CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H100i v2 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler, 240mm Radiator, Dual 120mm PWM Fans, Advanced RGB Lighting and Fan Software Control

I traded my H100i got this 360mm H150i pro and it works amazing so far. I ditched the fans it came with because they dont push that much air. They are really quiet tho, but I’d rather have a cooler system for a better overclock. Im seeing a 20-25c drop in temps with the H150i with Vardar F4 120er fans. I used the same fans on the H100i for reference. Really worth it for an I7 8700k if you’re overclocking. My chip would thermal throttle with the H100i almost instantly at anything over 4.7. Now im sitting at 5.0ghz and in the high 70’s mid 80’s while benching. In games its at 40 or so.

Ok first off I just want to clear up any confusion anyone may be having about the differences between the H100i V2 and the H100i GTX.

The H100i V2 is simply a re-branded H100i GTX. I own both and can not find any discernible difference between them. The CPU core temps that were measured using HWinfo are basically the exact same. There was a difference of about 3 degrees under load but this is due more to the silicon lottery than the radiator. IMO buy whichever is cheapest at the time of purchase because the differences are not worth paying more for.

The fans on the radiator are SP120L PWM fans which are very solids fans however are still a bit loud for my liking. I have replaced them with Noctura Nf-f12 fans and it works amazing. Replacing the fans did not provide a decrease in temperature but will allow the system to run near silent. Here is a link to the fans that I purchased Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan

Compared to an air cooled system you can expect to see a decent drop in temps anywhere from between 5-10C depending on the cooler you are using. If you are planning on Overclocking then I highly suggest you purchase a liquid cooler to protect the CPU from thermal throttle and silicon degradation. Honestly once you make the move to liquid cooling you will never go back.

A couple things I want to point out:
Installation is very easy however to install this cooler you will need to install a support bracket on the underside of your motherboard. For new builds this is not an issue at all since this is easily done before the board is installed into the case. For others that are simply looking at transferring over from an air cooled build then you most likely will have to remove the motherboard from the case in order to install the cooler. Not a deal breaker and definitely worth the trouble, but it is something to consider if you are not comfortable removing your motherboard.

The last thing I want to point out is that you need to be very careful when tightening down the radiator to the case. DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN it. It is very easy to over-tighten the radiator and it will strip the threads inside the radiator which will not grab the screw anymore. (please don’t ask me how i know this 🙁 ). It is not a huge deal if you do to one or two screws since there are several more that will hold it in place but just be careful and make sure the bolt is snug and leave it be.

In summery this is an amazing cooler for those that are not ready for the DIY liquid cooling builds. The pump itself uses RGB leds that allow for almost any color you would ever want. Corsair coolers are really top notch and I highly recommend them to anyone interested in using a liquid cooled system. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Edit: I have confirmed with corsair that this unit and the h100i GTX are the exact same unit. No changes have been made to this unit besides the change in the name. I also wanted to update and clear up any confusion buyers may be having regarding the color panels. The panels do not ship with the unit and actually are not even available for purchasing at this time according to corsair. Corsair informed me that they plan to make them available in the future, but as of now they are not for sale.

Worked for about 6 months as other reviews have said. I attempted an RMA through corsair but it has been a nightmare. It takes 3 to 5 days for corsair customer service to respond to each message. I have been going back and forth with customer service for almost 3 weeks. Finally 3 days ago they approved my RMA. They said I could choose to do express replacement to speed things up but I would have to give them my credit card info so they could place a temporary charge. I chose this option but of course their site is messed up and not allowing me to enter my credit card info. So now I am again waiting for a response. At this point, after almost 3 weeks without my PC, I have decided to just buy a new cooler. I think that corsair knows your time is valuable to you and if they just make the warranty process a big enough pain you will just move on. Corsair, you have won, I wont be following up on this warranty claim. I also wont be buying your products again.

Does a very good job at cooling down my i7 8700k. I am getting frame rate boosts because of the lower temperatures and boost clock. Setup is not too difficult as long as you follow the instructions. Really nice fans and lighting! Also very quiet and good software to control everything.

First off, the good.
This is an excellent cooler.
I run an i7 6700K, and I’ve never gotten it above 60C even under stress tests, and that’s with the fans at minimum speed AND the heatsink paste that came pre-applied with it. At full speed the fans are rather loud, so if you’re in a warm room they might get a bit noisy. The radiator also likes to collect dust, but that’s probably just par for the course, a compressed air can cleans it out in no time flat.
It’s totally sealed, so you don’t need to worry about filling, leaks, cleaning the internals, buying all the fittings, bending pipe, or replacing individual parts.

Now onto the bad and the ugly.
I bought this version because of the Corsair Link functionality, but sadly I’m personally not impressed. It crashes all the time for me, and the cooler doesn’t “Remember” it’s settings. If I set it in the software to run the fans at full speed constantly and light the logo up red and then restart the PC, it forgets those settings until you launch the software again.
You also NEED the software running to adjust the cooler’s settings.
I’m also not a fan of using up a USB header on the motherboard to connect the pump permanently for the software, a basic USB cable coupled with the cooler remembering your settings, or at least the ability to choose between this or the header, would have been a better implementation for me.

Since that software is just another dead load on my PC when it runs in the background, and it didn’t work too well for me in the first place, I moved the fans to motherboard control.
They’re standard 4-pin fan connectors and normally plug into the pump, but you can disconnect them and just use a motherboard plug and fan splitter if you have 4-pin connectors on both. The pump runs at full speed by default, so you really don’t need the software by any means.

If you don’t mind the software, this is a great cooler if you’re intimidated by the concept of making your own cooling system like me; just hook it up and it performs very well.