Corsair H80 - I am disappoint

KickAssCop

[H]F Junkie
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So after about 1 hour of pain I finally ended up installing the Corsair H80 High Performance yada yada in my computer. Needless to say I am disappoint overall.

Before I had a Zalman 9900 Max
IMG00118-20110709-2053.jpg


It was giving me 35-40C idle and around 65-70C load. It remained quite silent when in idle mode and during gaming would go up in speed to an extent that it was noticeable and sometimes annoying. Hence, the reason for my purchase of Corsair H80.

Now after installing H80, the computer looks like
IMG00230-20111217-1001.jpg


After installation, my idle tempratures are 35-40C and around 55-65C load. Worst of all I had to move up the exhaust on my case and the computer now blows a steady stream of hot air right onto my face lol. Finally, the sound at idle with balanced setting (middle) on the Corsair link is almost as loud as the 9900Max on load and I need to check as to what happens if I reduce the speed to one less in terms of tempratures. Sad part is that the fans do not self adjust based on heat like the Zalman.

Quite annoyed thus far and will need to re-jig the computer to manage the airflow. Will keep you guys posted.

Seriously, if you guys already have a Zalman 9900Max or a Coolermaster Hyper 212+ then there is absolutely no benefit in getting a Corsair H80.
 
Seriously, if you guys already have a Zalman 9900Max or a Coolermaster Hyper 212+ then there is absolutely no benefit in getting a Corsair H80.

I had thought that was pretty well known. The H80 isn't any better than the good air coolers, it just has the advantage of keeping case clutter down, and exhausting the hot air straight out of the case.
 
I had thought that was pretty well known. The H80 isn't any better than the good air coolers, it just has the advantage of keeping case clutter down, and exhausting the hot air straight out of the case.

This. Unfortunately the misconception still remains that the Corsair all-in-ones are equivalent to real watercooling setups.
 
I thought the selling point was more around lower sound. That definitely is not happening. As for cooling, it is ok I guess. No real benefit but sad part is sound is also not less.

As for case clutter, I also don't agree. In a mid tower case as mine, the clutter is actually more than I like (see the two pictures and you can see the clean setup with 9900 Max versus H80.

All said and done, I am pretty much regretting this purchase.
 
Wow, now the pump is also making some weird sound. It is fucking annoying. What a waste. Shit.
Edit: Scratch that, that was the washing machine :bleh:

Anyways, put the pump to lowest setting and now sound is bearable. Next step is to check out the tempratures.
 
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You say it exhausts hot air out of the case, but on the above picture, it looks a lot like the fan is facing inwards? You can see the sticker and the beams holding the fan motor.
 
Yes, the advertised setup for all the Corsair H systems is to pull air in from the enviornment and put it directly over the radiator, meaning the radiator is the first thing the air touches.

This is how mine is setup. It does get warmer inside the case as a result, but the CPU still stays fine.
 
I was talking about the top exhaust. It is pushing air out of the case and was previously at the back side. Moving it one slot up (the transparent fan at the top) makes it push air out from the front of the case. Since the chasis is near my legs, there is a stream of hot air flowing right under my face.

And, I have set the corsair fans such that they blow air in the case and top fan such that it exhausts the air. Hope this is clear now.

There is some good news. I pushed the fans to lowest setting and now my cpu is as silent as can be. Secondly, just played an hour of batman and tempratures remained in 55-60C. This definitely feels like an upgrade now since that is almost 10C lower than previously with Zalman 9900 Max. And also nearly silent. I finally have a smile on my face :D
 
More news from the trenches. Installed a 120 mm on the side panel to exhaust air. Now I no longer feel the hot air blowing into my face from the top exhaust. My GPU was at 90C playing BF3. This is the first time my GPU has gone that high in temprature. Pissed me off to no end. That and the stream of air blowing into my face. I am almost tempted to make top fan an intake and both side panel fans as exhaust. Also front fan will work as intake. Should be good enough I guess.

Thus far, I have bottom side panel fan as intake, top side panel as exhaust. Top ceiling fan as exhaust and H80 fans as intake from the back. The front fan is also intake. Makes a steady stream of air going from bottom and rising at top and side. However, it blows in my face which is really annoying.

Any ideas from you peeps?
 
You might want to try setting up the radiator as the exhaust. As long as you have good airflow, it might not effect temps too much.
 
I traded my H80 in for a Noctua NH-D14 because I hated how loud the H80 was when I was running stress tests or benches and the fans were set to high performance. The Noctua is near silent, offers even better temps, and excellent build quality and customer service. Got a free socket 2011 upgrade kit sent out to me in a fancy box.
 
I was talking about the top exhaust. It is pushing air out of the case and was previously at the back side. Moving it one slot up (the transparent fan at the top) makes it push air out from the front of the case. Since the chasis is near my legs, there is a stream of hot air flowing right under my face.

And, I have set the corsair fans such that they blow air in the case and top fan such that it exhausts the air. Hope this is clear now.

There is some good news. I pushed the fans to lowest setting and now my cpu is as silent as can be. Secondly, just played an hour of batman and tempratures remained in 55-60C. This definitely feels like an upgrade now since that is almost 10C lower than previously with Zalman 9900 Max. And also nearly silent. I finally have a smile on my face :D

I am under the impression that under load is where the Corsair H series shines.
 
You might want to try setting up the radiator as the exhaust. As long as you have good airflow, it might not effect temps too much.

I'd do this. The air inside the case shouldn't (assuming you have good airflow) be all that much hotter than the outside air, at least not hot enough to seriously compromise cooling performance.
 
You might want to try setting up the radiator as the exhaust. As long as you have good airflow, it might not effect temps too much.

Definitely do this. I have an H50 and saw considerable drops in temp after switching it to exaust. Also, if you have a spare 120mm fan laying around cut all the guts out and put it between the fan that blows onto the rad as a spacer. This knocked another 3-5* off my temps (45ish on an Athlon 2 5600+ at full load). I don't have data together to prove it yet, but expect a report in the next few months.
 
i have a h80 and my temps are 10degress lower than yours
iam using noctua 120mm fans
i had a h50 before and that radiator is a lil thinner and the temps were about 10 degress higher.

i like the water cooling kits cuz they put less stress on flexing the motherboard
 
Final point on this. I re-jigged the whole airflow and now my PC is near silent and runs very well without blowing air on my face.

Here is what I have done in terms of airflow.
Front panel fan is sucking air in and blowing over the HDDs as before.
Top panel fan is now an intake and pulling air in.
Side panel lower fan is intake and blows air right onto my video card.
Side panel top fan is exhaust and blows off warm air out of case from top of video card.
Corsair H80 is setup to pull air from inside the case and push it out the back.

Here are the tempratures before and after
Before:
Idle CPU 40-45C
Load CPU 65-70C
Idle GPU 50-55C
Load GPU 85-90C

After:
Idle CPU 35-40C
Load CPU 55-60C
Idle GPU 45-50C
Load GPU 80-85C

Glad I went around and no longer am pulling air into the case with the Corsair H80. Quite happy now with the setup and tempratures are under control and definitely improved for the CPU.
 
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