Corsair Hydro H55 CPU Cooler Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. The Corsair H554. Installing the Corsair H555. Testing Methodology and Results6. Acoustic Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

To test the performance of the Corsair H55, we built a powerful Z77 based system to push the cooler to its limits.  It features an Intel Core i7-3770K which was overclocked to 4.7 GHz using a core voltage of 1.3 V.

Test System

• Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77E-ITX
• Memory: 8 GB Mushkin Blackline 1333 MHz
• Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950
• Graphics Card (noise tests): HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence

For our temperature tests we loaded the system for 15 minutes using Prime 95 and recorded the CPU temperature using CPUID HWMonitor.  We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording temperatures. Room temperature was maintained at 18 degrees Celsius for the duration of the tests.

The temperatures recorded are about what we expected from this cooler.  The performance falls slightly behind the more expensive H60 but not by a significant margin.  The overclocked temperatures are a little on the high side and we would recommend using slightly lower voltage for 24/7 usage if you pair a high performance processor with this cooler.

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