Corsair H70 Water Cooler Performance Testing @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,601
Corsair H70 Water Cooler Performance Testing - Last time around with the Corsair H70 we compared it to its elder H50. This time we stock the field of comparison with a couple more heavy hitters from both the water cooling and air cooling categories while conducting all tests in-chassis, just like you would see in a real world build.
 
Every time I consider making the jump to water, I see a review like this that makes me think I'd be better served with a Venemous X or Ultra 120. Why can't air coolers just... suck more (in the bad way)?
 
Corsair managed to take one of the positives of watercooling (low noise) and screw it up. Not impressed at all for the price, they should have included better fans, or made it $70-$80 with no fans included.
 
Thanks for the review, [H]. The Corsair H70 is well worth the money, IMO, but Corsair certainly need to work on the fan noise issue.

As soon as I receive my H70 those stock fans are coming off. A pair of Yate Loon 12SM12s will take their place and air will be directed outside the chassis. This is how my chassis is setup to maintain positive pressure.
 
AceGoober said:
Thanks for the review, [H]. The Corsair H70 is well worth the money, IMO, but Corsair certainly need to work on the fan noise issue.

As soon as I receive my H70 those stock fans are coming off. A pair of Yate Loon 12SM12s will take their place and air will be directed outside the chassis. This is how my chassis is setup to maintain positive pressure.
Click to expand...


So what does that bring your total cooler cost up to after new fans and shipping?
 
srangara said:
Every time I consider making the jump to water, I see a review like this that makes me think I'd be better served with a Venemous X or Ultra 120. Why can't air coolers just... suck more (in the bad way)?
Click to expand...

This how I feel too :(
 
I happen to have extra fans sitting around. So I will make use of them for this thing goes on sale somewhere.
 
martinmsj said:
Kyle if you have any friends in the Corsair camp, please let them know know your readers (least me) would like to buy the H70 with no fans.
Click to expand...
that would be an interesting possibility

as it stands, it's hard to justify the price difference over a good air cooler

If I'm going to spend a bunch more money, I'll buy a REAL h2o system
 
I've thought about buying a h70 (with new fans, obviously) but have been pondering a question.

Why, in all the reviews and videos I've seen, are the radiator fans blowing inward? :confused:

My apologies if this post is noob.
 
fenixv said:
I've thought about buying a h70 (with new fans, obviously) but have been pondering a question.

Why, in all the reviews and videos I've seen, are the radiator fans blowing inward? :confused:

My apologies if this post is noob.
Click to expand...
cooler air blows that way
 
^ Thanks

AceGoober said:
Thanks for the review, [H]. The Corsair H70 is well worth the money, IMO, but Corsair certainly need to work on the fan noise issue.

As soon as I receive my H70 those stock fans are coming off. A pair of Yate Loon 12SM12s will take their place and air will be directed outside the chassis. This is how my chassis is setup to maintain positive pressure.
Click to expand...

^ Let me know how this works out :)
 
Personally I'd rather have an H50 because its quieter and the cooling is still great.
 
jebo_4jc said:
that would be an interesting possibility

as it stands, it's hard to justify the price difference over a good air cooler

If I'm going to spend a bunch more money, I'll buy a REAL h2o system
Click to expand...

I think where this H70 makes sense is that many of us are very nervous about dangling all of that weight that comes from those monster air coolers. With this, you are only supporting the weight of a simple water block. You get incredible cooling that is still better than the best air coolers, and you don't have to worry about straining the motherboard PCB.

I've been looking at the H70 for a while and I have to admit that everyone talks about the noise, which appears to be a concern.

Another great review from you guys!
 
Compatibility: Intel •LGA 1366 •LGA 1156 •LGA 775,
AMD: •AM2 •AM2+ •AM3

Great but what about GPUs?
Kyle?
 
anyone know if they plan on making a self contained system like this for GPU processors?

this would be perfect for my setup of 3 GPUs
 
griff30 said:
Compatibility: Intel •LGA 1366 •LGA 1156 •LGA 775,
AMD: •AM2 •AM2+ •AM3

Great but what about GPUs?
Kyle?
Click to expand...

It's not for GPUs. GPUs will put out twice as much heat as a CPU. If you want to watercool your GPU, you'll have to buy a waterblock, etc.
 
Yeah, this seems ridiculous after seeing the Venomous @ ewiz yesterday for $50 shipped.
 
I would like to add to this article with some real world hands-on experience and some advice.

To date I've built 11 systems with this H70 Water Cooler. All of the cases were Lian-Li Mid Tower Cases of different variants. All had about the same air volume.

With most computer cases and the Lian-Li, you have to change the orientation of the fan in the front of the case to exhaust the warm air build up. This reduced temps 2 degrees on average. YMMV.

I've seen HardOCP share concerns on a few occasion about how air is pulled across the radiator in both the H50 and H70. I can tell this audience now without a shadow of a doubt you will have higher temps if you use the warmed air from inside the case to cool your radiator. There really is no argument here as to what the correct way is.

The only real concern is the video card. Yes, this does raise the temps up very slightly. Less than a few degrees in real world tests. But remember, the max operating temps for all your components inside the case are very high.

You bring the cooler air from outside and it is immediately placed onto the radiator. The 2nd fan inside pulls the air through the radiator and the pump / block and radiator does its job.

I've even placed the radiator in a vert position with the fans in the push / pull config, bottom air intake and a top of the case blow-hole and saw no difference in temps. I've even tried to

Tip: Use 38 x 120mm fans, two of them with longer screws and drop your temps a further, on average, 8 degrees. With the low profile Corsair pump / block you have plenty of clearance to do this.

Tip: Make sure you change the front case fan(s) to exhaust fan(s). If possible, use a 38 x 120mm fan.

Tip: Make sure the rear of the computer is not using hot air as it's source. PSU's exhaust their hot air and this often results in hot air build up at the rear of the case especially if your computer is in a corner / under a desk. All you will be doing is recirculating warm air back into your case.

Tip: Use arctic silver instead of the supplied thermal past Corsair provides. I've seen up to a 2 or 3 degree temp difference, sometimes slightly higher. YMMV.

I've been able to get all of these systems to 4.1 to 4.2 100% stable using 920's, 930's and 950's.
 
Last edited:
thanks for the input

what are your 4ghz temps like?
 
With stock fans under a full night of scheduled rendering with Solidworks 2011 Beta, 8 threads, it's always around 67 - 69 ( rarely 70 degrees ) in the morning.

With slightly louder 38 x 120mm fans, around 65 @ load

This is at around 1.37 to 1.42 cpu voltage, sometimes higher as all CPU's seem to be a bit different.

This is with the MSI Big Bang board, 1.1 revision and can't remember the firmware release. Side note: I can PROMISE you, these new MSI Big Bang boards are every bit as good as Asus. You get the same features, performance for a lot less cost. $550 for top of the line Asus? YEAH RIIIIIIIIIGHT.

MS Big Bang is an absolutely incredible board for $289 - $299.
 
Just did a segment on Tekzilla about this cooler. Gave you guys kudos about the loud fans.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Good review, thanks Kyle!

Its sort of what I was expecting. Better cooling, but at the cost of $$$ and noise. Definitely not the cooler for a silence freak like me. IMO cooling/noise ratio is the most important, because you can always throw louder fans on if you want more cooling.

I think it actually paints the CoolIT 240 in a good light, only 2C hotter at overclocked load but stays pretty quiet. If they sold the ECO 240 for similar price to the H70 but without the 2 fans, I'd consider picking one up and throwing my own fans on it.
 
I bought the H70 based on the [H] recommendation and I must say I'm very pleased.

I immediately replaced the stock Corsair fans with Gentle Typhoon 1850rpms and although I still found it quite noisy I've gotten used to it now and don't notice the sound anymore.
Still, I might get an NZXT LXE fan controller so I can turn the sound down when I'm watching a film or something.

My temps are a few degrees higher than what you guys have seen in your review (I'm in the low/high 30s C at stock idle/load), but that could be because you are using different thermal paste I suppose.

Anyway, thanks for the good reviews guys!
 
thanks for the review. I think it's Venomous not Venemous :p
the lean was toward the price more than the performance with the H70 fans. I don’t know who made this decision but I’m sure he used to work for Thermaltake :D

4 fans wasn’t enough for the ECO 240 to take the crown!!

I think the new Swiftech H20-220 Edge is in a different league but I guess it also won’t really take the crown here. this is the only review I found and the triple rad version put the 1090T [email protected] load temp at 39C while the H70 achieved 42C, yes less cores and speed in the H review but you’d think it won’t affect something that costs 3+ times more (unless it does).
 
Last edited:
The temps all seem low considering the OC was at 3.6GHZ and the voltage was 1.45v.


Not familiar with i7-920.


My i7-930 would be cooking at 1.45v at just about any speed.
 
SixFootDuo said:
With most computer cases ... you have to change the orientation of the fan in the front of the case to exhaust the warm air build up. This reduced temps 2 degrees on average.
- - -
... you will have higher temps if you use the warmed air from inside the case to cool your radiator. ...
The only real concern is the video card. Yes, this does raise the temps up very slightly. Less than a few degrees in real world tests. But remember, the max operating temps for all your components inside the case are very high.
- - -
Tip: Make sure the rear of the computer is not using hot air as it's source. PSU's exhaust their hot air and this often results in hot air build up at the rear of the case especially if your computer is in a corner / under a desk. All you will be doing is recirculating warm air back into your case.
Click to expand...
To me this compiled argumentation makes very little sense!

You state that blowing heated air into the case from the rear and out in the front is the only correct way, because it will lower the CPU temp by about two degrees.
Then you argue that heating all other components is no problem, because all components can take higher temperatures.
- So why not accept a higher CPU temperature in the first place, keeping all other components cooler?
With a correct setup there isn't much heating of the air anyway. Just about only the HDD, chipset, RAM and VRM will add heat, and some of that will be removed by the graphics cooler and PSU.

- Blowing air out the front will increase the audible noise level!
- As noted: The PSU (and preferably also the graphics card) expel hot air at the back. The entire case is designed to have an air flow from front/bottom to back/top. Don't mess with that!

SixFootDuo said:
Tip: Use 38 x 120mm fans, ...
Tip: Make sure you change the front case fan(s) to exhaust fan(s). If possible, use a 38 x 120mm fan.
Click to expand...
Thicker fans = More noise! (And more airflow if there's a restriction.)
 
SonDa5 said:
The temps all seem low considering the OC was at 3.6GHZ and the voltage was 1.45v.


Not familiar with i7-920.


My i7-930 would be cooking at 1.45v at just about any speed.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same. The load temps is almost similar to my overclocked 930 idle temps with H50:eek:
 
Good review Kyle. I agree with the fans being too loud. I have swapped them out for new ones but I am still thinking about getting some San Ace 9G's.

My temps at idle with my overclock are around 37C-40C. Not sure how you got such low temps with your H70. I was expecting better temps like yours.
 
Olle, the simple answer is, people spend the money on high end cooling solutions to overclock. If you don't want to overclock then the stock fan is more than sufficient.

When you overclock, a few degrees is the difference between stability at 4.2ghz and ... constant blue screens.

I am not trying to re-invite the wheel, just offering up some simple hints to help people get the best possible temps.

And thank you for pointing out to myself and all the readers that 38 x 120mm fans make more noise lol ... which I pointed out. It's all about as much cool air as you can get across the radiator. It's very basic common sense is all.
 
I got the stock fans @ 1600rpm and I can't hear a thing other then a slight woosh of air. My system is in a SG03 as well.

It's quieter than my last H50 thats for sure.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Olle, the simple answer is, people spend the money on high end cooling solutions to overclock. If you don't want to overclock then the stock fan is more than sufficient.
Click to expand...
For maximum CPU cooling there are definitely more efficient solutions available than the H70, like for example the Siberian Tiger II by NorthQ or Noctua NH D-14.

Overclockers also generally don't settle with overclocking the CPU, but also want to overclock their NB, RAM and graphics. Using an H70 or similar with the air blowing in will increase the temperature of these components and, as you point out, reduce their potential overclocking range. A marginally higher CPU temperature combined with lower temperature on all other components might therefore actually result in higher total overclocking potential, since the NB and RAM will provide more headroom. (And for gaming the performance gain is almost exclusively dependant on the graphics overclocking which do suffer with "reversed" cooling.)
 
Olle P said:
...Noctua NH D-14...
Click to expand...
I really did want to roll w/ the silver arrow, but both of those coolers limit RAM choices. I also prefer the look of a smaller heatsink like the megahalem's or a venomous.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top