A Closer Look

The Corsair Hydro Series H105 is, like all previous Hydro Series coolers to date, a pre-filled, sealed, all-in-one liquid CPU cooler. It makes use of propylene glycol and distilled water to efficiently dissipate and transport heat away from the CPU with its included pump and block combo. When it comes to installing this unit, users should make sure their case has enough room for the 240 mm radiator and 63 mm thick fans. The radiator Corsair used with the H105 has 20 fins per inch / 2.54 cm, which equivalent to previous Corsair Hydro Series products, like the H100 and H90.


The pump on the Hydro Series H105 has also been revamped; that is, over the pump in the H110 I reviewed previously. Corsair included the ability to install colored rings, which improve the pump's look. The logo also lights up white when in use, which creates a nice source of contrast. Grey, red, and blue rings are included; I used the red ring since it goes with the color scheme of the test system's motherboard. Unlike the H100i which has Corsair Link support, the H105 doesn't include the option, and nor does the pump have control points for the fans. Corsair has instead kept the pump simple and clean. The hoses are out of rubber and use plastic connectors with the ability to swivel around for a great range in motion. The cold-plate is made of copper and lacks any sort of polish. It is smooth to the touch but comes with readily visible machine marks, which should not impact cooling performance significantly.


The SP120L fans are high-pressure Corsair fans with a PWM range of 800-2700 RPM. They will, as such, emit a lot of noise at full RPM. It is just too bad that such high-quality fans with all-black cabling lack the colored rings of the other SP120 fans. Given the feature was added to the pump, I would have expected matching fans to be a logical inclusion.