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
Conclusion
Finding the right balance between cooling performance and noise is definitely a challenge. While traditional air-coolers continue to grow in size and weight to deal with this problem, Corsair fights it from a different angle with liquid. All of the Hydro Series coolers tested today are perfectly adequate at keeping our overclocked Sandy Bridge system cool. Picking a cooler that's right for you basically boils down to cooling performance, what noise level is acceptable, the price you're willing to pay, and compatibility. Corsair did a great job with these coolers in providing many different options to cover a variety of needs.
The H100 provides excellent cooling on the high setting at the expense of noise. This could potentially give you the extra cooling for when you need to crank up the clock speed to try and beat your friend’s score in the latest benchmark (or whatever it is you’re doing). Thanks to the built-in fan controller, you can choose medium or low speed for reduced noise on your day to day overclock. The only major downsides to the H100 are the limited amount of cases that are compatible, and of course, price.
With the H80, you get great cooling with the same ability to turn the fan speeds up or down depending on your needs. The performance penalty compared to the H100 is easily made up in case compatibility and price. With its push/pull design, even the H80 on low speed is a reasonable contender for most needs. You may be wondering why I mention price here when there's a mere $10 difference between the H80 and H100. Compatibility is probably the number one factor in deciding between the two; however, with sites like Newegg listing the H80 at $93.99, price difference becomes more considerable.
The H60 may not be the coolest kid on the block, but it is a good, cheaper alternative to the H80. The H60 doesn't come with a second fan for push/pull or have the built-in fan controller, but the price is much lower. For those with a limited budget and/or need for a cooler with a low foot print, the H60 might be up your alley. Keep in mind, the H60 is still adequate enough in cooling our overclocked test system.
One final area to discuss is how these liquid-coolers compare to a high-end air-cooler. We included the Thermalright Silver Arrow in our results, and it’s one of the best performing air-coolers on the market—with a price and size to match. In terms of performance and noise levels, the Silver Arrow is probably the best option out of the tested coolers. You can pick one up for around $75 online, which is only slightly more than the Corsair H60 and about $18 less than the Corsair H80; the Corsair H100 is the most expensive, but even then you’re only looking at around $100. What you get for the additional $15-$30 isn’t always better performance, but installation of the Corsair water block is substantially easier than that of the Silver Arrow—and that’s assuming you have a motherboard and case with sufficient clearance to begin with. There’s also the lingering question of whether it’s a good idea to have 1.2kg of weight hanging from your motherboard. Considering all of this, while coolers like the Silver Arrow can certainly be competitive, there’s still plenty of reason to consider Corsair’s Hydro series coolers.
Do any of these Corsair coolers give us the perfect balance of performance and noise? If one cooler stood out against the rest, it would have to be the H100. With its amazing cooling ability, built-in fan controller, and the option of adding two more fans for push/pull, I think Corsair has covered almost every possible situation with this one cooler. You get great cooling performance and low noise, though not at the same time. All of this greatness does come at a pretty steep price, leaving room for the H80 and H60. With high-end air-coolers delivering near-H100 performance at a lower price, it's definitely a hard sell, but the H100 still easily gets our recommendation as a more versatile cooling solution. Just remember to pair it up with an appropriate case.
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mach2plus - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
"why do the big honking air coolers consistently outperform the sealed water cooling units?"What testing are you referring to? I have read reviews of the H80 and H100 here and elsewhere, and your comment just doesn't seem to make any sense...
please elaborate on your claim and cite facts, please.
johnyfriend - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Went with the Antec Kuhler than with Corsair as the Corsair one was not so quiet...Happy with Antec now...jigglywiggly - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
What happened to all the other coolers? Like the thermalright ultra 120 x, this test is useless atm without better comparisons.Beenthere - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
The test data clearly shows no cooling advantage to the Corsair closed loop water-coolers and they are a poor value compared to quality HSFs. Open loop coolers costing >$185 have some merit if you like to tinker and want to do some more extreme OC'ing, but water-cooling for PCs in general is hardly worth the cost and trouble. It only takes one leak to fry your PC hardware. A quiet, single fan Xigmatek Aegir costing $70. will deliver as good of or better performance than the Corsair water coolers.http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm#INTELH...
LancerVI - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Spoken like a true non-enthusiast. I have been water cooling for 10 years and haven't had one problem. While I'm no fan of closed loops like this, I can assure you that my open loops performance far exceeds this.Don't base your judgement of water cooling on this limited closed loop, your lack of knowledge and your fear.
Beenthere - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
As I said open loop cooling systems costing far more are OK if you want to do serious OC work but they are not a good value and one leak can cost you dearly. Just because you system has not leaked does not mean other's have not destroyed hundreds of dollars in PC hardware. My comments are far more objective than most folks who are in one camp or another.Death666Angel - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Yes, current generation normal air coolers are pretty great. But they also cause trouble with their size. Some (14cm+ height) may not fit in certain cases. On some motherboards, their width can result in RAM with larger heatsinks not fitting, blocking the first PCIe slot or interfering with HDDs.For all these purposes, AIO water cooling is a great alternative if powerful cooling is still desired.
I had a Noctua C12P in my Lian Li V-351B, because it was the biggest thing that could fit (height restricted by the PSU hovering over the CPU socket). It is okay, but not great (OC very much heat restricted and loud once I go for full load). A friend of mine has the H50 and has the radiator on one of the front intake fans. He can run it silently and much, much cooler as well.
I personally just bought components for a full blown water cooling setup, mostly because I need something to tinker with (file server and new HTPC are done) and I want better OC/lower noise. Though it cost an arm and a leg. :D
JPForums - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
<quote>On some motherboards, their width can result in RAM with larger heatsinks not fitting ...</quote>I was thinking the exact same thing. While I certainly haven't used the majority of motherboards out there, I have worked with a pretty sizable cross-section (for one person). The above statement is true of every Core i-series and Athlon64 or newer board that I've worked with. This typically only applies to the first slot. Though in many cases, if you want to maintain optimal multichannel capabilities, you loose out on another (two for triple channel controllers).
I ran into this problem with the Thermaltake Frio, several Thermalright coolers, Prolimatech Megahalems, and several Noctua coolers including their 90mm NH-U9F. In fact, some of these coolers with less vertical clearance block the usage of RAM regardless of height.
beginner99 - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Yeah I agree with Jared. I have a NH-D14 and it is sometimes annyoing because it blocks so much space I often have to remove it just for some minor change in my setup.Tetracycloide - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
On the other hand the NH-D14 offers significantly better delta to noise ratios. In my experience mine has certainly been worth the extra hassle of dealing with a large fin assembly every time I open the case because of how well it performs when the case is sealed.