Unlike the H50 which had a rather large pump and ribbed plastic tubing, the H55 as you can see has a much smaller pump and smooth rubber tubing.
The back gives you a little tasted for the performance. It suggests 24 degrees better performance than the Intel Box Cooler at stock speeds – given stock speeds produce very little heat this is an impressive claim. The packaging also boasts improved noise output, but with a fixed maximum RPM 3 pin fan I am doubtful it will be able to compete against the 4 pin PWM fans supplied with many other CPU coolers.
I can’t say for sure but apparently the included TIM is of very good quality. I feel Corsair should have bundled these units with one of their excellent SP120 series fans.
I agree to an extent. It definitely needs a PWM fan, the SP120 or AF120 fans would of been ideal but even something cheaper with a lower fan speed would of just been better. I am not sure how good the included TIM is, we always use Gelid GC-Extreme because it keeps consistency and is the best TIM on the market
I’m not sure I agree with your idea of a cheaper low speed fan but I do agree wholeheartedly with your choice of TIM.
When you compare any of the Corsair or similar water cooling solutions to and equally or lower priced heatsink/fan, the heatsink/fan cools better, has lower noise and can’t leak water. Who actually buys these water cooling systems when they are inferior? It doesn’t make any sense to me especially with the know hardware damage that has happen when thes leak.
Well in my opinion the H55 is clearly offering a lot of performance here on Ivy Bridge. I understand the concerns about leakages, but what you have to consider is that if you install the product correctly and handle it appropriately, it will probably never leak. The risk is minimal but yes you are right it does still exist. As personal preference, I’d much rather have a good dual tower heatsink with 3 silent low RPM fans but AIO water loops do represent something more flexible and more compatible with most cases on the market. yes you don’t get as much bang for buck, but for some reason they are in fashion.
My plans are to buy another water cooled or liguid cooled system and as far as the price and performance the Corsair H55 would be great choice but I also have my eys oe Corsiar H100i! So I guess I got a decsion t mae! Masurering for clearnce in my csae will be the first thing I have t do to seeif the H100i will fit then I will able to decide then!