Corsair H70 CPU Water Cooler Review

Installation

The installation of the Corsair H70 is almost as simple as an air cooler. First you must attach a metal frame on the motherboard, screwing it to a backplate that goes on the solder side of the motherboard. Then you need to put the CPU block inside the frame, turn it a little bit in order for it to be locked at the tabs present on the frame, and then fasten the four screws.

To install the Corsair H70 your case must have one 120 mm fan opening at its rear side (if your case comes with a fan there, it must be removed), since the rear fan must be installed on the radiator and, at the same time, on the rear panel of the case. The second fan, which goes on the front side of the radiator, is easy to install.

The manual recommends to install the radiator fans as intake (i.e., blowing air from the outer side on the radiator), in order to get the best performance, so this was the way we installed it during our tests. This recommendation has some logic: if the fans take the colder external air to cool down the radiator, the watercooler will perform better. But you have to keep in mind that, depending on the ventilation of your case, this may heat other internal components, like the video card and the motheboard voltage regulator circuit. This setup will probably work better if your case have an exaust fan or fans at its top panel.

To finish the installation, connect the pump and the fans to the motherboard power connectors or to a fan controller.

Figure 7: The Corsair H70 installed in our case