So in our second test model, we have now overclocked the processor to a nice 3600 MHz. As you can see, performance is still very good, roughly ~60% fan RPM is required to maintain stable and acceptable cooling temperatures, at a 40% RPM we se a significant temperature increase.

60% RPM is recommended. As such we spot roughly 53 Degrees C (127 F) when we stress all four CPU cores 100% for a while. In all fairness, that is just really good. This kit is designed to compete with the more high-end heatpipe based coolers, and sure... it definitely does that.

Increasing the fan RPM to 80% did not have a large effect.

Sound pressure

As you can see, up-to 60% RPM the cooler remains nice and very silent. After passing 80% RPM however, the noise starts to get a tiny bit louder, nothing too serious though. But 60% RPM is plenty enough for decent cooling. Mind you that you can hear the pump a little, a small humming noise. The dbA reading is of course a reading of the entire PC, measured at a 75 CM distance.

Competitive chart

Here we can compare the cooler to all other coolers we recently tested. This test is done at a 3600 MHz QX9770 processor clock frequency with 1.4 volts jammed into the CPU. For all coolers we apply a limitation, the fans are locked at 60% fan rotation. Mind you, the temperatures you see here are based on a 15 minute Prime95 CPU burn in (100% utilization on all processor cores).

As you can see, the Corsair H50 is holding ground quite well at 53 Degrees C. Mind you that in order to achieve that temperature, Corsair requires you to point the airflow for the fan inwards as discussed in the installation chapter.

While it's not 'uber' high-end, it surely can compete with the rest of the coolers out there really well. The good thing is, it does that at extremely nice sound levels, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

How we test...