CORSAIR Hydro Series CWCH50 Water Cooler

Pros: Been using this for quite some time now. Didnt use the stock fan. was using a coolermaster 120mm push. Decided to OC my PhenomII x4 965BE to 4.01Ghz, so I added another fan in push/pull. Idle temp 40. Steady at 53 under load. Very pleased still.

Cons: none.

Other Thoughts: Thinking of getting some faster fans to get the temps down a lil more.

Pros: Price fairly cheap, most likely better than my stock cooler.

Cons: under load with an OC'ed 1055t to 3.8ghz temps would rise to 55. idle temps were around 41-44. i have reapplied thermal paste many times, changed the position of the cooling block and switched from the standard fan plug on the mb to a molex fan connector straight to my ps and the fan rpm does not change and the temps stay around the same. i am running out of ideas and patience. the case fan running with the radiator is currently blowing outside air in to the case with a 150mm fan doing the same on top of the case. i also have one side of the case off. does anyone have any ideas?

Pros: 36C Idle while OCd on a AMD 1090t. Seems to work as intended.

Cons: Bulky, doesn't fit in my ATX case too well with video card. Oh well.

Other Thoughts: @kit Be sure to connect the rear fan on the CPU fan power (4 pin) and the pump on a regular fan power (3 pin). I connected it up wrong at first out of habit, had same error message at start up.

Does take a moderate level of knowledge to install, best to get a DIY on how to do it.

Pros: pretty good. easy to install with youtxxe video...

Cons: my motherbord can't detect the fan..after full install...and power on the pc...the mon show cpu failed..unplus the 120MM FAN , and plus the old cpu fan in..work...

i don't know is my MB problem or the fan's problem..

Pros: A closed water loop for those of us who don't want the hassle of building a full blown WC unit. It really is as good as the reviews prior to mine have stated; my temperatures dropped drastically after install (going from stock AM3 cooler to this). I got mine as a refurbish from a local brick and mortar for next to nothing, to date it is probably one of the best impulse buys I've ever done.

Install was fairly easy (see cons) and cooled my phenom 945 substantially; temps went from 38C idle to around 27C and load dropped from 54C to about 38C...just remarkable. The stock thermal paste is not bad, I may try my arctic silver on it next time I open it up to see if I can go further.

Cons: Install was easy...ish, I have a CM 690II case and even with the fair amount of room maneuvering this beast was a bit of a pain. Also push/pull required me to go the hardware store for some extra screws/washers...but not a real big issue.

Other Thoughts: Now...why is it foolish? After install I decided "hell why not overclock the hell out of my CPU?" Note, this is not a BE amd core, so all OC was NB voltage and frequency with no multiplier adjustments available.

I have been running strong at 240 mhz x 15 for about 4 months now and it still looks good...cpu voltage is stupidly over stock voltage (still barely in AMD's recommended parameters...I think).

So...this cooler allowed my 945 non BE to go from 3.0 to 3.6 ghz and pass stress tests at only a scant 42C load (Texas summer/AC room). I TRIED to push further by changing multipliers on bus/ram to avoid taxing those chipsets but I think the core is at her limits (kept failing stress tests around 245 mhz); my next purchase will likely be a BE quad or even a hexacore. :D

Pros: I've had this system with the new LGA1155 socket and it's keeping my system cool to the touch, I've got great ventilation going through the system and whatnot, and it's keeping my CPU within 25-30C. even under load.

Cons: The only complaint is that since it's an LGA1155, it was a pain and a half to mount the back bracket I thought a couple of times I was going to scratch the back of the board.

Other Thoughts: I can't think of any other cooler to have these settings so cooled that if I was thinking of going air-cooled, I would have to re-think on how could I get this thing cooler when it is under load....I'm happy....

Pros: **Make sure to read "Other thoughts" of this review, you'll find it worth your time.**

Works great. I can't compare it to other water coolers, since this is my first. No leaks. Radiator is almost the size of a 120mm fan.. But the edges will stand off the fan a bit on the top and bottom.

Using a Phenom 2 6core 1090 black edition:
stock cooler: overclocked to 3.6ghz = 50C
H50 water cooler: overclocked to 3.7ghz = 40C
(I'm pulling already warm air from the inside of case through the radiator and passing it out of the case)

At idle it runs around the same temp as the stock cooler. Its by far alot less noisy though. Its absolutely silent now, the only thing making noise is the air passing through. During tests I couldn't tell the processor was under full load.

The piece mounted to the motherboard is rather small compared to air cooled heatsinks, which is a plus, because it frees up alot of room for fancy RAM, also less weight on the motherboard.

Cons: Pipe's from radiator to processor are a bit sturdy. After some thought I found a way to mount it that I felt was suitable.

Other Thoughts: This item is listed on Newegg twice. Searching "H50" will turn up a similar looking item priced at around $70 dollars. I ordered both. The item boxes looked exactly the same, however I only opened one so that I could return the other. CWCH50 the other CWCH501. The first never came with mounting brackets, the second does. but under both listings, Newegg ships H501.

Pros: 1. Beats the Megahalems if you use dual push-pull fans
2. Compact
3. Quiet
4. i7-920 D0@4.2Ghz max temp 68c after 24h of Prime95

Cons: 1. Needs a case with an available 120mm fan opening in the back, near the CPU. Antec 1200 was *perfect*.2
2. Needs a case with an additional exhaust fan (besides the aforementioned 120mm one). Antec 1200 also perfect with its huge top fan, and add'l 120mm.

Other Thoughts: This is the first cooler that I've really been pleased with in the past 2 years. It's compact, works better than advertised, and was a snap to install.

Very impressed.

Pros: 1. Keeping my 3.8 ghz i7 920 DO (HT and Turbo on) right around 60 C under full 16 hour+ Prime 95 torture test, crunching etc.

2. Ridiculously easy to install.

3. Not supposed to be on par with custom watercooling systems but does exactly what it claims providing equal to or better than high end aircooler performance.

4. Pump and fan power cables both come sleeved. A small touch but nice regardless.

Cons: 1. I know the fan it comes with is designed to be quiet but it is on the weak side. A couple Y@te Loon mediums in push pull will give a little better temp performance with a slight noise increase.

Other Thoughts: Using this as a stop gap solution until I can go with a full custom watercooling setup around the holidays. Does what it claims to do very well and is backed by (IMO) one of the best companies around.

Make sure you check in your BIOS and make sure the cpu fan header setting (which pump should be plugged into) is set to run at full speed constantly. Those seeing large temp jumps with this cooler may possibly be experiencing their mobo throttling the pump.

Pros: Seems fairly easy to install, looks good and can be clean ...when it works

Cons: Mine just flat out doesnt work. I'm assuming its DOA because my temperatures were hitting up to 89C and I installed it correctly. Pump makes no noise and even when I connect it, the copper side feels like there is no cooling (although this may not be how it works, so i'm just assuming here)

Other Thoughts: If Corsair can fix my problem relatively quickly, I'll go back and rate this higher. I know DOAs occur but that's why I'm doing 3 eggs because it's still a well built product