Corsair Hydro H100 Liquid CPU Cooler Review - PAGE 1

Corsair's Hydro series of CPU coolers has effectively taken self-contained water cooled units from being niche products and placed them directly into the mainstream. The success of the series seemed to have happened almost overnight, as even enthusiasts using high-end heatsinks began clamoring for the original H50 shortly after its release.

This reception led to competing companies designing self-contained water cooling models of their own, and has also been a driving factor in Corsair's own speedy development of updated Hydro coolers. With each new release, the thermal performance of Hydro products have vastly improved, and just two years after the release of the H50, Corsair has changed the cooling block three times, integrated new cooling technologies, altered the radiator size and added new high-static pressure fans. They have also partnered with CoolIt designs, who has been in the game for a while, and were the reason the latest generation of coolers are vastly different the previous generation Asetek coolers.

As of this review Neoseeker has been able to get our hands on and test most of the Hydro-series coolers, including the recently released H80. Today we are going to be looking at the flagship product in the series, the H100 which is the first to include a full 240mm radiator.

Like the H80 and H60, the Corsair H100 uses a CoolIt design that includes a micro-channel cooling plate paired with multiple improvements to the internal water flow and a low-profile block. Additionally, the H100 includes dual 120mm PWM fans that operate between 1300-2500RPM and have a maximum airflow rating of up to 92CFM. Even before testing we can assume the 240mm radiator and two high performance fans is going to be a winning combination, but to make things even better the H100 can accommodate up to four 120mm fans to improve the performance even further.

The H100 is not by any means a cheap cooler and at $129.99, it is nearly double the price of a standard air-cooled heatsink. However, if the previous coolers we have tested in the Hydro-series are any indicator, the H100 just might be an excellent choice to cool any high-end processor.