Introduction

Corsair gets their feet wet again, after close to 3 years they have introduced another water cooling product, the previous one being the Nautilus 500 back in 2006. This time around they’ve also opted for an all-in-one kit, but build inside the case, fitted onto the exhaust fan, a case with 120mm exhaust is a requirement, a large wallet is not! The Corsair H50 will be introduced at price of ~€/$70 which is pretty much on par with high end air cooled heatsinks out there!

So can an all-in-one kit impress us? Let’s find out!

In the box

The kit I received was a reviewer’s sample. So the final package might differ. I am not going to spill any words nor piccies on the box as it was dull white, no fancy artwork, just white. The H50 unit is neatly packed and protected in a 2 piece blister. Since the kit is preassembled there aren't many parts in the box. The cooling unit, brackets and some screws, that's all folks. Even my granny is fully qualified to put this thing together.



The H50 is based on Aseteks LCLC, the latter standing for Low Cost Liquid Cooling. Though Corsair has redesigned the pump and cold plate for better performance. Corsair claims it can beat the almighty Thermalright eXtreme by 5 - 10°C on an I7 setup. A pretty hefty claim if you ask me. As you can see TIM is already preapplied, but we will test the unit also with some MX2 to see if there's any gain in performance.



Inside the retail box you’ll find mounting gear for Intel S775/1366 as well as AMD AM2/AM3, they’re working on making a Core i5 (S1156) bracket as well, so platform compatibility will be no issue, you’ll be able to re-use the cooling unit if you switch systems.




2 above photos are for the S775 CPU lineup. There's some adhesive tape on the backplates so it sticks to the motherboard and doesn't fall off in case you should dissemble the unit when everything is neatly installed in the case. Installation is a breeze and done in under 5 minutes. Fit the back plate, slightly screw on the bracket. Then slide in the pump/cooling unit and turn it till it's locked. Then screw down the bracket screws till you can't anymore. Last but not least, 4 more screws for mounting the radiator, hook up the appropriate connectors and voila you are part of water-cooled crowd from now on !




Socket 1366 has got slightly taller screw and a stiffer spring setup, to get more pressure and therefore better contact.


The AM2/3 Bracket



The whole unit in all it's glory. The tubing is pretty stiff, but still can be bend in any position you like. For those that want to fit this unit in front of their case : tubing length is about 28cm. Meaning you can approximately install the Rad at 20-25cm measured from the center of the cooling unit



Pumps electronics, the small heatsink is very welcome, as it tends to get very hot once the pump is running


Other side with Bleeding hole


The copper cooling plate where the water removes the heat, small series of fins to increase total surface area