Corsair Hydro Series: H60, H80 and H100 Reviewed
by Jared Bell on November 7, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- Water Cooling
Noise Results
Due to the built-in variable fan controller on the H80 and H100, testing the noise on these two coolers proved to be challenging. Our test system, even when overclocked to 4.8GHz, didn't generate enough heat to max out the RPM on the H100 high speed test. When plugged into a direct power source, the H100 fans were barely, but noticeably, louder than when powered by the controller on the high setting. We opted to power the fans as intended using the built-in fan controller, but it should be noted that these fans could be slightly louder if directly powered or used in a hotter system/environment. The H80 appears to hit max RPM on all tests, while the H60 is forced to 100% with it having the only PWM fan in the bunch.
The H100 and H80 when set on low speed are neck and neck for the quietest coolers of the bunch, beating even the virtually silent Silver Arrow and Intel reference cooler. The H60 with its slower RPM fan barely edges out the H100 and H80 when they're set to medium. The H100 and H80 when set on high speed top the charts here, as we would expect. While the H80 and H100 sport the same fans, but the H100 comes in quieter. This is most likely due to our test system not being hot enough for the H100's fans to fully kick in.
Here we finally see the penalty for the excellent cooling capability of the H100 when it's running on high speed. As you can see, it's quite loud at this setting. Let's take a look at the noise graph again, but this time we'll overlay the temperature graph to get a better idea on how nose and performance are related.
For the most part, the better the performance, the louder the cooler. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what the perfect balance of cooling performance and noise acceptance is for your particular situation.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
91 Comments
View All Comments
Mjello - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
If you don't mind temps howering in the 70C-75C range the h100 can do it passive mounted externally in a horisontal position in a 25C room.Just did an hour of LoL. It wont do prime95 for more than 10 min. however. So heavy loads is a nogo passive. And a silent fan doesn't make any noice so i'll switch mine back on. Was a fun experiment though.
double0seven - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
"We could hook up our video cards and CPU to the loop."This part doesn't make logical sense. If you "hooked up" multiple heat generators to a coolant loop, only the first one would get cooled.
ggathagan - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Page 3, last sentence of the 1st paragraph: I didn't have any filament problems....I'm guessing fitment is the word you intended.
Hey, someone has to pick at this stuff...
fixxxer0 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
what was the ambient temp of the room on average? just curious to see what your actual temps were...compudaze - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Ambient temps were 22.2C - 24.8C with an average of 23.8C.medi01 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
It's been a while, that most power hungry part of the system is a graphic card.What a pity they don't make water cooling solution for them.
I don't quite get why on earth I would install this thing, if I still have to care what to do with graphic card heat.
kg4icg - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Cool IT does make a sealed solution for video cards.http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php/products/gp...
Sabresiberian - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
It's good to see these coolers get to the point where they are really good, even if the cost is a bit high still. I think pretty soon, liquid coolers will be the thing to use in all but inexpensive systems.I'm not sure the H100's price is too high; it depends on what a serious overclocker wants, and whether it allows more room than something like the Silver Arrow. Adding another 2 fans will make even more difference (and add to the cost), which will give more of a performance edge to it. Theoretically, anyway, air flow through the radiator may not be the limiting factor in the system.
I use the CoolIT Eco on one of my rigs (similar to the H60). It's a decent cooler, but the main reason I used it was because I needed a lower profile solution with my Antec Skeleton "case", and these type coolers really work great for that. Of course, you are just moving the space issue to a different location, since there's the radiator to deal with, but that's not an issue with the Skeleton since I just made a bracket to hang it off a side.
;)
Googer - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
Shame corsair didn't show off the "Corsair Link" kit and demonstrate its abilities. I guess they don't want to sell too many of those $100-129 (USD) kits. Sounds like the Bob's Rug Syndrome (GTE)http://www.ricklatona.com/2008/06/01/the-bobs-rug-...
Drekkyk - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
I tried the H60, but at 4.5 Ghz the temp was 8 degrees C hotter than my Cooler Master Hyper 212+. under load and at idle. What I really noticed was how much slower the temp reduced when going from full load to none. I really wanted to like it, I even tried remounting, ensuring thermal compound was applied correctly, etc. I used the same compound for both coolers. My case is a Haf-X with plenty of airflow.