Corsair HydroCool 200 Water Cooling Kit Review

Conclusion

The HydroCool looks excellent, is easy to setup and the results really do speak for themselves - overall we have a fantastic product from Corsair with the assistance of Delphi. When it comes to water cooling, people usually look out for three things: ease of use, quality and price. The HydroCool 200 has two out of three of these requirements and is only let down by its asking price of around the $235 US mark which will be out of reach for some. Although one thing worth looking at when considering the price is that it's backwards compatible with both of the current high-end processors on the market which will help bring down the cost of transferring your water cooling if you decide to change processor at any time, for whatever reason you may have.

There are only two things that Corsair could have improved with this product. Firstly is the placement of the temperature probe. In the case Corsair chooses to produce a new model, this is hopefully something they will look at and rectify in the future by placing the probe MUCH closer to the processor core or by taking reads from the motherboard probe.

Secondly, Corsair advertises the HydroCool 200 as being quiet but it is far from it. The HydroCool is a noisy product when the fans are put into turbo mode. (However, at default fan speeds, it is at a level which you will be able to stand without any problems) This is something people will dislike as when they purchase water cooling products you naturally expect a drop in noise output levels, not in fact the opposite.

Overall we have an excellent product here which is very easy and not too time consuming for even newbie computer users (with the included, easy to read, instructions in hand) to operate and being a complete package it saves us the hassles and time of having to source parts for an entire water cooling system which Corsair has utterly mastered with their HydroCool 200.

- Pros

Looks excellent

Performs very well

Easy transportation

High quality build

Easy installation

Everything included so you can get straight into it

- Cons

A tad expensive

Not as quiet as some will like

Rating - 9.5 out of 10 and TweakTown's Editors Choice Award