Till now one of CORSAIRs better designs, prettty hard to further improve.

By using the newer thicker tubing, which is however still kinda stiff, the installation puts less strain on the CPU socket. The improved Hydro XXi series are outperforming their predecessors without breaking a sweat, even when being run at a slower fan profile. So better performance at a lower noise ratio, sounds like a win win situation to me.

Biggest novelty however is the versatility of the LINK software. CORSAIR kept us waiting and waiting for it. Finally LINK is downloadable and best of all, it's totally free. Most end users will just select one of the preset profiles and might never look back. Enthousiasts might go deeper and experiment with the RGB colours, user defined fan profiles,... maybe even add optional LINK control units to monitor/steer their entire PC.

CORSAIR has reset the bar again at a higher level. Outperforming their own range, adding the LINK software and this complete performance bundle operates at a lower noise level. The 120mm H80i will blend in perfectly in most enclosures, while the 240mm H100i needs a dual 140mm top case. The installation is pure childs play and no worrying about DIMM incompatibility with your cooling setup. Without any surprise the cooling performance of both Hydro units is again top notch. Being covered by a 5 year warranty, how can you go wrong with one of these new Hydro Coolers ?

Both the H80i and H100i deserve the Performance rating from the Madshrimps crew !

PROS:

Ease of installation
Cooling performance
5 year warranty
Static Pressure fans
high quality preapplied TIM

CONS:

Will be hard to top

UPDATED FIRMWARE 1.0.4 to fix RPM vibrations at low FAN rpm. Flash via latest Corsair LINK version provided in below link:

Thanks goes out to Gareth Ogden for the review samples.

Rogier from ASUS for the Sabretooth X79 motherboard

And the guys from Tones for the i7 3960X CPU and the years of support !

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