Corsair Hydro Series H90

crazyeyesreaper · Jan 28, 2013

Corsair is once again expanding their lineup of CPU cooling solutions. This time with the Hydro Series H90, pairing good cooling and low noise levels up in one attractive package. At less than $100 it is also priced competitively to go head-to-head with high-end air coolers.

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W1zzard · Jan 31, 2013

This is our first cooling review in a long time. Feedback please.

Sir B. Fannybottom · Jan 31, 2013

Oh snap give dis man a raise

Athlon2K15 · Jan 31, 2013

Why test on a system that only 2% of the market use? Overall good review though

W1zzard · Jan 31, 2013

AthlonX2 said:
Why test on a system that only 2% of the market use? Overall good review though

We picked LGA2011 because it provides high heat load. Everyone: Would you rather see LGA1155 Ivy Bridge ?

Sir B. Fannybottom · Jan 31, 2013

AthlonX2 said:
Why test on a system that only 2% of the market use? Overall good review though

Better than using a TEC

Athlon2K15 · Jan 31, 2013

TacoTown said:
Better than using a TEC

Who uses a TEC for testing?

VulkanBros · Jan 31, 2013

Good to have some cooler reviews again....mayby AthlonX2 is right about the market percentages - but ever since I swaped my air-cooler with a closed loop liquid cooler - I never looked back - and probably never will...
Is the H90 Asetek ??

Ohh - You mean system - not the cooler type - sorry

erocker · Jan 31, 2013

W1zzard said:
We picked LGA2011 because it provides high heat load. Everyone: Would you rather see LGA1155 Ivy Bridge ?

No. Temperatures for Ivy Bridge are too inconsistent when it comes to various coolers.

W1zzard · Jan 31, 2013

erocker said:
No. Temperatures for Ivy Bridge are too inconsistent when it comes to various coolers.

Yeah, that was part of our reasoning, too, with up to 20°C difference between individual CPUs.

Athlon2K15 · Jan 31, 2013

W1zzard said:
We picked LGA2011 because it provides high heat load. Everyone: Would you rather see LGA1155 Ivy Bridge ?

To each there own opinion, but if im reading a cooler review I want to be able to compare it to something I use personally.With ~2% of people using LGA2011, I think it would offer more to the reader if they can pull up coretemp or realtemp and compare there own temps.

cadaveca · Jan 31, 2013

erocker said:
No. Temperatures for Ivy Bridge are too inconsistent when it comes to various coolers.

+1. Change cooler orientation 90 degrees, get different temps, because of funky IHS shapes.

Although, I got 1155 hardware if needed, of course.

Heck, AMD stuff, even. Personally I don't think it matters, but my opinion doesn't matter.

AthlonX2 said:
To each there own opinion, but if im reading a cooler review I want to be able to compare it to something I use personally.With ~2% of people using LGA2011, I think it would offer more to the reader if they can pull up coretemp or realtemp and compare there own temps.

Just a matter of reporting power consumption. I have a few IVB chips now, one 3570k is 90c load, the other 70c, so there is no point of reference.

VulkanBros · Jan 31, 2013

erocker said:
No. Temperatures for Ivy Bridge are too inconsistent when it comes to various coolers.

due to what??

Jstn7477 · Jan 31, 2013

My 3770K consumes 60w normally and hits 83c on a Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer that the previous owner said ran in the low 60s with an overclocked 2600K that consumed MORE power. 3xxx chips are just so crappy cooling wise because of the stupid thermal paste under the IHS. I de-lidded a Pentium 4 540J yesterday and it had a thick, metallic goo that is far superior to the generic gray crap being used on Ivy Bridge processors.

Kaynar · Jan 31, 2013

I think the important part is to compare it to the H100 (which you did) because it is the old top-of-the-line of the company (and we have all seen how it performs in tons of reviews) and to other air or water coolers that have nearly the same price.

EDIT: In general I'd like to see how these water coolers perform with push/pull fans. I am not only talking about this review, but the large majority of reviews only included stock fan in stock configuration. My H100 performs better with push/pull SP120 fans but also is not as quiet as before at low fan speed.

95Viper · Jan 31, 2013

Nice review. Concise and easy to read and understand.

Sir B. Fannybottom · Jan 31, 2013

cadaveca said:
+1. Change cooler orientation 90 degrees, get different temps, because of funky IHS shapes.

Although, I got 1155 hardware if needed, of course. Heck, AMD stuff, even. Personally I don't think it matters, but my opinion doesn't matter.

Just a matter of reporting power consumption. I have a few IVB chips now, one 3570k is 90c load, the other 70c, so there is no point of reference.

Nice Pic(kle) brah

Fourstaff · Jan 31, 2013

Actually AMD would be nice given that they have quite high heat loads. Also, test with different fans (at the discretion of reviewer, you dont need to test all fans out there).

DaC · Jan 31, 2013

Nice review! I wouldn't care for the 2% talk..... the idea is to have a standard so the test cold be valid and the cpu used pretty much fits perfectly in that.

Jstn7477 · Jan 31, 2013

Fourstaff said:
Actually AMD would be nice given that they have quite high heat loads. Also, test with different fans (at the discretion of reviewer, you dont need to test all fans out there).

I think the SB-E is a good comparison TBH. With 15MB L3 and 6 HT cores, it is a beast and it's on the same process node (although different fabrication processes of course). I think cadaveca said somewhere on here a while ago that these chips can easily push 200-250w if I'm not mistaken.

ChristTheGreat · Jan 31, 2013

Nice review. I'm always wondering if I should get one like this, to change my CNPS10x modded, which is nice, but I don't think I could reach 5ghz with this one xD

HammerON · Jan 31, 2013

Nice review crazyeyesreaper!!!
It is too bad that Corsair did not include the Link support with this cooler

It is a nice feature to have.
I am personally okay with you testing the coolers with LGA2011. Hopefully you have some more coolers lined-up to test so we can start seeing more comparisons than just the ones listed in your charts.

Vulpesveritas · Jan 31, 2013

I for one also would vote for using AMD for testing given the high heat loads and that they are still a more common system than LGA 2011.

fullinfusion · Feb 1, 2013

Great review Ray! :respect:

Those temp's are so comparable to my ol H100 :toast:

bim27142 · Feb 1, 2013

I totally agree with this... I always prefer to utilize the already existing hardware controls in place rather than adding another software (that is again prone to bugs) and it runs on the background...

I am actually eyeing at this one (or the H60 '13 edition) once it will be available locally...

By the way, it would also be good to try this H90 in a dual fan (SP140 maybe?) setup and see how the temps go...

Oh crap, where's the post before me? I thought I had that quoted...

System Name	Old reliable
Processor	Intel 8700K @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard	MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
Cooling	Custom Water
Memory	32 GB Crucial Ballistix 3666 MHz
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3080 10GB Suprim X
Storage	3x SSDs 2x HDDs
Display(s)	ASUS VG27AQL1A x2 2560x1440 8bit IPS
Case	Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s)	Samson Meteor Mic / Generic 2.1 / KRK KNS 6400 headset
Power Supply	Zalman EBT-1000
Mouse	Mionix NAOS 7000
Keyboard	Mionix

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	The SwagMachine / The Sister
Processor	Core i5 3570K @5.2ghz 1.3V/ 1100T
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z77-V / ASUS M5A99X EVO
Cooling	Phanteks PH TC14PE / Corsair H40
Memory	M379B5273DH0-YK0 2X4GB + PVI316G213C1QK 2X4GB / 2x4GB Patriot 2133
Video Card(s)	PNY 780Ti /Windforce 7950
Storage	2xSamsung 840 EVO 250gb+WD10EZEX + WD30EZRX/ 1x WD1500 Black
Display(s)	AOC Q2963PM+Acer S200HL / Acer S200L+ LG 22LD350
Case	Fractal Define R4 / NZXT Trinity
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar DG / Asus Xonar DG
Power Supply	Seasonic 750X / ROSEWILL RG630-S12 630W R
Mouse	Razer Deathadder Chroma / Roccat Kone+
Keyboard	Razer Blackwidow 2013 Stealth / Roccat Isku
Software	Windows 8.1 Pro / Windows 7 Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	one time I scored a 3 on 3dmark 11

Processor	Intel Core i9 11900K
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Carbon EK X
Cooling	Custom Water
Memory	Team DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC
Storage	WD WN850 1TB
Display(s)	43" LG NanoCell 4K 120Hz
Power Supply	Asus Thor 1200w
Mouse	Asus Strix Evolve
Keyboard	Asus Strix Claymore

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Corsair Hydro Series H90

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System Name	Commercial towing vehicle "Nostromo"
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Power Supply	HX1500i
Mouse	Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition
Keyboard	Scope II 96 Wireless
Software	Windows 11 23H2 / Fedora w. KDE

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD m.2
Display(s)	LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Tester84
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Awesomesauce 4.3 \| Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor	Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore \| Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3\| Stock
Cooling	Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans \| Stock
Memory	G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel \| 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost \| NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others \| Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s)	Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms \| 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case	Fractal Design Define XL R2 \| MSI
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z \| Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply	Corsair HX850i Platinum \| 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \| Windows 10 Home x64

System Name	My PC
Processor	i7 4790k @4.4ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte z97m-d3h
Cooling	Corsair H105
Memory	4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133-9-11-11-31-1T
Video Card(s)	GTX970 Stric oc
Storage	Samsung 840Pro 512GB
Display(s)	Asus ROG SWIFT
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Power Supply	Corsair AX860
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Software	Win10 64-bit home

System Name	Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor	3570K // 10400F
Motherboard	ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling	Stock // Stock
Memory	2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage	Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s)	LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply	Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w

Processor	Q6600 @3.6
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Power Supply	550W Seven team

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Cooling	Thermalright PA120 SE
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Storage	WD Black SN850X 2TB
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Case	SAMA IM01
Audio Device(s)	Creative SoundBlasterx G6
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	Logitech G pro Wireless
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB MK2
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64

System Name	Aki
Processor	AMD 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-A
Cooling	MSI MAG CoreLiquid E360
Memory	Patriot Viper Elite 5 32GB 6200
Video Card(s)	PNY RTX 4090 XLR8
Storage	Samsung 960 Pro 512 GB + WD Black SN850 1TB
Display(s)	Dell 32" Curved Gaming Monitor (S3220DGF)
Case	Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	On-board
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G5
Mouse	Roccat Kone Pure
Keyboard	ASUS ROG Strix Scope II Wireless
Software	Win 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Always changing~

System Name	Mr. Obsolete\| Ms. Old
Processor	Intel Core i5 3570K \| Intel Core i7 6700
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe \| Asus Maximus VIII Gene
Cooling	DeepCool GAMMAXX 120 \| Coolermaster i7C
Memory	Kingston HyperX 1866 16GB (8x2) \| Kingston HyperX 2400 16GB (8x2)
Video Card(s)	Asus TUF GTX 1650 Super \| Asus ROG Strix GTX 1050Ti
Storage	Intel 330 180GB + WD Blue 1TB \| ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB + WD Blue 1TB
Display(s)	ASUS VZ239HE \| ASUS VZ239HR
Case	Silverstone SG13B \| Silverstone PS15B
Audio Device(s)	On-Board Realtek ALC898 + Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 \| ROG SupremeFX 2015 + Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3
Power Supply	FSP SFX PRO 450 \| Seasonic S12-III 500
Software	Windows 10 Home