The H50 loop includes the following components:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Integrated pump\/cooling block<\/li>\n
- 120mm Corsair radiator<\/li>\n
- 2 x Zalman 120mm high performance fans<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Installation<\/h3>\n
Corsair H50:<\/strong> One starts by screwing the backplate and top mounting clip together loosely. Once these are together, you slide the water block into place through the centre of the top mounting clip, and turn the block until the \u201cteeth\u201d on the block lock into place with the \u201cteeth\u201d on the mounting clip. Once the teeth are locked together, you tighten the screws on the mounting clip until the block is held firmly in place.<\/p>\n
Once the block is installed, you will need to install the radiator and fans to the PC case. Typically the radiator is installed on the rear fan port of the case thanks to the short tubes used by the H50.<\/p>\n
Once the radiator is screwed in, all that is left to be done is plug in the fan’s power as well as the pump power cable, and installation is complete.<\/p>\n
XSPC loop: <\/strong>Installing the dedicated XSPC loop is a bit more complicated, so we\u2019ll deal with each component separately.<\/p>\n
CPU block<\/span>:<\/strong> Installing the CPU block requires you to assemble four sets of screws, springs and washers to hold down the block. Once these are assembled, place the backplate behind the motherboard and the block above the CPU after applying CPU gel.<\/p>\n
Once these are aligned, insert the four screws and tighten the block against the motherboard. Then tighten two barbs into the provided ports.<\/p>\n
![\"XSPC](\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/XSPC-Raystorm.jpg\" "\\"XSPC")
<\/a>XSPC Raystorm CPU block<\/p><\/div>\n
Radiator:<\/span> The radiator is fairly easy to install. Attach the four fans onto the radiator in a push-pull configuration, and then mount the fans and radiator to an install point in your case. This is done by mounting the fans onto two 120mm fan locations next to each other in the case. One in place, install two barbs into the cooling ports of the radiator.<\/p>\n
![\"XSPC](\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/XSPC-RS-240-Radiator.jpg\" "\\"XSPC")
<\/a>XSPC RS 240 Radiator<\/p><\/div>\n
Pump\/Reservoir:<\/strong><\/span> Easiest of them all, the pump comes with its own double sided Velcro strap. Stick the Velcro strap into place and place the pump\/reservoir onto the Velcro. Once this is done, install barbs onto the unit.<\/p>\n
![\"XSPC](\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/XSPC-X2O-450-pump-res.jpg\" "\\"XSPC")
<\/a>XSPC X2O 450 Pump\/Res<\/p><\/div>\n
Tubing:<\/span> Once all of the components are in place, cut tubing to the correct lengths, and simple push it against the barbs on the various components until it slips over the lip. This will hold it in place despite looking less than watertight.<\/p>\n
Water:<\/span> Once the tubing is in place, isolate the loop from the rest of the system and power it on.<\/p>\n
There is a fill port located on the top of the pump housing to fill up the system. While the pump is running, slowly fill the housing with water and watch as the pump pushes it through the rest of the loop. Keep filling the pump housing until the sound of the pump goes from a harsh \u201cwhooshing\u201d sound to a quiet hum. This indicates that your loop has enough water, and you can seal the fill port with the watertight cap.<\/p>\n
Leak testing:<\/span> It\u2019s recommended that you place tissue paper around all of the barbs in the system, and leave the system running for a few hours. This will allow any bubbles in the water to settle, and show off any leaks that may appear due to a poor seal (fixed either by tightening the barb or the tubing that fits around the barb).<\/p>\n
Core i7 test results<\/h3>\n
Idle testing:<\/span> For idle testing, the machine was booted up and run for 30 minutes to allow both loops to warm up fully, preventing any spikes in the temperature data.<\/p>\n
The Corsair H50 returned an idle temperature of 36 degrees after 30 minutes at stock speeds, while the XSPC look sat at 34 degrees.<\/p>\n
This low difference in temperature is due to the minimal heat output in the chip, rather than both systems being evenly matched. The real test will be testing under load.<\/p>\n
![\"Idle](\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Idle-Stock.jpg\" "\\"Idle")
<\/a>Idle Stock values (Lower is better)<\/p><\/div>\n
Idle temperature at the overclocked 3.6GHz frequency for the H50 was 40 degrees, while the XSPC loop retuned a value of 37 degrees.<\/p>\n
![\"Idle](\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Idle-Overclocked.jpg\" "\\"Idle")
<\/a>Idle Overclocked values (Lower is better)<\/p><\/div>\n
Load Testing:<\/span> For load testing, we used the synthetic application OCCT to simulate 100 percent load. Here the temperatures are much higher than you would experience during standard load applications such as gaming or Photoshop.<\/p>\n
At stock, the final load temperature after an hour of OCCT load at 100 percent for the H50 was 84 degrees. The XSPC loop returned a temperature of 67 degrees.<\/p>\n