REVIEW
Hardware Award
CORSAIR H100i ERP: $109.99 | Website: www.corsair.com
Test Machine • INTEL Core i7 3970X • ASUS Rampage IV Gene(3404) • CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 2x4GB DDR 2666MHZ CL10 • OCZ Vertex 4 512GBSSD • Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W • Windows 7 64-bit SP1 /XP SP3
I
nitially when we received this cooler, it was the first to come from CORSAIR’s refreshed line up. The H110 had not been announced. So this was their premium water cooler in the Hydro series. Several weeks ago the H110 showed up and has since taken over the reigns as the end all be all of water cooling solutions from CORSAIR. Still, we reckon that there are far more people with the cases and real estate to make use of the more traditional dual 120mm radiator of the 14 The OverClocker Issue 23 | 2013
H100i than that of the H110. Not only that, but the H100i has software control which the H110 does not. This is very important in the context of gamers and power users who may not always want the fans spinning at full tilt as it can be very loud and rather annoying. You could always use the BIOS on your motherboard to regulate the fan speeds, but it’s better to just use the provided software and set the fan speed to your liking without having to muck about in the BIOS. So then what makes the H100i different from its predecessor? Well, it’s not much actually. After all, you’re dealing with a maintenance free water cooling loop and they are by and large the same. Gone are the ribbed and stiff pipes of the H100, in their place rubberised high volume tubing. These not only allow better water flow but they can be twisted a lot more meaning installing is actually easier
than ever before you. We certainly prefer this tubing over the previous solution and would plead with other vendors to follow suit who may still be thinking of going with the more traditional route. This is just better for everything. The water block itself has been improved, to what extent remains unclear as we are not able to compare the two blocks side by side, but suffice to say we’ve no reason to doubt CORSAIR’s claims and from the performance we measured, there may be some merit to this. Be it the same base was used or not, we appreciate any improvement in cooling we can get, especially if it does not needlessly increase the noise levels. More about the CPU block, it is now easier than ever before to install on to the motherboard. CORSAIR always had the best system for installing their water cooler. It was simple,