CoolIT ECO A.L.C Vs Corsair H50

[klocwerk]

I'm just getting back into the world of hardware after being out of it for awhile, I had this concept for a cooler way back when and I'm so psyched that someone's making it! Almost definitely picking up one of these models for my i7 build.

Here's my collection of ECO ALC reviews so far, posted this in a thread in the CPU corner iirc so just copy/pasting it here.


http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2041274&page=2
Reviewer may have gotten a bad sample, but 100C under load is BAAAAD...

Better reviews here:
http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-arena/558516-1-last-hoot-b4-cny-coolit-eco-l-c.html
10-20 degrees C better than the stock i7-860 cooler, that's pretty good.

Good comparison charts here:
http://translate.google.com/transla...tore+a+liquido+per+tutti_1045.htm&sl=it&tl=en
Very quiet, but in cooling it couldn't touch the Noctua NH-C12P when overclocked which is similarly quiet.
OTOH, he installed it pushing out of the case, which apparently isn't optimal.

http://forums.vr-zone.com/singapore...ooler-coolit-eco-advanced-liquid-cooling.html
Says performs about the same as the Corsair H50 but seems to be suffering QC issues.


Seems like it's got potential to be right in the front of the pack for cooling if you get a good one and mount it correctly. I'm excited at the low decibel level as well. Hopefully I can wait a month or two for this i7 build and see how the reviews pan out.

 

[jalyst]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2041274&page=2
Reviewer may have gotten a bad sample, but 100C under load is BAAAAD...

Yep, seen that one, tis in this thread.

Better reviews here:
http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-arena/558516-1-last-hoot-b4-cny-coolit-eco-l-c.html
10-20 degrees C better than the stock i7-860 cooler, that's pretty good.

Thanks, hadn't seen that one, only this one which I posted in this thread
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2672114
Seems to be from the same person, just diff. u/n

Good comparison charts here:
http://translate.google.com/transla...tore+a+liquido+per+tutti_1045.htm&sl=it&tl=en
Very quiet, but in cooling it couldn't touch the Noctua NH-C12P when overclocked which is similarly quiet.
OTOH, he installed it pushing out of the case, which apparently isn't optimal.

Hmm that's a worry, NH-C12P isn't really amongst the top handful of air-sinks any-more.
Even if pushing-out isn't optimal, I doubt one would see improvements such that it's surpassing the best air-sinks.
So long as it's just as quiet & only within a few degrees of the best i can be happy with that.
Because i still like the fact that there's heaps more room in my mATX mobo/enclosure....

http://forums.vr-zone.com/singapore...ooler-coolit-eco-advanced-liquid-cooling.html
Says performs about the same as the Corsair H50 but seems to be suffering QC issues.

Yeah that's what garfield claimed in this thread...
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2672114
I will pour through this one though and subscribe to it, thanks!

The 1st pro head2head between the H50/Eco that I know of will hopefully be done by Aria.
Although they just told me that delivery they'd been expecting was cancelled at the last minute
http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?p=185767#post185767

 

[Zap]

Better reviews here:
http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-arena/558516-1-last-hoot-b4-cny-coolit-eco-l-c.html
10-20 degrees C better than the stock i7-860 cooler, that's pretty good.

Wow, a bit of sniping back/forth between Clunk and CoolIt, with the manufacturer claiming the reviewer didn't read the instructions and mounted it incorrectly and the reviewer saying bunk to that. :thumbsdown:

 

[jalyst]

Yeah saw that, Eco's only come back was "RTFM"
And the latest "2nd" recall is a bit worrying too...
http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?p=185767#post185767
They do "seem" to cut corners with quality control.

 

[klocwerk]

Yeah saw that, Eco's only come back was "RTFM"
And the latest "2nd" recall is a bit worrying too...
http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?p=185767#post185767
They do "seem" to cut corners with quality control.

That's what's worrying me. Given the number of Dominos that sprayed coolant all over their owners' hardware I'm pretty wary of any Coolit quality issues. Corsair though has far less breakage reports and they've dealt with them very well from a Customer Service standpoint... but I'm starting to wonder if I should just stick with air towers. I don't need a headache just to ditch 2db of noise.

 

[jalyst]

If I don't see any reviews showing a strong improvement over the H50 soon, then it's H50 or LCLC120mm (latest revision) for me*.
Done a fair bit of research on the later in anticipation that I decide to fall back on it...

Big negative for it is that Asetek support is zilch, they've never once responded to any of my queries, irrespective of their nature.
I guess primarily because they see themselves as a OEM provider, yet they make the LCLC120mm available for the retail sector.

*NorthQ ruled out as they admitted that their product is exactly the same as Asetek's, & can even sometimes be slightly behind the latest revision.

 

[Skott]

That's what's worrying me. Given the number of Dominos that sprayed coolant all over their owners' hardware I'm pretty wary of any Coolit quality issues. Corsair though has far less breakage reports and they've dealt with them very well from a Customer Service standpoint... but I'm starting to wonder if I should just stick with air towers. I don't need a headache just to ditch 2db of noise.

I would say stick to air hsf if your case can fit the better/bigger ones since they can do better than a H50 with zero chance of water leakage concern. The H50 IMHO is basically designed to fit a niche market. For example lets say you have a case like my SG03 and need something that can cool better than the few small air hsf that the SG03 can fit. In my situation the H50 is an excellent choice since it can fit into a SG03 and do much better cooling than anything available to me now. If I could have fit in one of the big high performance air hsf I would have gone that way instead(I've always been leery of water cooling and electrical parts).

I will say though that so far I'm impressed with the H50 and its performance. I think as time goes on and these small self contained water units catch on that companies will improve upon the design as much as possible. How fast the improvement pace goes yet remains to be seen I'm thinking.

 

[klocwerk]

I would say stick to air hsf if your case can fit the better/bigger ones since they can do better than a H50 with zero chance of water leakage concern.

Yeah, I'm considering a MicroATX build, but I may just go with the P180-mini which has space for a big 'ole air tower.

 

[jalyst]

I would say stick to air hsf if your case can fit the better/bigger ones since they can do better than a H50 with zero chance of water leakage concern. The H50 IMHO is basically designed to fit a niche market. For example lets say you have a case like my SG03 and need something that can cool better than the few small air hsf that the SG03 can fit. In my situation the H50 is an excellent choice since it can fit into a SG03 and do much better cooling than anything available to me now. If I could have fit in one of the big high performance air hsf I would have gone that way instead(I've always been leery of water cooling and electrical parts).

I will say though that so far I'm impressed with the H50 and its performance. I think as time goes on and these small self contained water units catch on that companies will improve upon the design as much as possible. How fast the improvement pace goes yet remains to be seen I'm thinking.

Def. a lot more room for improvement in this self-contained segment...
It is def. getting traction though, and as it becomes more mainstream & more competition develops (as we see with air sinks), then we'll start to see some big strides/innovation.

P.S.
I've seen people do simple mods to the H50 (mainly fans shrouds etc) which does markedly improve it's stock performance, & get it up to the same level or very close to the very best HSFs around.

 

[finbarqs]

I like the look of the eco... I really want to like the eco... But in the end, I may end up getting the domino.... It seems that the domino has pulled in good reviews, and it's only 5 bucks more!

 

[jalyst]

No, no, no, I promise you, you don't want the Domino.

The Domino shouldn't be more expensive anyway, it's the old revision.
The Eco replaces the Domino, it tries to improve on it's performance/reliability.

Unfortunately because it's so new there's a dearth of good reviews/info around.
Unless you have no life & spend a long time sleuthing, which I have.

There is a review going up soon which will finally directly compare the Eco & H50.

If the avg. is more than a few degrees in favour of the Eco I'll get it.
But if not, the H50 is a better choice...

Mainly because Corsair "will" replace damaged parts in the event of leakage caused by a faulty H50.
(CoolIT explicitly refuse to do that in their warranty cover)
But also because CoolIT does "so far" have a 'dodgier' record WRT QC for these sort of devices.

 

[klocwerk]

I like the look of the eco... I really want to like the eco... But in the end, I may end up getting the domino.... It seems that the domino has pulled in good reviews, and it's only 5 bucks more!

I almost picked up a used domino... then I did some googling and found a LOT of people reporting that the hoses broke and it leaked/sprayed coolant on their mobo/gfx cards.
No me gusta.

FWIW I found very few reports of catastrophic breakage on the H50.

I ended up going with air cooling. I decided it's just not worth the potential headache for me.

 

[finbarqs]

I've been out of it for a while, but what's a good air cooling that's quiet? I'm looking to get the i7-930 from MC, and OC it to 4GHz... I thought maybe WC would workout with quiet operation, since a fan almost needs a huge fan that spins @ a high RPM...

 

[jalyst]

there's several, if you've got a roomy case & clearance is okay on your mobo
Noctua D14 is arguably amongst the best....

 

[klocwerk]

there's several, if you've got a roomy case & clearance is okay on your mobo
Noctua D14 is arguably amongst the best....

Not really arguably, it IS the best I've seen in pretty much every comparative test.
It's HUGE though. I mean really huge. Makes the Megahalems look small, and that's saying something. Also it uses 2 fans to get the last bit of advantage, but with 1 fan it still bests the Megahalems.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1020-page7.html

I'm running my 920 on a Megahalems with a Nexus 120mm super-quiet fan, I just replaced my Seagate 7200.12 drive (rated very quiet) with an SSD because it was the loudest component in my system by an order of magnitude.
I CANNOT HEAR this system running on the floor next to me now, and it's OCed to 3.6ghz. I literally have to lean over closer to make sure it's on.

I got it up to 4ghz on this cooling, but it was hitting 71C after awhile in Prime95, so I backed it down. 4ghz would be easily do-able 24/7 with a higher airflow fan, but I value silence more than that last 400mhz.

If you don't mind a little bit of noise, you can easily do 4ghz 24/7 with a Megahalems, and you can definitely do it with a Noctua D14 if you have a spacious case.

 

[jalyst]

Yeah I'm of the opinion it prolly is the best right now.
But those are fighting words in some threads/forums

And i have seen a few conflicting snippets which indicate it may not be at the very pinnacle.
Can't recall "off the top of my head" right now, but regardless it's definitely up there.

yikes 330am, night.

 

[finbarqs]

I just purchased the Silverstone TJ10B-W (HUGE HUGE case) and I have PLENTY of room. I just want something whisper quiet, and I saw that Noctua D14 actually only hits 20dba!

 

[klocwerk]

I just purchased the Silverstone TJ10B-W (HUGE HUGE case) and I have PLENTY of room. I just want something whisper quiet, and I saw that Noctua D14 actually only hits 20dba!

Yup.
If you want REALLY quiet, take off the 120mm fan and just leave the 140mm between the two towers. Quiestest config, still cools very well.
Read the review and test specs over at http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1020-page6.html

(My rig with Megahalems and undervolted Nexus runs around 12db. The antec TriCool on low is louder than the CPU fan, i need to pick up another Nexus... )

 

[finbarqs]

even when you have a i7-920 OC'ed to 4GHz? The fan still stays around 20db?

 

[klocwerk]

even when you have a i7-920 OC'ed to 4GHz? The fan still stays around 20db?

My fan's not on a heat sensor, have it locked at 7v, so yes.
Prime 95 took my CPU up to 71C with that cooling, which is most of the reason I have it clocked at 3.6 with stock voltage now. If I didn't mind the noise I'd have left it at 4ghz, this way I can just leave it quiet and be assured that even with a pegged CPU I won't overheat the proc.

 

[finbarqs]

ahhhh... hence I guess I want H20... quietness!! BUt I want something reliable... So maybe the H50 is the likely candidate....

gosh... Buying my first i7 this late in the game... good thing they've just announced gulftown, meaning the x58 is gonna be around for a little while longer!

I've debated this for the longest time: Prime lens for my camera, new box setup, or new HDTV....

I guess I opted for the new box.... I'll live with my 1992 rear projection 50" hitachi for now

 

[klocwerk]

ahhhh... hence I guess I want H20... quietness!! BUt I want something reliable... So maybe the H50 is the likely candidate....

I guess I opted for the new box.... I'll live with my 1992 rear projection 50" hitachi for now

Your back will thank you, not having to move that monster out of your house.

If you're not building right now, see how the ALC ECO does after a couple months on the market. The H50 seems to be a solid choice though, don't think you'd go wrong with it.

 

[spliffstar69]

new reviews
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3189/coolit_systems_eco_a_l_c_cpu_cooler/index.html

http://forum.desktopreview.com/showthread.php?t=240179

 

[jalyst]

Seen the 1st review,
Re the 2nd, "finally" a direct comparison with the H50, yay!

And it looks to be more than a 2/3 degree improvement on avg.
So my finalists have narrowed; Asetek LCLC 240mm or CoolIT Eco.

Thanks!

 

[jalyst]

The 2nd one seems to be a copy of this though...
http://forum.novatech.co.uk/showthread.php?p=269093

So perhaps it's not as bad as Garfield82 felt after all?!