2008 was the year. Corsair were one of the first brands to release an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler, the Corsair H50. The H50’s success was huge, firmly cementing it’s place in the enthusiast and mainstream cooling market for years to come. 2 years on and much has changed. Competing brands such as Noctua and Thermalright have released their gargantuan dual tower heatsinks with the primary goal of becoming the CPU cooling king! Antec have also released all-in-one liquid CPU cooler offering in the popular KÜHLER H₂O 620 & 920. Corsair haven’t just sat back and watched the competition catch up though! Oh no! They have been working hard to release more all-in-one liquid CPU coolers which can once again boost Corsair back to the top of the pack. Today we will be reviewing the eagerly anticipated and highly discussed Corsair H80 liquid CPU cooler.
The H80 is Corsair’s newest and highest end 120mm all-in-one liquid CPU cooler. The “Double-thick” 38mm radiator is tailored to fit perfectly with the dual 120mm fans capable of 2600RPM and 92CFM. Offering a static pressure of 1.6-7.7mm H2O, the all black fans are perfect for shooting air directly through the thick radiator and dense fin array. Corsair offer an amazing 5 year warranty with the H80 thanks to the fact that the “high-quality” FEP tubing ensures minimal coolant evaporation. When using the Corsair link commander, Corsair’s all new “Link digital” is available on the H80 allowing you to control multiple cooler operations and settings such as coolant temperature, pump speed and fan speed as well as allowing you the option to customise your performance profiles. The “advanced” cooling block drawing heat away from the processor also guarantees that all of the benefits of the radiator and fans aren’t wasted.
On paper and in person, the H80 looks amazing. Can Corsair’s latest offering live up to the massive hype surrounding it?
Features:
- Advanced cooling block
- Double thick (38mm) radiator
- Push-pull fans
- Push button fan settings
- Less strain and clutter on the motherboard
- Corsair “Link digital” support
- 5 year warranty
Specifications:
[TABLE=class: grid] [TR] [TD]Radiator dimensions[/TD] [TD]120mm x 152mm x 38mm[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fan dimensions[/TD] [TD]120mm x 120mm x 25mm (x2)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fan speed[/TD] [TD]1300-2600 RPM[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fan airflow[/TD] [TD]46-92 CFM[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fan noise level[/TD] [TD]22-39 dbA[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fan static pressure[/TD] [TD]1.6-7.7mm H2O[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]CPU compatibility[/TD] [TD]AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366/2011[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
Fantastic review mate, and i know you're really pleased with it over all :)Andy
thanks mate :).It is an absolutely awesome cooler! Too bad I have to remove it today and get on to the next review :p. Lol
Nice review :)I had a search for this after reading and was quite surprised with the price, I expected it to be much more considering the price of high end air coolers
ye, the price is competitive tbh 🙂
Platinum award, I was wondering what liquid cooling would be best, well I think I'd go for the H100, after all, I suppose it must be as good as the H80, if not better.Great review, I was waiting for this one 😀
Some people have asked if i would be so kind to carry out some extra tests, so here they are :)!I have repeated the tests to a good degree of accuracy, but obviously they aren't quite as accurate as the tests i produce in the review as that very accurate procedure is very time consuming.<p style="text-align:center;">H80 with AP-15 Fans 100% speed (mobo header) vs H80 with Corsair fans on "Balanced" speed profilefirstly, i have been asked to compare the Scythe AP-15 fans running at 100% speed via the motherboard header, against the Corsair fans set to the H80's "balanced" fan speed profile. <img src="/wp-content/uploads/vb/H80 Temps – Corsair fans balanced vs AP-15s 100% mobo header.jpg" class="gc-images" title="H80 Temps – Corsair fans balanced vs AP-15s 100% mobo header.jpg" style="max-width:400px" /> A very small difference is shown between the 2 different fan setups. <img src="/wp-content/uploads/vb/H80 Acoustics – Corsair fans balanced vs AP-15s 100% mobo header.jpg" class="gc-images" title="H80 Acoustics – Corsair fans balanced vs AP-15s 100% mobo header.jpg" style="max-width:400px" /> The Scythe AP-15s are slightly louder than the Corsair alternatives at idle, but they are over 5dbA quieter under heavy load.H80 with AP-15 Fans 100% speed (mobo header) vs H80 with AP-15 fans on "Performance" speed profileFinally, I was asked to compare the Scythe AP-15 fans running at full speed via the motherboard header, against the same AP-15 fans running on the "Performance" fan speed profile of the H80. <img src="/wp-content/uploads/vb/H80 Temps – AP-15 Performance mode vs AP-15 100% mobo header.jpg" class="gc-images" title="H80 Temps – AP-15 Performance mode vs AP-15 100% mobo header.jpg" style="max-width:400px" /> A very small difference of only 0.5C is shown. <img src="/wp-content/uploads/vb/H80 Acoustics – AP-15 Performance mode vs AP-15 Mobo Header 100%.jpg" class="gc-images" title="H80 Acoustics – AP-15 Performance mode vs AP-15 Mobo Header 100%.jpg" style="max-width:400px" /> The AP-15s are slightly quieter while controlled via the H80's "performance" fan speed profile. As I mentioned earlier though, these results are slightly less accurate than the rigorous procedures I carry out when writing the main review. Taking that into consideration, the difference in noise is probably small enough to be ignored.<p style="text-align:left;">From my point of view, the H80 coupled with 2 Scythe AP-15 fans set to the "performance" profile are a great setup. The supplied Corsair fans set to the "balanced" fan speed profile are also a very good choice.Remember guys, any question, feel free to ask and I will try my best to help out before I unfortunately have to remove this H80 :(!
Impressive review!
lol sir Lucas, I love your cooler reviews! Very deep, yet it happens not to drown readers. I love the additional tests too! :$
thanks mate :D!!i lol when you call me sir Lucas :p! my name is Luke btw :p!
sir lucas lol
by all means call me that :p! i wont complain 😎
lol You're welcome, sir Luke 😉
Nice man very nice If you wake up tomorrow and find it missing, it wasn't me :p
lol :p! i wont blame u… honest :p!its out of my computer now :(! from H80 to stock intel cooler :(!
Nice review that's very well done sure appreciate the extra test run and noting the info . by the way what type of material is the mainboard mounting plate made of ? is it plastic or metal ? sorry if you have already mentioned that and I happened to miss it . Thanks
thanks mate :)!The backplate is made out of metal and so are the motherboard hold-down accessories. The mount is very secure :).Hope this helps :)!
Hi Lucas,Firstly, thanks for the good review! I was wondering what your thoughts are on mounting the fans as intake in an Antec DF-85. As the fan that I would remove is actually an exhaust.. Will this not mess up the airflow as it was intended? Or is the benefit of having water cooling on the CPU enough to outweigh the reduced airflow because it simply cools much better with the H-80 installed?Otherwise, considering the huge amount of air already travelling through the DF-85, would it maybe be ok to mount the fans as exhaust?Hope you can shed some light on this for me, I have been pondering this question ever since I started to look into the H-70…Looking forward to your reply!
Hi mate.thanks for your feedback. i have replied to your PM regarding the above questions.Hope this helps :).thanks,Luke