Corsair is a company that needs no introduction. Constantly entering new markets, and not by half measures. For a long time they have been known for fantastic RAM, when they entered the power supply market they established themselves as one of the best, recently they also entered into the case market with their Obsidian 800D, yet another top of the line product.
Today we’ll be looking at what they can do with in the Liquid Cooling market with their established H50 and the newly released H70.
For a while now the H50 has been a great choice for enthusiasts who are on a budget or just don’t want the hassle of custom watercooling. It featured an integrated pump and reservoir for zero maintenance, improved leakage protection, and temperatures around what you could expect from a high end air cooler, without the problems of space and noise.
Now comes the new improved version of the popular H50. The Corsair H70. Still incorporating the same no maintenance policy it also has a radiator almost twice as thick as the H50, an improved cpu block/pump and a second fan for a push-pull setup.
But can the H70 live up to bold claims from Corsair, stating improvements up to 13c over the H50? Let’s go ahead and find out.
Firstly a quick look at the specs of both coolers.
| Corsair H50 | Corsair H70 | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | CWCH50 | CWCH70 |
| Cold Plate Material | Copper | Copper |
| Radiator Material | Aluminium | Aluminium |
| Radiator Dimensions | 120x25mm | 120x50mm |
| Fan Specs | Single 120mm 1700rpm | 2x120mm, selectable 2000rpm or 1600rpm |
| Tubing | Low-permeability for near zero evaporation | Low-permeability for near zero evaporation |
The pictures put into perspective just how much thicker the rad of the H70 is, almost double that of the H50. We can also see the revisions made to the pump and block, much thinner than the H50′s block aswell as having a glossy top as opposed to a matte finish.
The H70 also sports a shorter tube length, however we found it to be plenty long enough for installation. One perhaps less desirable change we can see is the lack of sleeving on the pump cable from the H70, we can only assume this was to cut back costs.
One of the few things that hasn’t changed in the H70 is the mounting system. Both coolers use the same perhaps overly complicated “ring” mount method.
The coolers come with two backplates and two rings that allow for mounting to Intel LGA775, Intel LGA1366, AMD socket AM2 and AMD socket AM3 systems.
Adult assembly required.
As shown above there is quite a bit of hardware to get the H50 or H70 mounted in your system. At the back of the picture we have some black clips that go into the metal ring and hold it in place. Moving to the middle of the picture we have a set of various screws and washers for mounting, aswell as some foam pads for isolation of the cooler where needed.
This is definitely one of those times where you need to read the manual, things such as the screws and clips are in two different sets (one for AMD and one for Intel) and not universal. Another tip is to pay close attention to which way the clips are meant to be, if they’re in the wrong way you’ll just find yourself repeating steps.
Installation is fairly easy to the average user aslong as you can follow instructions and have a little patience. It took us around ten minutes once we’d figured out the instructions and was fairly painless. Here’s how the H50 and H70 looked in our test system. (Click image for larger version)
To put these coolers through their paces, we’ll be using an Intel oven, also known as the Core i7 930, and we’re not scared to clock high and add some voltage either.
Full Test System:
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 D0 Stepping
Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D-E
Memory: 3 x 2GB G.Skill DDR3 2000 6-9-6-24 1T
Storage: OCZ Vertex Turbo 60GB SSD
Power Supply: Antec TPQ-1200w PSU
Enclosure: Cooler Master HAF 932 closed case, stock fans
Since the point of this review is to measure the performance of the coolers and not their fan setups we have decided to use two Antec Tri-cool fans on both coolers at their max rated speed of 1900RPM, producing 80CFM.
In order to stress the CPU and produce heat we will be using Prime95 in Blend Mode with eight threads and to measure the temperatures, Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition v5.5.
Ambient temperature was at a stable 23c (73F) and all tests were run multiple times before recording.
Without further ado, let us dive into some performance numbers.
The H50 looked like it wasn’t ready to go down when we looked at the idle figures, the H50 being lower than the H70 by a minimal 2c. However the H70 was quick to redeem itself beating the H50 by a comfortable 4c under full load.
Turn up the heat and you start to see the improvements made by Corsair with the H70 kick in. The H70 doesn’t budge a single C when idling, despite the extra voltage, however the H50 is a completely different story, rising by a significant 7c.
The H70 wipes the H50 off of the board when under load here coming in at a massive 11c cooler than the H50.
The H50 was unable to hold the 930 at 4.1Ghz and failed Prime95 with the ever so encouraging BSOD. The H70 however managed to keep the Intel CPU stable with a maximum temperature of 73c, 7c lower than the last temperature readings we could get from the H50 before the system crashed.
Corsair stated improvements of up to 13c in the H70 and we’d be lying if we said we weren’t sceptical of such results. However our testing speaks for itself. It’s important to remember we were using two high powered fans in a push pull configuration for both coolers, instead of the stock fan setups provided with the coolers. Despite this, we were still able to milk a lower temperatures of up to 11c from the H70 which we found to be very impressive.
As always though, extra performance is never found for free. At the time of this review the H50 can be had for ~$80 USD, while the H70 retails for ~$110 USD.
However as enthusiasts we are always looking for a way to squeeze a little bit more out of our systems without having to sell organs to cover costs for expensive custom loop water systems. We would (infact, we did) cough up the extra $30 USD for the extra performance the H70 provides.
The Corsair H50 is certainly no push over among the cooling world though, still easily performing in the top percentage of high end tower air coolers which consume alot of space and often have problems mounting in mid size cases or cases with side-panel fans, which makes the H50 a perfect solution for those bound tightly by their cases and wallets.
EPCZ Bottom Line: Both the H50 and H70 have impressed us and you couldn’t go wrong with either of them. The winner out of the two is by far the H70 providing significant improvements over the H50. Both coolers get our recommendation.
A special thanks goes out to OS-Wiz for doing all the hardwork of testing and recording results. Without him, this article would not have been possible.
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