SFF.Network [SFF Network] Corsair Releases the Hydro Series H5

Corsair has launched the Hydro Series H5 SFF cooler. This is a closed loop cooler directly aimed at the SFF market, and Corsair claims it can cool 150w of heat quietly and efficiently.

As we know all too well, cooling in SFF builds can be somewhat of a challenge. Corsair hopes that the Hydro Series H5 will help with that, ensuring that even overclocked CPUs can be cooled effectively.

Read more here.

 

[EdZ]

Not sure how quiet it'll be, but it's certainly compact. That mounting solution is nuts!

 

[Regack]

It's really pretty big for being so small... I really like that there are changes and developments in this scope, however.

 

[QinX]

I love it, considering the size of the blower fan it should be really quiet. Only downside I see is why it is only open on the bottom and not the top, I get that this suck warm air away from the motherboard, but having some extra intake from the top wouldn't do any harm. If only they made it a user removable plate or something that would be great, but hey that is where modding comes in.

 

[Phuncz]

I think the design is well-thought-out, but I'm still not sure how quiet it could be. Radial fans tend to be hard to get quiet. I tried the one on my reference 290X cooler on a lab PSU to test it, at 3,7V it was quiet but it would also not start at that voltage, it needed atleast 4V at which it could clearly be heard. Since the one on this cooler is much larger, I hope it will balance the scale between performance and noise close to 120mm single rad performance.

I personally think it's good that it only has a bottom intake, as the marketing blurb indicates. This allows to cool the other motherboard components properly, which is often overlocked with watercooled SFF.

 

[QinX]

I think the design is well-thought-out, but I'm still not sure how quiet it could be. Radial fans tend to be hard to get quiet. I tried the one on my reference 290X cooler on a lab PSU to test it, at 3,7V it was quiet but it would also not start at that voltage, it needed atleast 4V at which it could clearly be heard. Since the one on this cooler is much larger, I hope it will balance the scale between performance and noise close to 120mm single rad performance.

I personally think it's good that it only has a bottom intake, as the marketing blurb indicates. This allows to cool the other motherboard components properly, which is often overlocked with watercooled SFF.

Is the 290X cooler a voltage controled fan or PWM controlled? That can make a big difference in how the fan responses to voltage.

I've been doing some tests with the Intel hts1155lp and it is quiet for how small it is. Even with a 4790K it stays reasonable considering the heatsink is meant for 65W CPUs and the 4790K dishing out whopping 110W.

The corsair one is a whopping 120mm I'm just suprised the radiator isn't a little thicker or has a denser fin array, blower fans are known for their very high static pressure. It must be to keep air noise down.

 

[NFSxperts]

The radiator is tiny! and it looks like its only meant to be mounted in one orientation so it wouldn't be able to fit in a few cases.
I found it funny that they mentioned it fits in the large Corsair m-itx cases when this cooler is meant for low profile sff cases.

 

[QinX]

They have a bracket that mounts on 3 of the 4 Mini ITX motherboard standoffs, that is how that make it compatible with multiple cases. and a lot of cases have the 120mm case fan next to the motherboard.

 

[iFreilicht]

I have just one question about this cooler: Why? Why would I ever possibly use that? the radiator compared to the fan is absolutely tiny as NFSxperts just said, if you really needed watercooling you'd get a regular 120mm rad and get highly superior performance and if you needed only had so much space available, you could get a regular air cooler (NH-L9x65 or even Cryorig C1) and just be done with it.
The absolutely only benefit I could see here is if you wanted a slim build with 100% blank side panels and front intake.

Not that it saves any of the compatibility issues. The fan protrudes so much forward from the board that it's barely going to be compatible with any mITX case that uses that space in a way.

Not that it's not an interesting concept, but I fail to see the use of it. It's just way too huge to be SFF, and the Bulldog, which this was originally designed for, shows this really well.

 

[|||]

Not that it's not an interesting concept, but I fail to see the use of it. It's just way too huge to be SFF, and the Bulldog, which this was originally designed for, shows this really well.

Yeah, I'm guessing that it wouldn't be too difficult for them to offer it as a standalone product, so they probably just went with it.

 

[Josh | NFC]

I have just one question about this cooler: Why? Why would I ever possibly use that? the radiator compared to the fan is absolutely tiny as NFSxperts just said, if you really needed watercooling you'd get a regular 120mm rad and get highly superior performance and if you needed only had so much space available, you could get a regular air cooler (NH-L9x65 or even Cryorig C1) and just be done with it.
The absolutely only benefit I could see here is if you wanted a slim build with 100% blank side panels and front intake.

Not that it saves any of the compatibility issues. The fan protrudes so much forward from the board that it's barely going to be compatible with any mITX case that uses that space in a way.

Not that it's not an interesting concept, but I fail to see the use of it. It's just way too huge to be SFF, and the Bulldog, which this was originally designed for, shows this really well.

I agree with you.

But.

I like weird. This is the perfect amount of weird for a mod!

 

[jeshikat]

@Tek Everything, great review! Disappointing to hear it's so loud even idling. My reference 980s are definitely loud at load but at idle they're pretty quiet so I can't imagine why Corsair couldn't manage better with a much larger fan.

 

[Tek Everything]

@Tek Everything, great review! Disappointing to hear it's so loud even idling. My reference 980s are definitely loud at load but at idle they're pretty quiet so I can't imagine why Corsair couldn't manage better with a much larger fan.

It was the loudest component I have ever had in any of my systems. It is so loud that I thought something was wrong with it at first.

I took it apart to see what was going on. I found that Corsair used a really cheap blower fan, and combined it with most dense radiator fins I've ever seen.

I tried modding the H5 SF using three 40mm fans instead of the blower. This worked to some degree, but the temps weren't much better than my LN9i and it was only slightly quieter than the blower fan...

 

[confusis]

Maybe 3x Noctua NF-4x10's would work in a low TDP setting.. but at that point, you may as well go for a L9a/i. I wonder how this rad would do with a airflow duct - 120mm fan ducting directly off motherboard, air turning 90 degrees and out the rad..

 

[Phuncz]

Is it possible it's the pump ? It is often an issue with these closed loop coolers. The Noctua 40mm fans are indeed regarded as being the quietest 40mm fans out there and have pretty good airflow for that size.

It's sad to see this cooler not being as good due to the noise, it could have been a very interesting solution for a bunch of cases, like yours.

 

[Tek Everything]

Maybe 3x Noctua NF-4x10's would work in a low TDP setting.. but at that point, you may as well go for a L9a/i. I wonder how this rad would do with a airflow duct - 120mm fan ducting directly off motherboard, air turning 90 degrees and out the rad..

I actually tried the Noctua 40mm fans as well. While they are much quieter, they don't move enough air to handle a heavy work load. They were also $14 a piece, bringing the total cost over $120. I could build a custom loop for less, which is most likely what I will end up trying to do.

 

[Tek Everything]

Is it possible it's the pump ? It is often an issue with these closed loop coolers. The Noctua 40mm fans are indeed regarded as being the quietest 40mm fans out there and have pretty good airflow for that size.

It's sad to see this cooler not being as good due to the noise, it could have been a very interesting solution for a bunch of cases, like yours.

Unfortunately it wasn't the pump. The pump was dead silent while running with the fans turned off. It actually did an adequate job as a passive style cooler under light loads.

 

[jeshikat]

That's funny you tried 40mm fans. That's what the radiator was originally designed for: http://www.asetek.com/data-center/oem-data-center-coolers/internal-loop/

Corsair made a big deal of using a blower fan to reduce noise though, so much for that.

 

[Phuncz]

I actually tried the Noctua 40mm fans as well. While they are much quieter, they don't move enough air to handle a heavy work load. They were also $14 a piece, bringing the total cost over $120. I could build a custom loop for less, which is most likely what I will end up trying to do.

Unfortunately it wasn't the pump. The pump was dead silent while running with the fans turned off. It actually did an adequate job as a passive style cooler under light loads.

Excellent work there Jay, you went the extra mile and then some ! Too bad that it didn't offer a solution.

That's funny you tried 40mm fans. That's what the radiator was originally designed for: http://www.asetek.com/data-center/oem-data-center-coolers/internal-loop/

Corsair made a big deal of using a blower fan to reduce noise though, so much for that.

Hmm those 40x40x56mm are insane. Those are double-stacked ones of these:


If the CLC solution was developed for these with their insane pressure and airflow, I'm not surprised it can't be cooled silently.

 

[QinX]

If the CLC solution was developed for these with their insane pressure and airflow, I'm not surprised it can't be cooled silently.

Blower style fans are superior to axial fans when it comes to pressure and airflow. I feel Corsair just cheaped out on the fan when it could have been much better quality, as mentioned the blower fans used for reference card like the 980 ti have to handle much higher heat loads and still manage to be "quiet" the intel hts1155lp and the blower fan I'm using, a Delta KDB are a good example.

I've tested my i7-4785T (35W TDP) and 4790K(88W TDP) with it and the results for temperatures were:
4785T Prime95v28 Max Heat 51.25C
4785T Prime95v28 Max Power 50C
4785T Realbench 30 minutes 45.75C

Please note the HTS1155lp is rated for 65W TDP max and Prime95 is also a worst case scenario.
4790K Prime95v28 Max Heat 95.5C
4790K Prime95v28 Max Power 92.5C
4790K Realbench 30 minutes 88.75C

With the 4790K Prime95v28 Max Power you can definitely hear the fan but for what it is it is silently. Better then any laptop fan by a long shot and it is even running a high wattage chip.

PS: Tests were done on a Gigabyte H81T I tried running the same test on my ASUS Q87T which has a super dumb CPU temperature threshold that sets fan speed to 100%, it isn't silent anymore at 4000 RPM :S.