Testing
With your system up and running properly, the first thing you will want to do is head to: Downloads at Corsair and grab the latest download for Corsair’s iCUE software. iCue is Corsairs comprehensive system management software used to control everything from your fan speed to your RGB lights. This new software has entirely replaced LINK, their previous hardware control and monitoring software. Within iCue we are able to change our RGB profiles quickly and easily as well as set up our fans for maximum performance. There are four basic performance modes in iCue for your H100i Pro including Zero RPM which shuts the fans down when they are not needed. We’ve seen this feature used in PSU’s for a while and it’s nice to see it brought to hardware. Simply select the fan and the mode you would like to use.
In the past we have always used performance mode when testing AiO coolers as we want to get the absolute best out of them we can. However we noticed with what is now “Extreme mode” in iCue that this simply wasn’t enough as it failed to get the fans even close to 100%. In fact in Extreme mode we were 40% slower than 100%. In light of that we tested with both settings and will present them both where applicable.
The test rig consists of the following parts:
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H
Video Card: Zotac 560 Ti
Memory: Samsung Green MV-3V4G3D/US – 8GB
Power Supply: Corsair TX950
Storage: Mushkin ECO2 240GB Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: Corsair H100i PRO
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
As always testing was done using Intel Burn Test (IBT) with the AVX instruction set. The reason to use this instead of Prime95 with this setup is that it pushes our i7 3770K a whole lot harder. This gives us a better sense of extreme load temps. Most of the testing was done at the max memory setting for a single pass. While admittedly this in no way would qualify the chip as stable while overclocked, it gives us a realistic idea of what temperatures the CPU will be hitting. Additionally we are going to run 3DMARK Fire Strike Extreme to give you a realistic idea of performance while gaming.
Our baseline was established using a bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 with the 3770K on stock settings:
Ambient temps: 22.22C/72F
Idle temps: 38.75C/101.75F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 63.5C/146.3F core average
The first thing we did was to test the cooler with stock motherboard/CPU settings:
Ambient temps: 21.11°C/70°F
Idle temps: 38.75°C/101.75°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 57.5°C/135.5°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory 100% fans: 56.25°C/133.25°F core average
Our ambient temperature is 1.11°C cooler than baseline. When we add that to our test results we find that at idle the H100i Pro is actually 1.11°C warmer than the baseline cooler. As this is sometimes the case with watercooling products we aren’t alarmed yet. If the trend continues into the actual testing then there may be some need to question the H100i Pro’s performance. But as you can see in one pass of IBT at max memory it was already 4.89°C cooler with the extreme performance preset. Looking good there, let’s see how this cooler handles some overclocking.
Here are our results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:
Ambient temps: 21.11°C/70°F
IBT temps: 74.5°C/166.1°F with the single hottest core hitting 79°C
IBT temps 100% fans: 71.5°C/160.7°F with the single hottest core hitting 76°C
After adding in the ambient adjustment of 1.11°C those results put the H100i Pro just a little behind the 280mm H115i Pro. Corsair certainly seems to have their ducks in a row for this latest release with performance tweaked just right for each level of performance. Plenty of performance in this guy, let’s go ahead and see how some gaming would go.
Ambient temps: 21.11°C/70°F
3DMARK 100% fans: 56.5°C/133.7°F with the hottest single core hitting 59°C
There you have it, 56.5 C in game temperature at 4.5ghz. At those clock speeds you are getting a ton of performance but could easily take it higher for gaming. Once again we’ve got ourselves a great AiO on our hands from Corsair.
But how loud is the H100i Pro? Well with the fans set at 100% the answer is loud. We measured them using the Sound Meter app (take the actual numbers with a grain of salt) to be greater than 60dBA at around 2500 rpm. This is probably part of the reason that the Extreme profile in iCue keeps them so slow. With that setting they are down right pleasant. I would call this cooler quiet actually. It’s up to you to decide how important the extra performance is.
