Cooler Master Hydra 8800 Hybrid GPU Cooler Review

My first impressions were way off. I looked at this thing as a demented sibling of the reference design. To be honest, I was expecting WORSE air temperatures than stock in the air cooling tests due to the unusual shape of the LED fan and the removal of some of the air cooling fins. The Hydra in its air cooled form -although not dramatically better than the reference cooler- did outperform the reference cooler by a few degrees. I think most of this is due to the higher RPM of the fan, but subjectively it was not loud enough to be obnoxious even though it was a bit louder than the stock one.

What surprised me even more was how competitive the Hydra became once the switch was made to water cooling. Load temperatures went down by about 20 degrees just by putting a little pipe full of water up against a heat pipe in the standard cooler. Although the Hydra's hybrid air/water design does not allow it to excel in either category (air or water cooling) as compared to something like the HR-03 Plus or the Swiftech Stealth, it performs passably well at both and this makes it an entirely unique product on the market right now.

All of that said, it's very difficult to say exactly what Cooler Master's target audience is for this product. Most people who are after an aftermarket air cooler have no desire to go water. Also, most people who want to go with water are going to spend the money on water cooling system are probably going to go with a more conventional water block. One thing I do see this product being very useful for is for someone who enjoys the improved performance water brings but also wants to be able to easily remove their motherboard from the system sometimes. That way they could run air cooling when they need easy access to their components and water at other times. Another reason to use this product would be if you want to protect your investment. With both the air cooler and the water cooler running, even if a fan or a pump dies your card will not overheat. It's nearly impossible for this product to fail when running both the fan and the water.

While this may all sound like I love this product, there are definately things here that need to be improved. One major issue with this cooler is no fault of Cooler Master but rather changing market trends. Considering the 8800GTX is on its way out (it has been on the market for over a year now) the Hydra seems too little too late considering it is Cooler Master's only 8800-series cooler to date. I was also not a huge fan of the cheap plastic barbs which are only compatible with 1/8" wall tubing. If this cooler would have been released 6 months ago with better barbs and slightly better performance it would have received a better score.

When it comes down to it, whether the Hydra 8800 is right for you or not will depend on your personal usage patterns and how favorable the performance numbers look for you. I'll finish this review off with a night shot of the 8800 GTX running with the Hydra 8800 installed.


Pros:

- The only aftermarket cooler that is capable of air and liquid cooling
- Brain-dead easy to use both for installation and not cutting oneself on the box
- Offered water cooling performance that SURPRISED THE HECK out of this reviewer
- Simple design has few points of failure (ie leaking)
- Fail-safe solution
- Ingenious modification of the reference design
- Includes high performance blue LED shroud and shiny shroud/sticker
- Outperforms the reference cooler with the fans on auto for each cooler in air mode and beats it by 21 degrees under load when assisted with water


Cons:

- Jack of all trades, master of none. It's not the best at air or water, but it does both of them, and passably well.
- Included barbs are made of shiny plastic
- Included barbs are compatible with uncommon 1/8" wall tubing only
- Louder than the stock cooler by default
- Late to market

The bottom line: Recommended with reservations