Corsair CPU heatsinks

Smoogels

Smoogels

Smoogels

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Recently I was browsing "The New Cases Gallery" thread and was quite surprised by how many people had a Corsair Hydro installed. Which got me wondering.

I would like a new CPU cooler so I can push my 3570K further in terms of overclocking. My conscience tells me to avoid anything with liquid in (as liquid+electricals=bad) but the looks of a Corsair Hydro is pretty decent and apparently the performance is not to bad either.

I'm looking at the Corsair H80i or H100i but as far as I can see they perform pretty similar so the H80i might be a bit better.

But what I am more concerned about is;

1) How reliable are they? I see a lot of people have them yet not many people complain but on several threads/reviews there are some pretty nasty horror stories about leaking.

2) How long do they last? Do such cooling have long life spans?

3) I leave my computer on all day. Sometimes I leave it on at night to. I guess it's related to the reliability question - but if I am asleep, I can't rescue my system if anything go wrong

Thank you in advance for all your help. :)
 
I've had an H50 fitted for over a couple of years now. No problems, no concerns.
My PC is rarely turned off.

I just need to hoover out the radiator tomorrow as the load temps seem to be be climbing again.
 
RevBillyG said:
I've had an H50 fitted for over a couple of years now. No problems, no concerns.
My PC is rarely turned off.

I just need to hoover out the radiator tomorrow as the load temps seem to be be climbing again.
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Great to hear it has been going for a while :) Is the build quality etc good?

Thanks
 
I've been very happy with it. Was a bit of a fiddle to get installed but not too bad.

I'm currently running an AMD 550BE 3.1ghz unlocked to quad @ 3.6ghz

Idling at 38c atm. Goes up to 61c on full load. Which is actually a bit higher than I'd like. I think my CPU is throttling as I'm getting very bad GPU usage dips in games after an extended time and the CPU usage goes up to 100% before resuming to normal after 10 seconds or so. I'm not totally sure it's temp related but it's time I cleaned it anyways.

Push/pull fan configuration.

The only thing you need to remember, is to give the radiator a good clean periodically (every 4months or so) as dust in it gives a very steep rise in temps (also can give a rather worrying smell of burning dust as I found to my dismay:))

I'd recommend it though. Very quiet too. Mine's an old model now so I can't comment on the newer ones.
 
I've just got a h100i and the only thing I'll say is order some different fans with it if you get one, they're way too noisy. Other than that temps are acceptable for me, around 30-32 idle and 56-60 load. I'm going to get some different thermal paste and try to get a few degrees off, and some better fans to save my hearing.
Apparently you can add a small nylon washer to the backplate mounts you can get better temps too, but that's something to do with a gap in the backplate. (there's a thread on it here somewhere)


EDIT: forgot to say my temps are with an i5 2500k @ 4.4ghz
 
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l33th3tr33 said:
I've just got a h100i and the only thing I'll say is order some different fans with it if you get one, they're way too noisy. Other than that temps are acceptable for me, around 30-32 idle and 56-60 load. I'm going to get some different thermal paste and try to get a few degrees off, and some better fans to save my hearing.
Apparently you can add a small nylon washer to the backplate mounts you can get better temps too, but that's something to do with a gap in the backplate. (there's a thread on it here somewhere)


EDIT: forgot to say my temps are with an i5 2500k @ 4.4ghz
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If you have a fan controller you want two of these bad boys.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-030-SY



If you don't have a fan controller you want two of these bad boys.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-014-SY


I have the 1850 and they are quiet even at full speed. But if you're a complete silence freak then get the 1450rpm version.
 
LtMatt said:
If you have a fan controller you want two of these bad boys.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-030-SY



If you don't have a fan controller you want two of these bad boys.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-014-SY


I have the 1850 and they are quiet even at full speed. But if you're a complete silence freak then get the 1450rpm version.
Click to expand...

I was looking at those, and it was between either of them or these https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-004-PL&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=4

Also, I underestimated how loud the stock cooler is on the 7970 you reccomended! it's like a jet engine! I'll be ordering the accelero at the end of the week, I can't take the noise anymore haha
 
l33th3tr33 said:
I was looking at those, and it was between either of them or these https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-004-PL&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=4

Also, I underestimated how loud the stock cooler is on the 7970 you reccomended! it's like a jet engine! I'll be ordering the accelero at the end of the week, I can't take the noise anymore haha
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I'd only consider getting those Prolimatech fans if you want to get considerably worse fans and enjoy higher temps.

Lol come on over to the Accelero thread mate in the gpu section. I'm refitting mine this week as well. :)
 
These self contained water cooling units interest me but not enough to cross over from decent air cooler, at the moment. The problem with corsair (h80,h100,etc) is that many people are desperately waiting for a firmware revision to sort an existing issue with noise. Many are also swapping out the fans for third party ones, so expect to hit £100+. For the benefits you gain and fact that stock fans are crap, the price just isnt worth it!
 
LtMatt said:
I'd only consider getting those Prolimatech fans if you want to get considerably worse fans and enjoy higher temps.

Lol come on over to the Accelero thread mate in the gpu section. I'm refitting mine this week as well. :)
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I've got it bookmarked ready for when I need it!

How come you're refitting?

Also, point taken on the fans :p


Rubicant said:
These self contained water cooling units interest me but not enough to cross over from decent air cooler, at the moment. The problem with corsair (h80,h100,etc) is that many people are desperately waiting for a firmware revision to sort an existing issue with noise. Many are also swapping out the fans for third party ones, so expect to hit £100+. For the benefits you gain and fact that stock fans are crap, the price just isnt worth it!
Click to expand...

But....... it's water.
 
Rubicant said:
And? I dont care if it was magical cat pee, function & value is all that matters imo.
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Personally I'd buy into the whole cat pee thing.

Seriously though, I'd swap out any stock fans unless they were uber good, but then everything would be very expensive. I couldn't imagine how loud the fans were due to the mixed reviews but they are actually diabolical IMO, I don't know why everyone is waiting for new firmware, just rip the things out!

I think the thing to do would be to give the option of buying the coolers with no fans, I'm sure a lot more would be sold.

And I just realised that cat **** stinks so i'm not sure that would catch on.
 
Cat pee sounds like a marketable idea...

But thank you all for your posts. Still sitting on the fence about getting one though :(
 
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