Manually applying all of the power possible to the fans for this test, we found them to top out at 2380 RPM, which falls into the 2400 RPM max that the specifications mentioned. At this time, we take on another level of noise production, where the meter showed us 70 dB of noise coming from the exhaust side of the radiator, at a foot away! Final Thoughts The Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT Smart RGB controller is brilliant for hooking up all your fans and RGB lighting with up to six channels for each. For RGB LEDs on the AIO itself, you'll find some on the pump housing and included fans. The former can even be upgraded with an optional LCD kit. The average thermal resistance of 0.0704 °C/W is impressive but users need to keep in mind that this performance comes with the fans rotating at their maximum speed. With the powerful fans of the H150i Elite Capellix, this results to a sound pressure level of 43 dB(A), a relatively high figure for a CPU cooler. To make it even better, the depth of control and all of the options at hand using iCUE is astounding. What makes it a step above is the inclusion of motherboard and GPU lighting control! Anything RGB can be controlled with iCUE, so you no longer have to mess with multiple software suites, and there is the fact that the flow of colors in certain modes is synced so much better than was possible for us before Corsair stepped up their game!

Once your cooler is installed to your motherboard, it is time to connect the fans and pump to the iCUE Commander CORE. When it comes to thermal resistance, Corsair’s latest AIO cooler initially seems to be slightly outperforming all of the 360 mm coolers that we have tested to this date. The average thermal resistance of 0.0808 °C/W is almost identical to the figures we received from the recently released NZXT X73, with Corsair’s MagLev fans giving the H150i Elite Capellix a small advantage in terms of acoustics. The Corsair H150i Elite Capellix seems to be getting the best thermal performance out of every similarly sized AIO cooler that we have tested to this date, outperforming NZXT’s X73 by a whisker. The performance seems to be fairly stable across most of the load range, offering predictable performance regarding of the load, with the exception of very low loads where the temperature difference is far too small for appropriate heat transfer between the mediums.Using a PWM voltage regulator, we reduced the speed of the fans manually down to half their rated speed. At this setting, the 120 mm MagLev fans of the H150i Elite Capellix rotate at 1220 RPM. Since the pump’s speed cannot be controlled directly, we had the Commander CORE module attached to a PC and set the pump to operate in its “Quiet” mode while testing. Instead of fans connecting directly to the pump, we now get an iCUE Commander Core, which not only offers fan and pump speed control but also RGB control for both the pump as well as the eight RGB LEDs in each of the ML120 Series fans that ship in the box. Corsair claims extreme performance, a Zero RPM mode, split flow copper cold plate, a low-noise centrifugal pump, various sized radiators in the series, and is easy to install. Processors have become far more powerful over recent years with more cores and better efficiencies throughout the manufacturing process. Still, AMD and Intel are in a constant struggle against heat output in the attempt to extract as much performance from internal components as possible. This is where AIO liquid coolers come into play. Support for the iCUE H150i Elite Capellix covers all of the current processors! AM4, sTR4, and sTRX4 are supported out of the box for AMD, while on the Intel side, there are 115X, 1200, and 2011(V3)/2066 support. The last bit in the chart covers the five-year warranty. NOTE: Your cooler pump head should have thermal paste already applied. If you want to use your own thermal paste, make sure you thoroughly clean the cold plate of the pump head and the integrated heat spreader (IHS) of your processor with isopropyl alcohol and lint-free cloth.

The specifications we have were taken from the reviewer's guide, and it covers most of what you will need to know. We are now dealing with the CW-9060048-WW as the model number to the iCUE H150i Elite Capellix cooler, which boasts of low noise emanating from the pump, where Corsair says it is less than 20 dB(A), measured from a meter away. As Corsair calls it, the pump harness is to take software settings and apply it to the three PWM fans included in the box.

Testing Results, Maximum Fan Speed

This is great in concept, except that the reality is that not every cooler manages to reach the same dB level at peak operation or lowest noise levels as every other cooler. Some coolers are not seen to operate at 35 or 40dB while others easily exceed it. These same coolers in comparison also Also, setting to a decibel 'value' also isn't entirely accurate and can leave a larger range for operational limits. Example, there might actually be a variation of +/-300 RPM where the measurable difference of a single decibel is seen, but 300 RPM is actually a significant difference in the amount of airflow being moved. 1200 RPM and 1500 RPM actually end up performing quite differently. It becomes difficult to replicate test runs without variables based on decibel levels alone as the same measurement of 35dB for one test can easily fall outside of acceptable deviation.