My H50 vs. H70 Test

SonDa5

SonDa5

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I finally gave in to all the positive H70 reviews and bought one.

Most reviews show at least a 10 degree C. lower temperature for the H70 over the H50 at 100% load on a over clocked CPU.

Not all reviews have been that positive. So I'm doing my own H50 vs. H70 testing.

For my testing I'm running Prime95 v.253 for 1 hour.
Voltage under 100% load of my i7-930@4GHZ cpu is right around 1.36v.
Using IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound on both the H50 and H70.

This is my H50 set up and will configure H70 to match as close as possible.

Average idle is 35.5 , average load at 74.5

H50DFIX58JRwithdual25mmghettoshroud.jpg

("ghetto shrouds" and Scythe Kaze 120x38mm fans on both side of radiator)


I expect some problems with the shorter H70 tubing but I think I can come close to matching the external radiator mount position.

Results for my H50.

Ambient temps 72 degrees F.

H50finalChallengevsH70P95temps1hour4GHZ1point36v.jpg



Will post back with the H70 results once I do my swap.
 
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The H70 is mounted in my case now. It was a tight fit and my H50 top bracket was not compatible with the H70 because the elbows of the 90 degrees fittings coming out of the the heat sink unit did not clear the thick lip of my old school Corsair H50 to mount.

So I had to use the H70 top bracket. It was a tough fit but I finally got it to go.

This is what it looks like.

CorsairH70DFIX58JR.jpg



CorsairH70testinginsideofAntec900.jpg



I'm happy with how it looks and it works out well with my modded Antec 900 case. Good air flow.


Bad news.... :confused:

When I started it up I was expecting some nice drops in temps but that wasn't the case.

The temps were a little hotter than the H50. I'm running an hour of prime95 right now but the temps have already passed the temps of the H50. So... I'm going to give the H70 a fair shot and blame it on the cure time for the Diamond i7k thermal paste.

I'm going to take the heat sink off again and see how the pea sized drop I put has spread out and possibly apply some more. I'll do this later on today.

For now it looks like the H50 is the keeper and the H70 will be returned unless I can figure out a way to get it to cool better.
 
My first run with the Corsair H70. First round goes to Corsair H50. Corsair H70 was quite a bit hotter.

Ambient temps 72 degrees F.

InitialRunCorsairH70.jpg
 
Thats some cold ambient temperature, my wife would kill me if I kept that house that cold. Im at 77-78 F ambient temperature. Those are some interesting results, maybe because you have so much air flow, the thicker radiator on the H70 is actually storing more heat than the H50? You should try the ECo 240 on a setup like yours.
 
impressive, but then again if you put enough fans on anything your bound to get good results
 
cj3waker said:
impressive, but then again if you put enough fans on anything your bound to get good results
Click to expand...

I really was expecting the H70 to stomp all over the H50.

I have been thinking about what could have went wrong with the H70 and I can only think of 3 possible flaws of the H70.

1. Poor large 120mm radiator. There are many more smaller arrays of radiator fins on the H50. The radiator fin arrays on the H70 are much larger and don't have as many arrays as on the H50 Radiator.

2. H70 pump unit not able to provide proper flow rate.

3. Tubing 90 degree swivel connections are hindering flow.




I'm not going to give up on the H70 just yet. I'm giving it some time to cure the Diamond ic7 thermal paste.
 
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mostly likely guess is the flow restriction..

have you possibly tried putting the rad inside the case so that theres less stress on the tubes just to see if it has an effect?
 
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I'm betting there's an air-bubble stuck in the pump, lay the case on its side and try again. I would also rotate your block 90 degrees so the I/O tubes are at the top of your case. If your pump is gurgling, it would also indicate air being trapped in the pump.
 
MassiveOverkill said:
I'm betting there's an air-bubble stuck in the pump, lay the case on its side and try again. I would also rotate your block 90 degrees so the I/O tubes are at the top of your case. If your pump is gurgling, it would also indicate air being trapped in the pump.
Click to expand...

Isn't it a closed system from the factory? How would an air bubble get in there?
 
SonDa5 said:
There are many more smaller arrays of radiator fins on the H50. The radiator fin arrays on the H70 are much larger and only about half as many fin arrays as on the H50 Radiator
Click to expand...

if this is true, this would very much bring performance to similar levels between the two, hahaha. some design failure right there for ya if they're trying to get the H70 to outperform the H50... (technically it would with weaker or lower speed fans though... lol)
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
mostly likely guess is the flow restriction..

have you possibly tried putting the rad inside the case so that theres less stress on the tubes just to see if it has an effect?
Click to expand...




Regarding the H70 there is no stress on the tubes other than the bends. There is no more than 180 degrees in bends coming from the radiator to the 90 degree swivel connections into the heat sink/pump unit.

The H50 set up on my system has 1 gradual 90 degree bend from the radiator to the heatsink/pump.

Other than the bends there isn't any other stress on the radiator and putting the radiator in the case isn't going to decrease the amount of bends.

I've tried different configurations with the H50 and this last configuartion with push/pull fans and "ghetto shrouds" on both sides of the radiator has produced the lowest temps for my system. I set up as close as possible exact set up with the H70 for fair testing.
 
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MassiveOverkill said:
I'm betting there's an air-bubble stuck in the pump, lay the case on its side and try again. I would also rotate your block 90 degrees so the I/O tubes are at the top of your case. If your pump is gurgling, it would also indicate air being trapped in the pump.
Click to expand...

Because of the short length of the H70 tubing and location of my radiator the tubes would not reach if twisted 90 degrees so that the tubes were at the top of the case. I see your logic though.

I don't think there is any air bubbles stuck.

The H70 pump is very quiet. I don't hear any noise from it at all. The Radiator does get warm so I know there is plenty of fluid transfer going on. I don't think there is an air bubble stuck in the H70.

I would like to mount the tubes at 12 oclock top position.

The H70 tubese are set at the 7 oclock position. That is the closest position I could put it in without twisting the tubes all up.
 
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MassiveOverkill said:
Remember the radiator is twice as thick, so you have to open up those fins so air can get through.
Click to expand...

The radiator is twice as thick but the actual fin arrays are about double in size but are far few from the H50. The H50 fin arrays are much more "micro" in size and much greater in quantity.
 
48 hours later after I have been using the computer for gaming mainly with a few Prime95 sessions I ran this test.

Ambient temps 72 degrees F. The voltage on the CPU has increased just a hair in the image but no bios voltage changes have been done since I first started these comparison tests.


Average idle is 36.5c Average load at 75.5.


H7048hourslatercuretimeDiamondic7.jpg



The temps have come down a little but still not as low as the H50 was. Certainly not 10 degrees cooler than the H50.

I'm going to take the H70 heat sink/pump off and reapply thermal paste and then seat it again.

Haven't thrown in the towel for the H70 just yet.
 
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I have repositioned the H70 heat sink/pump and put some fresh TP on it. (IC Diamond 7k)

2ndshotwithH70.jpg


More testing to come.
 
been very interested in this thread as I have just got myself a H70 in my new build. At first I wasnt even sure if the pump was working cause its so damn quiet, i was scared :D Only thing is that you mentioned that your radiator gets warm but I've been "touching up" mine but I don't feel any difference i9n temp.

is there a big difference in using the thermal paste that comes with the H70 and the stuff you put on?
 
crazybee said:
is there a big difference in using the thermal paste that comes with the H70 and the stuff you put on?
Click to expand...


The stock thermal paste is good stuff.

I switched to IC Diamond 7k on my H50 not too long ago to try it out. For testing I'm sticking with the same TP.
 
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Im gonna say with those fans you are using you are using the tight fins on the h50 to full potential. I bet if you used the stock push pull corsair fans with both the h70 would edge it out. i also have both the h50 and H70. in my Antec 1200 using antecs rear fan to pull and 1 corsair fan pushing. im get 7c lower with the H70. 73c vs 80c.
 
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just another quick question, if reseating the H70's heatsink is it best to clean it off completely and re apply thermal paste or can you just put it back on. I seem to be having memory problems (6Gb installed only detecting 4Gb)
 
excuse my ignorance but your cpu temps are showing in the mid to high "C" not "F" Im using a single skythe 1200rpm 120mm fan to pull out and i max out around 55C, 32c idle with room temp at 20c.

U should have better temps with the H50/70
 
EquaLiZr said:
excuse my ignorance but your cpu temps are showing in the mid to high "C" not "F" Im using a single skythe 1200rpm 120mm fan to pull out and i max out around 55C, 32c idle with room temp at 20c.

U should have better temps with the H50/70
Click to expand...

for "cpu" temps what you're seeing is normal. what others are listing are "core" temps, there will normally be anywhere from 10~15C difference in temps with this level of cooling.
 
crazybee said:
just another quick question, if reseating the H70's heatsink is it best to clean it off completely and re apply thermal paste or can you just put it back on. I seem to be having memory problems (6Gb installed only detecting 4Gb)
Click to expand...


After I reset mine I checked the area of the cpu covered by a pea size drop of Diamond IC and it didn't completely cover the CPU so i put another little drop in the center of the CPU and used the h70 heat sink area to spread it around then set it in place and tightened screws hand tight. I have been burning it with Prime 95 and OCCT. Later on today i am going to retighten the set screws on the H70 mount.
 
lehmann said:
Im gonna say with those fans you are using you are using the tight fins on the h50 to full potential. I bet if you used the stock push pull corsair fans with both the h70 would edge it out. i also have both the h50 and H70. in my Antec 1200 using antecs rear fan to pull and 1 corsair fan pushing. im get 7c lower with the H70. 73c vs 80c.
Click to expand...


I progressed from stock fans on the H50 to the big Scythe fans then the gheto shrouds. I have seen temp drops with each upgrade.

My test is using the exact same hardware and bios voltage settings with similar ambient temps. It's a clean test. With my system the H70 isn't performing better than the H50. I am doing more testing and doing everything i can think of to see if the H70 can beat the H50.
 
do you have two fans on each side or does it just look odd on my phone?
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
What looks like 2 fans is actually 1 120x25mm fan housing which is gutted of fan to create a "ghetto Shroud" and a Scythe 120x38mm fan.


This photo shows liquid flow and fan air flow with colors to indicate designed thermal flow.

H70descriptionsetup.jpg
 
In my past experiences, TIM never amounted to more than 3-5c degrees of discrepancy between applications at best. In all honestly, expecting 10c degrees worth of improvement was a bit high imo since youre h50 setup was already very optimal using push pull config with shroud as well.
 
PotatoChip said:
In my past experiences, TIM never amounted to more than 3-5c degrees of discrepancy between applications at best. In all honestly, expecting 10c degrees worth of improvement was a bit high imo since youre h50 setup was already very optimal using push pull config with shroud as well.
Click to expand...


3-5c is a nice decrease in temps for just swapping TP.

I didn't expect a 10 degree drop in temperature. Most of the "Corsair H50 vs. Corsair H70" reviews show that the H70 will run 10 degrees cooler than a H50 on a over clocked CPU when under 100% load.

I did my test to see if the H70 was a worthy upgrade and worth the higher price. So far the H70 has proven to be not as capable as the H50 for cooling.

Off topic but another thing that I have noticed is that the H50 comes with a standard 2 year warranty and the H70 comes with a standard 1 year warranty.

I still have to run another test with the H70 for my final conclusion but right now it's not looking good for the H70.
 
My testing is complete.

Last and final run on H70 after the reconfiguration of heat sink and TP.

Ambient temperature at 72 degrees.

FinalH70Testing.jpg


H70 results
Average minimum temperature on all 4 cores is 36 degrees C.
Average maximum temperature on all 4 cores is 76.5 degrees C.

H50 results
Average minimum temperature on all 4 cores is 35.5 degress C.
Average maximum temperature on all 4 cores is 74.5 degrees C.


Conclusion.

Under the conditions of my tests the H50 proved to be a better cooler than the H70.
 
I often wonder if the pump unit on the H70 is a cheaper less advanced unit than the one on the H50.

They try to reduce that deficiency with the 'larger must be better' radiator.

Who knows.

Anyone seen a straight H50/H70 comparison with standard issue fan push/pull setup?
 
daglesj said:
I often wonder if the pump unit on the H70 is a cheaper less advanced unit than the one on the H50.

They try to reduce that deficiency with the 'larger must be better' radiator.

Who knows.

Anyone seen a straight H50/H70 comparison with standard issue fan push/pull setup?
Click to expand...

well, the problem isn't really the radiator, it's how they marketed it and paired it up with a set of higher rpm fans. with what SonDa's mentioned about both rads, it's clear that Corsair is a bit confused about their own product. what they should have done is used a higher fin-density rad on the H70 or paired it up with a single fan under the 1400 rpm range and marketed it as a silent performer.
 
SonDa5 said:
What looks like 2 fans is actually 1 120x25mm fan housing which is gutted of fan to create a "ghetto Shroud" and a Scythe 120x38mm fan.


This photo shows liquid flow and fan air flow with colors to indicate designed thermal flow.

H70descriptionsetup.jpg
Click to expand...

Props for taking a clear picture or something. Its great to see pics on here that were not taken on someone's $5 cell phone with Vaseline smeared all over the lens.
 
A few photos from my tests.


This photo shows that the H50 radiator has more radiator fin arrays.


H50greaterthanH70Radiatorarrays.jpg


Length of tubes.

H50H70tubes.jpg



Heat sink area after tests. TP used was Diamond IC (7k)

H70h50heatsinktpaftertests.jpg
 
This makes me want the H50 even more, I can use my Ultra Kazes and do a similar setup.
nice writeup and review!!
 
You look at it like that and the H50 still looks a better quality item!
 
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