Review: Corsair H50

So I have been around this forum for going on three years now. I have watched people water loop the heck out of their machines, only to have the feeling that I have been left behind. There have been some gorgeous case mods that include water cooling, and yet it all seems so expensive. Enter the Corsair H50.

What? A sealed water cooling unit, that I don't have to leak test? A unit that I don't have to worry about filling? SOLD! The price wasn't bad either at 79.99 at Best Buy. Now I realize that there are probably other, more reliable methods of water cooling. But less face it, on a budget this cooler is one of the best out there.

Asthetically it is very very basic, compared to say the Cool-IT systems unit. But at the same time, sometimes less is more.

Note: It's been awhile since I have done images in a forum, so if the link is broken I will try to fix it in the morning.

On to the good stuff.

As far as cooling goes, this a great entry level water cooling solution. It is also quickly becoming a favorite among enthusiasts, mainly because of the price comparison of higher end water cooling loops. With that said, it is very very limited. The tubes are very stiff, and in some cases can be difficult to work with. I had thought about buying another one to put in my wifes case, but its a Lian-Li PC-V351B Silver. I could probably get it to work in there, if I had the time to make some cuts in the panels, but alas she likes it closed so not going to happen.

I WAS running an AMD 5000+ BE AM2 CPU, that when attempting over clocks on a Thermaltake Big Typhoon would only reach about 2.9GHz before it would do the normal gasps for life. When I installed this, I was able to get it to 3.05GHz with temps never reaching above 50 degrees celsius. Of course it helped that the multipliers were unlocked. Side note: I am not a professional overclocker, and I will never be going for the record of a 980x like someone we all know(good luck Trace!). I dabble, and that is about as far as I go.

I upgraded to an AMD Athlon II x4 630 here a few days ago. Sadly there are no unlocked multipliers so I am learning how to OC it. I realize it won't hit 3.5 GHZ, but I plan to squeeze every last ounce of productivity out of it. I have gotten it to 3.15GHz stable, at idle it runs at 35 degrees celsius, and at full load at 48 degrees celsius. Once I learn how to safely overclock this chip, I will revisit this review and update it.

Corsair is so behind this product that they are even showing tutorials on how to get more out of this cooler. Recently, they blogged about how to get more out of it by using a Push/Pull configuration. I've tried both ways, with and without. Let me tell you, without is no longer an option. They are also allowing tutorials on their forums about how to mod these coolers. So far from what I have seen, the mods are really to expand the Rad to include more fan capabilities. I have yet to see anyone actually change the tubing.

This cooler comes with a small 120 mm radiator and 120 mm Corsair fan:

The fan runs at 1700RPM according to the corsair website. One of the only cons I find about this fan is the sticker that is on the fan itself. The system is designed to have the fan draw air into the radiator, normal right? Sure except the corsair emblem is what winds up facing into the radiator. It would have been nice if they would have put the sticker on the other side, as the corsair logo is actually appealing to look at. I am sure they did this to show which direction the fan should place into the radiator, but it is a failed effort considering they also have arrows on the side of the fan to show direction of airflow.

Push/Pull configuration:

This was fun and annoying at the same time. The directions given in the video tutorial show that for a push/pull scenario, you should get to your local hobby store and pick up 4 screws that should go all the way through 2 fans and the radiator. Why not just include these in the package? Why not just include the extra fan in the package too? I would have paid an extra $10.00 for the extra fan had I known at the time I would need another one. In my opinion they could have 2 packages available, one with the extra fan at 89.99 and one without at 79.99.

Heatsink:

Where would a cooler(air or otherwise) be without a heatsink. It's a fairly well designed heatsink, and please keep in mind I know as much about heatsinks as I do about tearing down a transmission and repairing it(my wifes car has transmission issues, and guess what it always will). The one thing to note about the heatsink is that it comes with a very healthy helping of Thermal paste. I don't recall the instructions declaring what brand of thermal paste it is. But I had to change the thermal paste when I upgraded the new CPU. I used Arctic Silver, and the temps seem to be a bit cooler. The only real plus to this included thermal paste is that it is spread so perfectly that it takes far less time to gel with the cpu then Arctic Silver. I have another day or 2 before I notice any real differences beween the two.

My verdict and conclusion:

For an entry level CPU water cooling solution, the Corsair H50 is fantastic. It gives some of us without the budget, that want to give water cooling a try a chance to do so. It also gives some of us some insight one what works, should we decide to enter in the realm of liquid cooled machines. There are other all in one solutions out there, like the Cool-IT systems version, and the Asetek version which actually doesn't seem to be available on the open market. The difference that I can see between the Corsair version and the Cool-IT version is the ability to have a push/pull configuration.

Being a simple person I like the look of this unit vs the Cool-IT unit. So my rating on it is slightly skewed.

Asthetic: 5/5
Performance: 5/5
Ease of installation: 5/5
Price: 5/5

I will post some images of it in my system as soon as I clear up some cable management issues. Thanks for reading my "Wallotext", until next time!