Retail Packaging, Components, Design
Retail packaging
The retail packaging for the H70 is consistent with the branding Corsair uses for all of their products. The stylish advertising gives consumers a good overview of the H70 as well as its support for numerous Intel and AMD socket types. They also got some publicity for their Dominator system memory in the main photo too.
The back panel shows a graph that outlines some of the performance differences people will notice with the H70. They also added all of the features and technical specifications associated with the H70 in several different languages. This is a pretty basic back panel that doesn’t include a lot of the flashy graphics or other distracting advertising material.
Opening the retail box shows an organized set of user manuals and installation guides for different CPU socket types.
Under the user manuals is a simple formed egg crate cardboard enclosure that encased the full H70 unit (minus fans). This is a simple and effective way to secure products that are shipped to consumers.
Corsair included two 120mm fans that max out at 2,000 RPMs a piece. Many vendors who create air-cooled heatsinks that support dual-fan configurations do not actually include both fans as part of their product. I commend Corsair for providing these fans standard with their product so consumers can setup a push-pull fan configuration right out of the box.
Corsair included different mounting brackets and back plates for users with Intel or AMD processors. The back plate on the bottom left of the photo supports LGA 1366, LGA 1156, and LGA 775, which reduces the amount of parts Corsair needs to ship to support different processors.
They also included all the screws to mount the fans, pump/cold plate, and radiator as well as fan voltage regulator cables to help reduce noise and RPMs on the fans from 2,000 to 1,600.
To complete our overview of the retail packaging and accessories, Corsair included a quick start guide and other promotional material to give consumers more information about Corsair’s product line.
Components and Design
After getting the unit out of the box, we noticed some big differences between the H70 and H50. The first major difference is the size of the radiator. Corsair states they doubled the size of the radiator, which should help with increased loads for overclockers and enthusiasts. They also upgraded the pump housing and made it more compact. The hoses that connect to the pump also swivel to help users install this system into more types of enclosures.
The back of the radiator has mounting brackets to attach it directly to the PC chassis or to include another 120mm fan. The 50mm radiator increases it heat-exchanging capacity.
Here’s another shot of the radiator. It’s interesting to note that Corsair chose to double the width of the radiator instead lengthen it. out to create a dual-radiator solution. I’m sure this was due to the availability of two 120mm fan slots that are almost non-existent in most PC cases. The extra width, combined with two 120mm fans, means this unit will take up more real estate than other air or water cooling solutions.
The low-profile pump is also a key feature Corsair is touting and for good reason. The cold plate is also lightweight, which will put less stress on the motherboard compared to beefer air-cooled, heat pipe based heatsinks. The Corsair logo on the top of the pump was a nice touch, but it might have been helpful to add some manual user controls or a custom LCD like the Coolit Systems Vantage.
The copper cold plate is larger than the H50, which should help users with AM3 or LGA 1366 processors. The unit comes pre-configured with a nice thin layer of thermal paste too for easy installation. The plate itself is not polished to a mirror finish, but still looks to be milled smoothly with no rough sections that could cause issues during operation. Corsair also stuck with the same locking mechanism they used with the H50. This locking system ensured the pump/cold plate had good contact with the CPU.
Is the H70 still relevant
Is the H70 still relevant when compared to the latest Antec variant?
Also, I’d like to see PC Per review the H60 🙂