10.6.2017

First thing first,this water cooler is huge! Make sure you have enough room for it. I matched it with a new case (Corsair C400) as in my previous one, would only fit in exhaust's place and that wasn't my plan. Its width is about 95mm as its like a 240mm radiator being cut in half and then the two half pieces being placed on top of the other. Now its being placed on the front of the case as intake and works like a charm.Installation process was easy enough even for me who I'm not an expert in pc building. The instructions which came with it where clear but if you need further details on installation there are plenty of other users like me who are showing online how they've placed it in their case.It comes with everything you will need to install it. It even has pre applied thermal paste so you put it straight out of the box on your cpu.Performance wise its a Corsair product what do you expect? not working properly? I took off its thermal paste which was pre applied as I mentioned before, and applied Noctua's NT H1 just in case (you don't have to do it) and with ambient temperatures of 27-28 degrees Celsius, I got idle min temp 24 and highest 55 on my i7 6700K (always at stock speeds)!!! Some may say that its impossible to get lower temps than ambient's but I've used the same software which I was measuring my cpu temps before installing the watercooler so that would be a pretty accurate comparison . The minimum temps I was getting with air cooler, was room's temp and highest was 60-65 (when having 26-28 degrees ambient temp)when rendering in a 3d application like Cinema 4D (used to use a coolermaster tx3 evo). Please remember that from chip to chip these temps may differ as not all chips have the same behavior regarding temperatures, even two i7 6700K's in the same room may give different results.Noise wise this thing is silent, A Lot! You will barely notice its working when on Indle. But when things are kicking and you need more performance you will certainly feel its presence! It gets LOUD. However, I think you can manage your system so fan's speed never go to high and still have a great result regarding temperature. Corsair is providing a software which is called <<Corsair Link>> where from there you can monitor your system fans speed, temps, even pump's Led's to change color for you to match with Case's theme etc etc.I installed it, I didn't like it and took it off my system. That wasn't for me. Some may find that software their best ever choice some others like me, may not. There are software out there better than this, but you may try it first and see if you like it or not.Concluding, this is a very solid product, easy to install, quiet enough for a working environment, powerful enough for gaming,3d rendering and 3d modelling.PS_1: when installing it please pay some extra attention on the brackets as they are plastic, don't push them too hard. Be a bit more cautious.PS_2: You need it to be more silent? There are plenty of options out there for silent fans and sound insulated cases. Remember you need Static Pressure fans not Air Flow fans (usually when you go for a fan you will see either AF for Air Flow or SP for Static pressure)Thanks,Emmanouil

26.2.2020

I was recently upgrading my PC which included a new motherboard, CPU and RAM. I decided to go down the water-cooling path for the new CPU. Although more expensive than some other manufacturers, I went with Corsair as they have a good reputation.The new CPU is the OctalCore Intel Core i9-9900K, 4700 MHz (47 x 100) which should fulfil my needs for a few years. The motherboard is an Asus Prime Z390-A and the RAM is two Corsair 3600 RGB 8GB giving 16GB of RAM. Both the motherboard and RAM are RGB devices. So, the choice of this water-cooler, with its RGB fans, seemed a logical choice.When I first unpacked the cooler, the task ahead seemed a little daunting.There are lots of components to assemble and a pile of wires that have to connected to the system. This is a multiplatform cooler so it comes with parts for Intel and AMD processors. Fortunately, by default it’s setup for Intel which saved a bit of work. The instructions are okay but they can leave you wondering if you are using the right parts.I set up the fans in a pull format when I fitted them to the radiator. As I was fitting the radiator at the bottom of the case, this seemed the logical way to do it. This will then draw cool air through the radiator. There are two leads coming from each fan, one for power and the other for the LED lights. These have to be connected to the corresponding leads coming off the heatsink pump.Fitting the heatsink pump on the processor was pretty straight forward. There is thermal paste on the heatsink already but be careful not to disturb it prior to fitting. Was clamped into place you have a couple of other wires to connect. One has to be connected to a SATA power socket which will then supply the power to the pump and fans. The other single wire should be connected to the CPU fan connector on the motherboard, so that the motherboard doesn’t complain that there’s no CPU fan. There is just one more connection to be made, the supplied USB lead has to be connected to the side of the pump with the other end connecting to a spare USB2 header on your motherboard. This allows software to control the RGB lights.As you can see, the job isn’t easy but the rewards are well worth the effort. While I am typing this review, the CPU is running at around 25ᵒC. If I ramp up the processor cores to 100%, the temperature gets up to 68ᵒC for a few seconds and then drops down to around 50ᵒC. This is so much better than air cooling where I’ve had temperatures as high as 80ᵒC and static. What’s more it’s virtually silent.On the downside, I had to send the first one back as the fan lights weren’t working properly. A minor problem but frustrating. Theirs is always the possibility of failures and it’s not always a quality issue. While probably tested fine in the factory, the units have undergone the rigours of travelling to their final destination. The main thing though, is that it was replaced without question.Overall, I am very pleased with the quality and functionality of this water-cooler.

29.6.2019

While installation for me wasn't quite as easy as it should have been, I can't fault the cooler for that, instead the Corsair 460x I was installing it in. Considering there is space for fans at the top, Corsair really should have added some extra space up top in order to fit a radiator there. I instead ended up installing the radiator on the exterior of the case, at the top. Regardless, this isn't the fault of the cooler, and when I initially attempted to install it with the motherboard out of the case it went very smoothly, far easier than installing a high end air cooler. The included instructions were sufficient, but nothing special. Not everything was as clear as it could have been,however the installation itself is pretty intuitive and so this is a non-issue.When I initially powered on my computer for the first time after installing it I was shocked at how quiet it was. I actually ended up peering into my case to ensure that the two included ML140 fans had been connected properly. It really is dead silent, even on the default profile, and my three Corsair SP120 RGB case fans make significantly more noise than this cooler. After tweaking the fan profiles of everything and leaving the pump on the 'balanced' preset I cannot hear my computer (~0.75 metres away from me on my desk) when gaming with my speakers.With my 8600k on stock settings idle temperatures, while insignificant, were sitting around 32C in my room with an ambient temperature of 19C. What was really impressive was the temperatures I was seeing under load - in Aida64 Extreme on stock settings temperatures barely exceeded 60C after half an hour on the stress test, and all the while my system remained dead silent. After over-clocking my i5 8600k to 5Ghz at 1.350V I reach 68C under the same test. This is all with the included thermal paste on the cooler, and on a non-delidded processor. This performance is really impressive to me coming from air cooling.In terms of negatives, the only thing I can think of is the USB cable coming from the cooler. To control the RGB this must be plugged in, however the way that it comes out of the cooler can make it somewhat difficult to cable manage. I tried to route it underneath the VRM heatsink, however it comes out some distance from the motherboard, meaning that it is still very visible from the exterior of my case. An integrated solution for this would be more appealing than the mini USB cable utilised here, as it would make it easier to hide the cable coming out from the waterblock. On the plus side this cable is black, and so does not stand out too badly.Overall this cooler is superb, and does everything it needs to very well. The mix of performance and aesthetics cannot be faulted, and the 360mm offerings from both Corsair and other brands do not pose a significant enough bump in performance to justify the increase in performance in my opinion. This is a five star product.

27.5.2020

For disclosure I have been building computers for over twenty years. I have worked on them professionally and personally in that time. Although I found it an easy install I imagine a novice might struggle and would be better starting out with something a bit simpler.Firstly mounting the block and the radiator was mostly very simple. The Intel bracket is in place by default and it is quite stiff to remove. I double checked I was actually doing what they wanted as it did take a bit of force to come loose. However once that was done it was simple to remove my air cooler and mount the Corsair (thermal paste is pre-applied) in its place.The Rad gave me a little bit more of a headache.I was building in a MicroATX case and I wanted to mount it in the front. My case isn't fantastic and unfortunately the top drive bays are riveted and not easily removable. However I know from experience that most AIO cooler rads will fit in the gap no problem. The Corsair one was slightly thicker and no amount of force could make it go in. I ended up mounting it in the top and sadly lost my 140mm dust filters. However it was easy to fit in that spot and it does look nice.There is actually quite a lot to connect when putting this system together. Each fan has an RGB and power header that need to be connected to the leads coming off the block. The block itself has a USB connector that needs to be run to a USB header on your mmotherboard. It's fairly self explanatory but you do need to make sure you connect your fans to the pump cables not onto the RGB/fan headers on your board like you might with a normal case fan. I had a read of the manual and I thought it was actually pretty poor on this front. I don't know if Corsair just assume people building with this know what they're doing. Though reading it over I felt the descriptions were likely to mislead less experienced builders.Once booted I was impressed with the results. My case is inside a desk so airflow isn't always that great especially at the top and back. However the CPU was idle at around 30C (about 15C cooler than with air) and while gaming it was mainly between 50 and 60C. The noise level from the cooler and its fans were low (in fact I couldn't tell they were running over the GPU) so I am very happy with the new setup.ICue is actually a really good bit of software. I own a Corsair wireless mouse, headset and now cooler and I have never had a problem using the software. My kids love the RGB and I love the temps/acoustics so everyone has won.A great product and the only mark down I have given is for the poor manual and instructions. I actually feel like you could use it for something like a HTPC as it really is quiet enough that I reckon it could live in a living room PC. In fact I am impressed enough I have just ordered a commander and three case fans as I feel like the basic ones in the case are letting the side down.

24.9.2016

I recently built a new gaming PC and I chose to purchase the H45 from Corsair as my CPU cooler. This cooler consists of 1, 120mm x 120mm fan/radiator block; rubber tubing and a CPU block. Simple, yet effective.First things first, installation. Well installing this thing was easy, it came with clear instructions so even a complete novice could do it. I installed it onto an Intel processor; but I assume it would be just as easy on an AMD because the parts and instructions looked almost identical, in fact the AMD ones looked easier if anything. It even came with thermal paste pre applied, which was a very nice touch as I was able to return the thermal paste I purchased and save myself just under£10.Now because this is a pre-built liquid cooler and not a custom loop there is no need to ever maintain it, (apart from the obvious dust removal or clean of the fan blades). This was perfect for me, because a custom loop is very expensive and can go wrong very quickly if you do not know what you're doing. I chose this over fan cooling just for that extra piece of mind that my CPU was getting enough cooling; it also gives me the option to overclock my CPU and still have it run at safe temperatures which most fan coolers won't.I have had no issues with this product and think it is great value for the price (around £50). My CPU has always run below 50°C. However, things could always be better. The build does feel a bit ‘plasticy’, but that is to be expected for the price. I feel as if it is quiet, but it could be quieter. I can’t hear it over a film or through my headset but there is a slight hum of the blades spinning when my room quiets down; this might not even be a concern if you are using your PC whilst listening to media. The aesthetic is very minimal; It consists of black tubing, a fan and it has a corsair logo on the CPU block. I quite like this, but some may agree otherwise.All in all, I feel this product is massive jump from a fan cooler. So it’s a great choice if you want the peace of mind from liquid cooling without the hassle of maintaining a full loop. It is working great for me and I love it. However, if you want to really overclock your CPU to its maximum potential, I suggest getting one of the more expensive hydro series coolers by corsair, because they have a better build quality and larger radiators for better cooling which yields better performance, hence why they are called their ‘extreme’ performance coolers. With the better construction of the higher end models in my eyes will make them more reliable which is what you want most from a cooling unit. It is there to keep your CPU safe, spend some more money on it for that peace of mind. However, this is a great option for those wanting to turn their dials up a little for overclocking whilst keeping the temperatures down.

27.10.2016

Having owned this for about a week now, I thought I might leave a review and give some advice to those looking at getting a AIO liquid cooler. First let me say that this is my first water-cooler that I have ever installed, so with that in mind I want to highlight the following.1. For those of you building a PC on a tight budget with not much care for aesthetics, I would go with an air cooler with a big heat-sink (e.g. Hyper Evo 212 or ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro) because if you stick a Noctua fan on there you'll have a far quieter and probably better experience, for far less. However if you are like me and love the aesthetic that a water-cooler provides and hate big heat-sinks getting in the way of your RAM sticks and motherboard,then water-cooling is definitely the way to go.2. The noise. These fans are very noisy at anything over 50% speed, and are small vacuum cleaner level at 100%. Corsair tell you in the manual to plug both fans into the cable coming off the pump housing, and then the cable that comes off that into the cpu fan header. This didn't work for me because while running basic tasks the fans would ramp up to 100% sporadically which became very distracting. I started looking on forums and people were having similar issues. I read somewhere that the pump should stay at 100%, because this provides the best cooling and means less wear and tear on the pump (a changing load is much worse for it). To fix this I simply plugged the main cable that comes off the pump housing into the 3 pin water pump header on my motherboard (this stays at 100% all the time), and plugged in the two fans into CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT on my motherboard. Then I controlled them all using the fan controller in my UEFI BIOS to keep them both below 50% as much as possible.3. With all that being said it really does keep my processor very cool - my core i7-6700k clocked at 4.7 GHz wasn't going above 70*C and at idle it sits around 20 - 25*C depending on room temperature. I also like the RGB control of the corsair logo, which can be changed with corsair link software and configured to changed based on CPU temperature. I have mine on white most of the time and set to change to red when it goes over 70*C.All in all a very good all in one closed loop cooler, but I have to knock off a star for the fan design. While they may be high static pressure fans and work well at pushing air through the radiators, they far too noisy at anything above 50%. Those who have their hearts set on this you have two options: A) Do what I outlined above, if your motherboard allows it -enough fan headers, fan control in UEFI BIOS- or B)You can swap the fans out for some quieter 120mm fans. Noctua NF-P12 PWM fans would probably be a good option, though brown doesn't look too great in most builds.

12.5.2017

I bought this to replace a Zalman CNPS20LQ liquid cooler because It could not handle overclocking my 3970X (I was getting temperatures of 90 degrees on the cores when under load with a 4.5 Ghz overclock which was a small overclock).Now, with this installed, on full load, I can overclock to 4.7GHz (stable) and I barely get temperatures over 50 degrees when playing games. I get sustained temperatures under 74 degrees C when running a prime95 torture test.Now to the pros and cons.Pros:1. Solid build2. Very good cooling.3. Ability for CORSAIR link software to save the settings into the pump block firmware permanently.Cons:1. BIG Con. This 280mm unit does NOT fit in a Cosmos II case with an Asus Rampage IV extreme motherboard.

19.11.2018

Water-cooling is more efficient than air-cooling, because water has a far higher specific heat capacity (the ability to suck up and store heat) than air. Water-cooling is, then, a good thing, but can be a bit scary: water and expensive electronics don’t mix, right? Well, with one of these sealed units from Corsair you’re saved from the embarrassment and expense of a soaking wet PC while still getting the benefits of a water-cooled CPU.It’s actually quite easy to fit. It consists of two parts connected by a pair of flexible hoses: the cooling block that fits over the CPU and the radiator that fits on the front grille of your computer. This model comes with two 120 mm cooling fans,

29.8.2019

I was fed up having my Windows machine crash with heat issues when transcoding video using Handbrake so I decided to upgrade my Noctua fan to this water cooler. Glad I did.The unit is easy to install as long as you have a basic understanding of your case and motherboard. Carefully check which risers you need for your board (Have a look in your motherboard manual if unsure on type to use).Comes with pre applied thermal paste which is great although I suggest you make sure of position over the cpu so as to avoid moving it about after fitting and smearing the paste.Under normal load the pump and fans are barely audible provided you download and configure the iCUE software from Corsair.

27.11.2019

I purchased this as an upgrade from a MasterLiquid Lite 120 that was on its way out, and to cool a Ryzen R7 2700X at 4.2GHz on all cores, with a 1.43v vcore, on a ASUS Prime X470 Pro. I'm also running a few LL120/140 fans, with a Gigabyte GTX 1080 8GB Windforce OC. First impressions, after using it for a day (almost).Installation:I installed this in a Phanteks Eclipse P350X case, which is supposed to support 280mm radiators, but the power switch and circuit board/box gets in the way. I knew this beforehand, after doing some research. The modding required was a little more extreme that I was led to believe, but I did it.Furthermore, I ran into an issue that others have in the reviews with the radiator itself.

13.12.2018

This hardware was purchased to replace my old (2012) H60 cooler. Whoever put together this package did not consider the likelihood of someone having a slightly thicker casing than usual as the short bolts provided did not reach the radiator! Therefore I had to use the ones from my old H60 and even then they proved too long so they had to be packed out to ensure a tight fit to the casing. It took me a lot longer to fit the fan and radiator than I had anticipated and this was exacerbated by the difficulty of getting the bolts into the thread on the radiator- I assume because of enamel on the threads. My advice is to try the bolts into the rad' before placing it inside the casing just to ease the process.

19.1.2015

I have had one of these cooling my Intel 4770K (which I have been running at stock speeds) for almost a year now.It came in an adequate cardboard box which kept everything well spaced and secure. Though nothing like what I have seen Corsair to be capable of.The overall build quality of the unit itself is very good and everything seems solid. Corsair helpfully include pre-applied thermal paste, the quality of which however, I cannot vouch for. There is only one small problem with the build of the actual unit. Some of the fins on the radiator were quite bent, I don't think this would make any real difference to the performance of the cooler,

15.5.2020

The looks of this set up are stunning. All white radiator and coolant lines and plenty of illumination from the centre of the pump and around the outside of the pump. Fans have two rings of LED's (LL120 has 16 per fan), not quite as many as the Corsair QL120 (34 per fan) but lighting effects are still very good when using the iCue software. Custom fan curves are easy to set up on the software and fans can be completely stopped when not under load making them silent. At medium speeds they are very quiet but running at max under stress testing they are obviously quite loud which is expected at 2200 RPM. I'm not entirely sure on the cooling performance as standard as I already had 2 corsair fans so I set my cooler up as push pull (with 4 fans)

6.7.2019

Bought this as I had the previous H60 version which I hoped would be a straight swap which it was.The unit was very easy to install even with the chaotic wiring in my particular computer. The hardest thing I had to do was plug in the 2 connectors for the liquid cooling and fan which were in the the most inaccessible places on the mother board, but that's not really the fault of corsair to be honest.It would have been nice if the instructions gave a little more guidance on how to locate the connectors as there are about four possible connectors to choose from on a motherboard, I thankfully had the foresight to note where the previous cooler connectors were plugged in.On boot up the inside of the computer was bathed in white light which I didn't expect but is nice anyway.

29.7.2016

Really love this cooler. Installed in the top of my case (Phanteks Enthoo Primo) with the fans pulling air through the radiator, as an exhaust, so didn't expect the best results ever, but pulling air instead of pushing air makes it easier to clean any dust on the radiator fins, but to my surprise my I7 6700k still runs at a very cool 22-23 degrees idle and when stress testing under load it topped out at 62 degrees (Overclocked at 4.6GHz) so really happy with the results from the H115i.The Corsair Link software is ok, not brilliant but does the job, allowing to set fan / pump speed with some preset options and allows to set a custom fan curve if needed and change the LED colour on the cooler too.

Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT - Reviews

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