PAGE INDEX
Test Methodology
The H100i GTX performance was evaluated against two other similar liquid cooling systems. Published specifications for the three systems are shown below.
| Corsair Hydro H100i GTX | Cooler Master Nepton 240 | Corsair H80iGT | |
| Length | 276 | 240mm | 154mm |
| Width | 125 | 120mm | 123mm |
| Rad. Thickness | 30 | 27mm | 49 mm |
| Cooling Fans | 2 x 120mm | 2 x 120 mm | 2 x 120 mm |
| Total Thickness | 30mm | 52mm | 49mm |
| Control Type | Corsair Link | none | Corsair Link |
| Noise Level | 37.7dB(A) | 6.5-27 dB(A) | 37.7dB(A) |
| Fan Speed | 2435+/-10% | 1200-2400 | 2435+/-10% |
| Fan Airflow | 70.69 CFM | 16-76 CFM | 70.69 CFM |
| AMD Sockets | All AM2,AM3,FM1,FM2 | All AM2,AM3,FM1,FM2 | 775,AM2,AM3 |
| Intel Sockets | 1150, 1156/1155,1156, 1366, 2011(-3) | 1150, 1156/1155,1156, 1366, 2011(-3) | 1150, 1156/1155, 1366, 2011(-2) |
| Warranty | 5 Years | 5 Years | 5 Years |
| MSRP | $119.99 (MSRP) | $129.99 | $99.99 (MSRP) |
To be consistent, the same thermal paste was applied to each of the cooling blocks. The Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 paste was used for all three cooler installations.
In order to test the full range of options in the Corsair Link GUI, separate stress tests were run for each of the different modes available. The Nepton 240M used for comparison does not have different modes, so it was run at it full operating speed.
Each product was measured for CPU temperature after running a 20 minute Aida 64 stress test. Because the test computer system has six CPU cores, the average value of all individual cores was used for the final comparison. A digital thermometer and a FLIR camera were used to capture the ambient temperature during each test.
Noise measurements were also taken using a Galaxy Audio CM–240 SPL audio meter. Where possible, measurements were taken 1 meter from the center of the computer case. The CM–240 audio meter has a minimum SPL sensitivity of 32 dB(A) SPL. For measured values below 32 dB(A), the galaxy meter was moved to 500 cm from the source and the reading was divided by two.
Each of the three cooling systems was installed in the same test system as shown below.
Test System
The test computer system is a Intel i7-3930K based content creation machine with a modest 24/7 overclock of 4.2 GHz.
X79 Test System
The Antek P100 enclosure provides room for top mounted installation of the cooling system, and has good ventilation with 240 mm front fans and one 120 mm rear exhaust fan.
| Processor: | Intel Core i7-3930X @ 4.2 GHz OC |
| (Haswell) | |
| Motherboard: | Asus P9X79 |
| Intel X79 | |
| Memory: | 64 GB 1600 |
| 10-10-10-30 | |
| Video Card: | Zotac GeForce Titan Black 980MHz |
| Harddisk: | Samsung 840 EVO 500GB |
| Power Supply: | Corsair 850 |
| Case: | Antek P100 |
| Software: | Windows 8.1 Pro |
| TIM: | Arctic Ceramique 2 |
The Asus P9X79 motherboard provides numerous fan headers for attachment to the liquid cooling system water block and fans. The BIOS allows setting the fans to 100%, or to be controlled through a Windows utility to an arbitrary percentage of the maximum speed.
Because the Corsair Link provides the control over cooler performance, the power supply of the cooler under test was connected to 3 or 4 pin motherboard fan terminals that were configured in the BIOS to operate at 100% speed.
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