Corsair H110i GT Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Testing
The test rig consists of the following parts:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper3
Video Card: EVGA GTX 690
Memory: Samsung Green MV-3V4G3D/US – 16GB
Power Supply: Enermax Maxrevo 1350W
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB raid 0 Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: Corsair H110i GT
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

Before we proceed with testing we first direct our browser to http://www.corsair.com/fr-fr/support/downloads where we picked up the latest edition of Corsair Link. Corsair Link is an all in one software package capable of doing everything from monitoring your computer’s temperatures to changing the pump speed on our H110i GT.

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After we had the software installed we played around with some of the settings. We started off adjusting the color of the pumps LEDs to match our case lighting. Then we played with the fans and pump speeds. Ultimately we found that running the fans in the preset performance mode was far too loud to be used for any length of time. We finally settled on quiet mode which allowed the fans to easily fade into the background noise around us. Similarly turning the pump speed up to performance mode changed the pitch to something easily picked out and quite annoying. We left that at the stock setting as well.

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With our software all set up, we got to work testing the H110i GT. The first thing we did was to test the cooler with stock motherboard/CPU settings:

Ambient temps: 18.33°C/65°F
Idle temps: 31.25°C/88.25°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 53.75°C/128.75°F core average

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By the numbers, the H110i GT is performing really well. In fact it is idling 6.83°C cooler than our current cooling champion the Tt Water 3.0 Ultimate. And in the single pass of IBT it is just .27°C warmer. Happy with these results it’s time to head into UEFI and crank up the settings on the CPU to 4.5 ghz and see how this AIO handles a much heavier heat load.

As opposed to simply going for a max overclock, we are simply going to shoot to hit 4.5ghz pass or fail. If the cooler will allow our 3770K to hit 4.5 ghz we note the temperatures and move on to test it on 3DMARK Firestrike Extreme. If not then back down to a more acceptable and stable overclock. Not as extreme as our previous testing, but slightly more consistent and far more analogous to normal use.

Here are our results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:

Ambient temps: 18.33°C/65°F
IBT temps: 69.5°C/151.7°F with one core hitting 73°C

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Amazingly while running in “performance mode” the H110i GT is our new AIO cooling champion! After adjusting for the difference in ambient temperatures the H110i GT outperforms the Tt Water 3.0 Ultimate by 0.58°C. It’s hard to say what gives it the edge, after all they have similar surface area but the larger 360 radiator equipped Ultimate actually has over 2000mm more surface area.

Tt Water 3.0 Ultimate
Ambient temps: 20°C/68°F
IBT temps: 71.75°C/161.15°F with one core hitting 76°C

While the results above are for “performance mode”, we don’t believe anyone will be running this AIO with these settings 24/7 but wanted to give the cooler it’s best chance. Below are the results for “quiet mode” which is where we would keep the settings on a daily basis.

Ambient temps: 18.33°C/65°F
IBT temps: 71.25°C/160.25°F with one core hitting 75°C

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As you can see the differences are really negligible for actual use. Based on the cost of extra noise we would definitely run with “quiet mode”.

Since the H110i GT performed so well at 4.5ghz during IBT testing we are going to go ahead and run 3DMARK Fire Strike Extreme, still at our 4.5ghz settings, to get some real world gaming temperatures.

Ambient temps: 18.33°C/65°F
3DMARK: 56.75°C/134.15°F with two cores hitting 56°C

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Once again we see the H110i GT pull ahead of all competition. And not only that but even with the fans and pump running in quiet mode, you will have a nice cool CPU while gaming.