Performance Benchmarks
There are no surprises here. As expected, the H105 is able to deliver lower temperatures when compared to the smaller Hydro Series H75. Interesting to note, however, that the giant Deepcool Lucifer air cooler isn't far behind and is available for only a third of the cost of the premium Corsair.
Such coolers are destined to be deployed on overclocked CPUs. With our Core i7-4770K set to run at 4.4GHz, the gap between the two Hydro Series coolers becomes more pronounced, and the bigger radiator and faster fans available to the H105 begin to prove their worth.
What's arguably more interesting is the comparison between the air- and liquid-based options. Deepcool's Lucifer offers a huge amount of potential for just £30, so is it worth splashing out an extra £60 for the Hydro Series H105? Maybe, maybe not, as both come with pros and cons. The Hydro Series looks tidier when installed - that tends to matter to enthusiasts who want to show off their PCs - and it won't obstruct your memory slots. The Lucifer, on the other hand, takes up a lot of space around the CPU socket and is highly likely to hamper memory installation, but boy it sure is cheap. Decisions, decisions.
However there is another snag in the Hydro Series H105 proposition. The two bundled fans are designed to run at higher speeds, and even when set to a 'silent' mode in the Gigabyte BIOS, they aren't by any means quiet. The positioning of the fans also has an impact on noise - remember, they're in the roof of our Graphite Series 600T chassis - but whichever way you look at it, the H105, in its stock configuration, doesn't run as quietly as the H75.
