January 2011 was a busy time for cooling companies. Corsair announced its switch to supplier CoolIT Systems at the same time as CoolIT released its improved cold plate design. Were that not enough to make our heads spin, Antec took Corsair’s place with Asetek. Phew!

The Hydro H80’s 1.5” radiator fits between its competitor’s single-thick and double-thick designs. And, it has a pair of fans similar to those of the competing double-thick solution. Selling for a Web price of $75, it also fits between the two competing models in price.

The H80’s Intel support plate uses slotted holes to fit a full range of LGA 775 to LGA 1366 coolers (with 1156 and 1155 in the middle). The first set of studs in the photo below holds the plate loosely in place behind the CPU socket.

A second set of studs holds the pump/water block atop LGA 2011-based CPUs, using the motherboard’s integrated support plate.

The H80 pump body ships with a matching set of Intel brackets installed. Included AMD brackets use wire hooks to engage AMD’s cooler clips. The pump body also includes a flow speed selector button and two four-pin PWM fan headers.

Thumb screws tighten the pump assembly’s cold plate against the CPU, pulling the socket support plate firmly against the back of the motherboard in this LGA 1155 installation. A small amount of space between the wider part of the stud and the motherboard prevents contact with any nearby circuit traces, which explains why the support plate was held so loosely in place.
I completely agree. Pretty much the only reason to go with these sealed water coolers is to say that you water cooled your PC.
I completely agree. Pretty much the only reason to go with these sealed water coolers is to say that you water cooled your PC.
I agree 100%. And I do, in fact have an H70. And when I'm at work describing the epic beast of computers I build, and I show off some pics of mine; I always point to the H70 and go "Theres the radiator for the water cooler" /gasp!
I think that's a perfectly good reason to buy any product. I like that I have a choice. But Noctua's tower coolers look pretty sexy too.
Remember these are easy to install closed loop water colling setups too guys.
They are not half inch or bigger professional units designed to keep your massively overclocked sub-critical mass uber rig cool as ice and quiet too.
You need a decent pump, a large or two smaller radiators, a tank, and a lot more hose ... and some more time.
http://www.swiftech.com/
Corsair, Asetech, Antec, Thermaltake ... these are all low end units ... not enthusiast's water cooling gear like Swiftech.
Good value for money though ... I am not knocking them.
Once again you do a comparison against an inferior air cooler, so your conclusion does not hold much weight with me.
Why do you not include the Noctua NH-D14 or a Thermalright Silver Arrow, both which cost about the same as your WC loops (or a bit less) yet are delivering better performance (and noise levels) with the Antec H100 at max speed as the exception. The H100 is comparable to the air coolers.
Oh I'd rather have a Noctua NH-D14 with a 3rd NH-12 fan, but I traded an old crappy PSU for this H70 brand new. So I takes what I can gets!
Furthermore you say "Once again..." even though the air cooler won the last time this editor wrote this type of comparison. Look it up, "Small water versus Big Air", I'm sure Google can help.
Furthermore you say "Once again..." even though the air cooler won the last time this editor wrote this type of comparison. Look it up, "Small water versus Big Air", I'm sure Google can help.
I read your last article as well, like I do most articles on the site.
The problem I have with this article is your intro where you mention noise and cooling performance, yet you chose an air cooler that is cheaper than the WC loops you are testing.
Had you chosen a comparable air cooler price wise (the Ncotua NH-D14 or Thermalright Silver Arrow), all of the WC loops would have performed worse than the air cooler, the H100 would have been the exception, but it would have to run at max speed, thus negating the noise level performance.