Corsair Hydro Series H80i GT AIO Liquid Cooler Review

Corsair Hydro H80i GT Unboxing

Corsair packages the H80i GT for the retail market, and provides plenty of information for a user that is unfamiliar with the product to know exactly what they are looking at. The box itself is made of sturdy cardboard, providing plenty of shipping protection. The front of the box provides a nice overview picture of the H80i GT, along with listing a few of the key features such as Corsair Link compatibility, dual 120mm fans, and the five year warranty.

For those that want more information, Corsair provides a lot of technical information on the back of the box in multiple languages. This technical information includes a dimensional diagram of the radiator, fan specification, and some additional basic information on the other components.

The sides of the box provides a little additional information. On one side the box contents is provided, while the other side provides a list of features and information on what Corsair Link does for the H80i GT.

Opening the box, the internal packaging is pretty common across AIO liquid coolers. An egg carton type of material is used to separate the various components which are bagged separately. The two 120mm fans are placed in a cardboard box providing some additional protection.

Corsair made a few changes on the new H80i GT, two of the changes is purely for appearance. On the radiator and pump there are two silver areas that include the Corsair logo and Name. The second appearance change is the fabric wrapped tubes, much nicer looking than the plain rubber tubes. Coming off the pump are two cables, a Y fan power cable, and a three-pin motherboard fan power connector.

As previously mentioned, Corsair has made the H80i GT a little thicker than other coolers. Placing the H80i GT next to the Corsair H105, the thickness becomes obvious. The radiator on the H105 is 38mm thick, whereas the H80i GT is a girthy 49mm thick. Does the extra 11mm thick radiator make a significant difference when it comes to cooling performance? We’ll see just how the extra thick radiator stands up to thinner radiators when we get to the testing phase.

One of the big changes is how the hoses connect to the pump. Previously, they connected to the side of the pump and were able to be rotated a little to put them into the best position for your system. With the H80i GT, the hoses go directly into the top of the pump and can not be rotated. This does provide a slightly cleaner look, however it can make the final installation look a little different than expected.

The bottom of the pump we find the flawless copper cold plate. Corsair has pre-applied the thermal compound, removing a step from the installation process which makes installing the H80i GT easier for a novice. In addition, as Intel processors are the most popular, Corsair has pre-installed the Intel CPU bracket, if you happen to have an AMD processor, this comes off with a simple twist so you can install the AMD CPU bracket.

The two 120mm fans that are included with the H80i GT are Corsairs SP120L PWM which are rated for 70.69CFM at 37.7dBA. These are a standard size at 120x120x25mm, so they can be replaced with different fans if desired. Being PWM fans, they utilize a 4-pin fan header, which you can connect to either a connection on the motherboard, or use the fan connector on the waterblock.

Of course Corsair includes everything that is needed to install the H80i GT on any modern CPU. The accessories that are included with the H80i GT include a detailed installation guide for both Intel and AMD systems, a support for the backside of the motherboard, four (black) screws for AMD systems, eight (silver) screws for Intel, four caps for the mounting screws, an AMD retention ring (retention ring for Intel is pre-installed), eight long fan screws with washers, and finally the Corsair Link cable.

It’s time to take a look at the test system that we will use to test the Corsair Hydro H80i GT and then do the installation before testing.