Corsair H100i Pro RGB evaluation: a liquid CPU cooler that’s seen and never heard

The Corsair H100i Pro RGB is a closed-loop CPU cooler that’s combining magnetic levitation and RGB LEDs to convey you the most effective liquid chip-chillers you’ll be able to strap to your processor. Obviously it’s the RGB LED part of the hooked up pump which provides it the required cooling efficiency, however these maglev followers are none too shabby both.

When you’re speaking about all-in-one (AIO) chillers it’s more and more robust to look previous the vary that Corsair is ready to lay out on the desk as providing a few of the best liquid coolers. Once an organization devoted to reminiscence alone, Corsair has expanded its attain into myriad completely different areas of the PC gaming enterprise and has really managed to succeed in the highest in stunning locations, CPU cooling most undoubtedly being one in all them.

The H100i Pro RGB will probably be immediately recognisable to any Corsair cooling aficionados; it seems to be virtually similar to the basic H100 aside from a barely smaller radiator, thinner coolant tubing, and people LED strains across the pump. But that’s no unhealthy factor, the usual 240mm AIO design is tried and examined and the H100 design has been some of the well-liked for a motive.

So what do the updates imply for the brand new $100 / £100 Corsair H100i Pro RGB? The most evident is that additional LED aptitude. It makes zero distinction to your PC’s precise efficiency, however you should use it as an indicator for the temperature of your chip or coolant, or simply have it plumbed into the Pink Floyd-esque gentle present you’ve created utilizing your different Corsair parts.

It’s nonetheless sporting basically the identical 240mm radiator regardless of its extra slimline dimensions. The millimetre cuts to the z-height and width of the radiator have been made to make sure that it suits much less snugly and extra comfortably in small type issue chassis like Corsair’s wonderful Crystal 280X case.

The trimmed sides shouldn’t actually have any impression on the radiator’s capacity to sit back the coolant or the CPU, what does appear to make a distinction is the thinner tubing that Corsair has used on the brand new Pro RGB model. The earlier H100i v2, which we nonetheless use as the principle cooler on our take a look at bench, has fairly chunky tubes, and it appears like these might be making a distinction to the relative cooling efficiency that we’ve seen between the 2 on the identical Z370 / 8700Ok testing platform.

There’s not an enormous quantity in it, however the common cooling efficiency of the brand new H100i Pro and the H100i v2 is ever-so-slightly worse. The idle efficiency with the Core i7 8700Ok working at inventory speeds is an effective few levels centigrade increased with the Pro RGB chiller, although solely a pair increased at 100% CPU load.

The peak-to-idle efficiency is fairly shut at inventory efficiency, however it took for much longer for the H100i Pro RGB to convey the temperatures again right down to idle ranges from 100% CPU load once we had the 8700Ok overclocked to 5GHz on all cores.

But whereas cooling efficiency is necessary for a CPU cooler, it’s not the one factor that issues. And that’s the place the Corsair maglev followers come into it – they’re a lot quieter than the usual bearing followers used on the earlier mannequin which you could run them quicker and nonetheless have the identical noise degree.

Even working them at 2,400RPM – , once you actually wish to thrash the residing poop out of your CPU – they’re not insanely loud. I imply, you most likely wouldn’t wish to have them working at that tempo for the whole time you’re utilizing your PC, however tonally the pitch is low sufficient to not be totally offensive.

The actual kicker for me, nevertheless, is the inclusion of the Zero RPM mode, accessible through the funky iCUE software program. Think in regards to the 0dB performance of most up-to-date third-party graphics playing cards and also you’ll be heading in the right direction. When the CPU isn’t being massively taxed, and the coolant stays under the 35 – 40°C mark, then you’ll be able to configure the followers to not spin in any respect. This is nice for avid gamers, as an enormous variety of titles don’t actually make full use of your CPU’s cores, and for essentially the most half the H100i in passive pump mode can do the job sans fan.

The idle temps go up a bit, hitting round 45°C as a substitute of the 34°C we measured as normal, however that’s nonetheless a cushty degree to your chip to reside with. Obviously once you begin to push your CPU a bit of extra then issues do get toastier, and the followers will begin to spin across the 40°C level to your coolant. To start with they’ll solely kick in at round 400RPM, however in the event you keep load, iCUE will push the followers to the max to compensate.

So, in the event you’re indulging in some Prime95 playtime then they’ll hit 2,400RPM till it will get to the purpose the place you cease being fairly so aggressive along with your processor and the coolant can drop under 35°C. And which may take a while with these skinny pipes…

While I’m not essentially that shocked by the overall cooling efficiency of the H100i Pro RGB, the precise expertise of utilizing it – particularly as a gamer who isn’t going to be 100%-ing their CPU 24/7 – is great. And typically virtually silent.