Reviews - Corsair Hydro Series H70 CPU cooler review

[HEXUS]

CPU cooler showdown: Hydro H70 vs. Hydro H50 vs. Noctua NH-D14 vs. Prolimatech Megahalems.

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[Rob_B]

That's gotta chuck a ton of heat into your case, then again the old one did so I guess that's a moot point. 3-5C better than the stock cooler though?..
Whats with the H50 losing out to stock when overclocked? I'd say that anything short or 'proper' WC isn't worth it.

[nibbler]

H50 is worth it for my build. I got it for £55 and it's great, using it as an exhaust and it keeps my CPU cool and quiet.

[Terbinator]

"12 cores"

Really ?

[ghmorgan]

That's gotta chuck a ton of heat into your case, then again the old one did so I guess that's a moot point. 3-5C better than the stock cooler though?..
Whats with the H50 losing out to stock when overclocked? I'd say that anything short or 'proper' WC isn't worth it.

980x stock cooler is quite different from the standard i7 range and previous coolers, atleast in terms of cooling power though the review points out it's still pretty noisy. Tempted by the H70 as I currently have a bad stock cooler on my recently bought system but the price is a little offputting especially as my case is a Silverstone Fortress 02 and I would not want to use the fan the recommended way and have it intake air.

[HW_90]

335w on the cpu at the first overclocked speed?

wow, what did the second overclocked speed get when it came to power consumption

[jim]

They'll always tell you to use it as an intake fan, as it will make the CPU temps look better in 99% of cases, but for overall PC performance I would think that the vast majority of users should do the opposite.

Shocked at how well the Megahalems did, I knew nothing about that cooler until now. No wonder Scan are recommending it on all of their builds. I can see why you'd want to take the Corsair in preference, to get the weight off the motherboard and aid clearance issues, but considering the price, the Prolimatech seems the obvious winner.

[Jasp]

Any chance of testing it at 1600rpm? as the review doesn't state if the fans were set at 2k or 1.6k that i can see, assuming they are on at 2k.

Still cracking review, love the inclusion of the above ambient temperature.

[Carfanatic]

I wish there was a true comparison. Most people with an H50 throw away the stock fan or use it for a shroud or something and go with higher performance fans anyways. There needs to be a comparison where the H50 and H70 both use the same exact fans not miss-matched fans either like this review. I think if that was done there would be a very tiny difference between the two and the H50 would be above the Prolimatech Megahalem.

[zoomee]

Dude, thats an awesome review. Thanks

But is -2degrees c worth a £20 premium? - me tinks me will stick wid me H50 for now

[Speed]

Quite suprised that the Noctua NH-D14 didn't provide better results. How many re-mounts were done?

[Blackmage]

Intel has made a decent stock cooler!

[Parm]

335w on the cpu at the first overclocked speed?

wow, what did the second overclocked speed get when it came to power consumption

380W.

Shocked at how well the Megahalems did, I knew nothing about that cooler until now. No wonder Scan are recommending it on all of their builds. I can see why you'd want to take the Corsair in preference, to get the weight off the motherboard and aid clearance issues, but considering the price, the Prolimatech seems the obvious winner.

We were surprised ourselves. We knew SCAN engineers had been impressed with the cooler, hence our decision to include it in the benchmarks.

Any chance of testing it at 1600rpm? as the review doesn't state if the fans were set at 2k or 1.6k that i can see, assuming they are on at 2k.

Still cracking review, love the inclusion of the above ambient temperature.

Jasp, the fans were set to 2k. We'll see if we can test at 1.6, too, but I can't promise anything.

And thanks.

I wish there was a true comparison. Most people with an H50 throw away the stock fan or use it for a shroud or something and go with higher performance fans anyways. There needs to be a comparison where the H50 and H70 both use the same exact fans not miss-matched fans either like this review. I think if that was done there would be a very tiny difference between the two and the H50 would be above the Prolimatech Megahalem.

Thanks for the suggestions Carfanatic.

We try to test with the manufacturer-supplied fans where possible. In the case of the H50, users could discard the standard fan in favour of two third-party solutions, but that would raise the price by around £20.

Quite suprised that the Noctua NH-D14 didn't provide better results. How many re-mounts were done?

Speed, so were we. The H50 (single fan) and NH-D14 both disappointed first time around. Both coolers were reseated, but whilst the H50 improved slightly, the Noctua didn't. As per our test methodology page, we reckon the sub-par numbers are to do with the forced cooler orientation.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

interesting cooler but wont it be best to mount it has a intake fan? ie push air out of the case instead of in the case or have i got the intake/outake in the other way round?

[Terbinator]

interesting cooler but wont it be best to mount it has a intake fan? ie push air out of the case instead of in the case or have i got the intake/outake in the other way round?

I have my H50 mounted in in the drive bays so its a 'proper' in take solution.

[HW_90]

interesting cooler but wont it be best to mount it has a intake fan? ie push air out of the case instead of in the case or have i got the intake/outake in the other way round?

intake is bringing the air in, the opposite is taking it out so yes you have it the wrong way round