Water cooling still manages to give the heebie-jeebies to even the most seasoned of enthusiasts. The relative difficulty of setup, maintenance requirements, and overall costs are still off putting factors to even those used to overclocking their CPU to the breaking point. Although fairly benign with modern coolants, cooking those components in a pool of spilled coolant if something should go wrong just isn’t an appealing proposition. Now one can have their CPU water cooled without any of the work or worry, for less cost then most high end motherboards.
Corsair isn’t new to this game; their Nautilus 500 system really got the ball rolling on this concept. However that kit was bulky, sat outside the case, and had a couple minor fit-and-finish issues. Also the price still wasn’t in that magical sub-$100 range. Corsair’s latest product looks to take that extra step forward with what they started with the Nautilus 500. What they came up with was the Hydro Series H50 high-performance CPU cooler.
Features and Specifications
Here’s a quick run down of the specs, or you can check out the product home page for all the nerdly specifications.
- Pre-filled, closed-loop system is easy to install
- Copper CPU cooling plate for maximum cooling performance
- Integrated pump and reservoir is sealed for zero maintenance and improved leakage protection
- Large 120mm radiator for fast heat dispersion
- High-efficiency, low-noise 120mm fan for drawing cool air across the radiator
- Two-year warranty
Basically this all-in-one kit is reminiscent of the CoolIT Domino we reviewed nearly a year ago. It’s an enclosed water cooling kit with a block for the CPU and a 120mm fan to keep the radiator cool. All of this is contained within the computer case.
Unlike the CoolIT Domino, the design is a little different. There’s no side panel, and no LCD display. On the bright side you can pick any 120mm you want, though one is included.
What Else is Included?
Corsair includes everything you need to mount the H50 in an Intel based rig. Out of the box, the cooler supports both LGA775 and LGA1366, complete with corresponding back plates. Now the picture above also shows the AMD mounting bracket and back plate. Unfortunately those aren’t included in the retail kit, needing to be ordered separately.
They are said to be free, but reports say that there’s a $5 USD handling fee of some sort. This of course requires you to plan ahead when purchasing this kit for and AMD rig, as you’ll need to order the separate compatible bracket ahead of time to make sure you have it ready to go. This is a fairly decent inconvenience for the AMD crowd, small though they may be.
The Heart of the Hydro Series H50
As noted, the Corsair Hydro Series H50 is a completely self contained water cooling unit. Actually it takes up less space then the CoolIT Domino, since it forgoes the side mounted LCD panel. Also helping out is the fact that the CPU waterblock and pump are all contained in the unit that mounts to the CPU socket. Aside from the fan that eventually mounts to the radiator, most of the mechanics for the device are found in this unit. The pump itself is actually powered by a three-pin power adaptor, and if plugged into your motherboard will give you a flow reading using the RPM monitor.
Taking a Closer Look
The waterblock used in the H50 is an all copper custom affair. Corsair pre-applies it’s own thermal interface material, and though it looks similar to the decent goop we’ve reviewed, I’m not sure of it’s origins. Luckily you can easily scrape it off if you have a particular thermal paste preference, or leave it on and go for the easy install. The surface underneath is typical for this type of product; machined and clean but not quite the mirror finish you want for good contact and thermal transfer.
The radiator used on the H50 is a fairly typical 120mm unit. The fins are abundant and appear to be made of aluminum. The radiator itself isn’t very thick, going to economy of space rather then maximum cooling area. There are fan holes on both sides so you could configure this unit in a push-pull setup, providing you had another fan and the appropriate screws. I’d imagine the latter would be more difficult to find then the former.
As for the fan that Corsair includes, it’s of the low speed variety. For power it uses the same 4-pin PWM connector you’d find on a modern CPU heatsink. This allows the motherboard to control the speed of the fan, based on the amount of load on the CPU and how much heat it’s generating. An adaptor is provided to power the fan using the standard 3-pin header, should your motherboard not have a PWM header (really?). If you just want to run the fan at full speed, you can take this a step further and use a 3-pin to Molex adaptor to run the fan off the power supply.
Luckily the fan isn’t permanently mounted to the radiator, making it much easier to replace then some kits. This means if you want to hook up a different fan for more cooling performance, you can. Just make sure the fan is only 25mm in depth. The 38mm deep 120mm fans (like my Panaflo high speed monster) are too deep to allow the mounting screws to connect to the radiator.
The Test Rig
To test the Corsair Hydro Series H50 I installed it on my standard test rig.
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition CPU
- GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 790FX Motherboard
- Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR3-1600 Dual Channel Memory Kit
- GIGABYTE GV-R489OC-1GD Radeon HD 4890 Video Card
- Kingston SSDnow V-Series 128GB Solid State Hard Drive
- Lian Li MAXIMA Force Extreme PS-A650GB 650W Power Supply
- HighSpeed PC Top Deck Tech Station
If you’ll remember from our review, the Phenom II X4 965 has a TDP rating of 140W. That means it gets friggin’ hot. I figured this was the best stress test for the H50, as it’s currently the hottest CPU available from either AMD or Intel. We used OCCT to take the CPU temperature after 30 minutes of idling, and then after 1 hour of continuous 100% load. The fan was hooked up to the PWM header on the board to match the variable-speed fan controller on the CoolIT Domino.
Installation
I noted that the AMD bracket doesn’t typically come with the H50, and has to be ordered from Corsair or one of their vendors. Well Corsair was nice enough to include this bracket with my review unit. Unfortunately they didn’t include any AMD-specific instructions. They also don’t make any of their user guides available on their home page. The Intel guide that is included looked to be concise, and I was able to use it as reference for the AMD installation. Corsair includes guides in several languages, should English not be your native tongue.
With the Intel install guide in hand, I found installation on the AMD platform to be a snap. I actually didn’t need to use the included AMD back plate, and the AMD mounting kit for the H50 works fine with the default back plate. This was nice as I didn’t need to remove the motherboard. Corsair employs this interesting system where you mount the bracket on the motherboard first, then insert the cooling unit and turn it to lock it in place. Once everything was installed, it was time to spin this thing up and see what she could do.
And The Results
As I’m sure you’ve figured out from my multiple mentions of it, the Corsair H50 pretty well is meant to be put head to head with the CoolIT Domino. The end result was an overall win for the Domino, but still a net positive for the Corsair H50. In raw numbers the Domino was definitely cooler then the H50, but it wasn’t that much cooler.
At idle, the Domino was 4°C cooler than the H50, but at load that difference narrowed to 1°C. That’s small enough to be statistically insignificant, meaning that under load the H50 is just as good as the Domino. Keep in mind that this is using the variable fan speed mode (PWM on the H50, and onboard controller on the Domino) for both coolers. When cranking both coolers up to max, the Domino handily beats the H50 by a few degrees. That being said, it also tells you that it’s doing so.
In the noise department the H50 didn’t vary much from idle to load. Unlike the Domino, there was only a couple dBA of difference as the fan speed ramped up. The difference was in fact so low that I didn’t bother making a graph for it. Basically, under load the H50 is the quieter of the two coolers.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
The Corsair Hydro Series H50 High-Performance CPU Cooler is many things in one package. It’s a shot across the bow of the guys at CoolIT, as well as anyone else producing a sub $100 pre-built water cooling unit. More than that it’s a good stand-alone CPU cooler in a very compact package. The quiet CPU cooler would fit in nicely in a budget rig running a lower power AMD CPU.
The included fans are quiet and efficient, while still providing sufficient cooling on even the hottest of CPUs. If you don’t like the fan, you can change it for something more preferable. Installation is also a snap, and should something break the 2-year warranty is a nice safety net.
The big issue I have against the H50 is the lack of an included AMD bracket, forcing you to order one separately. Luckily, Corsair has informed us that all current shipping H50’s will have the AMD brackets included along with brackets for the new INTEL 1156 sockets. If you are missing them in your package, Corsair will take care of you.
In the end, the Corsair H50 is a tough act to beat. It takes down the CoolIT Domino with ease, while managing to stay all quiet and efficient. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants a CPU cooler that can start with a whisper, and ramp up to a scream if you want it to.
Pros
- Low price
- Excellent overall thermal performance
- Easy to install
- Quiet even under full load
Cons
- No AMD bracket included, must be ordered separately
Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0
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Corsair Hydro Series H50 High-Performance CPU Cooler Photo Gallery
