Choosing the right fans for the Corsair H80?

Being unable to wait for the main test rig to be completed before hand, we decided to move on with a rig from our partner at Tech Eden, equipped with our Corsair H80 closed loop liquid cooler to conduct our test for this review. 

Now, just for your info that the H80 isn't our main subject for this review - we're focusing on the fans today, well not you guys of course.

Here's our first subject, the H80 stock fans. Other than having sharp edges on the impellers which I almost lost a finger cut myself, it seems to be a pretty much capable fan: rated up to 96 CFM, having maximum operating speed up to 2600 RPM, static pressure of 1.6 to 7.7mm/H2O. Seems good? We'll just have to find out after the test.

Up next is the H80i stock fans aka the Corsair SP120L fans, which I've snatched from another garage sales - 10 Malaysian Ringgit each.

Unlike its brother, the stock H80 fans, I've noticed some improvement (?) on the overall design - as you can see in the pic, no more sharp edges on the impellers, better color scheme although it's not really everyone's cup of tea and a much more aesthetic frame. This little guy here has a rated air flow of 74.42 CFM,  having maximum operating speed up to 2700 RPM and we're expecting for a static pressure of 1.29 to 3.1mm/H2O just like the commercially available SP120.

And here we have the Bitfenix Spectre Pro 120MM fan, an aesthetically pleasing fan we have here, priced at 49 Malaysian Ringgit each. As stated on Bitfenix's website, its dual frame construction helps in reducing vibration during operation, special curved design on the fan blades and cage directs airflow in a focused column, minimizing diffusion, etc. Rated with operating speed up to 1200 RPM, air flow of 56.22 CFM, static pressure of 1.24mm/H2O. 

Here's our red devil, the Cooler Master XtraFlo 120MM Red LED fan, another aesthetically pleasing subject joining our test. Having a rated operating speed up to 2200 RPM, air flow of 93.74 CFM and static pressure of 0.43 to 3.3mm/H2O gives it an additional point other than just good looking, 1 point to to Gryffindor Cooler Master.

Last but not least, our king of radiator fan - the Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP-15 1850 RPM version. Many have heard and experienced the awesomeness of his majesty (LOL), with a rated operating speed up to 1850 RPM, air flow of 58.3 CFM and static pressure of 1.65mm/H2O. For those of you who hasn't been able to try it out and been wondering if it's worth to go for, you'll find out soon enough.

The corsair H80 comes with adjustable speed in 3 mode:

Basically, I'd call them min, mid and max for the ease of data recording during the test. just not to left out an important key detail: ambient temperature is 33°C during the test.

First up is the test done in Quiet mode and it seems that the Cooler Master XtraFlo did the best with 38°C while idle and 71°C while on load. It's not a clear win as the others are just few °C behind, especially the Stock H80i fan SP120L with 39°C on idle and 71°C on load. H80 Stock fan seems to be the worst in this scenario.As for our king the Gentle Typhoon AP-15, it doesn't seems to be as superior as what others have said it would as it gives a temperature of 38°C on idle and 72°C on load.

Up next, the test is done with the Balanced mode and we can see that Cooler Master XtraFlo is still maintaining it's temperature while the Gentle Typhoon AP-15 and H80i Stock fan SP120L is now doing slightly better than Quiet mode with idle temperature 37°C and load temperature 71°C. Bitfenix Spectre Pro on the other hand, is doing not quite well, with higher load temperature 75°C compared to what it did in the Quiet Mode, 74°C.

And now for the grand finale, performance mode kicks in. Cooler Master XtraFlo is seems to be our clear winner here, giving the lowest idle temperature of 36°C and load temperature of 70°C among other competitors. Bitfenix seems to be the worst where the stock fan did much better than it. By looking at it we can see that the stock fans provided by Corsair is what we should be sticking with instead of these after market fans like Gentle Typhoon AP-15, Bitfenix Spectre Pro, Cooler Master XtraFlo, etc?

Let us not getting to the conclusion yet! Before I sum up everything from the test result, let us have a look at the final details collected during the test, fan noise. Just to let you guys know that the numbers here are given based on human ears as do not have any high end equipment to test the noise in db for the moment.

By giving it a scale from 1 to 10, here's what we've rated for these fans involved during the test.
The stock H80 fans seems to be the noisiest kid around, having a scale of 9 during max load and running at 2600 RPM. Our current leading subject, seems to be a bit noisy on load, having a scale of 7 and running at 2200 RPM. Surprisingly,the stock H80i fan SP120L seems to be an average performer, with a scale of 7 on max load and running at 2700 RPM. Our worst performer (1200 RPM) turns out to be pretty outstanding when it comes to low noise, where the king (1850 RPM) is a clear winner in low noise during operation.

The table has turned as soon as the noise details is revealed. The Bitfenix Spectro Pro is able perform slightly near to the stock H80 running 2600 RPM as it only runs on 1200 RPM during full load. Being the best low noise fan in this test, the Gentle Typhoon AP-15 running on 1850 RPM beat crap out of the H80i stock fan SP120L which runs on 2700 RPM despite of having the near same result in cooling.

So does this means that the king wins and fans always root for the underdog? Not quite. In the end it all depends on the user himself/herself whether it is worth to spend more for a good low noise fan with high static pressure / CFM or just stick to the noisier stock fans. If you can sacrifice can cope with the noise produced by the stock fans, it's no harm to stick with it as the stock fans is doing pretty well in Quiet mode, especially the H80i stock fan SP120L, rather than spending extra for a good and nice low noise fan as these fans aren't cheap (may cost you extra 30 to 120 Malaysian Ringgit, depends on what fans you will be getting, what you pay is what you get).

Million thanks to:
Tech Eden - for the test rig
Corsair - for the Hydro Series H80 Liquid Cooler, SP120L fans
Bitfenix - for the Spectre Pro 120MM fans
Cooler Master - for the XtraFlo 120MM LED fans
Scythe - for the Gentle Typhoon AP-15 fans

Reviewed by: lucidlts

Corsair H70 Core Unboxing

All-In-One liquid cooling solution ( also known as closed loop water cooling, self-contained liquid cooling ) is not something new but it has been in the market for years. Many well known brands we know, well to name a few : Asetek, CoolIT, Corsair, Silverstone, Zalman, Antec, NZXT, Cooler Master, Enermax, Thermaltake, etc has such variety of products available to the consumers.

Unlike the traditional liquid cooling setup with separated components - water blocks, pumps, reservoir, tubings, fittings, radiators, etc, the closed loop liquid cooling has each of every components combined into one simple, easy to install, maintenance free, All-In-One liquid cooler. Almost each and every closed loop coolers you could ever find on the market are made this way: an integrated water pump on top of a copper cold plate, connected to a 120mm/140mm/240mm/280mm radiator with a pair of tubes with both end sealed on the pump and radiator to prevent possible leakage. 

Enough with the long talk which will take probably ages to finish without any pics to support my explanation and let us move directly to the main actor of this unboxing session: the Corsair H70 Core.

For your information, this is a 6 month old used H70 Core which I have bought from a garage sales after scrutinized thoroughly to ensure everything is good , no break, no leakage. 

 Basically everything that comes with the cooler initially stays intact, except for the pre-applied thermal paste on the copper base of the cold plate of the cooler. There's the accessories, mounting brackets for Intel CPU ( bottom left and top right ), mounting brackets for AMD CPU ( top left and bottom right ), screws for mounting two 120mm fans on the radiator AND NO FANS WERE INCLUDED. Not what I was expected from Corsair, they could have included at least a fan. Additional detail: the mounting bracket resembles the Asetek mounting bracket.

Let us take a quick glance on the Corsair H70, a 38mm thick radiator (resembles the radiator on the Corsair H80/H80i) connect to the pump (resembles the pump on the Asetek 545LC) with a pair of tubing which resembles those used on most of CoolIT closed loop liquid cooler. The tubing is somewhat a bit stiff / non-flexible, it'll be slightly tricky for first time user, especially to those who never installed a cooler with retention bracket.

A quick view at the copper base of the coldplate, minor wear and tear which is much expected from a used item but still looks good. All you need is some cleaning and optional polishing to make it look new again, but I'll leave all the hard work aside for now. Originally comes with a thick layer of pre-applied thermal compound which I personally recommend to remove and replace with a thin layer of the thermal compound of your choice for better temps during operation. 

At each end of the tubing, is factory sealed to ensure there's no leakage during operation so you can just leave all your worries behind ( although I'll advise you to test the pump with a 4 pin molex to 3 pin or 4 pin fan connector to observe for leakage before installing as a safety measure, just in case of course ). Here's a brief and simple explanation to those who weren't able to get the idea of how things works in a liquid cooling system: 

- The heat from the CPU is transferred to the coldplate where the coolant will then absorbs the heat as it flows through the coldplate.

- The coolant is then circulated to the radiator, thanks to the mighty pump. 

- Heat is transferred to the aluminum fins of the radiator as the coolant runs through the radiator. 

- The heat will be dissipated with the help of  one or more 120mm fans installed on the radiator.

There's two cables which runs out from the pump:

- 3 pin fan connector (12v) to power up the pump.

- Another cable with a pair of 4 pin PWM fan connector for the fans which will be installed to the radiator.

The bottom retention bracket for Intel shows the supported type of socket: 

- 775 socket : Core 2 Duo, Core 2 quad, Core 2 Extreme 

- 1156 ( compatible with 1155, 1150):   First gen core i series cpu, sandy bridge, sandy bridge and haswell

- 1366 ( compatible with 2011): high end i7 processors like the i7 3970x

 As for the AMD retention bracket, I can't find any relevant information of which type of socket is supported, but the details given on the box stated that it is compatible with AM2, AM3 and FM1 socket.

The two pieces of snap on like plastic pieces above is the stabilizer/ screw holder for the retention bracket.

The screw which will be installed later on, held by the two plastic snap on pieces in the pic earlier.

So this is how you actually install it, it took me a while to realize i have installed it wrongly. The plastic pieces claw like part should be installed facing the center of the bracket. 

Just snap it on and insert the screw in the previous pic and you're done.

With the current details I have collected, here's my opinion on the cooler after this unboxing:

Pros - ready to use out of the box, maintenance free because it's a closed loop liquid cooler, thick radiator which provides great cooling performance, small compact design which save s lot of space compared to traditional water cooling setup

Cons - short tubing and non-flexible tubing makes installation tricky to newbies, no fans included which I think is quite a letdown, the retention bracket is tricky to install if you do not have any experience in installing CPU coolers with retention bracket provided

Performance review will be conducted in a different session, which is after my test rig is ready as i am still waiting for my ATX case to return from RMA due to factory defect. Stay tuned and see you next time for more unboxing and reviews.

Unboxed by: lucidlts

Scythe Gentle Typhoon Unboxing

While the preparation for the Corsair H70, H80 and H100i is taking its place, I got myself some Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP-15 for unboxing. Pretty much known as the king of radiator fans, the Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP-15 has respectively high static pressure and being low noise at the same time during operation, making it the most notable radiator fan for enthusiasts.

The packaging is simple and clean, revealing the entire fan for preview if it is placed on the shelf. 

What's in the box? A 4-pin molex to 3-pin fan connector, 4 piece of screws and Gentle Typhoon AP-15 itself. These extras gives you the option to make it as your case fan too. Except that it doesn't comes with the rubber fan mount like what I have seen in Noctua's NF-P12 and Bitfenix's Spectre Pro 120 fans.

Here's how it looks like from the front. unlike traditionally designed case fans with large impellers, the Gentle Typhoon impellers resembles a sickle.

From the back, if you did notice, there's a saw edge like notches design on each and every of the impellers, combined with its double vibration reduction structure, is the answer to its low noise / near silent during operation.

Well, here comes the cable, it's a bit letdown when I came upon realizing the cables wasn't black/ sleeved. As an enthusiast myself, I can't bear having such a nice fan has it cable naked/exposed.

I've decided to sleeve the cable to make it looks better.

And it's done, a 5 minutes work which can be done easily if you have what's required. The fan now looks much better with sleeved cable, giving it a much higher quality look in overall. That's all for now and I'll move on to a small comparison next.

Unlike fans by other well known brands ( Cooler Master, Arctic Cooling, Corsair as example), the Gentle Typhoon does not comes with fancy branding sticker, but Let us check the pic below:

By looking clearly at the pic above, we can clearly see that Gentle Typhoon has thicker frame compared to other brands, making it much sturdier and less vulnerable to break if over tighten with screw by mistake. Anyway, I will show the comparison in performance when the test rig is ready and move on with the unboxing.

Since I have not done any performance test with it yet, I can only sums up things as following:

Pros - well built, aesthetic looking impellers, low noise, high static pressure

Cons - relatively expensive ( cost 59 MYR or Malaysian Ringgit each), cables not sleeved / color of cables ( not what I am expecting from a fan that cost you 59 MYR ), no rubber mount included.

Unboxed by: lucidlts

Sneak Peek Preview

We're starting off our Corsair H70 Core, H80 and H100i review very soon, here's a sneak peek preview on what we have prepared for the review! stay tuned to find out more!