Today's Hard|Forum Post
Today's Hard|Forum Post
Date:
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Author:
Marc Adams
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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Corsair Hydro H110i GT Ext. Perf. AIO CPU Cooler Review

We finally get around to reviewing Corsair's biggest and baddest sealed AIO CPU cooler, the H110i GT. When it comes to what this AIO really does for you, Corsair tells us that it provides the "excellent heat dissipation you need for highly overclocked CPUs." Of course, we will be the judge of that.

Introduction

Having recently reviewed and re-reviewed the entire catalog of all-in-one coolers from Corsair’s Hydro lineup, we were left with a couple of questions. First was, "Why Corsair Link, otherwise denoted as ‘i’ in the model name of Corsair’s AIOs, has only seen service in two of its eight models?" and secondly, "Is Corsair going to do anything about the newly introduced H105 240mm Extreme Performance CPU Cooler outperforming the biggest cooler in the lineup, the Hydro Series H110 280mm CPU Cooler?"

Today, it seems, we have an answer to both those questions and it’s in the form of the Corsair Hydro Series™ H110i GT 280mm Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler. The GT is a new moniker Corsair has added and from what we can tell, it’s more than just some fancy letters. The GT means updated and new features at the least.

With the introduction of the H110i GT we see new features like a redesigned radiator, a new heat exchanger, and premium wrapping around the tubes which we think will perform great. Overall we are excited to see Corsair’s continuing innovation in its Hydro Series line, since it seems to be ignoring other segments of its business in terms of truly moving forward.

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System Setup

Today's review takes place on our fourth generation [H]ard platform. The test bed consists of the ASUS Z97-A motherboard, eight gigabytes of Corsair 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM and the Intel Core i7 4770K.

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Test Methods

CPU

The biggest change you will notice is the removal of hardware testing. In recent years, Intel has shifted their methods of testing to software based and so we find it acceptable to do the same.

GPU

Once again we have an integrated GPU in our processor which alleviates the need for a discrete one. With the removal of a discrete GPU comes the advantage of not having an additional variable to account for.

The iGPU will not create any anomalies in our testing as long as we practice consistent testing methods.

Case

Corsair was kind enough to provide us with their Carbide series chassis. It provides excellent airflow and interior space and is a good reflection on current case design.

Thermal Paste

Noctua's NT-H1 thermal paste was selected as the paste of choice for a few key reasons. The thermal paste has been shown to provide excellent thermal conductivity allowing the heat sinks to better do their job. There is no observed curing time. That is, performance does not get any better over time. Any curing time could have introduced variables into the equation causing at best dubious results and at worst unreliable ones.

Temperatures

Ambient temperature will be kept at 25C for the duration of the tests and measured with a MicroTemp EXP non-contact infrared thermometer and cross referenced with the Sperry Digital 4 Point thermometer. Any variance greater then 0.2C will halt the testing until temperatures return within spec for fifteen minutes.

Idle

Idle temperatures will be recorded after a twenty minute period of inactivity. Any fluctuation during the last sixty seconds will reset the timer for an additional five minutes.

Load

Load temperatures will be recorded after a twenty minute period for air cooled systems, and thirty minutes for liquid cooled systems, at 100% load. To obtain this load we will be using AIDA64 Extreme Edition v3.00.2500. This places an even greater load on the CPU than before and includes some benefits. Because the load is so extreme we see the temperature vary wildly from 72C to 86C in some instances. To get an accurate reading we will utilize AIDA64’s ability to average the temperature over time. Given twenty/thirty minutes at 100% load we arrive at a temperature that accurately represents our heatsink’s performance.

Sound

Sound levels will be measured with a Reliability Direct AR824 sound meter from a distance of four feet away. With everything turned off and the room completely silent the meter registered a sound level of 38dB(A). This is a very quiet room where a simple pin drop could be heard. All sound measurements are recorded in the very late evening to further reduce any ambient noise.