CORSAIR H170i ELITE LCD 420mm AIO Cooler Review

David_Schroth

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Introduction CORSAIR is a leading manufacturer of all parts enthusiast. While they are best known for their memory, they also manufacture AIO coolers, regular coolers, keyboards, mice, headsets, fans, power supplies, and various RGB equipment that is coordinated with their in-house developed ICUE software. On our test bench, today is the CORSAIR H170i ELITE LCD AIO cooler, which is the first 420 mm-sized AIO that we have reviewed here at The FPS Review. It is available for a special price of $279.99 versus the regular $309 on CORSAIR’s webstore at the time of writing, which seems to be the best […]

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Grimlakin said:
You know I question even if my monster of a case can handle a 420mm rad. Reaching out to thermaltake on my View 51 TG ARGB case. Product page only lists 360mm rads.
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Exactly.. I've been looking for cases to handle 360, and now there's a 420? To be honest this is the first 420mm cooler I have ever heard of.

I mean, it's a beast with the performance it has but that price just says NOPE.. That and finding a case for this thing.
 
I've found mixed reviews saying my case can handle it. What I need really is a template I can place to confirm and make me feel good. Corsair needs to offer a template to potential purchasers. Something cut to size or printed to size so we can place it to make sure.
 
Grimlakin said:
I've found mixed reviews saying my case can handle it. What I need really is a template I can place to confirm and make me feel good. Corsair needs to offer a template to potential purchasers. Something cut to size or printed to size so we can place it to make sure.
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https://www.thefpsreview.com/2022/09/15/cooler-master-haf-700-black-case-review/ should work :)

A 420mm setup is basically 3x 140mm fans plus room to connect the hoses. Same length as a 360mm AIO, just a bit wider. Cases that support it will have essentially two rails to accommodate 360/420 in the same place.
 
Space_Ranger said:
I mean, it's a beast with the performance it has but that price just says NOPE.. That and finding a case for this thing.
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Capellix version should be the same cooling setup, just sans LCD, which should shave about 100 quid off the cost.
 
BTW spell correction gotcha, I don't think the fans are supposed to support " low notice" Probably low noise.
 
Space_Ranger said:
What case would house a 420mm cooler??
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The list is growing and it's something I'm passively tracking, but both the Carbide and H7 Flow I have can, and with a little work you can use one with a 360 mm GPU AIO as well. Presently, I won't buy a case that doesn't support both as I try to plan for future CPUs and their power-hungry appetites.
 
Thanks, @David_Schroth for the review. This has been on my radar but I held off on it due to price and took a chance on an Amazon/Newegg China brand called Vetroo (a horrible name I know but it had a lot of good reviews). It's done well other than that at low-mid speeds the fans have a bit of a whine to them but at $115.99 (360 mm) I'm still happy.
 
So I just read the article... nice job. Seems to me that a better set of fans would both increase performance AND reduce noise appreciably. Yet with the high cost I would be loathe to spend another 60 bucks or so on some high performance high pressure fans.
 
Grimlakin said:
Seems to me that a better set of fans would both increase performance AND reduce noise appreciably.
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I think this may be true for quite a few AIOs out there these days. At one point I was thinking of doing that but decided that I can live with it.
 
Grimlakin said:
So I just read the article... nice job. Seems to me that a better set of fans would both increase performance AND reduce noise appreciably. Yet with the high cost I would be loathe to spend another 60 bucks or so on some high performance high pressure fans.
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Well... sort of kind of maybe but maybe not.

The difficult part here with the comparison with the raw numbers here is that, for the most part, it was up against 360mm AIOs (and a 280mm AIO). 140mm fans tend to have a much lower top speed (and in this case, 1500RPM), so the performance and noise levels observed aren't exactly an apples to apples sort of comparison. The 120mm fan sweet spot for fan speed tends to be in the 1000-1500RPM range with a max in the low 2000's,l but the 140mm fans max around 1500rpm and do quite well around 1000 or a little lower.

In everyday use, this unit will be just as quiet as any other 360mm unit that I've tested. At full blast, it's still quieter than most of them...
 
Space_Ranger said:
What case would house a 420mm cooler??
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More than you'd think; I'd have to go back through our review list, but I can add at least the Phanteks case we reviewed as well. The bigger challenge with 420mm AIOs is usually figuring out how to route everything.

Grimlakin said:
So I just read the article... nice job. Seems to me that a better set of fans would both increase performance AND reduce noise appreciably. Yet with the high cost I would be loathe to spend another 60 bucks or so on some high performance high pressure fans.
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Vendors almost never put their best fans on their AIOs. I guess it makes sense given the bundling effect and that their 'lesser' fans do still work. The other part is that the very best fan designs are simply not available in 140mm. Given that the performance difference between 280mm, 360mm, and 420mm systems isn't that great overall versus say a stock cooler, there's a reason 360mm has become more or less the standard, even in custom loops.
 
Nice review.

Sheesh this thing would not fit in my giant black monolith Antec p100 unless I bust out the dremel and start cutting. 2x140 in front and on top is the max
 
Burticus said:
Nice review.

Sheesh this thing would not fit in my giant black monolith Antec p100 unless I bust out the dremel and start cutting. 2x140 in front and on top is the max
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Same for me with my HAF X. Thing is huge but not made it. I'm just happy I was able to put in a 360 AIO considering those were still a bit of a new thing when it was made (it even has external reservoir holes in the top-front of it).
 
David_Schroth said:
Seems like there are a lot of 420mm aios on the way. Saw at least a half dozen new entrants to the size at Computex.
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Cool, I am curious. The CoolerMaster MasterLiquid PL360 FLUX AIOs that I'm using on my 5800X3Ds do a pretty good job, they don't normally go above 65c and fans are usually around 70% percent then, but I've noticed when playing the Dead Space remake last weekend, CPU usage at 4K 100 Hz (CRG9) / 120 Hz (C2) was at a near constant 40-60%, ~60c, and those AIOs were working a bit harder. Still did great but I am curious about a 420 for 'em. Capping everything to 60 FPS tamed everything nicely but it was interesting watching the workout when going from 70-117 FPS in 4K.
 
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