Just how reliable are the H80s and H100s?

Barry1987

Barry1987

Barry1987

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I have been thinking about getting one of these for my system.

I currently have a Thermaltake Frio Advanced (dual fan) cooler on top of my i7 3820 @ stock 3.6GHz. I get high 20 to early 30 C idle temperatures and ran Prime95 for 20 minutes and my highest reading was 52 C. I use Akasa 450 thermal compound. At the moment I think those temperatures are fine but am looking at watercooling to knock off a few more (maybe down to 25 C idle) and primarily make it quieter as I know that they aren't going to take a huge cunk off my current temperatures. Are these water coolers quiet?

My main question is just how reliable are they? I've seen threads and posts on here saying the pumps fail a lot and one person had 2-3 in the space of 6 months. Are they just unlucky or are these water coolers notorious for failing after short periods?
 
I don't think they are notorious for failing but seeing as they have a motor there's one extra thing to go wrong.
 
Mine has been on 24/7 for many months now and not a single fault. I have the H80 btw. I think some people just get unlucky.
 
Tealc said:
I don't think they are notorious for failing but seeing as they have a motor there's one extra thing to go wrong.
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I can see why, yeah.


mrk said:
Mine has been on 24/7 for many months now and not a single fault. I have the H80 btw. I think some people just get unlucky.
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Ok, good to know. What processor do you have and what temperatures do you get?
 
Idle temperatures are pretty meaningless. Load temperatures are what's important and yours are fine.

The H80 and H100 are considered noisy by many and this is mainly down to the fast noisy fans they include. The pump will also make noise. You might see a few degrees difference in load temperatures but it'll be at the expense of extra noise. To build a low temperature, low noise system you really need to invest in a large twin array cooler or a proper watercooling loop.
 
Tealc said:
Idle temperatures are pretty meaningless. Load temperatures are what's important and yours are fine.

The H80 and H100 are considered noisy by many and this is mainly down to the fast noisy fans they include. The pump will also make noise. You might see a few degrees difference in load temperatures but it'll be at the expense of extra noise. To build a low temperature, low noise system you really need to invest in a large twin array cooler or a proper watercooling loop.
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Still, surely the higher your idle temperature - the higher it is on load?

Thanks for the info, I'll have to do a bit more research and carefully choose. :)
 
Barry1987 said:
Still, surely the higher your idle temperature - the higher it is on load?
)
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To a degree yes but you'll find that at a certain point the amount of work you have to do to dissipate an extra degree will be exponentially more than the previous. CPUs sometimes just run warm at idle and it's not so much a result of inadequate cooling but just the way stuff works.

Modern Intel CPUs will happily idle at 30 degrees for years without degradation. A modern Intel CPU will also happily work for years with a load temperature of 50 degrees, or 60 degrees or 70 degrees. It's only when you get into the 80s and 90s that things can possibly go wrong, even then probably not for years.
 
The pump makes next to no noise at all and I've replaced the fans on mine for Noctua units. At the lowest mode at all times I'm about 52 when gaming and 36 when normal surfing the web etc.

PC is as quiet as a standard laptop.

Edit*
CPU is a 2500K @ 4.3GHz btw.
 
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Tealc said:
To a degree yes but you'll find that at a certain point the amount of work you have to do to dissipate an extra degree will be exponentially more than the previous. CPUs sometimes just run warm at idle and it's not so much a result of inadequate cooling but just the way stuff works.

Modern Intel CPUs will happily idle at 30 degrees for years without degradation. A modern Intel CPU will also happily work for years with a load temperature of 50 degrees, or 60 degrees or 70 degrees. It's only when you get into the 80s and 90s that things can possibly go wrong, even then probably not for years.
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Yeah, you're right. However, I'm sure most of us would like to have the lowest temperature possible :D

mrk said:
The pump makes next to no noise at all and I've replaced the fans on mine for Noctua units. At the lowest mode at all times I'm about 52 when gaming and 36 when normal surfing the web etc.

PC is as quiet as a standard laptop.

Edit*
CPU is a 2500K @ 4.3GHz btw.
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That's not bad at all for 4.3GHz. Do you have any idea what it's like at stock clock speed?
 
Stock?

I don't do stock :p

I imagine it will be 30~ idle and mid 40s gaming at stock though. Again, at the lowest speed mode on the pump.
 
The thing about closed waterloop cooling you're paying about the same if not more than high end air for about the same performance in cooling situations. A lot of the time high end air is better than closed water loop cooling as well.
 
But coolers like the H80 are easier to maintain than air coolers that may well have to be taken off the mobo to properly clean to remove dust from the HS fins! I've had medium and high end air coolers over the years and experienced exactly that issue which was one of the reasons I got the H80 and am now finding it a lot easier as the mobo and CPU socket can remain untouched, just unscrew the radiator off the case, attach hoover brush and suck dust away then screw it back on :)
 
I have a H100.

I have a 2600k at 4.6Ghz, and under prime it loads up to 60c.

I had the noisy pump issue, so did the diode mod to knock the pump speed down to the correct level (the noise is the pump spinning too fast).
at Idle the machine is silent, and the standard fans barely speed up at all under full load.

(Diode mod is a 1N4001 diode soldered into the 12v line, knocks the fan speed down to the correct 2k rpm)
 
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mrk said:
But coolers like the H80 are easier to maintain than air coolers that may well have to be taken off the mobo to properly clean to remove dust from the HS fins! I've had medium and high end air coolers over the years and experienced exactly that issue which was one of the reasons I got the H80 and am now finding it a lot easier as the mobo and CPU socket can remain untouched, just unscrew the radiator off the case, attach hoover brush and suck dust away then screw it back on :)
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True. But it's not like you clean dust off monthly unless you have your pc ina very dusty room :P
 
Mines been cooling my i5 3570k at 4.4 ghz at a comfortable 63c max on average, even with the Ultra Low Noise Adapters on my case fans, the H80 fans on minimum speed and my case filled with foam (even blocking some ventilation areas).
 
Ollie1132 said:
True. But it's not like you clean dust off monthly unless you have your pc ina very dusty room :P
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Indeed but even if it's once every few months it's still saved time, time is money people, time is money!!


Also, H series look cooler than normal air coolers :p
 
I beg to differ :p I find the closed waterloops to be ugly the air coolers to look beautiful and custom water loops are even better looking than air coolers :p
 
I've had a H50 for a few years and now a H100. Not had an issue with either.

I enjoy the ease of installation - if I need to re-seat the heatsink for whatever reason there is no issue. I used to have all sorts of problems with air coolers.
 
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