Best performing close loop CPU water cooler

If I was looking at the FX8150 I wouldn't go for the 120mm Rad cooler... I'd go for a H100 with 4 Fans....

By the end of 2010 CoolIt pulled out from retail business to concentrate selling it product for wholesale to such brand as Corsair. The end of its retail business also marked the end of futher development of its already started products. One of the product is the Maestro wireless software controller. Maestro is almost similar to Asetek's implementation of its USB based software controller but in CoolIt's case, they try to make it as an add on. It's costly & more complicated compared to the cheap & simple way Asetek implemented it on its products.

Here's 1 article that I saw in the net on CoolIt pulling out from retail business.

CoolIt pulling out...


In CPU Mag Nov 2011 edition (page 23) they conducted a review on different CPU coolers including the (2) Corsair hybrids as well as the Antec Kuhler. The difference is very slim. I'm surprised that the bigger dual 120 mm rad H100 performed almost the same as the Antec Kuhler.



There's a big difference on how Corsair set up the fans to suck warm air into the case, which is opposite to Antec's recommendation. The CPU mag reviewer tested it on Corsair Graphite 600T case & found no difference in temp (by the way, the case has 200 mm exhaust fan at the top). If you have a small case then you have to think carefully in going with the Corsair hybrid.

I have similar set up with my front radiator fans sucking up warm air into the case & found no problem with it.

Looks like H80 it is and the H100 is a POS marketing ploy imo and I will tell you why it doesn't perform relatively well as it should because 1 it doesn't have a think rad and two it only comes stock with push fans = H100 can and will never perform that well and is overpriced and marketed to people whom think bigger is better. Thanx for the info looks like H80 it is.

I never understood the design of the H100 to use a thin dual rad, vs, the thicker, single 120mm rads used by their other coolers. You really almost end up with similar volume and surface areas when you start comparing them in that sense.

Push/pull almost always outperforms single fans on a radiator, but this depends on fans used in each situation and on high FPI rads, it tends to make a larger difference.

To mention also, Asetek (maker of Antec Kuhler) also makes hybrid liquid cooling products for Corsair. So if someone thinks that Corsair is a good product cuz its Corsair. Check closely who makes the hybrid products for Corsair. It's not so surprising, it's both Asetek & CoolIt.

Correct- almost every review does (and should, honestly) only review a product as it comes packaged.

Optional would be the 'what if I did this' kinds of scenarios.

Yes and no...it isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison. The H100 is a dual, thin radiator where most of the current single rads are fairly thick. One of the biggest considerations you have to account for is the surface area of the fins and tubes between these two designs.

Yes, that's my point- are you considering the surface area due to increased thickness over the smaller radiators as part of this?

There might actually be a closer value to total fin/tube area with a thick 120 and that thin 240 than you might think.

Higher cooling potential goes to the radiator with greater overall surface area, whether it be length x width, or LxWxH.

For instance, if you have a 240 and a 360 of the exact same make/model of radiator, the 360 has greater surface area due to having the extra 120mm in total area LxWxH.

If you have two rads, say an RS240 and an RX240, the RX is better because it's much thicker, even though they have the same LxW area...it is around 40% thicker and therefore has extra fin/tube surface area.

Same concepts as the volume of a rectanglar box and the volume of a cube. The rectangle might be thinner and longer, but overall, might have less total volume than the cube, depending on actual dimensions.

Even if you had identical volume of LxWxH of radiator cores, you still could have greater efficiency of one rad over another simply due to fin density...adding more fins essentially adds more surface area to dissipate heat in the same given area.

I think that I have heard someone else say that you have to choose between high density, high cfm, high noise and low density, low-medium cfm, low noise with custom sets. Not to mention the blockage factor like you stated.

So yeah, I guess both have their benefits and consequences.