1 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:15,759 So, I did say that with proper fans, and I would define NFF12s from Noctua to be 2 00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:20,000 about as proper fans as you can get for heat sink and radiator applications, 3 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:23,840 these are directed flow fans that are optimized for static pressure, optimized 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:28,240 for silence. You can see they have rubber isolating mounts. I mean, honestly, just the build quality of 5 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:31,199 these quality of these is just outstanding. I've unboxed this fan 6 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:37,520 before, so you probably already know what I think about it if you saw that. But if you haven't seen that, it's 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:41,640 freaking awesome. Basically, it's like the best 8 00:00:39,399 --> 00:00:46,399 fan. Um, where was I going with this? Ah, 9 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:49,600 yes. So, without the adapter, it runs at 1500 RPM. Personally, I'm going to turn 10 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:53,280 these bad boys down. So, I'm going to use the low-noise adapter because I'm a 11 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:57,120 bit of a silence freak. This is going to be my standardized test bench. But 12 00:00:55,280 --> 00:01:01,359 before I get started with my with my heat sink and radiator test bench, I 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:05,680 wanted to do a quick test cuz I had some people asking me, uh, well, you say 14 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:09,760 there's not much difference between just pull and push pull. As long as you're 15 00:01:07,439 --> 00:01:12,560 using good quality fans, uh, what do you mean? Are you sure? Are you sure, 16 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:17,360 Lionus? Are you sure? So, that's what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to be taking these fans with their low-noise 17 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:21,119 adapters. I'm going to be running them in just pull on an 18 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:25,600 H100i and then I'm going to be running them in pushpull on an H100i to see with 19 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:29,439 a pressure optimized fan just how much of a difference there is. So I will be 20 00:01:27,759 --> 00:01:33,520 back. All right guys, this video is going to serve a couple of purposes. So 21 00:01:31,119 --> 00:01:37,920 number one, it will answer once and for all that question that people keep 22 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:42,640 sending me. What should I get to cool my CPU? And I'm talking like extreme like 23 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:45,360 not you know the Hyper22 users out there. I mean, that's a good heat sink 24 00:01:44,079 --> 00:01:51,040 and all that, but we're talking performance options here. So, we have 25 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:53,920 the H100i from Corsair right there, 26 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:58,920 representing the dual radiator pre-done liquid cooling class of products. We 27 00:01:56,479 --> 00:02:04,719 have the Silver Arrow Extreme representing extremely high-end air 28 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:06,960 cooling. See, dual towers, like eight 29 00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:11,680 heat pipes, whatever else is going on in there. Don't worry, I'm not using these 30 00:02:08,319 --> 00:02:13,920 fans. And we have the H80i representing 31 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:18,160 thick single radiators. Oh, I should guess I should go find a thin single 32 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,959 red. Hold on just a sec. Actually, forget it. I said this was for 33 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:24,879 performance options. So, we're doing performance options here. Now, I want to 34 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:29,440 talk a little bit about my standardized test bench here. This is a Corsair C70 35 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,840 Vengeance case. I'm going to be running it with the stock fans in the front. I 36 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:38,879 am going to be running it with this fan in the back regardless of whatever else 37 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:45,680 is going on. That is a Noctua NFF12. My favorite fan. And whatever cooler I put 38 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:47,360 in it is getting more Noctua NF12s. 39 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:50,640 These are going to be run with their no their low-noise adapters cuz I 40 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:54,160 personally don't think even for the highest performance gaming rig these 41 00:02:52,319 --> 00:02:58,160 days that there's any excuse for it to be loud. So that's a 3930K in there. 42 00:02:56,879 --> 00:03:02,640 That's going to be overclocked and overvolted. That's a GTX 580. We're 43 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:06,720 going to close up the side panel because that's enough of CPU coolers being 44 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:09,920 tested on open test benches. I know it's not realistic, so I'm not going to be 45 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:14,720 lazy about it anymore, guys. We're testing all CPU coolers in a closed case 46 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:19,440 without perfect cable management, just like they're going to be run in the real 47 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:23,920 world. So, we're going to take idle and load temperatures of each of these 48 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:27,840 setups. We're only using Noctua NF12 fans. We're replacing whatever comes on 49 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:34,239 whatever coolers we use. In the event that a cooler must use a larger than 120 50 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:39,159 mm fan, we have A15s, so we can use 51 00:03:34,239 --> 00:03:42,159 those instead. Those are 140 mil fans. 52 00:03:39,159 --> 00:03:43,680 Um, so let's get started. Oh, right. One 53 00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:47,519 more thing. The reason I'm using the same fans on every cooler because the 54 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:51,760 stock coolers that or the stock fans that are included with most coolers are 55 00:03:48,959 --> 00:03:55,840 rubbish anyway. So you and again, we're talking performance options. You should 56 00:03:53,599 --> 00:03:59,840 be buying your own fan that's better. Um, also I'm using aftermarket thermal 57 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:04,400 compound on all of them. I'm using IC Diamond thermal compound. So there you 58 00:04:02,879 --> 00:04:09,599 go. I've had a lot of people talk about IC7 versus IC 24. Guys, it's the same 59 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:13,439 stuff. The 7 and 24 for carrots. Carrots are just weight. They're not purity. 60 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:19,280 Um, right. So, yeah, consistency. So 61 00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:22,560 that way we are going to have a consistent sort of overall noise level 62 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,840 to the system because we're going to be running good quality fans and we're 63 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:30,160 going to get a consistent experience with fans that are correctly optimized 64 00:04:27,919 --> 00:04:33,280 for whatever kind of cooler we're using because these are correctly optimized 65 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:38,080 for any heat sink or radiator cuz they're awesome. High pressure, focus 66 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:41,840 flow, just good, good, good, good fans. Step one, clean the existing thermal 67 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:47,680 goop and any residue off of both surfaces. So clean CPU is needed. Clean 68 00:04:44,639 --> 00:04:50,600 bottom of the heat sink is 69 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:55,199 gain up. Also needed guys, when applying thermal 70 00:04:52,800 --> 00:05:00,000 compound, less really is more. Remember, this is a 2011 chip, so that's how much 71 00:04:57,919 --> 00:05:04,560 goop it takes for that. For an 1155, it will be much less. For this next shot, 72 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:09,039 prepare for your mind to be blown. I'm going to turn around my shotgun 73 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:13,280 mic. There we go. Get that pointed at the computer so you guys can hear what a 74 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:16,680 gaming machine sounds like when it's correctly optimized. 75 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,440 Oh. Oh, it's silent. L minus. Why do you 76 00:05:25,759 --> 00:05:31,759 care so much about the silence of your gaming rig? Well, because it doesn't 77 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:36,160 have to be loud. Hold on. Turn my mic back around. It's 78 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:39,680 unnecessary. It's just ridiculous. If you want a loud gaming rig, then why 79 00:05:37,759 --> 00:05:44,400 invest in these elegant cooling solutions that do such a good job? Why 80 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:47,800 not just use a stock cooler? And why don't you get an Xbox while you're at 81 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:51,440 it? You want a loud gaming machine? I've explained this before in a 82 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:58,160 previous video, but I just want to go through my methodology again really quick, guys. So, basically, I'm using 83 00:05:54,960 --> 00:06:00,320 Realtemp GT to take temperatures. I am 84 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:06,160 recording idle temperatures after about 5 minutes just idling at the desktop. 85 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:08,319 Um, I am recording ambient temperatures 86 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:14,000 using my multilogger thermometer right here with a I forget something. Type K 87 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:19,360 type KT type sensor. There it is with a Ktype sensor um right at the intake for 88 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:23,840 the case. So remember guys, the front is the only intake that we're using here. 89 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:27,120 So the air is uh basically coming from there. So that gives us a pretty good 90 00:06:25,039 --> 00:06:32,319 idea of what temperature the air cooling the CPU heat sink is. And then I am 91 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:35,120 taking load temperatures after about 5 minutes. For air coolers, I don't need 92 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:39,600 to wait quite as long, but for liquid coolers, you have to wait for the liquid 93 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:44,240 temperature itself to equalize. And then I'm recording everything here. So, I no 94 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:48,000 longer need these noise notes unless uh a water cooler has a pump noise because 95 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:51,919 remember guys, with water coolers, you have whatever fans are running on it 96 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:57,039 plus a pump. Every mechanical thing you add to a cooler is a another point of 97 00:06:54,160 --> 00:07:01,360 failure and b another potential noise source. And I want to explain again how 98 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:06,160 I'm correcting for idle temperature for ambient temperatures. So, I'm going to 99 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:08,319 correct to 20°. I I had people debating 100 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:12,639 me about this last time. Please go find a physics professor or something and ask 101 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:18,520 them if this is how it works. If the temperature were to go up to 20°, it 102 00:07:15,919 --> 00:07:22,720 would scale by 11.8°. That that's just that's how it 103 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,520 works. It's not it's not something that I want to debate about. So, I'll be 104 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:31,039 correcting all temperatures and reporting them as if the room was at 105 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:33,840 20°, not as if it's at 9.2 degrees cuz 106 00:07:31,039 --> 00:07:38,080 I'm in Canada in my garage. And another thing for low temperature testing, I 107 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:43,120 will be running the GPU at full load as well as the CPU at full load just to 108 00:07:40,319 --> 00:07:48,479 simulate again a closedcase environment where the system is being taxed and a 109 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:50,400 worst case scenario for an actual real 110 00:07:48,479 --> 00:07:54,000 system that's actually been built. So let's go ahead and take our load 111 00:07:52,479 --> 00:07:58,479 temperature. So I'm taking the second hottest core, which looks like it's at 112 00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:03,360 about 61°. Again, guys, this isn't like the super scientificest way to do this. 113 00:08:00,879 --> 00:08:06,800 So 61 and a 10 degree ambient. There we go. All right. It looks like the 114 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:13,039 temperatures haven't gone up since I did my H100i load test. So here's H80i. And 115 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:18,479 I've been saying for a long time, and I was never quite sure how right I was 116 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:24,160 that single rad, like a single 120 mm rad solutions are not even close to a 117 00:08:20,879 --> 00:08:25,759 dual 120 mm rad. So you can look at 118 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:29,599 there's our there's our idle temperature. It's around 29 on the 119 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:34,440 second hottest core, which gives us a difference between an H100i and H80i of 120 00:08:32,479 --> 00:08:39,719 like 15 almost 15° under uh at idle. So, let's see how 121 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:44,320 that gets changed under load. All right. So, here's the H80 with 122 00:08:42,560 --> 00:08:47,519 one fan, but I'm going to give the H80 the benefit of two fans since it comes 123 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:53,080 with two fans. So, we'll test it that way as well. But it looks like our load 124 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:56,839 temperature is 125 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:59,120 85° and our intake is 126 00:08:56,839 --> 00:09:07,200 10.1. Well, I was a little surprised at how much of a difference it made to 127 00:09:00,959 --> 00:09:09,360 switch to a push Whoops. 10 Oops. 10.8. 128 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:12,600 There we go. To switch to pushpull on the H80i. I guess it shouldn't surprise 129 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:16,480 me that much because it is a thicker radiator. I know on the H100 it doesn't 130 00:09:15,279 --> 00:09:21,120 make that much of a difference, but there you go. Our corrected temperatures 131 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:25,200 at idle show about a 3°ree improvement over just a single pole fan. And then at 132 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:29,920 load, it's about a 10°ree difference. However, it's still nowhere near the 133 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:33,440 performance of the H100i. Or rather, sorry, hold on. Here's 134 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:38,160 our corrected one. So, yeah, about 10 degrees delta and then our difference 135 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:40,720 between them and uh still 13 degrees worse than an 136 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:48,000 H100i. Well, it's time to measure the contender. It should be noted, guys, 137 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:52,640 that there is more to CPU cooling solutions than just performance. I mean, 138 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:55,600 for example, these Corsair coolers do come with the link software, which 139 00:09:53,920 --> 00:10:00,240 allows you to set up things like fan curve profiles and cool stuff like that. 140 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,880 Whereas, I mean, in my experiment, I'm limiting the factors as much as 141 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:06,560 possible. So, I'm keeping all the fans at a constant RPM, but that's something 142 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:10,800 you have to bear in mind. Also, installation for the water coolers is 143 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:14,959 much easier than these huge bulky air coolers, however blingastic they might 144 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:18,480 look with their multiple fans on them. You can see the configuration is still 145 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:23,920 standard. Also, with big air coolers, you can see there's very little clearance between that lowrofile dim and 146 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:27,600 the uh fan itself. So, you can't you're really limited in terms of what memory 147 00:10:25,279 --> 00:10:30,800 you can install. Um, more wires. Actually, not necessarily more wires, 148 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:37,600 especially with that USB cable that runs to the HI series. So, let's find out how 149 00:10:33,839 --> 00:10:37,600 this does. Let's boot her 150 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:48,720 up. All right, so idle temperatures are 26° for our Silver Arero Extreme and 151 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:54,000 ambience have gone up a little bit since we started here to 152 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:59,680 11.1°. Well, there you have it, guys. The H100i, even with all other factors 153 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:05,680 being the same, is the ruler of the roost. So, our ambient are still 154 00:11:02,279 --> 00:11:10,000 11.1°. And with the Whoops, sorry. With 155 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:13,279 the Silver Arrow Extreme, we are at 67°. 156 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:16,240 Whoops. Sorry about that. We are at 67° 157 00:11:13,279 --> 00:11:22,760 on the second hottest core. So, let's go ahead and fill out those temperatures. 158 00:11:19,079 --> 00:11:26,519 1.1 67. So, you can see that it per 159 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:29,600 Whoops, Freudian slip there. So, it's 160 00:11:26,519 --> 00:11:32,399 67° under load. So that corrects to 161 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:37,839 about 75 degrees under load. So there you go. So there's the 162 00:11:34,279 --> 00:11:40,000 H100i. There's the H80i with dual fans. 163 00:11:37,839 --> 00:11:44,320 There is the Silver Arrow Extreme with the same fan. So you can see the silver 164 00:11:42,399 --> 00:11:49,519 a high-end air cooler. So remember guys, something like an NHD14 uh will be quite 165 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:54,640 similar to this in terms of performance. Destroys something like a thick single 166 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:59,360 radiator even in pushpull with highly optimized pressure optimized fans. 167 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:03,760 Whereas the H100i, especially under heavy loads, really pulls away from 168 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:07,360 those other solutions. See, at idle, these I mean, even these two look very 169 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:12,000 similar, but you can see how under load the uh Silverado Extreme really pulls 170 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:17,600 away. Now, that really demonstrates that as the as the heat goes up, so to speak, 171 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:20,720 the uh the men separate themselves from the boys in a test like this. I mean, 172 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:26,079 even this is only a 3° difference. That's why I don't like the way that Corsair does the packaging on these 173 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,920 products, at least the way they used to with the H100, where they would compare 174 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:34,880 it. Yeah. See, they still do this. It's just goofy. They compare it against an 175 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:37,519 Intel box cooler showing Well, okay, now 176 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:40,959 they don't even try to show a proper temperature, but they used to and uh it 177 00:12:39,839 --> 00:12:46,240 didn't show that much of a difference because it's not until you overclock that it really makes a big difference. 178 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:50,399 So, thank you for checking out this video on Linus Tech Tips, demonstrating 179 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:53,760 that the H100i is the ruler of the roost. Don't forget to subscribe for 180 00:12:52,079 --> 00:12:57,160 more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.