The Corsair H80i GT and H100i GTX AIO Coolers Review
by E. Fylladitakis on November 16, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Corsair
- Liquid Cooling
- Corsair Link
Corsair is a company that expanded furiously during the past decade, diversifying into several segments of the market. What once was a manufacturer of computer memory-related products today produces a great number of computer hardware and peripherals, from RAM modules and SSDs to cooling solutions and gaming peripherals.
Most of Corsair's users are probably unaware that one of the first attempts Corsair made to diversify was towards high performance cooling solutions. The company first entered the market of liquid cooling back in 2003 with the HydroCool 200. Even though the product also bear Delphi's logo, it was not terribly successful at the time due to its size, cost, and complexity. Corsair however did not give up and retried several years later with the release of the Hydro AIO series. The simplicity and relatively low cost made their liquid cooling solutions popular quickly.
Today, the AIO liquid coolers are amongst Corsair's most popular products. We had a look at several of their liquid coolers a year ago, in our mega roundup review of AIO coolers. In this review, we are going to have a look at their latest and most advanced 120 mm fan coolers, the H80i GT ($90) and the H100i GTX ($105). Both essentially are improved versions of the popular H80 and H100i respectively, featuring both aesthetic and performance upgrades.
Packaging & Bundle
Corsair supplies all of their advanced Hydro coolers in similarly sized and designed cardboard boxes. Essentially, the only thing that changes is the picture of the product and the color theme. The design is simple but elegant and attractive, with enough information printed on the box and in several languages. Inside the box, the coolers are well protected into a custom cardboard insert.
The bundle of both coolers is essentially identical, with the exception of the manual. Inside each box we found the necessary mounting hardware, an internal USB header cable and two identical fans. The fans are the SP120L PWM, fans designed for high static pressure and with a maximum rated speed of 2450RPM. There are no data regarding the fan's engine type but, assuming that they are based on the SP120 fans which Corsair retails, they should be using a hydraulic bearing as well.
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HollyDOL - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
Great cooling, but it needs to get at least 10dB quieter to be comfortably usable, 48dB is way too much to be comfortable for me. Can't claim I have any idea how to reduce it that much though (except having luck with better pump than the one with whinning noise as mentioned in review).../wishful thinking:
Tbh, house air condition systems imho could already provide bayonet plugs for PC water cooling, let the noise and heat go where it doesn't hurt :-)
GreenMeters - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
An AIO cooler that's too loud, too expensive, too bulky, and under-performs to much cheaper, much quieter, much smaller traditional HSF? Color me shocked. Stupid bling for stupid people.Black Obsidian - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
These AIO coolers only under-perform traditional HSFs that are themselves quite expensive and bulky, so the situation is not quite as black-and-white as you suggest.jabber - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
Still got a H50 in the cupboard. Having switched to non-homebrew PCs recently its been waiting for a new project.ikjadoon - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
I agree with the other commenters: can we see what the overall noise/performance is like compared to very high-end air coolers, like the NH-D15, the NH-U14S, the PH-TC14PE, etc.?MrTeal - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
If you can, it would be very interesting to see how the EK Predator or Swiftech H240x does on your testbench relative to the AOI coolers.thestryker - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
I would love it if AnandTech would get their hands on both of the EK Predator models. I've heard their pump noise is a lot better, not to mention expandable (the 360) and refillable.Pissedoffyouth - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
I'm thinking I might use one of these with one of those Broadwell APU's in a really tiny case. Should be able to overclock the iGPU massivelymaximumGPU - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
And that is why i switched back to air cooling, couldn't stand that pump noise!Eagle1848 - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
I bought the H100i GTX for my last build a couple months ago in a Define R5 Chassis (Has sound dampening). I cannot hear any part of the system outside the case and I can barely hear it if I stick my head inside the case on balanced mode. Performance mode you can of course hear it even outside the case. But then again that also puts it at 100%. And I can pretty much guarantee that with a mid to high end graphics card, you won't be able to hear this over whatever noise the graphics subsystem is putting out. The only part I ever hear is my GTX 970 spinning up.