Corsair H150i RGB PRO XT under test - Strong 360mm AiO with a simple design, but with lots of colour | Page 2

Test and methodology

As always, the same hardware is used for the temperature test, I stowed the 2.5″ SSD on the back to make room for the 360mm radiator. A Ryzen 5 1600X at 4.00Ghz with 1.40V has to be cooled, and 16GB of DDR4 G.Skill RipJaws 4 (2x8GB) RAM on an Asus Prime B350-Plus has to be added. The Asus RoG Strix GTX 1060 6GB only runs in zero-fan mode for image output and a BitFenix Whisper M 450W serves as power source. The whole thing is located in the well-known Thermaltake Core P3 as open benchtable.

Since I don’t have an air conditioning system, the values in the graphs are the delta between room temperature and CPU temperature. In this way all cooling systems can be compared fairly, even if the ambient temperature is different. The thermal paste supplied with the cooler is used in each case. The Noctua NF-U12S chromax.black is specified as the reference value.

The temperature peak is the highest measured value of the CPU diode, which is usually only fractions of a second and is not shown in the graph.  In addition to the tests with 100% PWM for the pump and 30%, 60% and 100% for the fans, I also tried the presets.

Benchmarks

For the first set of values, the pump was set to “balanced”, and at 2310RPM, the pump makes a quiet humming noise.

Aida64 stress test	30% RPM	60% RPM	100% RPM
Fan	670 RPM, low hum	1520 RPM, noise	2350 RPM, disturbing loud noise
Environment	24,2 – 24,2°C	22,5 – 23,1°C	23,6 – 24,2°C
Temperature peak	72°C	62°C	62°C

Prime95 Stress test	30% RPM	60% RPM	100% RPM
Fan	670 RPM, low hum	1520 RPM, noise	2350 RPM, disturbing loud noise
Environment	24,1 – 24,1°C	23,1 – 23,6°C	24,2 – 24,3°C
Temperature peak	70°C	62°C	60°C

For the second set of values, the pump was set to the same preset as the fans:

Aida64 stress test	Quiet	Balanced	Intensive
Pump	1960 RPM, almost silent	2330 RPM, low hum	2650 RPM, disturbing loud buzzing
Fan (load)	580 RPM, low hum	840 RPM, low hum	1150 RPM, noise
Fan (Idle)	310 RPM, almost silent	310 RPM, almost silent	820 RPM, low hum
Environment	21,4 – 22,4°C	22,8 – 23,0°C	23,2 – 23,8°C
Temperature peak	75°C	71°C	67°C

Prime95 Stress test	Quiet	Balanced	Intensive
Pump	1960 RPM, almost silent	2330 RPM, low hum	2650 RPM, disturbing loud buzzing
Fan (load)	670 RPM, low hum	980 RPM, noise	1265 RPM, loud noise
Fan (Idle)	310 RPM, almost silent	310 RPM, almost silent	820 RPM, low hum
Environment	22,4 – 22,4°C	23,0 – 23,3°C	23,8 – 24,2°C
Temperature peak	73°C	68°C	64°C

Conclusion / Summary

The difference in the presets is quite considerable, there is something for every taste. With the fixed PWM values, it is again apparent that “full throttle” does little more than a less aggressive setting. The higher performance on paper due to the new fans can be confirmed, but this is bought by a really unpleasant noise. The preset presets are therefore also very restrained with the speed of the fans, even in the highest “Intensive” setting you will end up with only 50-55% of the possible RPM.

In terms of price, it is just below its predecessor, at around 170 euros at the time of testing. This puts it on a par with other premium 360mm AiOs such as the NZXT Kraken X73, Gigabyte Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 RGB or Fractal Design C+ S36 Prism, which still include RGB fans, an LCD display or other optical gadgets.

However, in view of the cheaper options such as the Raijintek Eos 360 RBW (85 euros) or Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 (90 euros), one has to ask oneself to what extent the surcharge is justified. Okay, but if you’re already in the Corsair iCUE ecosystem, this is another well-integrated component with a proud 5-year warranty. In the end, Corairs AiO does a lot of things right and only a little wrong. On the other hand, those who prefer to remain software-free can also get good alternatives with more or less RGB lighting for considerably less money.