Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi RGB Air Cooler Review

When we first looked at Cryorig's H7 air cooler back in March this year, it walked away with our 'Must Have' award and a 9/10 score. You can bet we were excited to get our hands on the H7 Quad Lumi, then, given it features an improved fan, an extra heatpipe for increased cooling capacity and , of course. RGB lighting. If you are not too keen on the RGB lighting trend that has taken the PC market by storm, it is unlikely the Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi will be for you. The original H7 remains our top recommendation for those looking for an air cooler on a budget, though, so be sure to check that out if RGB isn't your thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rig8j5-5O7Q However, for those who love RGB LEDs, the Quad Lumi will no-doubt appeal strongly. It actually uses NZXT's CAM software to control the light show, rather than relying on a motherboard 4-pin RGB header, so anyone with a unused motherboard USB header can get the best from the cooler. For a full look at the lighting, why not watch our demo video? Heatsink Specification: Dimension ( with fan ): L98 mm x W123 mm x H145 mm Weight ( with fan ): 713 g Weight ( without fan ): 585 g Heat pipes: 6mm heatpipe x 4 units Fin: T = 0.4 mm ; Gap = 2.2 mm Front Fin Pcs: 40 pcs Copper Base: C1100 Pure copper nickel plated RAM Tolerance Height: Limitless TDP: 160 W Fan Specification: Dimension: L120 mm x W120 mm x H25.4 mm Weight: 128 g Rated Speed: 330 ~ 1600 RPM ±10 % Noise Level: 10 ~ 25 dBA Air Flow: 49 CFM Air Pressure: 1.65 mmH2O Ampere: 0.25 A The Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi ships in a colourful yet compact box. Inside, the first accessory we find is the installation manual, as well as a product registration card. Inside two smaller brown boxes we find all the necessary installation hardware. It is good to see each part arrives in a labelled bag, too, which makes installation that much easier. After that there is just the cooler itself left to look at. There are actually a fair few differences between the H7 Quad Lumi and the original H7, even if they look almost identical on the surface. For starters, the Quad Lumi model now has an extra heatpipe, so instead of 3x 6mm pipes there are now 4. The 120mm fan has also been tweaked - here it is an LED model, though it is white-only, not RGB. Speaking of LEDs, the Cryorig branding on the cooler's top-plate is one RGB lighting zone, while there is also a small LED strip positioned on the base of the cooler which should create an underglow effect.Here I will walk you through the installation process. It is worth noting we test using a Z97 motherboard – socket LGA 1150. The process below reflects that. Interestingly, Cryorig has revamped the entire installation process for the H7 Quad Lumi - something I appreciate after having a couple of issues with the method used to install the original H7. The first thing to do is prepare the backplate - the four screws should slot and lock into place. However, I should mention that when I put my four screws in, one of the clips that locks them in-place actually broke off almost straight away. The other three were fine, but a sturdier locking clip would have been appreciated. Once the backplate is ready, place it behind the motherboard socket area so the screws go through the socket holes. Next, two rails can be placed over the backplate screws. Those rails are secured by four small studs. After that, the cooler can be mounted - it has a pre-installed mounting bracket with a screw either side. These screws should align with the holes on the rails, so tighten them down to lock the heatsink in-place. That's it for installation, and overall I am very glad Cryorig changed the installation method. Apart from a single dodgy backplate clip, I had no issues and the whole process is quite fast.To test all CPU coolers, we devised an easily repeatable test with no variables other than the coolers themselves. This ensures that figures from every cooler we test are comparable with each other. Test rig Using an open-air test bench, we deploy an Intel Core i7-4790K plugged into a Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force motherboard. Alongside this is 16GB of 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance DDR3, as well as a 120GB OCZ Trion 150 SSD. Powering everything is a Corsair RM750x PSU. The test process Testing coolers involves taking a total of 4 temperature readings per cooler. First, we measure the idle temperature of the i7-4790K at stock speeds (turbo boost disabled), before measuring its temperature under load at stock speeds. Next, we overclock the CPU to 4.5GHz using a 1.3 Vcore, ensuring greater heat output. In its overclocked state we then measure the idle and load temperatures of the CPU again. The figures we present are temperature deltas – meaning we take each temperature reading and minus the ambient temperature from it. This allows us to test in an environment that is not temperature-controlled. To ward off potential comments or questions, we know 4.5GHz using a 1.3 Vcore is not the ‘best’ overclock – this particular CPU could reach that frequency at closer to 1.25 on the Vcore, which is more efficient. That is not the point, however. We are trying to stress the coolers to see how they deal with excess heat … hence the higher than necessary Vcore. Where possible, each cooler’s fans are plugged directly into the motherboard using the CPU_Fan or CPU_Opt headers. Some AIOs, however, ship with their own fan controllers or PWM hubs. If we are unable to plug the fans directly into the motherboard, it is specified in the performance section of the review. An idle reading comes from leaving Windows on the desktop for 15 minutes. A load reading comes from running Prime95’s (version 26.6) Small FFTs test for 15 minutes – enough time for temperatures to plateau. Noise output Unfortunately I am unable to accurately measure the sound output of CPU coolers using a digital sound meter. This is because I am based alongside a busy road (with high ambient noise levels). Using a sound meter is, as such, not possible as there are variables out of my control. However, I will try my best to subjectively describe the noise output in a helpful manner.Temperatures All temperature charts are sorted with lowest load temperatures at the top. As you can see, the H7 Quad Lumi performs marginally better than the original H7. There is not much in it, but any performance gain is appreciated. The original H7 is a fantastic performer anyway, so we really cannot complain. Acoustics The Quad Lumi is also supremely quiet, just like the original H7. The fan still spins up to 1600rpm, but even at that frequency, the noise is quickly forgotten. The quietest of music would drown it out, so the Quad Lumi definitely continues the good work of its predecessor.Overall, the Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi is an excellent RGB air cooler. If you missed the video on the first page, I'd recommend going back to have a look as we go through the different lighting effects that can be achieved - it is quite remarkable. Elsewhere, the Quad Lumi also performs very well. It isn't quite as jaw-dropping as the original H7, since that cooler's price-to-performance ratio is simply unreal, but the Quad Lumi is still a very effective cooler, lighting aside. It is very quiet, too, so in my opinion this cooler really is the full package - beautiful, quiet and cool. It also doesn't hurt that Cryorig has also tweaked the installation to make it even easier. As we mentioned on the first page, the original H7 won our 'Must Have' award back in March, and we are pleased to say the H7 Quad Lumi also walks away with our top award. It is a bit more expensive at £55.99 but for those wanting the full RGB treatment, this cooler looks great while also being a top performer. You can buy one from Overclockers UK for £55.99 HERE. Discuss on our Facebook page HERE. Pros Excellent RGB lighting. Great performance. Very quiet. Improved installation method. Cons One backplate locking clip broke during installation. KitGuru says: For RGB lighting fiends, the Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi is the perfect air cooler.