INTRODUCTION

   Just like everything else in the electronics industry AIO (all-in-one) liquid CPU coolers also get their share of improvements, whether that has to do with aesthetics/design cooling efficiency or both. Now the physics behind liquid CPU coolers is not much different than that which applies for "regular" CPU air coolers so there are three rather easy ways for any manufacturer to increase cooling efficiency so they can either use a larger radiator (fin density also matters), higher air-pressure fans or a higher performance pump (ideally however all of the above). One of the most popular AIO lines of the last decade is without doubt the Hydro one by our friends over at CORSAIR and today we're testing their latest iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT model.

   Founded in 1994, CORSAIR has grown from pioneering the high-performance DRAM market into one of the world’s leading providers of high-performance gaming and streaming products. CORSAIR offers a complete range of products to equip gamers, enthusiasts, and esports athletes, including mechanical keyboards, precision gaming mice, wireless headsets, premium PC components, and the CORSAIR ONE fully-integrated gaming PC. With a company-wide commitment to quality, innovative design, advanced features and high-performance, CORSAIR products have won thousands of media and industry awards, earning their place in gamers’ hands and PCs following years of development and engineering by a team dedicated to building great products that they themselves would want to use. In 2018 CORSAIR acquired Elgato Gaming, a manufacturer of streaming products. In 2019 CORSAIR acquired Origin Computers, a manufacturer of custom high-performance gaming PCs and laptops, and SCUF Gaming, an innovator and creator of high-performance gaming controllers.

   The brand new iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT model (instead of Hydro CORSAIR is now using iCUE) is the successor to the very successful H115i RGB Pro model released back in 2018 (review here) and is also manufactured by Asetek. As expected however after roughly two years later the list of changes is rather long so aside the two 380mm long black sleeved tubes here CORSAIR has used a longer dual-fan aluminum radiator (RGB Pro: 315x143x29mm - RGB Pro XT: 322x137x27mm), two higher-performance ML (magnetic levitation) 140mm PWM fans (RGB Pro: 1200RPM/55.4CFM/1.27mmH2O/20.4dBA - RGB Pro XT: 2000RPM/97CFM/3.0mmH2O/36dBA), high-performance RGB illuminated pump with 16 individually addressable RGB LEDs (21 effects) and an larger surface all-copper base (coldplate). Of course, just like with past products both the RPM of the fans and pump and the 16 addressable RGB LEDs are all easily controller (automatically or manually) via CORSAIR's iCUE software.