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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hapkiman - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
I recently used the H80i GT in a new Skylake i7 6700k build and I am very happy with it. Very happy! It is quiet as a mouse and was relatively easy to install. I have a large Corsair Air 540 case, so the size of the unit was not an issue for me. I'll have to say that I am still old school and don't trust that factory TIM they pre-apply. I always remove it with alcohol and apply a pea sized dollop of MX-4 on the CPU die before mounting the water block. I am amazed everyday when I use this rig that it idles so cool. Right now RealTemp shows 14/13/12/15 (C). Absolutely great cooler. One thing you didn't realty talk too much about was the Corsair Link software. This software caused a slew of issues for me, including crashes, lockups/freezes, and a dozen errors in my Event Viewer. I uninstalled and reinstalled the software until I finally got fed up with it and completely uninstalled it and detached the USB cable from the pump. The cooler works great as I already stated, and I can still control the fans in my BIOS so no biggie I guess, but this Corsair Link leaves something to be desired. It's buggy and not worth the headache to have a multi-colored logo on the pump.HollyDOL - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
What was your ambient temperature (give or take) while you measured those temperatures? Because 12-15°C sounds more like a peltier+compressor cooler...hapkiman - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
Ambient in my office is about 21C or around 70F. I know - my best friend didn't believe me either and he came aND SAW.hapkiman - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
Oops soory cut off answer there. It has to be a combination of this cooler working great, an extremely cool running processor, and my basement office staying cool 24/7. It's about 75F outside right now and my office is still around 20-21C and my idle temps are 15/13/12/13 C. It is AWESOME!HollyDOL - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
I rather suspect there is something wrong with your measurement tool (does CoreTemp64 show same values?), otherwise you are 6-9 degrees below ambient (which shouldn't be possible without forced cooling). Such a temperature difference quite rings water condensation warning bells, depending on humidity and air flow around cpu block.maximumGPU - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
Yeah sorry to burst your bubble but there must be something wrong with the measurement as HollyDol suggested. You cannot have lower temps than ambient with an AIO!Beararam - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
Real temp is drunk. At the risk of being redundant, no AIO is going to get you below ambient. Not possible.hapkiman - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
Ok - so I rechecked with AIDA 64 Sensor Panel and it shows temps a little higher, but still very good. Real good. Still below 20C. The digital thermometer on my wall next to a window reads 20C.17/18/15/16 on Aida 64 Extreme sensor panel.
hapkiman - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k561/hapkiman/...HollyDOL - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
okay, that's officially weird. I'd be tempted to put thermometer on cpu block to get alternate readings. And, if it is still that low, sell that cpu back to Intel for lots of $$$.