Corsair H70 Review @ Legit Reviews

[BThe temps were at a very nice 74.5*C. It's two degrees cooler than the massive Noctua NH-D14, but 17 degrees warmer than our custom water loop with a Swiftech Apogee XT. Then again, the Hydro Series H70 cost 1/3 that of our custom loop.:
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Nice readings. but further reading I noticed;

With the heat really cranked up we have the system running at 3.8GHz. With the fans set up for intake the Hydro Series H70 dumped massive amounts of heat into the case. The M998 case I have for the test bench just could not get the heat out as fast as the fans were dumping it in. With it set for intake the temps sat at a toasty 79.25*C. With the fans switched around for exhaust it's a way different story. The temps were at a very nice 74.5*C
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Which is the Corsair recommended way of Fan Notation? Exhaust or Intake?

@3.8ghz, Are the IDLE temps 40.5 degrees with the Fans on INTAKE or EXHAUST, it is a little ambiguous? Or did they Exhaust only under LOAD? That test result looks flawed?
 
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I'm very tempted by the H70, and I'm planning to put one in my system when I get around to doing a CPU/mobo/ram/case/PSU upgrade. Probably next month. Water cooling "without the hassle" is a very attractive proposition. The supplied fans put me off a little though - reviews suggest that they are fairly loud, and have a somewhat high-pitched whine. But, if they are annoying, it looks easy enough to replace the fans with something a little more high-end like a pair of vipers.



As for the intake / outflow question... From a thermodynamics point of view it depends on the airflow within your case. In a sufficiently well ventilated case, it will always be better to drag cool air in - right over the radiator. However, with insufficient ventilation the increase in ambient temperature inside the case will cause a bigger rise in CPU temps.

Consider two temperature differentials:

- delta1 is the difference in temperature between the air just outside your case, and the air just inside, with the fan blowing out.
- delta2 is the same temperature difference, but with the fan blowing in.

Clearly delta2 is always going to be bigger than delta1 (since you're dumping extra heat into the case). The crossover in efficiency comes when delta2 = 2*delta1. So, if delta2 is less than twice delta1, then you're better off dragging cool air in. Given the amount of other stuff that burns away in a computer case, I imagine that most people will find delta2 < 2*delta1, and therefore want the air to be dragged in. Which is just what corsair recommend :) Of course, by dragging more hot air in you will also increase the temperature of your GPU and other components somewhat, so it's not quite this black and white...


Personally, I'm planning on having the thing push air out. Why? Because the case I'm going to get (HAF-X) does not have dust-filters on the back, and I have a long-haired cat who sheds like crazy :p But, in a dust-free world, I would do it the other way round.
 
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re:

he Hydro Series H70 with the fans on high did rather well coming in at 55.75*C
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On high the fans run at 2000rpm and are very noisy :eek:

If you like a quiet PC do not buy the H70

Cheers
mrix
 
I have the H70 in an Antec 300 (Push>Pull fan setup). The push fan is sat outside of the case on the rear vent, then the rad sits inside the case behind it with the pull fan screwed on. I have the top 140mm fan set to pull hot air out and a 120mm side panel fan doing the same. The i7 870 on Idle is cool sat at 22c in the bios. Windows doing a little HDD intensive work is around 33c.

My 100% load temps overclocked to 4.0ghz with HT enabled are sitting around the 65c mark. That's with the stock paste removed and a thin line of MX3 used.

However.....my room really warms up fast, even with the window open I'm sweating!! This thing definately takes the heat away from the CPU but in doing so, dumping the heat out of the case really warms you up LOL No need for radiators in the winter

Unfortunately the first one I bought last week had the pump issue (bad rattling) so it's being RMA'd today. Fortunately a local shop had one left in stock so I could get up and running.
 
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-=Vect0r=- said:
Helios1234, will you be testing the H70 at all over at Vortez? Would be interesting to see how they compare.
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I know its a shame the likes of hexs and others only compare against just a handful of coolers - looking forward to seeing Helios compare vs the 20 odd coolers benchmarked in his reviews. It's a shame the big boys get priority when they don't seem to be as comprehensive as Mr Helios ;)
 
rjkoneill said:
still costs the same as a decent custom water loop though :rolleyes:
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Really?

I'm struggling to see a custom setup for around £85... I've not used watercooling myself yet, but don't you need a waterblock, a pump, a reservoir, plus tubing and accessories?

Anyway for me, the attraction is the low-hassle aspect, since it's a closed system, rather than the price. Though I'm considering real watercooling in the future (GPUs)...
 
Well looking quickly at OcUK for their cheapest seperate WC parts (apart from the res/pump combo which I believe will be cheaper), I come in at £89.35 inc delivery, that's with the following:-

XSPC 200 Bay Reservoir & Pump - Clear £30.98
EK CoolStream Radiator XT 120 (120.1) [3831109860007] £23.99
Aqua Computer Cuplex HD Core i7 (Socket 1366) £23.50

That's over budget already without fans or tubing and fittings.

So I'd like to see what rjkoneill could come up with for around £85.
 
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glen8 said:
However.....my room really warms up fast, even with the window open I'm sweating!! This thing definately takes the heat away from the CPU but in doing so, dumping the heat out of the case really warms you up LOL No need for radiators in the winter
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A minor point... But basic physics tells you that whatever cooling method you use, the same amount of heat will be dumped into the surrounding room (for a given voltage+clockspeed and load of course).

Better cooling simply redistributes the heat more efficiently, resulting a smaller rise in temperature at the core. Think of temperature rise being the result of a concentration of heat energy. The actual amount of heat energy stored in the CPU (which is what causes your temperature rise over ambient) is absolutely tiny, and is released into the atmosphere anyway when you move to idle or power down the PC.
 
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cobhc said:
Well looking quickly at OcUK for their cheapest seperate WC parts (apart from the res/pump combo which I believe will be cheaper), I come in at £90.35 inc delivery, that's with the following:-

XSPC 200 Bay Reservoir & Pump - Clear £30.98
Black Ice GT Stealth 120 Radiator £24.99
Aqua Computer Cuplex HD Core i7 (Socket 1366) £23.50

So I'd like to see what rjkoneill could come up with for around £85.
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Hmm... nice find. And I think £5 difference is negligible at these prices.

Would the above setup really offer a big improvement over an H70 though? After all they both use a 120mm radiator and a low-end pump...
 
Well, adding on some fittings, 1x120mm fan, some thermal compound, tubing, fluid, and you're talking £115 delivered (using OcUK's cheapest on everything).

Just to make sure, I'm right in saying you'll need 6 fittings, and 6 tubes right (3 cut in half for example)?
 
cobhc said:
Well, adding on some fittings, 1x120mm fan, some thermal compound, tubing, fluid, and you're talking £115 delivered (using OcUK's cheapest on everything).

Just to make sure, I'm right in saying you'll need 6 fittings, and 6 tubes right (3 cut in half for example)?
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but the good thing about a custom loop is you can upgrade it to cool the gpu and motherboard (also HDD and ram) at a later date

back to the h70, apart from having 2 fans what are the difference between the h50 and the h70?
 
razer1978 said:
but the good thing about a custom loop is you can upgrade it to cool the gpu and motherboard (also HDD and ram) at a later date

back to the h70, apart from having 2 fans what are the difference between the h50 and the h70?
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I read that the radiator is bigger, but not having had an H50 myself I can't compare
 
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