First time water cooler questions..

[yuppicide]

Gonna upgrade my PC in 2016.. thinking of that i6700k and overclocking it.. thinking of a Corsair 600Q case and a liquid cooler.

 

I was looking at the H105 on NewEgg.. 5 stars and 245 reviews.. sounds good.. the H110i GTX and GTX are newer I suppose, but only 4 stars.

 

I don't know when the H105 was manufactured originally.. should I look at that or go for the newer one?

 

I know they come sealed or whatever from Corsair, but do they require any maintenance or checking on my part from time to time? Like a car loses engine coolant.

[antonyfrn]

I'm using a H110i GT which I'm retiring for an EK setup, I have had a H100i in the past you might find this useful.

 

H100i I have had three of these in a year lot of problems with the design the Y-Splitters have a habit of damaging the ports, but no issues with leakage.Can easily do push and pull with fans more noise little change in the temps.

 

H110i GT not had any real issues not had to RMA it yet better design on the Y-Splitters, than the H100i.

 

As for maintenance every few months blowing out the radiator with compressed air and cleaning the fans. Most extreme cleaning I do is maybe when I'm stripping my case out is to cover the water block in a plastic bag and wash the radiator under a cold tap if its thick with dust.

 

As for the Link software its ok when it works, could do with a lot of work can be very buggy and has know in compatibilities. I would recommend running it with out there software as it does use a bit of CPU usage when idle and find with out it my temps are lower. SIV is a good option to control it by needs more use friendly UI imo but it does the job.

[c-attack]

All AIO coolers should be maintenance free, other than occasional inspections of the hoses for wear. You never open it. You will never add water to it. The usual dusting procedures and frequencies like anything else in your case.

 

As for the models you have mentioned, there are some substantial differences.

 

The H110iGT and GTX models are 280mm radiators with a 27mm thickness. They both use two 140mm fans. Both are designed to work with the Corsair LINK software system to control fan speed, LED lighting on the pump, and potentially other Corsair products if you have them. There is no requirement you use LINK, but if not, you will need to power and control the fans from another source (motherboard, fan controller, etc).

 

The H105 is a 240mm radiator with a 38mm thickness. This is a thicker radiator than most 240mm AIO systems and offers a higher surface area and theoretically better cooling than a thinner 240mm radiator. It does not work with LINK. You will need to power the radiator fans from the motherboard or elsewhere, hopefully with some control mechanism. There is no LED lighting. A 240mm x 38mm radiator likely requires more fan speed than 280 x 27mm to achieve the same cooling. The 38mm thickness plus 25mm of fan may be too much on some motherboard and case combinations.

 

It's not really a case of newer is better. All of them will do the job. The newer GT and GTX model have more options and a software package. That is potentially more complications to an unfamiliar user and a larger pool of things to complain about. Most user reviews tend to focus on their initial installation success/failure instead of a long term evaluation of the product. Don't weigh the star ratings too heavily without investigating what they are actually complaining about. For most people, the key considerations are radiator size (can your case fit it?), the type of fans used (140's are quieter than 120's, but there are far fewer of them to choose), and whether you like/hate LED lighting and software packages.

[red-ray]

The H110iGT has far better firmware than the H110iGTX + H100iGTX, see http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=795986