Corsair CW-9060031-WW Hydro Series H150i PRO RGB Liquid CPU Cooler - Black

While installation for me wasn't quite as easy as it should have been, I can't fault the cooler for that, instead the Corsair 460x I was installing it in. Considering there is space for fans at the top, Corsair really should have added some extra space up top in order to fit a radiator there. I instead ended up installing the radiator on the exterior of the case, at the top. Regardless, this isn't the fault of the cooler, and when I initially attempted to install it with the motherboard out of the case it went very smoothly, far easier than installing a high end air cooler. The included instructions were sufficient, but nothing special. Not everything was as clear as it could have been, however the installation itself is pretty intuitive and so this is a non-issue.When I initially powered on my computer for the first time after installing it I was shocked at how quiet it was. I actually ended up peering into my case to ensure that the two included ML140 fans had been connected properly. It really is dead silent, even on the default profile, and my three Corsair SP120 RGB case fans make significantly more noise than this cooler. After tweaking the fan profiles of everything and leaving the pump on the 'balanced' preset I cannot hear my computer (~0.75 metres away from me on my desk) when gaming with my speakers.With my 8600k on stock settings idle temperatures, while insignificant, were sitting around 32C in my room with an ambient temperature of 19C. What was really impressive was the temperatures I was seeing under load - in Aida64 Extreme on stock settings temperatures barely exceeded 60C after half an hour on the stress test, and all the while my system remained dead silent. After over-clocking my i5 8600k to 5Ghz at 1.350V I reach 68C under the same test. This is all with the included thermal paste on the cooler, and on a non-delidded processor. This performance is really impressive to me coming from air cooling.In terms of negatives, the only thing I can think of is the USB cable coming from the cooler. To control the RGB this must be plugged in, however the way that it comes out of the cooler can make it somewhat difficult to cable manage. I tried to route it underneath the VRM heatsink, however it comes out some distance from the motherboard, meaning that it is still very visible from the exterior of my case. An integrated solution for this would be more appealing than the mini USB cable utilised here, as it would make it easier to hide the cable coming out from the waterblock. On the plus side this cable is black, and so does not stand out too badly.Overall this cooler is superb, and does everything it needs to very well. The mix of performance and aesthetics cannot be faulted, and the 360mm offerings from both Corsair and other brands do not pose a significant enough bump in performance to justify the increase in performance in my opinion. This is a five star product.

I was fed up having my Windows machine crash with heat issues when transcoding video using Handbrake so I decided to upgrade my Noctua fan to this water cooler. Glad I did.The unit is easy to install as long as you have a basic understanding of your case and motherboard. Carefully check which risers you need for your board (Have a look in your motherboard manual if unsure on type to use).Comes with pre applied thermal paste which is great although I suggest you make sure of position over the cpu so as to avoid moving it about after fitting and smearing the paste.Under normal load the pump and fans are barely audible provided you download and configure the iCUE software from Corsair. This software allows you to set custom fan and pump performance based on heat of various sensors, I use the CPU sensor to drive the power of the fans and pump which seems to work well however you can adjust according to many other sensors too.The same software can be used to adjust the lighting on the unit although there is no lighting on the fans or radiator (Which suits me fine).Other Corsair hardware can be configured using the same software which is useful as I have a Corsair keyboard.At full load and in the height of the hot weather we have had my CPU was peaking at 63 degrees which is way lower than the temps with the fan cooler. Be warned though, the noise level is significant when the fans and pump are running full speed to keep the CPU cool in hot weather however there isn't really any way to avoid this.The only gripe I have is that the fans are set according to current user so if I am running an intensive heat generating process and someone else logs into their account on the same machine, it sets the fan according to their usage which can lead to overheating the CPU. If anyone knows a way of getting round this would love to hear - As a workaround I set the same iCUE settings in everyone's account on the same machine however would prefer if the setting could be made globally rather than on a per user setting.You will need a spare USB header on your board to use this unit and I had to disconnect one of the leads from my front of case USB units however not a big deal if you have a spare.

This is a fantastically effective cooler - I have it sitting in the front of a Fractal Design R5, acting in pull configuration as the air intake - and in almost all usage scenarios it is, in practical terms, silent, and keeps my i7-6700 cool with ease. The twin mag lev fans are efficient and beautifully quiet. A huge relief after the irritating whine I was getting from the pump in its predecessor, an EKWB EK-XLC predator.The fitting process is straightforward, except that the base sections of the risers, the part that goes through the motherboard and screws into the base plate, are too long - or they were for my Gigabyte 1151 MB. It was therefore impossible to get them tight against the MB, they would just jiggle about. Some have claimed that this still works out OK when everything is fixed, but I played safe and found some old hard drive mounting grommets, cut them in half to create rubber washers, and then used these to fill the space behind the board, effectively pushing the back plate off the board a little. Everything then tightened up fine, and the rest of the installation is a breeze - the water block even has thermal paste pre-applied.Highly recommended, and the mag lev fans are worth the extra money!