Corsair A70 vs H50 - My Observations...

dbphelps

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 25, 2008
Messages
170
Hey guys, since no-one has reviewed the Corsair A70 dual-fan air-cooler, I figured I would give you guys my quick run-down...

I finally went i7 last month after getting a G73JH-A3 laptop for my birthday at the beginning of the month. The i7 architecture is so damn fast I just had to give my Phenom II x4 955 rig (OC'd to 3.8Ghz on a Maximus III Formula) with 8gb of 1600 DDR3 to my son... I pieced together the following:

CPU - i7 920 D0 (that reportedly clocks to 4.4Ghz)
MBoard - eVGA x58 SLI LE motherboard (to start, upgraded to a Asus Rampage III Extreme)
RAM - 12gb Corsair XMS3 1600
PSupply - Corsair TX950
Video - Dual GTX280s in SLI
Hard Drives - Dual WD Caviar Black 640gb in RAID0 - System, WD Caviar Black 1TB - Storage
Case - Coolermaster Stacker 830

Now the case is configured with hard drives in the bottom front with an intake 120mm there, a 120mm intake straight throgh above it, 2 120mm fans in the lower slots of the sidepanel door, a high-flow 120mm above the motherboard at the usual position in back and the fan that comes with the TX950 powersupply. I also have a 120mm fan connected to the end of one of the GTX280s to help cool them as well (it blows directly on the ends of the graphics cards).

When I got everything in I realized that I totally forgot to order a heatsink/fan setup. Well, I figured I would just take one for the team and give a shot to the new Corsair A70 and see how it performs, knowing full well if I am not happy with the performance I can always take it back to Best Buy and swap it out for a known Corsair H50.

So, I get everything setup in the eVGA x58 SLI LE board. The mount for the HSF is really stout, there is no way you are going to bend that using the hardware they supply and it will put a ton of force on the heatsink to the CPU. I used the supplied A70 TIM (Redbeard never replied as to what exactly the TIM is, but it looks similar to what is already applied to the H50) for all my testing.

I was told when I bought the i7 920 D0 that it would do 4.4Ghz @ 1.4v, but, being realistic I was thinking that if I get a solid 4Ghz out of it I would be happy. On the eVGA x58 SLI LE I was able to hit that 4Ghz, but at 1.4v (which would drop to 1.32v with VDroop enabled under load), and the CPU temps I can categorize as both horizontal and vertical mountings:

Horizontal (fans blowing from front to rear, smaller contact pattern of the heatpipes to the heatspreader):

A70 eVGA x58 SLI LE - Horizontal - Idle - 42-44c
A70 eVGA x58 SLI LE - Horizontal - Load - 77-80c

Vertical (fans blowing up in the case towards the powersupply, larger contact pattern of the heatpipes on the heatspreader):

A70 eVGA x58 SLI LE - Vertical Idle - 38-42c
A70 eVGA x58 SLI LE - Vertical Load - 72-76c

I always ran my tests with the case standing vertical, fully installed. I also got the highest temps from Prime95 x64 with the Small FFTs, so that is what it reported here. I usually saw peak temps 3-6c cooler running blend.

I will also mention I ran both fans on the A70 at full speed. I did not conduct noise tests as I have enough fans running I would never be able to tell the difference unless they were louder than the Thermaltake 2800rpm high-CFM fan I have at the back of the case, which they were not.

Once I got the Asus Rampage III Extreme board in last friday (I only swtiched to it because I do not like having both GTX280s sitting side-by-side as the temps get far to high for comfort), I swapped everything over to that new setup. I will say, Corsair included more than enough TIM to mount and remount the HSF at least 5 or 6 times, so that is a big plus for situations like mine with lots of testing and remounting.

I will say, the eVGA x58 SLI LE is a tad bit quicker at the same clock speeds compared to the Asus Rampage III Extreme. They must have optimized latencies or something, but 3DMark Vantage scores were a hundred or so points higher in Performance and Extreme consistantly between the systems at the same PCIe, BLCK, memory timings and other associated speeds. Both system gave a Win7-x64 score of 7.7 CPU, 7.9 Memory, 7.9 Biz Graphics, 7.9 Game Graphics and 6.1 Hard drive (running dual WD Caviar Black 640gb drives in RAID0).

One thing I will say is that on the R3E I only needed 1.30volts to get to 4GHz stable, and, for some reason, instead of having a VDroop under load, it actually jacks the voltage of the CPU by .020-.024volts instead of dropping it. Ideally, because of this, the temps were actually a little higher on the R3E for the same setup.

Side Note - IOH/IOC temps were hgher on the eVGA x58 SLI LE than they are on the Asus R3E by at least 4-6c.

Back to the thermal results, I only ran the A70 installed horizontally in this setup.

A70 Asus Rampage III Extreme - Horizontal - Idle - 43-46c
A70 Asus Rampage III Extreme - Horizontal - Load - 81-84c

Again this is with Prime95 Small FFTs. Run time in all cases it 3 hours.

Needless to say I was quite disappointed and discouraged, so I packed up the A70 and took it back to Best Buy. Now, one thing I will mention is that the included y-adapter for the dual fans had a bad wire from the factory in my case, probably luck of the draw, and something I didn't need in my install, but worth mentioning.

I got the H50 this morning right at 10am when they opened, installed it with the Thermaltake high-CFM fan pulling air through it out of the case and the stock Corsair fan blowing air through the radiator. The hoses are at the top (best for airflow in the case) and the name "Corsair" on the pump/waterblock is oriented upright and normal. I did not touch the TIM that came suppled on the unit, but I did clean off the CPU properly before installation as I did in all these tests.

H50 Asus Rampage III Extreme - Push-Pull Fans - Idle 38-42c
H50 Asus Rampage III Extreme - Push-Pull Fans - Load 72-74c

And there you have it, the clear winner in my little experiment. Needless to say I am much happier with the H50 over tha A70 for my needs. Oh, and before someone asks, ambient temps were 77-78f for all tests (it is hot outside so we have air conditioning on and it keeps temps pretty stable in the house). If my case would have offered a better solution for an up-down airflow it would not have been much of a difference at all, but buying a new case is something I did not want to do.

When I went to the H50 I also installed the northbridge heatsink/fan setup that comes with the Rampage III Extreme. I can also happily report no real increase in IOH/IC temps having gone with the H50, but with all the airflow in the case I guess removing the large air cooler probably helped air circulation a bit.
 
One thing I will say is that on the R3E I only needed 1.30volts to get to 4GHz stable, and, for some reason, instead of having a VDroop under load, it actually jacks the voltage of the CPU by .020-.024volts instead of dropping it. Ideally, because of this, the temps were actually a little higher on the R3E for the same setup.

That's load-line calibration working for you.

Oh, and before someone asks, ambient temps were 77-78f for all tests

Was wondering what your ambient was! So bout 25C.
 
one big flaw i see in this comparison is reusing the preapplied TIM. every mount you do, the TIM is be more uneven, so you need to wipe it and do a clean TIM application so it's more consistent. the more mounts you do with, the worst temps you'll get each time. thanks for testing though
 
one big flaw i see in this comparison is reusing the preapplied TIM. every mount you do, the TIM is be more uneven, so you need to wipe it and do a clean TIM application so it's more consistent. the more mounts you do with, the worst temps you'll get each time. thanks for testing though

If you read, I said I cleaned the CPU after each removal... I also mentioned I reapplied the TIM 5 or 6 times...

OF COURSE I removed all the previous TIM and reapplied new TIM each time... Just for reference, I am above the age of 35 and have been a systems engineer for over 18 years... So, yes, I know how to apply TIM and how to build a PC...

Granted, you probably have a lot of newbs on here that don't know jack (which is obvious from many of the posts I see)... Don't always assume someone is one because they don't have a huge post count or a ton of years on this particular forum...

The TIM that is on the H50 has not needed to be replaced since I have not removed it since I installed it.

And, sorry if I didn't specify, but OF COURSE I removed all the TIM from the bottom of the A70 at the same time I cleaned the CPU... Like I said Corsair included a nice tube of TIM that allows multiple applications.
 
I love the H50, it significantly reduced the temp of Core i7 which was hitting 95 degrees Celsius under load with the stock air cooler and now I'm running under 60.
 
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