Inside AIO Liquid Coolers: Asetek vs. CoolIT Designs (H115i Platinum Tear-Down)

[@GamersNexus]

Find our Corsair H115i Platinum review here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqacZXaGpNt-sJo Find the H115i Platinum review article here: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3457-corsair-h115i-rgb-platinum-cooler-review-asetek-vs-coolit

[@hitler69]

why don't you also show coolermaster design? esp. the masterliquid series

[@SirBrucie]

No cooler master? why? they make the best RGB water coolers man.

[@YouCantParkThereMate]

11 mins 35 sec...Will the thicker plate that the fins are connected to affect performance? Is it beter to have a thinner plate so the heat passes to the liquid faster? Sorry if you mentioned it in the video, i must have missedit

[@raulsaavedra709]

The fin-density measuring hint again: take a macro photo with a mm ruler next to the fins, then zoom in to see how many fins you can count per mm or per cm, there's your fin density :) This way you can actually estimate pretty accurately the exact thickness of the fins as well as the space between them

[@CompatibilityMadness]

How does Alphacool AIOs (Eisbaer) compare with Asetek/CoolIT ? They use waterpump inside water reservoir on top of CPU block.

[@KamikazeXeX]

Those 3 little pins are actually called spring pins (that's the actual name of them) they hold the fill port plug and the fittings from the radiator into the pump housing :) (I dissected a broken H100i V2 a few months ago).

[@GamersNexus]

Thank you for the information!

[@EnnTomi1]

KamikazeXeX yep did to mine as well

[@Skwisgar2322]

Came here to say this, they are also called roll pins.

[@በተሰበ]

Those pins that do that thing and make them work so good SO GOOD.

[@firereverie]

Those pins, and lack thereof in the EK 360 teardown and how easily it's tubes came out were one of the reasons I bought the H150i Pro XT. If this were EK's second gen I may have felt different considering their cold plate and impeller designs. I didn't care for the VRM fan design on the Arctic's and got the 150i for about the same price. It would be nice to see it benched against the other two and if there have been any design updates since these platinums.

[@wargamingrefugee9065]

@12:49 It's a centrifugal pump. The liquid enters at the center, then is flung outwards by the vanes.

[@WinterCharmVT]

Yup! :) The center of these types of impeller designs is always the suction side.

[@wargamingrefugee9065]

@@WinterCharmVT Thanks! :-)

[@በተሰበ]

*Veins. SPELLINGTRIGGERED

[@GTLugo]

@@በተሰበ No, vanes was correct. A vane is a blade on a rotating machine piece, while a vein is a branching structure (an example of which is commonly seen in the human body as the blood vessels).

[@saulverde]

Thank you man. I logged in from my computer just so I could make that same comment :) It helps to think of the little vanes as arms which are throwing the fluid.

[@kittzy3598]

Just like with the CPU lapping if you get shed blood while lapping the AIO, you get a extra 20C off the temps. But seriously we've been needing these video for a long time to educate people on what actually goes into making tech, and the inner workings of it all.

[@ghos282]

In my experience in This World, it seems that with Any Project that's actually worth the while in doing.. The Price of Blood Will be Extracted. (whether you want it to or not).

[@a64738]

Ahh now I understand why the computer I bled into over the motherboard overclocked and it did run well for 10 years (except for 1 electric fire), blood sacrifice is the thing for PCs ;) After 8 years or so that motherboard died spectacular in an electric fire with tick orange red smoke pouring out until I pulled the plug (think it wanted more blood?)... After I took all the old parts on to new motherboard it worked perfectly fine for another 2 years until it got retired to duty as reserve :)

[@Tiv.a]

Love these in depth videos. Your work is much appreciated!

[@wasweissichbla]

seeing the internals of an aio makes me love my DDC custom loop even more ;)

[@muttBunch]

I love that you do this Steve. Thank you for showing us a more in depth look of the internals.

[@leprechaunbutreallyjustamidget]

I love this channel. No one else is half this thorough

[@marsdeimos4301]

7:53 the cold plate on the Asetek pump was attached with pozidriv screws and you were unscrewing them with a Phillips head screwdriver. They're not (supposed to be) interchangeable, but many people do just that. If the screw doesn't need to be torqued a lot you can usually get away with it, but not when the necessary torque is high, and often it ends up with the screw head or the screwdriver head (whichever of the two is made of softer steel) being stripped.

[@heinrichvonschnitzel5402]

Asetek is like Apple patenting a rectangle with rounded edges for their phone design.

[@በተሰበ]

You sound dangerously close to being a professional.

[@pcefulpolarbear]

Or like apple patenting bouncy scrolling...

[@Satsujiin]

Lol

[@ljones9599]

Or like apple patenting "retina" display that uses older technology from 5 years ago, and marketing it as the latest and greatest....truly amazing

[@WarriorProphet]

The "fill port" you're trying to get off is a D-pin, so you'll have to rotate it in place, until, kind of like a lock tumbler the "D" aligns with its hole and it can pop out, a lot easier to put in than out.

[@Terickso27]

Actually in looks like a spring pin that would need to get removed to release the plug. There are three in this pump; one for the plug and on each for the fittings.

[@spyderlogan4992]

Thanks a lot for this one. I finally get to look inside one of these AIO. What's incredible, to me, is the design, manufacture and packaging that can get me anyway one of these all the way from China to my local retailer's shelf for under $100...

[@speedylordinc.3748]

Steve just wanted to say, I love your friendlyness and your kind personality:D! Keep up the great in depth work!

[@TheSiliconSoul]

I'd like to add that another differentiating factor seems to be the terms and coverage with warranties for the coolers and/or how forgiving/reasonable the companies' customer service divisions are between Corsair, Evga, Fractal, NZXT, etc.

[@TimmyJoePCTech]

Can you expand the scope of the coolers you test? You guys seem to really concentrate on corsair, and I get that they make up a majority in the market, but why not include Enermax and Deepcool's AIOs in this sort of video since they have completely different designed AIOs and it would be nice to see how theirs compare in design.

[@TimmyJoePCTech]

I guess you showed deepcool at the end for a few seconds.

[@Rainbow__cookie]

You are not at top :( I needed scroll down like 5miles to find your comment

[@SirNickyT]

Asetek higher up: do we need to sue CoolIT? Someone take apart that aio! Asetek employee: just wait for GN to do a tear down.

[@ghos282]

13:44 Anyone experienced with Aquaria or Aquarium Pumps can tell you: Impellers draw Axially from the impeller center (Shaft area) and then 'throw' the water flow outwards Radially into the surrounding Cowling Chamber, which in turn redirects to flow into a single output vector. (Think how any Hagan Aquaclear Power head or HOB Pump functions).

[@pmclean1980]

You guys do the best work on the web for pc gaming hardware. I'm almost 40 I've been a hardware "enthusiast " while building my own systems since I was a teenager. I remember the first time I spent $700 on a video card and swore to myself I'd never do it again lol. You guys teach us the most useful information about buying and using gaming hardware. Seriously you're the guys in the trenches doing the rigorous constant testing over and over adhering to the strictest conditions every day. Other youtubers go too commercial. I like that Gamers Nexus doesn't put their name behind anything they haven't tested themselves to see if it's good.

[@lashyndragon]

But the real question is *where can I buy the Charmander bamboo pot* ?

[@spacecy]

The what?

[@lashyndragon]

@@spacecy upper left behind Steve on the shelf. I think he got it in Japan

[@spacecy]

@@lashyndragon ok :D

[@Sophistry0001]

12:24 was that the Metal Gear: Solid menu select gun sound?

[@brechanfraser5797]

I bought one of the CoolIt Domino ALC's when they first came out. The thing I liked the most was that their head office (at the time) was based here in Calgary (Canada), so I went ahead and bought one to see if it cool an AMD Phenom better than an air cooler - not too choices at the time, 2007 - and it worked like a charm. What a novel idea I thought (I hadn't even heard of custom water cooling at that point); and it was a novel thought for all of 6 months tops, when one morning I awoke to the sound of coolant spraying all through my chassis. I was lucky at the time because they didn't have a disclaimer about leaks or "At Your Own Risk" or anything like that - so their support team worked hard to try and repair the damage the coolant had done to the motherboard/ CPU and GPU; alas, only the motherboard survived in the end. They kept their promise though that if the components died after them washing the parts, they would replace the component . So I got a new GPU :-) I really have to thank Coolit for opening my eyes to the world of custom loops; it was mainly due to the defective cooler that I decided to build a custom loop (and to see what all the hype was about), I've never looked at another closed loop since. Thanks Steve for the breakdown, I was curious if Coolit Systems was still around...and they are (seems they only make commercial and OEM systems now).

[@seanmetzger4780]

Custom loops are far more likely to leak then an aio. Maybe not back in 2007, but today, if it’s leaking your worried about, your using the most probably system of failure.

[@Poliacido]

I have a H105 that i opened to clean few months ago after about 3 years of use. Once opened i found quite a lot of debris coming from the radiator stuck in the fins of the coldplate preventing a good flow... it was quite gross to be honest... i cleaned all the coldplate with a thootbrush and the pump assembly. Also i rinsed very well the radiator by flowing inside clean distilled water and came out a lot of dirt and brownish water... After that i refilled it with clean distilled water + a few drops of biocide and now it works like a charm and it's a lot less noisy... probably becasue the pump was dirt and the coldplate almoast clogged I am sure i had permeation because now has less air inside, when i shake the rad i hear less water "wobble" in the top than before ...means less empty space inside

[@chrispychickin]

In future if you have super tight screws to remove, look into an impact screwdriver. They're common for breaking tight/corroded bolts loose, I'm sure they'd make short work of something like a tight cold-plate securing screw

[@todayonthebench]

The three pipe looking things at 8:05 are rolled pins. They are holding in the two hoses, and the fill cap. The opposite side of these rolled pins can be seen at 14:40. To get them out, one can use a small screwdriver, or pin to push them out, then taking out the fill cap, or hoses will be a walk in the park per say.

[@ASAWProductions]

Oh glad to see 4k is working again!

[@MrKZdemos]

Chrome?

[@Christarpher]

Not sure if playing the audio right away over the intro was the best idea. Of course it isn't that big of a deal, but it's just not something I'm used to from you guys, and caught me off guard so it really stood out almost as an editing mistake to me. Regardless good content as always!

[@Macabri_2k10]

water path is always to the center of the pump and forced outwards by the impeller, then redirected back, forced to the center of the grid fins, that is what the rubber gasked is for (in conventional blocks you have a jet plate there with a slit in the middle) the water enters through the slit in the middle and disperses in both directions through the grid fins and is then flowing to the outlet

[@raulsaavedra709]

@2:45 Besides the obvious differences in impeller construction, one aspect I find interesting is the fact that the blades are convex in opposite directions on them. So as shown, the yellow one might rotate counterclockwise, while the black one clockwise

[@infi84]

the really small screws on the bottom probably hold the tubes and also the fillport in, they're probably just plugins with a groove where the screws sit.

[@rogerj412]

Without going any further than 8:18 those are called roll pins. I'm kind of surprised Steve didn't know what they were.

[@youeatpoo1]

Loving the gunshot sound effect for breaking of something or termination

[@Takashita_Sukakoki]

very 2007 cod montage from the editor

[@5cottzdezine895]

If Linus adopted this policy each video would sound like the gunfight at the OK corral.

[@Otuhh]

You guys should tear apart one of those enermax tr4 liquid coolers.

[@leif-erichansens2635]

Those three pins are holding the tubes and the fill port in. Emermax did that similar but with small long screws, I rebuilt two Emermax LiqTech TR4 360 :)

[@firereverie]

From the death of my H100i V2 over the weekend I learned that if you take those four screws out holding down the circuit board that they also hold down the impeller coil plate which you can pry loose with a small screwdriver without removing the PCB. How do I know? The first time I did it right by accident and the second time I did it wrong by accident chasing a leak in the impeller coil plate gasket. RiP H100i, you will be remembered fondly.

[@Valfaun]

so Corsair influenced Asetek's product development and then switched to CoolIT?

[@stoddern]

The 3 things you called guide pins are called roll pins, they are like a normal guide pin except that they are a rolled piece of spring steel so they tend not to loosen over time

[@bengrogan9710]

I would be interested in seeing this expanded to see eisbear who also do the silentloops for bequiet

[@jeffm2787]

Thermistor, not Thermocouple. They are very different things. A Therimistor changes resistance with temperature changes where a Thermocouple generates a DC voltage relative to the temperature. Thermocouples are far more difficult to interface with and only really used with higher temperature probes.

[@uss_liberty_incident]

I just picked up a RGB Platinum cooler; thanks for making this video!

[@shpadoinkle_wombat]

Why do you prefer philips screws? Torx can transfer more toque before it strips and it does not cam-out.

[@tsunamiTMNT]

I want Noctua to make a AIO.

[@Airwolf2030]

that's cool, my corsair H100i uses the CoolIT pump and it's still running strong for 5 years, how long do CoolIT pumps usually last?

[@seanmetzger4780]

AirRookie it’s a better pump, your probably coming up on time to replace it anyways though, the liquid is likely running low, and is possibly quite gunked up and corroded at this point.

[@ManWithBeard1990]

Now that you mention the screws being tight, maybe take a look at their cross section: Often when manufacturers don't want screws to back out, they will use screws with a cross section that isn't perfectly round but kind of has three lobes to it. Those chew up the threads way more so they stay put better. I'd be curious to know whether that's the case here.

[@thomebau895]

@Gamers Nexus: If you have a pump with any kind of impeller assembly, the intake is always going to be in the center of that. Because this way you utilize the centrifugal force to propel the water outwards. On gear pumps, vein pumps, piston pumps and other types this is not so easy to determine (sometimes these can even work in both directions). But pumps for watercooling are mostly simple centrifugal pumps.

[@startedtech]

So how does CoolIt get around the patents of Asetek? Very curious about this, it seems identical to me. Why sue CoolerMaster and not CoolIt?

[@hi_tech_reptiles]

Cool It may be in a different country or just outside their jurisdictions... Like China lol

[@RandomHandGum]

Coolit most likely pays Asetek for a licensee, whereas Cooler Master probably told Asetek to go screw themselves.

[@thehumangerm]

One is an impeller pump and one is a centrifugal pump. While they look similar they operate on different principles.

[@RandomHandGum]

thehumangerm the issue is Asetek patenting the pump on block location not the actual pump design, no?

[@ReaperX7]

A centrifugal pump is different from an impeller bladed pump. Asetek specifically said they sued over the impeller design with Cooler Master. CoolIt owns the patent to centrifugal pumps which is really a thumb in the eye to Asetek. Funny part is, the centrifugal system actually has better pressures than the impeller system because it uses more a vacuum effect to pull liquid rather than push it. Over time the vacuum driven centrifugal force will mean a more sustainable pump because even if liquid does evaporate out of the lines, any possible air in the loop won't create a dead spot.

[@paulb8264]

The 3 pins are roll pins and they fit into a channel in the fittings/plug. Pull them out with pliers and you will get the plug out.

[@dunckeroo1987]

The key is to deal with laminar flow or water sticking to surface of heat transfer surface, but not create to much resistance due to turbulence and friction. Mixing might be as effective as micro-fins, since conductivity of water and copper are a close match. Of course micro-fins gives the whole volume equal laminar flow but has high frictional resistance. For higher pressure cooling, a solid pencil steam hitting a flat surface would be more effective but costly for pumping energy.

[@mrthesquid]

Those roll pins are holding the fittings into the pump housing. The two on one side and one on the other coincide with the inlet and outlet lines and the one goes with the fill port, which would explain why you couldn't pull the fill port out. Doesn't look like there is an easy way to pull them out, small needle nose pliers may be the best bet.

[@Ianochez]

the look of the impeller implies that the water comes by the middle then go to the outside, so the water will be the same direction for any clockwise or counter clockwise rotation of the impeller

[@Ianochez]

so the pump could be feeding cold water in the middle of the fins, and then the heated water splits on both side chaoticly... it seems that some coldplate are design to feeded in middle and other by one side, like maybe the enermax tr4 model

[@parkerxgps]

Awesome premise gives a great chance to understand, critique and improve design, engineering and, manufacturing. Such an awesome channel. You best maintain solvency pretty please with a snowflake on top.

[@earthlingtheaaron21]

We need a fan normalized radiator test!

[@SaccoBelmonte]

The Gen 6 pump is also much more silent. As an audio engineer I can assure that. (also corsair advertised these as silent)

[@bobxdark370]

@9:30 you forgot to add that propylene glicol increases the boiling temperature of the mix, so that you don't suddenly face a possible vapor lock when your CPU reaches 100C.

[@RayLovesCars]

I have one of these H115i Platinums and I gotta say, it makes a LOT of trickling noise at times

[@arunavachatterjee2433]

Steve, the small screws are for tensioning the retention bracket. Edit: 'securing' the retention bracket would have been a more accurate word choice :s

[@Terickso27]

don't think this is correct, they are to retain the plug and fittings which is why he broke his screw driver

[@Targetlockon]

Teardown very useful to see what's hidden :) finally~

[@speelydan]

If you guys have one to spare, would you please to a teardown of the Deepcool Captain pump? The few seconds of assembly footage towards the end was neat but I'm really curious about how the rest of it goes together. I have some ideas that might or might not work depending on how it goes together and comes apart.

[@FormerMushroom]

Stick the cold plate fin stacks end to end so the fit together perfectly

[@scunnerdarkly4929]

Anyone removing the cold plate from as Asetek cooler - especially one that’s a few years old now - should buy a set of replacement screws as there’s every chance the originals will be *tight* and all to ready to have their heads chewed up if you slip. A snug-fitting pozidrive screwdriver is essential, and go slow and steady while applying firm pressure. Once the old screws are out they can replaced with a better grade. You’ll need countersunk self-tapping 8mm x 2mm (B) blunt type screws with a 4mm head.

[@Sechs0rBecks]

Why is a custom build waterloop better then an aio at same radiator size? Isn't it basically the same?

[@meteormedia7021]

16:24 These tiny bolts on the bottom are actually what hold the fillport and the tubes in place...

[@newdeathscope]

I love this in depth content. Any news on a beer chalice?

[@MitchRichard65]

impeller suction is alway in the center! discharge is always on the outter!

[@TikiShootah]

I posted on the AMD cooler vid, wondering how aios are made. Damn you guys are, great content!

[@GamersNexus]

You can find the How CLCs Are Made video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2KZkq2mbLybZ5Y

[@elitecol69]

The 3 pins are for holding in each hose and the fill plug.

[@richmeisterradio]

Fuck yeah just in time to watch this before the razorfist stream

[@jeffhuff1000]

Good overview of the differences but which design performs better?

[@oddieboi]

The first time I watched this video I was dying after 12:23 , that came out of nowhere and is exactly how I'd react too lmao. *Snaps plastic piece on something with little effort* "....................damn"

[@JLMtime]

Im not really sure that those microfins matter i think they are starting to actually get too small because im not getting any better temps at the same 72deg room temp with a micro fin block. My old 20$ amazon block ran at 39deg cel & my 100$ block is running at 39deg c soooooo NOTHING i got absolutly nothing for spending an extra 80 bucks on "microfins" wth

[@peterl8417]

Just a suggestion, since you opened the CPU blocks of these AIO's, can you disect the radiators? I mean cut through them to see the cross sections of the tubes, fins and end tanks. Thanks again Steve!👍

[@EnnTomi1]

That pin is how the ports gets secured

[@scottlloyd9762]

When I see stuff on any type of water cooling I cant help but think about fish tank pumps and other devices. I wonder if a loop could be made with the fish pumps and be acturly useful.

[@heretolevitateme]

That's how water cooling began...

[@SaNjA2659]

8:07 Those pins are holding the rotating tube fittings and the filling port cork in place. I found this design to be very similar to the older H80i and H100i, and then you show the table saying those were CoolIT designs as well. Still have absolutely no idea how this design allows to bypass Asetek's patents though...

[@SianaGearz]

12:24 and this is how GN screwdrivers were born.

[@ghettodacul]

I love these kind of videos, but it hurts so much :(

[@jeremyclarkson03]

Great video, but can we get an 07 for the cooler

[@thebestkinds1g]

You have a pretty awesome job.

[@ZoeyR86]

The roll pins lock the hoses and fill cap inplace

[@benjiang2600]

Could u please make an aio cleaning/refill video?

[@totendotv]

Love the video. Maybe you can consider using software like ImageJ to count the number microfins. I used the software to count nanoparticles. So it should not be a problem :)

[@TerrenceAmirMcKelvey]

Loving the detail

[@jhellier]

I am trying to decide between three 280mm AIOs: H115i Platinum vs H115i Pro vs Liquid freezer 2. Which has the most silent and reliable pump design? I can swap out the fans later for Arctic P14s as I heard they were the best radiator fans.

[@FeuerToifel]

the asetek gen6 pump impeller looks more like the one you fine in the alphacool dc-lt pump.

[@yotuanyboi6201]

Just started watching but hoping bequiet silent loop gets disassembled too

[@incognito8219]

The cool it cold plate looks more refined and of a better manufacturing quality.

[@N0rth0M-1]

looking at the heat the cpus these days put out it's a miracle that all the plastic isn't melting

[@Pyromanaic28]

"we don't have any tools to measure fin density" just use a magnifying glass or the camera's zoom and count fins per X mm. thickness can be measured with the micrometer if you bend others out of the way

[@Rizon1985]

Or you just measures the total and take a high res picture to count the fins and divide... You know, just like how the factories optically test except a slow human has to count instead of a fast computer. Cheapest POS DSLR today does 6000x4000 photographs so you can simply count pixels. for 0,01mm accuracy.

[@abdulhkeem.alhadhrami]

Been waiting for this!!!

[@benjamin3455]

Does the Lian-Li Galahad II have the same Head. i was comparing brackets

[@rohithkumarsp]

Corsair H115i Pro XT uses CoolIIT design is it better that there normal Hii5pro?

[@TheDarmach]

Do people still build their own watercooling loops, or those AIO are a thing nowadays? They look very poor compared to custom watercooling we used to make like ~15 years ago.

[@TheEntireUniverse]

What happened to all those fan reviews that were coming?

[@derchesten]

I gasped when he broke the fill cap, then the effect and the "dang" made me laugh MAO... When he broke the PCB connection I literally ROFL'd

[@TrueThanny]

He didn't break the fill cap. He broke his screwdriver.

[@buddha102]

I have a Corsair H100. it is like 10 years old and it has been really good. Should I be scared of leaking ?

[@buddha102]

@@QuintinHowell mine is also operating well. I would rather get a new one then refill it. Some times when the CPU is a 100% you can hear the mini res on the rad pop due the water expanding but I think it is fine.

[@roryos]

I wonder if it bypasses the the Asetek patents in the sense that it's centrifugal instead of w/e the hell asetek do.

[@izidor]

Review the Deepcool Castle 360 please! How many more posts i have to make on each video till you hear me ;(?

[@Blahman240]

So was the impeller plastic or metal?

[@Hooch802]

The thumbnail looked like pancakes with syrup...that is why I clicked

[@DLiu-ff1zx]

Do you have a 1st gen CoolIT design AIO on hand? I disassembled an original H60 and was very surprised by the pump/impeller design. It's actually larger and heavier than an Alphacool DC-LT. I'm curious to see how it compares with the new-gen CoolIT, as well as the Gen6 Asetek. Also, is it possible to stick the Asetek Gen5 straight fittings into a Gen4/4.5 90-degree block and vice versa? Might be interesting for SFF builds with low clearance.

[@starsstripesjacket]

So what about this pump design gets passed Aseteks patent?