Introduction

Since the inception of AIO coolers, and when CoolIT and Asetek went to making third party coolers and dealing much less with a retail product of their own, Corsair was one of the first to get on board and start selling AIOs under their name with the Hydro series. Back in the beginning, things were chunky, failures were a bit more rampant in forums, but with a brand like Corsair they were able to overcome issues along the way. With every generation, there have been design improvements, thermal improvements, and various types of mounting systems to keep reviewers on their toes over the years.

With every unit in the lineup developed to this point, the units were all based on a 120mm radiator, or a dual 120mm radiator to cool the fluid within the loop. While using lower voltages in the head units produced less heat dump into the loop, and like the H60 (2013) trying different fans also helped out with the performance. That being said, there is only one more way to increase the performance with the latest generation of head units being used on the market, and that would be a move to a larger radiator and fan to provide more surface area for the fluid to travel through while the fan attached is cooling said liquid.

Today from Corsair's Hydro Series we are going to be getting up close and personal with the H90. This is an AIO CPU cooler that took the step into the larger radiator direction, now coming equipped with a 140mm radiator. Since more and more cases are giving up on 120mm cooling solutions, and most even offer a 140mm in the back now, the move seems very natural, almost a shame it took this long to be honest, but all of the pieces had to fall into place for this to actually work well for a lot of users.

Well, it seems that time is now, and we will see soon enough if the move to a larger radiator is worth the hassle, or if the AIO has been taken to its limits already.