CoolIT ECO A.L.C. and Corsair H50 Comparison / Review

barrolde · 19 Apr 2010 at 18:43

Littlenose said:
I've just ordered a CoolIT as it's on offer - I decided that although I'm running an intel Q6600 (at 3.1GHz), the £15 wasn't going to make too much difference on my system. My primary concern was the air flow around my system was hampered by the ATI 5870 I recently added, and now that shouldn't be too much of an issue, as I believe that this will dump the CPU generated hot air outside my box.

Good thinking, with GPU's being as hot as they are these days you would be well served to dump as much heat out of your chassis as possible.

barrolde · 19 Apr 2010 at 19:02

jalyst said:
Not to sound argumentative,
But this sounds way too simplistic for one to draw conclusions one way or the other.
I don't see the logic in how one would be better for Intel systems and the other AMD.

Unless you think one has better bracketing for Intel and the other AMD.
Guess that could explains things....
And looking at many graphs, the Eco seems to do as well or better at stock clock/voltage.
Maybe most of the AMD CPU's run a bit cooler, hence giving the Eco a chance to stay ahead.

I'm personally more interested in seeing comparisons in a much more controlled manner.
Same fan/shroud config, same TIM, same stock & OC'd PC set-ups (Intel/AMD), similar ambient etc.

This is probably best explained by the different fan orientation between the two coolers. Hard to say without knowing the exact #'s but we actually put our cooler at a disadvantage in the comparison by configuring the fan as an out-take. Why? Well.. its better for your PC.

If you understand the implications of dumping hot air in and have taken measures to ensure you have sufficient exhaust in the top of your case or somewhere else.. you can flip the fan around and run it that way too.

Jalyst, what you are looking for is a methodical comparison between the two coolers configured
1. out of the box
2. both as intake
3. both as outtake
4. both w/ coolit fan
5. both w/ h50 fan
6. both w/ 3rd party fan

Sounds like Helios is up to just that and I believe that the ECO will edge out the win in all configurations except the first (due to fan config advantage) but again.... neither cooler is going to support an OC the other can't. They are both great products.

Helios1234 · 19 Apr 2010 at 21:31

barrolde said:
This is probably best explained by the different fan orientation between the two coolers. Hard to say without knowing the exact #'s but we actually put our cooler at a disadvantage in the comparison by configuring the fan as an out-take. Why? Well.. its better for your PC.

If you understand the implications of dumping hot air in and have taken measures to ensure you have sufficient exhaust in the top of your case or somewhere else.. you can flip the fan around and run it that way too.

Jalyst, what you are looking for is a methodical comparison between the two coolers configured
1. out of the box
2. both as intake
3. both as outtake
4. both w/ coolit fan
5. both w/ h50 fan
6. both w/ 3rd party fan

Sounds like Helios is up to just that and I believe that the ECO will edge out the win in all configurations except the first (due to fan config advantage) but again.... neither cooler is going to support an OC the other can't. They are both great products.

That's what I aim to do.

AaronS · 22 Apr 2010 at 17:34

According to all the H50 reviews it is a good cooler.. except for i7 3.8GHz+ OC's which many of us will be doing, except in push-pull, reviewed temps are more than my fenrir so personally I am not thinking the H50 would be an upgrade XD, Noctua fan it is.. unless I can find a nice cheap proper watercooling set

Littlenose · 22 Apr 2010 at 17:52

barrolde said:
Good thinking, with GPU's being as hot as they are these days you would be well served to dump as much heat out of your chassis as possible.

seems to have worked a treat, I now have 3 less fans in my system, and the temps are back to 35-36C and a lot less noise

barrolde · 23 Apr 2010 at 21:45

Littlenose said:
seems to have worked a treat, I now have 3 less fans in my system, and the temps are back to 35-36C and a lot less noise

Good man and glad to hear it!

Justintime · 29 Apr 2010 at 19:07

Corsair H50 for me:

i7 920 @ 3.8Ghz -1.24v, P6T SE 26C ambient - IBT 25 passes everything max - 76C max via realtemp

This was a about 5 days ago

Same setup built yesterday with the ALC (well same parts, case etc.. not the same exact ones with the H50 as its gone to client) I maxed out at 74C on the hottest core, same overclock, RAM etc.. just different cooler and ambient was slightly higher yesterday at 28C. My conclusion is that they're both about the same and both are not bad at all. Ordered another ALC today from ocuk.

Justintime · 29 Apr 2010 at 19:12

BTW why do people say the H50 and ALC are no good for 3.8Ghz ocs? Or is this for cpus that need a little more vcore?

jalyst · 30 Apr 2010 at 04:35

most probably imo.

Justintime · 1 May 2010 at 17:11

Hmm.. tried a TRUE with a sycthe juno 1600rpm and there was a max temp of 72C on hottest core, measured 81C and 79C with the ECO and H50 respectively today on the same system, looks like decent air will absolutely own these current liquid solutions.

same thermal compound (MX3) and i7 930 @ 3.8Ghz 1.225v . Ambient varied by 2C in the house with the liquid coolers tested at a cooler time of day.

jalyst · 2 May 2010 at 03:22

Hmm, didn't think a TRUE would smash em like that.
Some of the best HSF's around now yes, TRUE, not so much.

You running the H50 and Eco with stock fan config?
I know H50 users have had quite significant cooling improvements with better fan+shroud combos/placements.

Helios1234 · 2 May 2010 at 10:51

You'd be surprised how good a TRUE is even these days. I got similar results to Justintime but will be testing the H50 during the next few days

.

jalyst · 2 May 2010 at 11:26

Oh it's definitely still up there, but I doubt it's in the top 5 any more...

Sweet!
Looking forward to the more well rounded testing/comparo that was discussed (in theory) much, much, earlier in this thread!

barrolde · 6 May 2010 at 18:32

Two new reviews up yesterday:

http://www.futurelooks.com/coolit-systems-eco-a-l-c-cpu-cooler-review/

http://www.techwarelabs.com/coolit-systems-eco-alc-cooling/

AaronS · 6 May 2010 at 18:54

If this is true it seems the difference is bigger than I thought, although I'm wondering if due to the fan that the H20 may take over when at higher temps, if so, it would be marginal, just noticing that on load there isn't much in there

Yellowbeard · 6 May 2010 at 20:03

AaronS said:
If this is true it seems the difference is bigger than I thought, although I'm wondering if due to the fan that the H20 may take over when at higher temps, if so, it would be marginal, just noticing that on load there isn't much in there[/QUOTE]

Legit Reviews seems to think otherwise. Based on industry reputation and experience, I'd tend to trust their results more than these fellows. Their results seem to be more consistent with what most other reviewers are finding.

[url]http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1292/1/[/url]

[IMG]http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1292/coolit_eco_alc_025.jpg

jalyst · 7 May 2010 at 07:58

AaronS said:
If this is true it seems the difference is bigger than I thought, although I'm wondering if due to the fan that the H20 may take over when at higher temps, if so, it would be marginal, just noticing that on load there isn't much in there

Surely that's way off,
I recall reading countless reviews demonstrating that H50 was way better than the Domino.
Of course as well now know, the same isn't true for Eco V H50...

jalyst · 7 May 2010 at 08:02

Helios1234 said:
Dunno about Jon, but I have exams in just over a week so I'm doing revision etc. I already have the h50 but it's not with me at uni.

Well....
It's now 2wks and 5-days *hint, hint, nudge, nudge*

jalyst · 7 May 2010 at 08:12

This doesn't reflect other results we've seen...
If anything the Eco has had a 1-2 degree lead on avg.

Yellowbeard said:
Legit Reviews seems to think otherwise. Based on industry reputation and experience, I'd tend to trust their results more than these fellows. Their results seem to be more consistent with what most other reviewers are finding.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1292/1/

Helios1234 · 7 May 2010 at 10:28

jalyst said:
Well....
It's now 2wks and 5-days *hint, hint, nudge, nudge*

Just waiting on Corsair for something but from initial looks, the H50 is doing better

.