Corsair H115i unimpressive vs powerful air cooler

[doyll]

Fairly low powered then. I suppose the pump compares more to the mini Alphacool DC-LT more than any other pump. The black ice rads have significant restriction but I’m thinking if the H100i uses the same pump with a 240mm rad, it should be powerful enough.

That said, the Chinese eBay has ID cooling cpu blocks/pump separate for DIY custom AIO’s. I may be tempted to buy one and build my own AIO just to see how it compares to the Corsair.

I think the Alphacool DC LT 2600 is about 100 L/h flowrate and Alphacool DC LT 3600 is 120 L/h .. about twice the Asetek \h60 pump spec of 40 L/h and Asetek 545 pump spec of 61 L/h spec. |I found Asetek pdf for that data and think I have those pdfs filed somewhere.

If it's the same pump IDCooling uses on Frostflow + I believe it is rated 96 L/h and 1.2 m lift.
http://www.idcooling.com/Product/detail/id/111/name/FROSTFLOW+ 280

 

[true_gamer]

I've decided to ditch the H100i on a toasty 4790K for a Cheap Deepcool Gammaxx 400 with the Corsair fans set as a push/pull on the heatsink and found temps to be just as good with a 4.7GHz overclock, with less noise having the fans connected to the CPU fan headers.

So from my experience certain air coolers are just as good as AIO's.

 

[doyll]

I've decided to ditch the H100i on a toasty 4790K for a Cheap Deepcool Gammaxx 400 with the Corsair fans set as a push/pull on the heatsink and found temps to be just as good with a 4.7GHz overclock, with less noise having the fans connected to the CPU fan headers.

So from my experience certain air coolers are just as good as AIO's.

While H115 should give about 5-10c lower temps then Gammax 400 depending on how many watts of heat your overclock makes, a good air cooler is almost always have more than enough cooling for our needs.
Gammax 400 is about the same 5-10c warmer than temps you could get from a top tier cooler like R1 Ulitmate, Dark Rock Pro 3 or 4, NH-D15 or D14, TRUE Spirit 140 Power, NH-U14S, etc, but obviously it's all you need.

 

[Ross Thomson]

I've decided to ditch the H100i on a toasty 4790K for a Cheap Deepcool Gammaxx 400 with the Corsair fans set as a push/pull on the heatsink and found temps to be just as good with a 4.7GHz overclock, with less noise having the fans connected to the CPU fan headers.

So from my experience certain air coolers are just as good as AIO's.

the gammaxx is a good cooler. I had one before my AIO. was about 5C hotter but a lot louder. I can't hear the fans on my rad.

 

[true_gamer]

While H115 should give about 5-10c lower temps then Gammax 400 depending on how many watts of heat your overclock makes, a good air cooler is almost always have more than enough cooling for our needs.
Gammax 400 is about the same 5-10c warmer than temps you could get from a top tier cooler like R1 Ulitmate, Dark Rock Pro 3 or 4, NH-D15 or D14, TRUE Spirit 140 Power, NH-U14S, etc, but obviously it's all you need.

I believe with the better fans I have on the Gammaxx 400, and the way it's setup in my case with a pair of front fans feeding good airflow, it's probably as good at cooling as the more expensive air coolers.
All reviews of the Gammaxx 400 are with the single stock fan, which is still impressive for the bang per buck.

the gammaxx is a good cooler. I had one before my AIO. was about 5C hotter but a lot louder. I can't hear the fans on my rad.

I can't compare, as I use a pair of SP120 Corsair fans, which are pretty quiet.

 

[Kirby Wurm]

Well since delid and remounting things are much better now. At 4.8GHz peak P95 temp is down to 72°c at the same voltage with fans no faster than 1500 RPM, definitely a bit quieter than the Archon. Managed to drop voltage to 1.25 and dropped another couple of degrees.

Also it takes 1.39v for me to hit 5GHz (such a huge jump from 1.25v for 4.8GHz) but even then the balanced profile with 80% (1800rpm) fans and pump in performance mode (2820rpm) are enough to keep load temps in RealBench stress test (no AVX offset) down to an average of 76°c with the occasional spike to 81°c. I'm much more impressed now.

I have realised the extra noise I've been experiencing is due to the Antec 932 not having mounting holes for a 280mm radiator and my cobbled attempt at attaching it. Hopefully some rubber washers and longer screw will sort that out.

 

[Pocah]

I have an H115i and I have to say that I wasn't impressed at all when I first turned it on. It was incredibly noisy and not that good either. Firstly go for the quiet profile. Secondly replace the stock fans with some ML PRO fans. I know, it's expensive, but you will be amazed at how much better they are than the stock fans. They just drive so much more air through the H115i for the same RPM. I guess it must be they develop higher pressure. I mean I get excellent cooling with the fans running at 600~700RPM. There is tons of headroom for them to go up to about 1100RPM before they become really audible.
Also, do you have the H115 set as an intake or exhaust? Don't forget that if you have it as an exhaust then the GPU is heating the air up before it passes through the radiator and that WILL make a substantial difference to your CPU temps. Either change it to an intake or flood the case with lots of cool air to counteract the effect of the GPU.

 

[doyll]

I believe with the better fans I have on the Gammaxx 400, and the way it's setup in my case with a pair of front fans feeding good airflow, it's probably as good at cooling as the more expensive air coolers.
All reviews of the Gammaxx 400 are with the single stock fan, which is still impressive for the bang per buck.

Air temp into cooler should be the same for whatever cooler you use, so bigger top tier cooler will be cooling better with same airflow.
Running push/pull instead of just push is only worth 2-3c maximum.
Not saying Gammax 400 is not a good upper-mid-level cooler, just saying it's about 5-10c warmer than big top tier coolers .. 10c better is with very high overclocking heat.

Well since delid and remounting things are much better now. At 4.8GHz peak P95 temp is down to 72°c at the same voltage with fans no fast than 1500 RPM, definitely a bit quieter than the Archon.

Did you use the Archon after delidding or are these results only before and after results with H115? I think Archon would be quieter too after delidding, but that's .

I have an H115i and I have to say that I wasn't impressed at all when I first turned it on. It was incredibly noisy and not that good either. Firstly go for the quiet profile. Secondly replace the stock fans with some ML PRO fans. I know, it's expensive, but you will be amazed at how much better they are than the stock fans. They just drive so much more air through the H115i for the same RPM. I guess it must be they develop higher pressure. I mean I get excellent cooling with the fans running at 600~700RPM. There is tons of headroom for them to go up to about 1100RPM before they become really audible.
Also, do you have the H115 set as an intake or exhaust? Don't forget that if you have it as an exhaust then the GPU is heating the air up before it passes through the radiator and that WILL make a substantial difference to your CPU temps. Either change it to an intake or flood the case with lots of cool air to counteract the effect of the GPU.

Would you buy H115i and ML fans again? Or would you get something else that is quieter out of the box?

H115i is now £99.95 and ML140 are £24.95 each so £49.90 for a total of £149.85. For example be quiet! Silent Loop 360mm is £149.99 and Silent Loop 280mm is £139.99, Alphacool Aisbaer LT360 is £99.95 (out of stock), LT280 not listed, LT240 is £84.95. All but H115i are copper radiator with pump having about twice the flowrate .. but still at same noise levels about the same cooling as a top tier air coolers give and definitely quieter at idle because there is no pump noise at all with air cooling.

 

[TheVoice]

Would you buy H115i and ML fans again? Or would you get something else that is quieter out of the box?

It would make more sense to get the H115i Pro which comes with ML fans and is quieter.

 

[Pocah]

Air temp into cooler should be the same for whatever cooler you use, so bigger top tier cooler will be cooling better with same airflow.
Running push/pull instead of just push is only worth 2-3c maximum.
Not saying Gammax 400 is not a good upper-mid-level cooler, just saying it's about 5-10c warmer than big top tier coolers .. 10c better is with very high overclocking heat.



Did you use the Archon after delidding or are these results only before and after results with H115? I think Archon would be quieter too after delidding, but that's .


Would you buy H115i and ML fans again? Or would you get something else that is quieter out of the box?

H115i is now £99.95 and ML140 are £24.95 each so £49.90 for a total of £149.85. For example be quiet! Silent Loop 360mm is £149.99 and Silent Loop 280mm is £139.99, Alphacool Aisbaer LT360 is £99.95 (out of stock), LT280 not listed, LT240 is £84.95. All but H115i are copper radiator with pump having about twice the flowrate .. but still at same noise levels about the same cooling as a top tier air coolers give and definitely quieter at idle because there is no pump noise at all with air cooling.

I would definitely get something with better fans out of the box. The H115i fans are noisy and really not very efficient. BUT if anyone already has a h115i then i would investigate better fans. I went for the ML PRO but are probably there are others just as good that are cheaper. I actually bought the ML PRO because I wasn't sure what RPM range I would need but in fact 400RPM to 1200RPM turned out to be fine for what I needed and I probably could have saved money buying something in that range instead.

 

[doyll]

It would make more sense to get the H115i Pro which comes with ML fans and is quieter.

Why spend £134.99 to just get same CLC with better fans when you can get a much better all copper AIO with twice the coolant flowrate and quiet fans for £ 139.99? For 5 quid you also have a fill port for servicing, threaded hose fittings so if pump dies you can replace it or can cut hoses to length you want, cools better and makes less noise doing it.
http://www.hw-journal.de/testberich...quiet-silent-loop-280mm-test?showall=&start=3

I would definitely get something with better fans out of the box. The H115i fans are noisy and really not very efficient. BUT if anyone already has a h115i then i would investigate better fans. I went for the ML PRO but are probably there are others just as good that are cheaper. I actually bought the ML PRO because I wasn't sure what RPM range I would need but in fact 400RPM to 1200RPM turned out to be fine for what I needed and I probably could have saved money buying something in that range instead.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, if already having a fairly new H115i, then replacing the fans with something else good option. I'm guessing, but I suspect PH-F140MP, TY-143 SQ, Silent Wings 3 (also very expensive) and others would do the job with much less noise.

 

[Ross Thomson]

depending on what review you read and what processer you have these copper core rad AIO's don't offer any better performance than the asetek based units. most of the time it is down to the fans. As for the expandable units, putting another rad and a card block will just make cooling worse and more expensive than say using a Kraken G12.

looking at the results of that link above the arctic freezer 240 at £78 would be the cooler to get.

 

[doyll]

depending on what review you read and what processer you have these copper core rad AIO's don't offer any better performance than the asetek based units. most of the time it is down to the fans. As for the expandable units, putting another rad and a card block will just make cooling worse and more expensive than say using a Kraken G12.

looking at the results of that link above the arctic freezer 240 at £78 would be the cooler to get.

Expanding system with additional radiator add cooling, so how can that 'make cooling worse' to your your own words. Adding a 2nd 280 radiator and a waterblock on GPU will only balance the additional cooling with similar additional cooling so end result should be about same cooling for original waterblock.

Either you are misreading the bar graphs or trolling because Arctic Freezer 240 is 49.1c to Silent Loop 240 46.7c and 58.3c to 56.2c, 35.5dB to Silent Loop 35.6dB .. your ears need a 3dB difference is sound pressure level to even hear a difference. Sure, Arctic is lower priced, but it's way lower quailty CLC built to use until it dies and throw it away. Like |I said before, be quiet! is basically an assembled component system that user can top up coolant, change hose length, change coolant after a few years, even change / add components as needed. Plums and oranges mate. Both are fruit but very different when eaten. if you want a throw-away cooler get a CLC and if you run it hard with overclocked components expect to replace it every 2-3 years .. maybe less, maybe more, but that's a good guess.

 

[Minusorange]

iv stopped people getting AIO's, theyre all pretty useless compared to a noctua NH-D15 air cooler, by the time you get a AIO thats as good as the noctua you might as well get a custom loop >< the do look good with RGB bling but YHMMV

They're actually useful if you want high profile RAM in all the slots or want access to RAM without needing to remove the HS

 

[Ross Thomson]

Expanding system with additional radiator add cooling, so how can that 'make cooling worse' to your your own words. Adding a 2nd 280 radiator and a waterblock on GPU will only balance the additional cooling with similar additional cooling so end result should be about same cooling for original waterblock.

Either you are misreading the bar graphs or trolling because Arctic Freezer 240 is 49.1c to Silent Loop 240 46.7c and 58.3c to 56.2c, 35.5dB to Silent Loop 35.6dB .. your ears need a 3dB difference is sound pressure level to even hear a difference. Sure, Arctic is lower priced, but it's way lower quailty CLC built to use until it dies and throw it away. Like |I said before, be quiet! is basically an assembled component system that user can top up coolant, change hose length, change coolant after a few years, even change / add components as needed. Plums and oranges mate. Both are fruit but very different when eaten. if you want a throw-away cooler get a CLC and if you run it hard with overclocked components expect to replace it every 2-3 years .. maybe less, maybe more, but that's a good guess.

Arctic freezer 240 56.4c
Be silent 280 56.2c
Be Slient 360 56.0c

Arctic freezer 35.5 db
be silent 280 35.2 db
be silent 360 35.9 db

arctic freezer significantly cheaper than the be silent units, cools within error margin and the sound level not any different.

 

[Kirby Wurm]

I have the cooler set to pull air into the case. That's upped graphics card temps very slightly but I'm still able to run my OC within reasonable temperature ranges.

I haven't tried the Archon since the delid but yes, it would likely be quieter and cooler. Overall there isn't as much of a difference between the two in normal usage as I might have expected. For high OC bench runs where noise isn't an issue the H115i definitely has more outright cooling power and aesthetically it's more pleasing.

 

[doyll]

Arctic freezer 240 56.4c
Be silent 280 56.2c
Be Slient 360 56.0c

Arctic freezer 35.5 db
be silent 280 35.2 db
be silent 360 35.9 db

arctic freezer significantly cheaper than the be silent units, cools within error margin and the sound level not any different.

be silent ??? I'm assuming you are referring to be quiet! Silent Loop.
Performance is the same / well within margin of error of being the same.

You keep ignoring the quality difference between the two. I suppose if an Austin Allegro was able to hold as many people, accelerate and brake the same as a BMW 3 series you would advice buying the Allegro because it costs so much less than BMW.

I have the cooler set to pull air into the case. That's upped graphics card temps very slightly but I'm still able to run my OC within reasonable temperature ranges.

I haven't tried the Archon since the delid but yes, it would likely be quieter and cooler. Overall there isn't as much of a difference between the two in normal usage as I might have expected. For high OC bench runs where noise isn't an issue the H115i definitely has more outright cooling power and aesthetically it's more pleasing.

Sounds about right, except I don't think H115 has much (if any) more cooling power than Archon SB-E with fans making as much noise as H115 fans and moving more air. Something like Ty-143 fans moving 130cfm rather than your stock TY-141 fans moving 73cfm. I haven't tested Archon with high airflow fans but I have tested several others with TY-143 fans, and with high airflow (obviously much louder) fans they lowered i7 920 @ 4.3GHz 7-11c, but that also means increasing (almost doubling) case airflow to cooler so case fans are supplying as much airflow as high airflow fans move through cooler.

Case in point, do you remember when Thermalright came out with the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme and reviewers who tested it in cases using same case fans as when testing normal Silver Arrow SB-E (and all other coolers) with only reporting 3-5c better lower temps for SB-E Extreme while open air testing was reporting 9-11c? This is because with cooler fan move almost twice as much air through cooler with out matching case airflow the cooler has to re-use about half of it's heated exhaust air to be able to flow it's extreme airflow .. and every degree warmer the air is going into cooler translated into about a degree hotter the CPU is.

Corsair H100 . . = . 41c @ 55dB(A)
Silver Arrow SB-E = 42c @ 38dB(A)
S A SB-E Extreme = 34c @ 56dB(A)
​

Here's link to youtube review of H100, Silver Arrow SB-E and Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6xrsuPwDbo&t=13s

 

[Ross Thomson]

I’m n

 

[Kirby Wurm]

Interesting doyll. Only issue is I'm not looking to spend any more money at this point. I won't be selling the Archon though, it's been a superb piece of kit and has well cooled a heavily OC'd 2500K and 4690K.

 

[doyll]

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting you change anything. If you ever need TY-143 fans for your Archon and have any problems finding the let me know. I usually have a few kicking around. I buy TY-147A and TY-143 in bulk due to their being so hard to find when needed.