Corsair Commercial: H110 Liquid Cooler Tech Quickie & Installation Guide
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2013-05-07
·
946 words · ~4 min read
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This Techquickie is all about the Corsair H110, an extreme performance
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liquid cooler that uses two 140mm
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cooling fans on a massive 280 mm radiator. We're going to tell you what
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you need to know about it and show you how to install it in your gaming system.
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Your CPU needs cooling, and as the transistors get smaller and smaller and
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the die sizes shrink, we need even more efficient ways to move the heat away
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from the CPU and dissipate it to the surrounding air. Modern systems won't
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run at all without some kind of cooling. So, odds are if your computer's working,
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you have a cooler in it, but it's probably a stock cooler. These are
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designed to be compact for maximum compatibility and low cost, so they can
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easily be mass-produced. And that, my friends, is where high performance
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liquid coolers come in. You can use a small compact CPU cooler and pump combo
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unit to move the heat away with the efficiency of water to a large radiator
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where it can then be dissipated to the air. Smaller liquid coolers using 120 mm
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fans already leave many aftermarket air coolers in the dust, preventing CPU
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overheating and aiding in overclocking.
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Just like that. However, what if you
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could have 36% more surface area by
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using 140 mm fans instead of 120 mm
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fans? The H110 is easy to install if you
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have a Phillips head screwdriver and you're comfortable opening up the side
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panel of your case. It comes with not only the cooler, but also two 140 mm
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fans and all of the mounting hardware that you need to mount it on an Intel or
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an AMD system. The first step is to remove your stock cooler, either by
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removing the clips on AMD or turning each of the four pins on your Intel
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system counterclockwise.
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Then remove the CPU fan header from the motherboard and clean off the CPU using
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a lint-free cloth and 99% isopropyl alcohol.
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Last but not least, if your case has any fans pre-installed in the holes that you
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intend to install the H110 in, you'll have to remove those as well, but the
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C70 does not. Since this is an Intel platform, we're using the universal
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Intel back plate, which has mounting holes for 775, 1155, 1156, and 1366.
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2011 is done without a back plate. So, all we do is put the mounting tags
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through the back, apply the adhesive strips, then remove
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the covers,
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then position it on the back of the motherboard so that the pegs stick
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through the holes in the board. The adhesive keeps it in place while you're
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installing the CPU cooler from the other side. Now, installing the fans can be a
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little bit tricky, but I'm going to show you guys the way that I find is best. So
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rather than having the case right side up, I've moved it either onto its side
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or onto its back so that I can support all of the screws in place and all of
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the fans in place at the same time. Because this case has rubber grommets in
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the 140 mm mounting holes, I don't need to use the optional washers that are
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included with the H110. Once I have the fans in place, it'll be
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less difficult to position the H110 correctly up against the fans. Then all
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I have to do is fine-tune it until the screws go into the holes on the radiator
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itself. I recommend handtightening them at first
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in order to avoid crossthreading the mounting holes.
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Once a few of them are threaded in, it becomes much simpler to go ahead and use
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your screwdriver to tighten everything up.
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I've opted to install the included fans as exhaust fans because the C70 is quite
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a well ventilated chassis. However, if I had a tighter chassis that's not as open
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inside, I might use them as intakes to get better temperatures for my CPU.
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The flexible tubing on the H110 allows the CPU cooling unit to be easily
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positioned over the CPU socket. I recommend handtightening the thumb
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screws first after carefully aligning them over the back plate and then using
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the screwdriver. This helps you avoid damaging your motherboard by
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accidentally driving a screw into the PCB. Once it's time to tighten with the
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screwdriver, tighten in a cross pattern to avoid putting excess pressure on one
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side of your processor. Corsair's mounting mechanism is designed
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to screw in until it stops. That's when you're putting the right amount of
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pressure on the mounting mechanism. You're almost there. The system looks
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great compared to having that stock cooler in there. However, these loose
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wires are probably going to be an issue. Plug the three pin fan connector coming
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out of the pump unit into the CPU fan header on your motherboard. Each of the
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radiator fans then need to be plugged into available headers on the
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motherboard or on a fan controller. If
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you don't have any available headers, then you can plug them directly into
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your power supply using adapters as well. If you've been following along
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with our installation guide, then congratulations.
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Your CPU is now water cooled. If you haven't been following along, then try a
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Corsair Hydro Series cooler today to find out why Corsair is the number one
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seller of CPU liquid cooling systems worldwide. This has been another Tech
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Quickie. I'm Linus and I'll see you again next time.