Underwhelming in the extreme
Intel isn’t shipping stock heatsinks with Sandy Bridge-E CPUs, perhaps assuming that consumers of $600 and $1,000 CPUs are going to want performance a little better than Intel’s stock coolers have typically provided. Instead, Intel is offering a branded liquid-cooling loop as an optional accessory. The Asetek-built cooling loop features a glowing blue Intel logo and a bright blue LED on its single 12cm fan, but otherwise looks nearly identical to the Antec Kuhler 620, which was also built by Asetek (which also built AMD’s Bulldozer-branded liquid cooling loop).
Yet another single-fan all-in-one liquid CPU-cooling loop.
The RTS2011LC uses Asetek’s low-profile pump unit/heat exchanger and a 120mm radiator that’s less than an inch thick and mounts in place of a stock case fan (typically the rear exhaust fan). The heat exchanger mounts to the LGA2011 socket using Asetek’s standard barb-and-ledge mounting system, although with big solid posts instead of the flimsy screws and plastic clips Asetek used to use. The PWM fan plugs into the pump, which plugs into the CPU_FAN header.
Alas, the cooler’s single fan and radiator were no match for any of the air coolers in our roundup save one. The RTS2011LC tied with the Zalman CNPS12X for last place, and its 12cm fan was irritatingly loud at full speed. For stock-clocked chips, the Intel cooler is fine. It’s quiet when not fully ramped up, and it doesn’t block any RAM slots, unlike the Noctua and Zalman coolers. But for an overclocked Sandy Bridge-E CPU, the Intel liquid cooler is louder and hotter than the Cooler Master, Noctua, Xigmatek, and NZXT coolers, and more expensive than all but the Noctua, which is just $5 more. If you want a great liquid-cooling solution for an overclocked LGA2011 chip, keep looking.
| Dimensions HxDxW (inches, with fans) | 6x2.6x4.75 |
| Weight | 1.25x2.5x2.5 (circular) |
| Heat pipes | 1lb, 12.5 oz (total) |
| Stock Fans | 1x 12cm PWM |
| Add’l Fan Support | 1x |
Easy install; good build quality; quiet at low temperatures.
Loud at high temps; doesn’t cool as well as a $30 air cooler.
$80, www.intel.com
Double your radiator space, double your fun
Another all-in-one liquid-cooling loop! Hooray! Corsair’s H100 is its fifth liquid cooler; after two with Asetek, the company has put out three with CoolIT. The H60 is your standard 120mm radiator-with-single-fan, the H80 is the double-thick double-fan version, and the H100, the first Corsair liquid-cooler to support LGA2011, is its first cooler with a 240mm radiator.
The H100’s radiator is around an inch thick and 10.8 inches long and fits in any case that can accommodate a 240mm radiator, though some cases may not have the vertical clearance to mount the fans inside the case. The pump/heat exchange unit is square, and very slightly taller than Asetek’s. It contains four 4-pin PWM headers to control the radiator fans, as well as a connector for Corsair’s Link system control software/hardware combo (sold separately). There’s also a three-speed fan-control button on top of the pump. The pump unit itself has a 3-pin motherboard fan connector and a 2-pin Molex for power. The cooler unit mount is simple; four double-sided thumbscrews mount to the unified backplate, the brackets at the corners of the pump unit slide onto those, and more thumbscrews secure them in place.
The H100’s 240mm radiator supports up to four 12cm fans, and the pump unit
We mounted the radiator to the top panel of our Thermaltake Level 10 GT test bed, with the fans on the inside pushing air through the radiator out of the case. In this configuration, with the H100’s fan speed set to medium, the Corsair cooler lowered our CPU’s burn temperature to 69.2 C—the best of any cooler in our roundup. Even with the fans at their lowest setting, the H100 was a match for the air coolers in the roundup.
Its 240mm radiator won’t fit in every case, and it’s the most expensive in our roundup, but the H100 is a competent, quiet liquid cooler and the best LGA2011 cooler we’ve yet tested.
| Dimensions HxDxW (inches, with fans) | 10.8x2x4.7 |
| Weight | 1.6x2.6x2.6 (square) |
| Heat pipes | 2 lbs, 2.5 oz |
| Stock Fans | 2x 12cm, 3-pin |
| Add’l Fan Support | 2x |
Quiet; excellent performance; easy install; supports up to four fans.
Won’t fit in every case; need to open case to adjust fan speed; expensive.
$110, www.corsair.com
Comments are closed on this article
Baer
January 28, 2013 at 6:13pm
So, I spend about a half a grand on a cpu, perhaps twice that on a pair of GPU's a couple hundred on a high end PSU, more on memory Etc and I really care about saving twenty five bucks on a cooler and 250 pennies on thermal paste?
Yes, that should be part of the review but if this is really still MAX PC it should not carry any weight as far as PERFORMANCE ratings go.
I have always had great results from AS-5 but the Tuniq TX-4 pared with the H100 sounds like a good choice for my next build.BTW, a lot of tedious work went into this matrix of tests and this review, thank you!
xXSINS OF WARXx
January 28, 2013 at 1:00pm
I would have loved to see the phanteks ph-tc14pe added to this review.
Still think The Hyper EVO is the best bang for your buck. Spending +$30-50 for 2-4 degrees celcius is not worth it IMO. That price range, liquid cooling should be the only option relevant.
And3rs0nTX
January 27, 2013 at 8:55pm
I'm using a corsair H60 at the moment and I couldn't be happier with it especially since I got it for only $60.
iplayoneasy
January 28, 2013 at 6:22am
I've always been a fan of those. I grabbed the cheesier h40 for $45 on sale once and had an AMD 965 Black @ 4.2GHz for the last 2 years.
iplayoneasy
January 26, 2013 at 11:32am
Considering I got a high watt, high temp FX 8320 clocked at 4.7 GHz, I'd have to say the $30 hyper 212 is the best deal out there. 59C prime95 after 6 hours.
Meat_Juice
January 25, 2013 at 10:58am
These coolers are for pussies. A water loop is the only way to go for a real MaxPC enthusiast.
Penterax
January 25, 2013 at 11:59am
Yah, and I bet your Daddy's name is Piston, and claims to have 7 pecs instead of 2.
nsvander
January 25, 2013 at 9:43am
A year after the socket comes out, you do a review on coolers? I am still using my Thermalrite TruBlack 120 that I had from the 1336 days, bought an adapter and happy as a clam with it.
nedwards
February 01, 2013 at 10:56am
I did this roundup for the print magazine a year ago. I'm not sure why it's being posted now.
cmasupra
January 26, 2013 at 6:49am
New coolers can come out after the platform is released. In fact, many have. It's a valid review.
Penterax
January 25, 2013 at 12:04pm
Socket 2011 is rumored to be good through another CPU release (Ivy Bridge-E), but regardless, it's a popular overclocker platform good for testing coolers.
I would like to see an updated thermal paste test suite that includes my current fav, Phobya HeGrease Extreme.
kiaghi7
January 24, 2013 at 7:48pm
Big though it may be, I still gotta give it to the NH-D14, on hotter ambient it cooled to lower than all but the H100, and even then the difference was negligible at idle and very modest at burn-in.
While its size can be an encumbrance, the nice thing is that the "front" fan that could potentially interfere with RAM can readily be raised up over its level and lends additional air-flow over the RAM.
The caveat obviously though is that it is BIG in every since of the word, so most "mid towers" and smaller need not apply... It's just not intended for tight spaces.
Bullwinkle J Moose
January 24, 2013 at 5:59pm
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is the highest performing cooler for the price AND weight (Only 1 lb, 4.6 oz)
So, what is the highest performing sandy bridge and Ivy bridge chips that can be cooled with this WITHOUT THE FAN?
Just Curious
Print
