Corsair Hydro Series H80 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Closer look at the Corsair H80

As with previous models, the H80’s box will be bound to get attention on a retailer’s shelves. It is bold, brash and surprisingly large considering it houses a single bay cooler insider. Also like previous models, the box is festooned with all the information a first-time user could possibly need.

Opening up the box and peaking inside, we can see the same internal protection scheme as the one used with the H70. This setup works and works well as it consists of a sturdy cardboard with a foam topper layer.


When it comes to accessories, you get all the components for mounting on AMD and Intel sockets motherboards including – apparently - Intel’s upcoming socket 2011. These components are all of a very high quality and are very similar in their straightforward manner to those which came with the H60. While our particular sample did not include the manual, an installation guide that covers both AMD and Intel installations is included.


Like all of the Hydro series coolers, the H80 consists of four main parts: the radiator, the water block/pump combination block, the tubing which connects the two together and the fans. There are quite a few similarities between it and the H70, the most obvious of which is the single bay, dual thickness 38mm by 120mm radiator.

On the flip side of the coin, the differences between it and the lower end H60 couldn’t be more striking. This new cooler uses the aforementioned thick radiator, is compatible with Corsair’s Link Digital Corsair Link Kits technology, has a redesigned CPU block and comes equipped with a pair of high performance fans.


The H80’s radiator is a 38mm thick monster which is almost as thick as a H60 with a fan attached. When you add in another 50mm for the pair of included fans there is no denying this is a somewhat bulky design. If past iterations are any indicator, this should translate into great performance but at the expense of compatibility due to its large footprint.


Taking a closer look at the radiator we can see that unlike the H70’s design which used an 8 tube layout, the H80 uses 12 thinner tubes to carry the coolant through the rad structure. This should in theory increase the static pressure requirements needed to properly cool the fluid when compared the H70s radiator. While the tube count has changed the number of folds per inch in the fins is about the same as the previous model’s at an approximate 20 FPI.


Luckily, the included fans have also received an upgrade. The previous model relied on fans capable of hitting 2000rpm whereas the H80’s are capable of hitting a whopping 2500rpm with 7.7mm of static pressure. This should render any concerns over static pressure requirements relatively moot.