Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme vs. Corsair H100

[AdamK47]

Since buying my ASRock Extreme11 motherboard I've been left with limited options in terms of cooling. Big air coolers won't work on this board since something inevitably gets in the way. They most likely made everything so tight together in order to reduce trace lengths. Anyways, I went to Micro Center and compared the Corsair H100 to the Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme. I've been put off from Thermaltake in the past since their water cooling kits weren't all that great.

Looking at the specs alone they match up like this:

Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme:
Radiator: 270mm x 120mm x 38.3mm
Fans: Two 120mm with 81.32CFM @ 27.36dba (max)

Corsair H100:
Radiator: 275mm x 122mm x 27mm
Fans: Two 120mm with 92CFM @ 39dba (max)

Not sure about pump specs on either one.

I also read that both are actually made by Asetek. This puts both on more of an even playing field. If you look at the specs you can see that the Water 2.0 has a much thicker radiator. This was the deciding factor that made me buy the Water 2.0 over the H100. I wasn't concerned about fans since I wanted to use my existing Aerocool Shark Blue 120mm fans anyway (82.6CFM @ 26.5dba).

I looked online and it seems like most people are recommending the original H100 over the Water 2.0 Extreme. Why is that? Water 2.0 Extreme appears to be the better of the two.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

if people are recommending the H100 I'd wager it is because of Corsair's over-hyped reputation (they have the same thing going for them when it comes to PSUs)

the new H100i is more in line with the Water 2.0 Extreme, and both outperform the old H100

 

[tracerbullet]

I just did this recently as well... The very little testing I ever saw showed the Thermaltake and H100 were about equivalent. There's at least one Youtube video on it, and some scatted things across the internet but surprisingly little.

Corsair and TT both seem to have pro & con opinions as well, searching around you'd see people very pro one company or the other, or describing horror stories. I didn't get any super warm fuzzies about either there.

I figured given that they seemed to be the same, I did the H100i, for a couple reasons - 1) I had a Corsair case, and it seemed somehow appropriate. 2) I liked that if the radiators performed the same (according to what I read even though bigger should be better), I may as well get the smaller one. Actually glad I did as w/ 2 fans it barely fits! 3) I did see some back to back comparisons of the H100 and H100i showing the latter was noticeably better.

Anyhow, not strong reasons but it was enough to win what was almost a coin toss. Hope that helps.

 

[szvwxcszxc]

The thermaltake is a lot more expensive though?

 

[tracerbullet]

The thermaltake is a lot more expensive though?

$5 differential at newegg right now, so, no.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I just did this recently as well... The very little testing I ever saw showed the Thermaltake and H100 were about equivalent.

are you sure you aren't confusing the Extreme with the Pro?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermaltake-WATER20-Extreme-CPU-Cooler-Review/1633/6

the Extreme turns out clearly superior to the H100 in this review, with the Pro edging out the H100 by 1 degree...

 

[AdamK47]

If people are recommending the H100 over Water 2.0 Extreme simply by the brand name stamped on it, they are doing for a completely wrong reason. Both coolers are made by Asetek.

 

[aigomorla]

And Astek has a history of bad pumps especially on the newer H100 series.

Which means id wager the TT kit also has a bad pump.


Anyhow my personal opinion.
I dont trust thermaltake with ANYTHING.
I have lost a lot of hardware because of there big water setups being pieces of junk.
I and many others are tired of them thinking what is good for us, and not listening to us.
I am also tired of them trying to pretend like they want to listen to us, yet keep dragging out failed designs like the lvl10.

Friends dont recommend friends with thermaltake and water... its that simple.

Corsair ive seen reimburse people on a 100% defective product even down to the hardware failure it caused on video cards from leaking.

So who would i go with?
A company which has proved it backs up customer support, and not one which writes to you in half broken english like TT.

 

[tracerbullet]

are you sure you aren't confusing the Extreme with the Pro?

Maybe, I could have. I did just now find one review that I'd looked at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGG2hECyA0w , their #'s show the H100 slightly on top but close enough I'd call them the same. I remember this video now, and I can only remember that I saw other info that seemed to say the same thing. I did a lot of researching over a couple of nights to decide on my build and don't remember specifically any more. Heck the reviewers could have mislabeled them too.

If people are recommending the H100 over Water 2.0 Extreme simply by the brand name stamped on it, they are doing for a completely wrong reason. Both coolers are made by Asetek.

The TT's a much taller radiator though isn't it? They may be made by the same manufacturer, that wouldn't surprise me at all, but I'm thinking they are different heights, the TT being maybe half again the H100. I could be thinking of something else, if so, sorry in advance. (Erm, or are you saying the pumps are the same?)

All else being equal the bigger radiator alone probably makes a better cooler. It would be harder to push air through it though, not sure how much that offsets things though.

 

[aigomorla]

no bigger radiator does not always mean better cooling.

you need to look at FPI... fins per square inch distribution, paired with the fan it comes with.

everything in thermodynamics must be in harmony... why? cuz god said so...

 

[AdamK47]

While I agree that Thermaltakes earlier water cooling kits where junk (I should know, I had their Aquarius kit), this closed water cooler kit does appear to be good. The few tests I've seen, and the few linked in this thread, indicate that it does better than the H100.

The one common problem I see people having with the pumps is noise. The problem there is that some power supplies slightly overvolt the power the pump uses. I'm not sure about the fins per inch of each radiator, but from the close up images I have of the H100 it does appear to have the same spacing on the radiators. I also own an H80 and even that radiator seems to have the same spacing between fins. it would make sense since they are all made by Asetek.

Some people have some sort of beef with Thermaltake and this thread does indeed prove that. I admit, I was apprehensive before getting the Water 2.0 Extreme.

 

[kleinkinstein]

H20 2.0 crushes H100. Not so sure about H100i, but then you gotta wear ear plugs to muffle all that new Corsair pump whine.

 

[aigomorla]

Some people have some sort of beef with Thermaltake and this thread does indeed prove that. I admit, I was apprehensive before getting the Water 2.0 Extreme.

adam.. why didnt you get the swiftech H2O series? :\

its not like its not in your budget, and the swiftech kit uses quality parts.


And i have to admit... i view thermaltake like a bane in our hobby.
Your right tho, both are made by astek, which i wont touch either.

I always tell people, do it right or dont do it at all, that is still my judgement on AIO's.

Do it right, or go home empty with an air kit is always my advice, dont try to find an avenue of "cheap" watercooling.

the only time i would even consider an AIO is if its space limited at the cpu for a quality air sink. Otherwise i wouldnt trust corsair even.

I know pumps... and trust me... these less then $5 pumps which are inside these kits are not enough insurance to me on a $1000+ pc system.

My watercooling fans EACH are probably more expensive then these pumps, manufacturing side even.
Any experienced watercooling fan will tell you, the pump in the lc system is like a heart in a human.
Would u want a cheap heart?

 

[AdamK47]

I don't want to go full blown water cooling. I did several years ago and don't want to go through that again. I think about doing it from time to time, but it never comes together. My plan was to use air cooling on my 3960X with the Extreme11, but none of my coolers would fit. Tried a Megahalems, Armageddon, and Silver Arrow. The Water 2.0 fits nice and the radiator mounts perfectly to the top of the HAF-X.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

meh, while I'm now on "real" water (and loving it), the H50, two H70s, H100 and three Antec 620s I've used in various rig builds of mine and others over the years have served extremely well, and their drawbacks (which I think you are over-exaggerating a tad) are no where near enough to outweigh their performance and, more importantly, convenience

not only is it hard to match their performance with a tower cooler, the tower coolers that can do it are more often than not a huge PITA to install