Corsair H50 CPU Cooler Preview.

For some reason, if you buy your unit from a reseller that's had stock on shelves for a month or two, you might have to give the Shin-Etsu TIM about 24-48 hours of use to cure. I have noticed on systems in the lab that we install with fresh H50s from a couple boxes that have been under my desk for a couple of months, we see higher temps for the first 2-3 days than we do afterwards. I saw a 7C drop in temp, actually, without changing anything, just waiting 2-3 days.

And you're right, the stock TIM is actually pretty good stuff once it's cured like this. It shouldn't need much time to cure if it's relatively new. No easy way to tell except for the Lot Code on the box, it should start with an 09XX or a 10XX, which translates into 2009 and the work week or 2010 and the work week. (Example: 0953 is the last week of 2009, 1005 would be the 5th week of 2010). This is manufacturing date.
 
redbeard! just the person I wanted to hear from!

I recently purchased a H50 for my build and I love it but I have a few questions...

1. I notice that the box says hydro series...does that mean more products in this line in the future? :)

2. if so... I would like a version that has a 140mm radiator w/o the fan for apro the same price.

3. Is there anyway to work with silverstone to get a 180mm rad version for the bottom of their FT-02 and RV-02 cases? I figure you would need a more powerful pump but I would definitely buy one of each of those 2.

4. since the ft-02 is such a different layout, whats the ideal mounting for the H-50? I'm mounting mine on the included rad brackets(included w/ Ft-02) above the rear 180mm fan. I haven't tried it with a push pull yet, I'm trying to keep a clean appearance for now.

thanks buddy!
 
redbeard! just the person I wanted to hear from!

I recently purchased a H50 for my build and I love it but I have a few questions...

1. I notice that the box says hydro series...does that mean more products in this line in the future? :)

2. if so... I would like a version that has a 140mm radiator w/o the fan for apro the same price.

3. Is there anyway to work with silverstone to get a 180mm rad version for the bottom of their FT-02 and RV-02 cases? I figure you would need a more powerful pump but I would definitely buy one of each of those 2.

4. since the ft-02 is such a different layout, whats the ideal mounting for the H-50? I'm mounting mine on the included rad brackets(included w/ Ft-02) above the rear 180mm fan. I haven't tried it with a push pull yet, I'm trying to keep a clean appearance for now.

thanks buddy!

1. God let's hope so, or all my work has been in vain! Actually we have the H30 out, which is a memory waterblock for Dominator modules. We're looking at other ways to expand this as well.

2. Probably not going to happen - most cases don't have 140mm fan mount locations. This is the main concern. We're limited to the outline of a 120mm fan, roughly. The only way to expand is thickness.

3. Probably not, sorry.

4. I think you've got it set up pretty well like that. Fresh, cool air coming into the radiator and being exhausted out the top of the case.
 
Under normal use (internets!) this seems to run aroun 38c with my stock i7. I had it running pretty heavy with video encoding yesterday for a few hours and it never went above 60c. I guess that's good, yes?
 
Under normal use (internets!) this seems to run aroun 38c with my stock i7. I had it running pretty heavy with video encoding yesterday for a few hours and it never went above 60c. I guess that's good, yes?

I'd say so.

I've been using mine for @ 6 months and this is just an all around great cooler!
 
Can H50 cool i7 975 on 4GHz?

does my 920 @ 4.2 @ 1.35v just fine


the cpu model doesn't mean much if your not using stock settings, more the voltage and heat it going to make :)
 
Anyone else having the problem of it blowing hot-air on the motherboard heatsinks, and causing Memory Controllers and Voltage Regulators to overheat?
 
Anyone else having the problem of it blowing hot-air on the motherboard heatsinks, and causing Memory Controllers and Voltage Regulators to overheat?

I've tested it in 17 different cases and never had that problem with an overclocked 920. As long as your airflow design changes slightly because of the rear intake fan switch, you should be okay.
 
I think a thicker radiator would be amazing for this cooler! Drive the price up yeah but dissipates more heat right?
 
Just finished my upgrade with the H50 as the cooler.

I get 16-20C idle and 37-42C under load running intel burn test. (this is at stock on my i5 750)
 
I think a thicker radiator would be amazing for this cooler! Drive the price up yeah but dissipates more heat right?

this or a 120.2 setup i know they make one

BTW Redbeard id love to see a Corsair branded 120.3 kit just for the 700D and 800D
 
16 to 20? how cold is your room 72f is 22.2c:eek:

cold, its in the basement, alot of this has to do with the time of year to.

Ie I open my window to this room, it's 0C outside, my idle temps drop to 10-12C
 
Last edited:
I need to get better temps with my H50. I'm hitting 79 on LinX and that's just too warm for me.

I'm going to look into getting better fans
 
If you put some space in between the radiator and the fans, you'll get better temperatures...I used packing tape to seal the gap. Cheap and it works!
 
I just purchased one of thes and am really looking forward to seeing how it performs with my new i7 920.
 
Just wondering what the best use for this is? I have a Panzerbox case that has x2 190mm fans and a single 120mm. 1 190 and the 120 are pulling air in with the 190 on the top pushing air out. The 190 on top has two busted fan blades (one accidental, the other intentional to reduce vibration) and the case has a rad mounting plate to put in place of the top 190 fan. Was wondering if I should replace the busted 190mm with the H-50 or put it in place of the 120 in the back and then which way should I face it....I know Corsair recommends having it pull air from outside the case...but my temps on a P2 x3 720 are 30c idle and usually hit around 45 under load using an older CoolerMaster TX2 cooler.
 
Having used my H50 now for a couple months varying TIM and fan configuration, I've been tempted a few times to replace it with higher quality air cooling for my i7 920 D0 at 3.8 GHz stock vcore. Temps I'm seeing are in low 40s idle and mid 60s p95 full FFTs stable.

I think a lot of people, including myself, mistake the value proposition of the H50.

I see people go crazy modding this thing with custom loops, adding a res, adding a rad, just going apeshit with it really ... and then their temps improve by like 5C. This to me isn't worth it. On the other end of the spectrum I see people harshing the H50 for being beat by these ginormous heatsink air coolers. This is equally crazy. Measure the db's on these monolith coolers - nevermind the dremel work on the side of the case you need to get them to barely fit.

Point being, if you want a low footprint, quiet cooling solution that can keep tame overclocks stable, the H50 is the way to go. Anything more and you're just kidding yourself.
 
Having used my H50 now for a couple months varying TIM and fan configuration, I've been tempted a few times to replace it with higher quality air cooling for my i7 920 D0 at 3.8 GHz stock vcore. Temps I'm seeing are in low 40s idle and mid 60s p95 full FFTs stable.

I think a lot of people, including myself, mistake the value proposition of the H50.

I see people go crazy modding this thing with custom loops, adding a res, adding a rad, just going apeshit with it really ... and then their temps improve by like 5C. This to me isn't worth it. On the other end of the spectrum I see people harshing the H50 for being beat by these ginormous heatsink air coolers. This is equally crazy. Measure the db's on these monolith coolers - nevermind the dremel work on the side of the case you need to get them to barely fit.

Point being, if you want a low footprint, quiet cooling solution that can keep tame overclocks stable, the H50 is the way to go. Anything more and you're just kidding yourself.

More or less correct, however I'd put the H50 up there with the high quality, large footprint coolers.
 
Them reviews mean nothing,my H50 idles at 33 to 35c @ 4ghz and 64 to 67C load..
Good, but have you actually compared it to a high end air cooler in your system? Your numbers with the H50 are fine, but they aren't very useful without a comparison. I'm assuming that you have data to substantiate your claim that the H50 is just as good as a high-end air cooler.

My claim that the H50 is not as good as a high end air cooler is based on personal experience (which I linked to, above) clearly showing a difference *in the same system,* as well as reviews such as the one at the first link in my previous post.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't. It's good, but the high-end air coolers are better.

x2 ... don’t get me wrong the H50 is a brilliant execution. I just don’t want people deceived by it’s capabilities much less its intent.
 
x2 ... don’t get me wrong the H50 is a brilliant execution. I just don’t want people deceived by it’s capabilities much less its intent.
Exactly. Feathers sometimes get ruffled when anything not glowingly positive is posted about a product that someone thinks is great. I own an H50, a Zalman CNPS10X Flex and a Noctua NH-D14. They're all great, but each has limitations.

I'm not saying that the H50 isn't a good CPU cooler; read my previous post, again, if you think otherwise. The H50 is a very good cooler and looks great, to boot. I can't honestly say the latter about the D14. Head-to-head in the same system (with good airflow), though, the H50 just isn't as good as the D14, and that's why the D14 is currently installed in my system and the H50 is resting.

We need to be honest & realistic about the H50's efficacy vs high-end air coolers. Unsubstantiated claims of equivalence and knee-jerk reactions aren't helpful.
 
Last edited:
what the H50 needs is better fans and a bigger rad i know Asetek makes a 120.2 ver of it
with some better highflow fans

even just replacing the stock fan with 2 nice fans in push/pull helps a ton
my issue with any of the big air coolers is they block the ram slots till some one makes an air cooler in line with the TRUE120 that doesnt block my slots im keeping my H50
you also have to remember this thing is spitting distance of other highend coolers with in 5c to 10c or so thats not that bad and thats with the stock config think what i could do with a bigger rad and 4 fans
if corsair comes out with a 120.2 ver of the H50 ill be buying that and 2 more fans for it
 
How do you remove the frikin backplate after it's been adhered to the back of the motherboard? I'm changing MB's and the SOB is on there good! Any sugestions? I've tried just pulling it off, but not sure it won't take some of the MB with it.

Edit: I got it. Just pulled it off. It came off fairly clean. Had to remove a bit of tape stuff with gasoline. Naw not really. Just rolled it off with my finger.
 
Last edited:
Having used my H50 now for a couple months varying TIM and fan configuration, I've been tempted a few times to replace it with higher quality air cooling for my i7 920 D0 at 3.8 GHz stock vcore. Temps I'm seeing are in low 40s idle and mid 60s p95 full FFTs stable.

I think a lot of people, including myself, mistake the value proposition of the H50.

I see people go crazy modding this thing with custom loops, adding a res, adding a rad, just going apeshit with it really ... and then their temps improve by like 5C. This to me isn't worth it. On the other end of the spectrum I see people harshing the H50 for being beat by these ginormous heatsink air coolers. This is equally crazy. Measure the db's on these monolith coolers - nevermind the dremel work on the side of the case you need to get them to barely fit.

Point being, if you want a low footprint, quiet cooling solution that can keep tame overclocks stable, the H50 is the way to go. Anything more and you're just kidding yourself.

This is more or less correct. I am also another H50 owner and I have read some of the crazy stuff that some people have done to it including extra loops and new tubing etc. I wouldn't say that I'm one of those crazy people, but I have done some light modding to the factory configuration like putting another fan onto the rad in a push pull config. Well worth the extra 2 min. to install for the extra performance.

I also decided to lap both my cpu and the base of the waterblock. Not that I didn't think the wb was flat enough, but I was curious exactly how much more I could get out of it. I have never lapped anything before and this was my first attempt at doing it and the results aren't off the charts, but I did get a solid 5c drop at load. To me, that's quite a bit for the amount of time that it actually took.

I went to the hardware store, picked up various grits of sandpaper (220, 400, 800, 2000), and just wet sanded away on my glass coffee table while watching TV. The wb took me about an hour total and the CPU took me another 1.5 hrs, all at a pretty relaxed pace over 1 week. Neither of them are mirror finishes, but they are flatter, smoother, and shinier. The CPU probably had the biggest difference since it was concaved to begin with and a nickel coating over the copper (which has now been removed).

Coming from someone with no previous lapping experience (but not a newb to modding), this was a reasonable gain for the amount of extra cost, time and results, not to mention the shear self satisfaction of knowing that I am getting the most out of my cooling setup.

In the end, it's all relative what each person thinks is a good "gain". Some people think an extra 2c is great and some people think anything less than 10c is too little. I'm somewhere in between and I would definitely recommend doing it, if not only for the learning experience!

I will be posting a quick write-up with pics of my process soon, so keep checking the threads!

edit: Forgot to mention the temps are now 30-33 idle and 56-57 load @ stock speeds. (this is before the AS5 cures)
 
I love my H50 due to the small foot print around the socket. This allows me to use an antec spot cool to keep my N/B and PWMIC area on the motherboard. Plus it looks cool. ;)
 
I also decided to lap both my cpu and the base of the waterblock.

I went to the hardware store, picked up various grits of sandpaper (220, 400, 800, 2000), and just wet sanded away on my glass coffee table while watching TV. The wb took me about an hour total and the CPU took me another 1.5 hrs, all at a pretty relaxed pace over 1 week. Neither of them are mirror finishes, but they are flatter, smoother, and shinier. The CPU probably had the biggest difference since it was concaved to begin with and a nickel coating over the copper (which has now been removed).


Isnt that a bit much to be taking off? never heard of someone starting with 220 before...
 
Isnt that a bit much to be taking off? never heard of someone starting with 220 before...

Not really. Most people started with 400 and it took them a long time and a lot of sandpaper before getting it to the desired flatness. You can use 220, but just for a shorter period of time and with less pressure. It also depends how out-of-true your surface is.

Just fyi, because the wb was pretty flat already (just not very smooth), I only started with 400 instead of the 200.
 
I went from H50 to NH-D14

Man..its like day and night.

I had 85c in linx with H50 (push&pull). With D14 I got 65c! And it even much quieter than H50.

idle temps went from 34 to 28c.

H50 is not bad, but if your into overclocking beyond 3.5 Ghz, H50 is not an option I would recommend.
 
I had the same shortlist when I bought the H50 - D14 or the H50. It was clear that the D14 was a better performer (according to reviews), but it was the size of the thing that I wasn't so sure about. I have a mid tower case, and it was questionable whether or not it would fit so I didn't want to take the chance.

However, if you're saying there's a 20c difference at load, it may be worth the risk to try the D14...

I went from H50 to NH-D14

Man..its like day and night.

I had 85c in linx with H50 (push&pull). With D14 I got 65c! And it even much quieter than H50.

idle temps went from 34 to 28c.

H50 is not bad, but if your into overclocking beyond 3.5 Ghz, H50 is not an option I would recommend.
 
I had the same shortlist when I bought the H50 - D14 or the H50. It was clear that the D14 was a better performer (according to reviews), but it was the size of the thing that I wasn't so sure about. I have a mid tower case, and it was questionable whether or not it would fit so I didn't want to take the chance.

However, if you're saying there's a 20c difference at load, it may be worth the risk to try the D14...
20C is a huge difference. In my system there was a 9C difference in favour of the D14, and in the article to which I linked, earlier, there was a 7C difference in the same direction. Because of that 9C difference in peak temp, I was able to get my Q6600 at the time up to 3.6 GHz safely using the D14, as opposed to topping out at 3.4 GHz when the H50 was on cooling duty (I insisted on keeping peak core temp below 71C).
 
I went from H50 to NH-D14

Man..its like day and night.

I had 85c in linx with H50 (push&pull). With D14 I got 65c! And it even much quieter than H50.

idle temps went from 34 to 28c.

H50 is not bad, but if your into overclocking beyond 3.5 Ghz, H50 is not an option I would recommend.

Doesn't sound right. I'd like to try linx, where can I down load it and try it?

At 3.8GHZ my H50 keeps my Q9550 below 60c on all four cores running OCCT linpack.
 
Doesn't sound right. I'd like to try linx, where can I down load it and try it?

At 3.8GHZ my H50 keeps my Q9550 below 60c on all four cores running OCCT linpack.

Agree, I just got my i7 920 up to 3.8 (speedstep off and HT on) last night and it runs prime between 65-67c. And that's before the AS5 has cured.
 
Back
Top