Corsair's latest all-in-one liquid coolers crank up the lights

Can you ever have too much RGB lighting? That's a blasphemous thought as far as PC hardware companies are concerned, so it's no surprise that Corsair's two newest all-in-one liquid CPU coolers have even more lights than the previous models.

Corsair's new H115i RGB Platinum and H100i RGB Platinum are the newest additions to the company's Hydro series lineup. They're also the first to incorporate RGB fans, as opposed to having RGB lighting just on the pump head. It's a significant upgrade in lighting, if that's what you're after.

The pump head has 16 addressable LEDs that users can control through Corsair's iCue utility. Same goes for the RGB fans, each of which is equipped with four addressable LEDs plotted in the center.

The main difference between the two models is the size—the H115i RGB Platinum is a little bigger with a 280mm radiator and two 140mm fans attached, whereas the H100i RGB Platinum consists of a 240mm radiator with a pair of 120mm fans attached. As with previous models, these are self-contained solutions that don't require any maintenance, at least on the liquid cooling part—we still recommend blasting out any dust bunnies that might try to take up residence in the fan blades or radiator.

Beyond the lighting upgrade, they also feature an upgraded contact plate that is "larger and squarer" than previous versions, including to Bit-Tech, which spent some hands on time with the H110i RGB Platinum. The upgraded plate is presumably to accommodate bigger CPUs like AMD's Threadripper.

We haven't tested either cooler ourselves, but according to Bit-Tech's testing, performance is virtually the same as the previous generation.

The new coolers are available now direct from Corsair. Pricing on the H115i RGB Platinum is $169.99 (versus $139.99 for the non-Platinum model), and the H100i RGB Platinum goes for $159.99 (versus $119.99 for the H100i Pro RGB).

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

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