Ok, what's with this, why is it so special, and why would you want/need it? Glad you asked, let me tell you about it. All modern CPU's generate heat. Heat can have negative effects on your hardware. Take a look at this video:
Note that after the heat sink is removed, the temperatures run up over 74 degrees Celsius. This has the potential to damage your CPU, as well as motherboard and anything else attached. There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing the destruction of uncooled CPUs.
Most CPU's come with a stock heat sink & fan. Some OEM processors come by themselves, requiring you to purchase your own cooling. Stock may be good for some needs, but a gamer or overclocker may need more. Heavy users may need more as well. Overclocking, for those unaware, is the act of manually modifying your CPU's frequency and voltage through the motherboard's BIOS, to gain faster speeds from it.
Water cooling use to be more "complicated" and pricey, and used by real enthusiasts. Nowadays, there are retail liquid cooling solutions to fit many budgets. Corsair's H60 Hydro Series is just one of those. Corsair has long been a reputable component manufacturer. On my server, I use two of these coolers on my pair of Xeon processors. Initially I was using a pair of SNK-P0037P passive heat sinks. They did a modest job, but really were not up to the task of handling what I would do. According to lm-sensors, right now, with the 2 H60's the highest temperature on any of my cores is 27 Celsius. With the passives, I had much higher temperatures, causing me to have to shut down for a bit to cool off.
Here's a bit about the H60. Everything is self-contained. Means you only need to buy one part. It includes the plate, which mounts against the CPU, the hoses, which are connected to the radiator & fan. To take advantage of these, you will need at least 1 (assuming single processor computer) 120mm fan mounting position, as well as two fan headers on the motherboard. Many lower end boards may only have one onboard fan header. The cooler can be adapted to fit most processors from either Intel or AMD through the included connectors. Therefore the only things you will need (besides your computer and this) will be a philips head screwdriver, some thermal grease (helps distribute cooling evenly along the border between processor & heat sink), and an anti-static wrist strap (recommended to reduce chance of static damage).
As I mentioned, I'm running a pair of these currently. I've had no thermal issues since they were installed. I've rarely seen any of my CPU cores top 30 Celsius, either. Your results may vary, as I have a fairly unique machine.
Corsair has other models in the Hydro Series, the top of the line being the H100. The H100, requires two side-by-side 120mmmounting positions on the case for each cooler. The H60 has a listing price of about $80 from Corsair directly, while the H100 lists for about $120. However, I have seen them through other retailers for less. I picked up mine for $49 each last spring. I have seen them for $39.99 on sale recently, and they can be picked up in-store at places like Best Buy or Tiger Direct.
I recently saw Cooler Master released their all-in-one liquid cooler - the Seidon 120M This looks to be comparable with the Corsairs. They posted a video of this one going through some overclocking tests, to show its capabilities:
Economy value? If you (or the recipient) has everything in place to install one of these, then it can be a great deal, especially on sale. Heat can cause a shortening on the lifetime of your equipment, so, any cooling can help. It may not seem "worth it" if one needs to replace the board and/or case to make use of this, but if a new system is being built, then the added investment in cooling will pay off in a longer lifetime of your gear.
Personally, I am quite happy with the H60. I think that it is good for most needs, though there are some "better" ones in the series if you need a little bit more. It's a good value, especially down the line.
Check back later for another gift idea!
Today, I'm going to talk about water cooling for your PC. ... wcpucooler.blogspot.com
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