Corsair H105 AIO Watercooler Review

Testing  

Normally with our heatsink testing we would test with our 3960X undervolted and at a selection of overclocks. This time we have heard nothing but people asking about its performance compared to the H100i so we have tested using our usual 4.6GHz specs at 1.45v so we can compare it directly to the cream of the crop in our elite test. In addition to this in the second graph we have retested (our original H100i) with the H105 fans and also a set of SP120 PE fans both sets being run at 12v and with the (FSR) Corsair fan speed reducer added.

As you can see in the graph below (now JPG for all you mobile users!) there isn’t a single air cooler in this graph, even the NH-D14 does not have enough cooling potential to be featured here. So all that has made this graph so far are the AIO big players and dedicated custom watercooling kits.

Couple things to point out is in the first graph the H105 is using its standard fans and even with the fan speed reducer added and running quiet enough to please pretty much ever silence freak it still out performed the Swiftech H220 and H80i even when they were running 12v fans. It also puts up a galant effort falling just behind the 140mm fan cooled H110.
 

  

Moving on to our H100i – H105 head to head test the first thing to point out is the H100i when run with stock fans and the FSR added failed our upper temperature limit of 80c. It did this when run on ‘quiet mode’ in our original test and the FSR really does slow these fans right down. What this does prove though is that the thicker H105 radiator does allow you to run slower fan speeds and yet achieve better temps than its anorexic brother – that in our eyes is a perfect combination!