- Joined
- Jan 10, 2001
I ordered an H100I on Tuesday and got it yesterday from Tiger Direct. I normally use Newegg but I have to pay taxes there so, not this time. I had measured my case and was pretty sure that it wouldn't fit with the stock fans but you know how that goes. I have a Rosewill Blackhawk mid tower and really like it but when I got it I wasn't really considering any kind of liquid cooling. I had to cut the top out and glue strips of wood to the rad to suspend it high enough so that the fans didn't interfere with the mobo. It had just enough room for the fans to clear and the rad didn't hit the top case mesh cover, phew.
Now I had read many reviews of the unit but most were using Intel CPU's and I couldn't be sure just how well it would cool my OC'ed 975 BE. I already had a 212+ with two fans and had read the the H100I cooling was only marginally better. This was not true at all and I have been pleasantly surprised with the results. When I first started it up after the install it was dead silent and I had to wonder if it even worked at all but once Windows started I heard the fans start turning. I was surprised to see almost identical tempos on the cores as the 212+ at idle but that turned out to be the only temp that they had in common.
It didn't come with any software and it took a bit of looking to find it but once it was installed it found the unit and displayed the fans and pump with the RPM's on little gauges. I checked the firmware like many had mentioned but it was already shipped with the latest, so off to Prime I go. This is when the cooler really shines and these are the results at different speeds.
At idle with room temperature at 73f the cores were between 31-34c. With prime running and fans on quiet the cores topped out at 52c and after a little settling a little while it teetered between 20-51c. This is already better than the 58c it did with the 212. With the fans at Balanced setting, you could make out the fan noise ramping up but it was still not as loud as the two fans on the 212+ inside the case. At this setting the temps dropped quickly to 48c, so that a gain of 10c with a little less noise. After about five minutes to make sure it had bottomed out I raised it up to performance setting. Now the fan noise is audible and borders on being just louder than the air cooler but the temps dropped again to 46c. I am impressed and still have yet to try the Maximum fan setting, so off I go. At max the fans are evident even with the case under my desk and would not be a setting that I would run except perhaps when benching but with only another single degree drop is not worth the noise IMHO but considering that it is 13c lower than the 212+, I'm pretty happy with it.
If there are any shortcomings in the design it would have to be the AMD bracket. It is just a simple square with two little arms that have holes in the ends. There is no backplate so the original one had to be reinstalled along with the plastic mounting bracket. There were two little bits that threaded through the holes on the arm and had retention screws that screwed onto them. Then the had to be pushed onto the tabs on the original bracket and screwed until they stop, it seems secure enough but I would have preferred a four point mounting like they supplied for Intel setups.
All in all, I am very happy that I made the plunge into liquid cooling and am more impressed with the results than I thought I would be. With AMD lower temps mean more stability and no worries that I could overheat my CPU running at 100 percent load for extended periods of time. The 119.99 price is really worth it to me but it is a consideration to keep in mind when moving away from a loud air cooler. I have opted to run the unit on the balanced setting and am happy with the fan noise, or lack of it and the temps.
Now I had read many reviews of the unit but most were using Intel CPU's and I couldn't be sure just how well it would cool my OC'ed 975 BE. I already had a 212+ with two fans and had read the the H100I cooling was only marginally better. This was not true at all and I have been pleasantly surprised with the results. When I first started it up after the install it was dead silent and I had to wonder if it even worked at all but once Windows started I heard the fans start turning. I was surprised to see almost identical tempos on the cores as the 212+ at idle but that turned out to be the only temp that they had in common.
It didn't come with any software and it took a bit of looking to find it but once it was installed it found the unit and displayed the fans and pump with the RPM's on little gauges. I checked the firmware like many had mentioned but it was already shipped with the latest, so off to Prime I go. This is when the cooler really shines and these are the results at different speeds.
At idle with room temperature at 73f the cores were between 31-34c. With prime running and fans on quiet the cores topped out at 52c and after a little settling a little while it teetered between 20-51c. This is already better than the 58c it did with the 212. With the fans at Balanced setting, you could make out the fan noise ramping up but it was still not as loud as the two fans on the 212+ inside the case. At this setting the temps dropped quickly to 48c, so that a gain of 10c with a little less noise. After about five minutes to make sure it had bottomed out I raised it up to performance setting. Now the fan noise is audible and borders on being just louder than the air cooler but the temps dropped again to 46c. I am impressed and still have yet to try the Maximum fan setting, so off I go. At max the fans are evident even with the case under my desk and would not be a setting that I would run except perhaps when benching but with only another single degree drop is not worth the noise IMHO but considering that it is 13c lower than the 212+, I'm pretty happy with it.
If there are any shortcomings in the design it would have to be the AMD bracket. It is just a simple square with two little arms that have holes in the ends. There is no backplate so the original one had to be reinstalled along with the plastic mounting bracket. There were two little bits that threaded through the holes on the arm and had retention screws that screwed onto them. Then the had to be pushed onto the tabs on the original bracket and screwed until they stop, it seems secure enough but I would have preferred a four point mounting like they supplied for Intel setups.
All in all, I am very happy that I made the plunge into liquid cooling and am more impressed with the results than I thought I would be. With AMD lower temps mean more stability and no worries that I could overheat my CPU running at 100 percent load for extended periods of time. The 119.99 price is really worth it to me but it is a consideration to keep in mind when moving away from a loud air cooler. I have opted to run the unit on the balanced setting and am happy with the fan noise, or lack of it and the temps.