The £3000 Custom Loop PC – with Corsair Hydro-X and AMD 3950X!

To determine the thermal performance of the Corsair Hydro-X custom CPU loop, we put it up against a 360mm Astetek gen 6 based AIO from Fractal Design – the Celsius+ S36, as well as what is considered by many to be the best dual tower air cooler on the market – the Noctua NH-D15.

For the custom CPU loop, a Corsair XR5 360mm radiator and three Corsair ML120 Pro LED fans are used, along with the XC7 RGB White CPU block and XD5 RGB white pump/reservoir combo. To keep tests as consistent as possible, the same ML120 Pro fans were used on the 360mm AIO radiator and we also retained these fans at the front of the case as intakes while testing the performance of the Noctua NH-D15.

During our initial thermal performance test with the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU set at its all-core base frequency of 3.5 GHz, the Hydro-X loop pulls out a slender lead by keeping the CPU temperature approximately 6°C cooler than its closest competitor, the Noctua NH-D15.

Again, with the Ryzen 9 3950X all core frequency bumped up to 3.9 GHz, unsurprisingly the Hydro-X custom loop produces around 6°C cooler CPU temperature compared with the D15 during the AIDA64 stress test. The D15 and the 360mm AIO are pretty evenly matched with just a couple of degrees separating them.

With the Ryzen 9 3950X configured to an all-core frequency of 4.3 GHz, the Hydro-X custom loop really starts to stretch its legs by recording over 8°C lower average CPU temperature compared with the Celsius+ S36, which itself holds off the NH-D15 at this higher CPU frequency. Proving that like any good quality custom liquid cooling, the Corsair Hydro-X loop is superior at cooling overclocked CPUs.

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