Corsair Hydro Series H90 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

We always use the same test system and tests with CPU coolers that we compare against each other. The full specifications of our test system are as follows:

Test system:

• ASUS P8Z77-V, LGA 1155 socket, Z77 chipset
• Intel Core i5 3570K with Gelid GC Extreme under the IHS
• 16GB Kingston HyperX 1866MHz DDR3
• AMD Radeon HD 5870 1GB
• 128GB Kingston SSDnow V100 (Boot Drive) and Samsung F3 1TB (storage)
• Antec High Current Gamer 620W
• Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0

We’d like to say a big thank you to ASUS, Antec, Kingston, Cooler Master and Intel for providing components that makes this testing possible.

Testing Methodology:

• We always use Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste to make sure testing reveals the efficiency of the tested coolers not the efficiency of the bundled thermal paste.
• Prime 95 is run for 10 minutes and then the average maximum temperatures as recorded by CPUID HWMonitor are noted
• The system is left in idle for 10 minutes on the desktop with as few applications and processes running as possible with Intel SpeedStep enabled and then the average minimum temperatures as recorded by CPUID HWMonitor are noted
• The average temperature across the four cores is taken on our quad core processor
• Fans are mostly left to operate at default PWM profile speeds, if this is not supported or appropriate then fixed fan speeds are used and sometimes a low noise adapter if appropriate/provided. If fixed fan speeds or low noise adapters are used it will be clearly pointed out either on the graphs or in the write-up. If default PWM profiles are used then the result will appear on the graph as the product name only – which is how most of the results appear.
• Delta temperatures are always used (Observed temperature minus ambient temperature) and we keep the ambient at 22 (+/- 1) degrees for all testing . Delta temperatures should correct for any marginal ambient differences between 21-23 degrees.
• Acoustic measurements are taken 10cm horizontally away from the CPU cooler with the VGA fan disabled, hard drive in idle and power supply isolated.
• The cooling performance tests are run at stock 3.4GHz (with Intel Turbo up to 3.8GHz) and overclocked 4.5GHz settings
• All other coolers in the graphs have been tested under identical settings
• Each test is repeated 3 times with 3 remounts for consistency of results
• There is approximately a 1 degree celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software
• There is approximately a 1dBA margin of error with our decibel meter

Software Used

• CPUID HWMonitor
• Prime 95