Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD 360mm AIO Review

See full bio

Nauman Siddique

At Tech4Gamers, I take on the role of Hardware Reviewer with pride. My responsibilities involve a thorough examination of essential hardware components like motherboards, graphics cards, processors, PC cases, and CPU coolers, among others, focusing on their complexities and functionalities.

 

 

 

See full bio

I am taking a look at the flagship cooler from Corsair, which is iCUE Link H150i LCD. This flagship cooler is based on the iCUE Link system, wherein Corsair has attempted to reduce the cable clutter by providing single cable connectivity for all components of the cooling solution.

This cooler comes with a 2.1” IPS LCD Screen with a surrounding ARGB diffuser making it quite an attractive cooler. The QX120 fans add the missing touch. It is compatible with Intel LGA115x/1200/1700 sockets and AMD AM4/AM5 sockets. Corsair is offering a 6-year warranty on this cooler.

I have also tested the CORSAIR H150i Pro and the CORSAIR iCUE H150i Elite Capellix XT White.

Key Takeaways

• The Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD is a high-performance, and visually striking AIO that kept our Core i7-13700K at 82°C during the CINEBENCH R23.2 run for 30 minutes.
• You should get the Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD if you want top-notch performance with a digital connection, a 2.1″ LCD, and reduced cable clutter.
• You should not get the Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD if you are on a budget or have the LGA20xx socket.

I am showing the specifications of this cooler above. The radiator size is mentioned to be 360mm (multiple of 120mm). This is not a dimension of the unit.

The fan control method is digital, which I will cover later in this article. This unit is controllable using iCUE link software since it has no standard connector design.

Packaging And Unboxing

The cooler is shipped inside a cardboard box. This box has a black and yellow color theme, which are typical CORSAIR colors. There is a container inside the main box that has the contents safely placed inside.

The following are provided:

• 1x Cooler
• 3x Fans [Pre-installed]
• 1x Backplate for Intel
• 1x set of Mounting Brackets for Intel Sockets [Pre-installed]
• 2x set of Mounting Brackets for AMD Sockets
• 4x Intel LGA1700 Standoff Screws
• 4x Intel LGA115x/1200 Standoff Screws
• 4x AMD Standoff Screws
• 4x Thumb Nuts
• 1x iCUE System Hub
• 1x Tach cable
• 1x PCIe power cable
• 1x USB 2.0 Type-C cable
• 1x Micro USB 2.0 cable
• 1x iCUE LINK Cable 90° 600mm
• 2x iCUE LINK Cable 90° 135 mm
• 1x USB splitter cable
• 12x Radiator screws
• 12x Washers for Radiator Screws
• 24x Fan Screws

Design

The QX120 RGB fans come pre-installed over the radiator. As you can see there is no cable connection among these fans and there is no cable coming out of the fans either. This is a power of the new iCUE link system where a single cable connection provides the connectivity.

Radiator

There is a standard-design radiator under the hood. We have a white color spray paint over the total assembly. The radiator has a dimension of 397x120x27mm (LxWxH). Adding 120x25mm fans would make the overall height of approximately 53 mm.

This unit has a 20 FPI count with 12 channels for the coolant flow. Corsair has done a fine job with fin stacking since there was no bend or broken fin on the assembly. There is a gap of 105mm between any two fan mounting holes on the radiator.

The above picture shows a side view of the assembled unit. What is not visible is a gap between the finstack and side frame which is reduced. This would provide more surface area for heat dissipation. Corsair has used rubber tubes with low permeation and there are nylon braided white color mesh sleeves on these tubes.

These tubes have a length of 460mm. A closer look will tell you that Corsair has routed a cable from a block toward the Distribution Hub on the radiator. This cable is hidden under the white sleeve. There is a nice Corsair branding on the side frame of the radiator.

I am showing the tube connection side of the radiator. The connection between tubes and fittings is concealed using white clamps. There is what Corsair refers to as Distribution Hub. This hub has a total of three ports. The two large-size ports are iCUE Link Ports and Active Link Ports. You would need both ports for the QX120 fans and the radiator itself.

The USB Type-C port is needed to control the LCD on the block. All the cable connection is on the Distribution Hub. Corsair has wisely used a 150mm cable length to connect QX120 fans with the distribution hub whereas the 600mm length cable connects the distribution hub with the System Hub.

Block

The block design is out of this world. I appreciate how Corsair has achieved a Dazzle RGB effect surrounding the block using 24 ARGB LEDs, and then there is an LCD in the center with dual ring RGB backlighting using 20 ARGB LEDs. This is just too good. There are 44 ARGB LEDs alone in the block. Combined with 34 ARGB LEDs per fan, we now get an idea of why the system Hub is PCIe powered, providing 150W.

I am showing the side of the main housing. You can see a translucent diffuser on the top portion. The base area is made of ABS material and has a black matte finish. There is a CORSAIR branding on the side. Looking at the front side of the main housing, we can spot a cover towards the base of the unit. This cover seems fixated. Otherwise, this could have been a refill port, but I am not sure.

Looking at the backside of the housing, we can see that the tubes are installed at a 90° angle on rotary barbs. Both connections are stepped. I admire the metallic clamps with CORSAIR branding over them. It gives a nice touch to the feel of the unit. We can see two flat cables coming out of the base and going toward the radiator under the sleeves. Corsair has done a fantastic job in cable management.

Corsair is using a split stream design for efficient coolant flow over the dense fin stack. The base roughly measures 55x55mm. Corsair has listed it at 56x56mm. The unit comes with pre-applied XTM70 thermal paste. The Intel mounting brackets are pre-installed as well.

Fans

Corsair has provided their new and famous QX120 white edition fans with this cooler. If you want my in-depth analysis of these fans, check my Corsair QX120 Fan Upgrade Kits review. Each fan has 7x translucent blades. There is a black color label in the center with Corsair branding. Each mounting corner has a ring-designed anti-vibration pad. Each fan packs 34 ARGB LEDs for some brilliant and vivid all-round ARGB lighting effects.

Looking at the backside of the fan, we can see an X-shaped arm design. Each arm is wider and disrupts the airflow coming from the fan meaning it will throw the air all around in the PC Case. Looking closely, we can see a thermal sensor as well.

Looking at one side of the main frame, we can spot two ports. One has an active connection, whereas the other has a magnetic attachment to daisy-chain the two fans. Two arrow symbols indicate the direction of airflow and the blades’ spin direction. The visible sides of the fans have diffusers for ARGB lighting effects, almost resembling the Lian Li UNIFAN design. These fans are using Magnetic Dome Bearings with a maximum speed of 2400 RPM, generating a maximum airflow of 63.1 CFM at a static pressure of 3.8mmH₂O.

iCUE Link Accessories

Let’s take a look at what is provided under the iCUE Link system with this cooler. There is a system hub that I will describe below.

There is a magnetic system hub that sits at the core of this whole unit and provides power and connectivity between the cooler, QX120 fans, and the PC. There are two active link ports (one on each side).

This is where the iCUE Link Cables are connected. We have:

• A 6-pin Power Port.
• A micro USB Port.
• A 2-pin Tach Port.

Wait, more cables! What happened to a single cable concept? That is more of a marketing gimmick. The thing is, there is a single cable connecting the cooler and fans to this hub, hence the concept. The cables include:

• 600mm iCUE Link Cable for distribution hub to system hub
• 150mm iCUE Link Cable for QX120 fans to distribution hub
• 1x USB Splitter cable to connect two USB 2.0 cables to a single header of the motherboard
• 1x 3-pin to 2-pin Tach Cable
• 1x micro USB to USB 2.0 Cable for distributor [White]
• 1x micro USB to USB 2.0 Cable for system hub [black]
• 1x PCIe 6-pin Connector Cable

Installation

Here are the steps to install this cooler on an Intel LGA1700 socket:

• Place the Intel LGA1700 backplate on the backside of the motherboard.
• Secure it using 4x Intel LGA1700 Standoff Screws.
• Place the block over the CPU by aligning the tips of the screws with the holes on the mounting brackets.
• Use thumb nuts to secure the block over the CPU.
• Install fans on the radiator.
• Connect iCUE Link Cable 150mm from the top QX120 fan to the distribution hub.
• Connect the micro USB white color cable to the USB Type-C port of the distributor hub.
• Connect iCUE Link 600mm cable to the distributor hub and system hub.
• Plug the PCIe cable into the system hub and PSU.
• Connect the micro USB black cable to the system hub.
• Daisy-chain both micro USB cables and connect to the motherboard.
• Installation is completed.

Clearance

This cooler has no clearance issue for DIMM and PCIe slots. You need to make sure that your case supports the 360mm size radiator and in particular, the clearance for 397x120x53mm for the assembled cooler.

Digital RGB Lighting

I have used iCUE link software to control the complete unit, including the fan speed and digital RGB lighting. The LCD customization is the same as we saw on the Corsair iCUE H170i Elite LCD XT cooler. Here are some pictures:

RGB Effects

1 of 16

I will cover the software part in the QX120 fans’ content.

Thermal Testing

I have used the mentioned configuration to test the performance of this cooler: –

• Intel i7 13700k
• GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX
• XPG Lancer RGB 32GB DDR5 kit 7200MT/s CAS34
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe SSD [For OS]
• GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 VISION OC [For Display]
• be quiet! Straight Power 850W Platinum PSU
• Open-air Test Bench

Here is the settings table for testing:

The Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD has performed quite well in our testing and is among the top three contenders. The fans at full speed are loud. You can run these fans on the Auto PWM function or a custom fan curve using iCUE Link software.

Should You Buy It?

After going over its design and thermal design, should you buy the Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD?

Buy It If

✅You want to experience digital connection: Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD uses digital connectivity to control the cooler’s speed, monitor the sensors, and customization the digital RGB lighting.

✅You want high-performance: Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD is CORSAIR’s flagship cooler that has good performance out of the box with the best digital RGB lighting using 144 LEDs and a 2.1″ IPS LCD Screen.

✅You prefer reduced cable clutter: The Corsair iCUE Link system is based on a single cable connection to control the cooler, and this is exactly the case with the iCUE Link H150i LCD. A single iCUE Link cable connects the cooler with the system hub.

Don’t Buy It If

❌You already own a liquid cooler: Skip this cooler if you already have a 360 mm-sized liquid cooler.

❌You are on a budget: The Corsair iCUE Link H150i LCD retails at USD 299.99, which is a steep price, and it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

❌You are on Intel LGA20xx Socket: This cooler does not support the Intel LGA20xx socket. Skip this cooler if you are on this socket because it does not support the LGA20xx socket.

Final Words

iCUE Link H150i LCD is a flagship cooler in the arsenal of Corsair’s liquid cooling products. This cooler uses the iCUE Link system, where the emphasis is on reducing the cables for digital connectivity and providing the utmost best user experience possible.

This cooler is compatible with Intel LGA115x/1200/1700 and AMD AM4/AM5 sockets. AMD mounting is screw based, which is better than the clip-based mounting. This cooler is available in white and black colors. The unit comes with pre-installed Intel mounting brackets and XTM70 thermal paste.

Corsair has provided three QX120 RGB fans in white edition with this cooler. There is a distribution hub integrated into the radiator. The idea is to daisy-chain (internal) the QX120 fans and connect them to the distribution hub using a single cable. The connection between the distribution hub and the system hub is done using another iCUE Link cable. The LCD version needs a USB Type-C cable for which a port is provided on the distributor hub.

There is a 2.1” IPS LCD screen on the block having a 24-bit 480×480 resolution. There is a diffuser surrounding the block for the Dazzle effect. The system hub can house up to connections and is powered by a single 6-pin PCIe connector providing 150W power to 144 LEDs. The system hub is connected to the motherboard using a USB 2.0 cable.

The installation of this cooler on Intel LGA1700 is convenient and uses 9x items to install the block on the socket. The overall build quality is superb, and having to deal with fewer cables is a blessing, though this would work within CORSAIR’s iCUE Ecosystem, only governed by iCUE Link software. I ran into an issue where the software did not pick the fans earlier. Somehow, it started working fine on its own.

This cooler retails at USD 299.99, which is a steep price for a 360mm size AIO, even beating the EKWB’s flagship cooler. Corsair is offering a whopping 6-year warranty on this cooler and I know that their customer support is effective from my own experience.

Nauman Siddique

[Hardware Reviewer & Editor]

Meet Nauman Siddique, a highly experienced computer science graduate with more than 15 years of knowledge in technology. Nauman is an expert in the field known for his deep understanding of computer hardware.

As a tech tester, insightful reviewer, and skilled hardware editor, Nauman carefully breaks down important parts like motherboards, graphics cards, processors, PC cases, CPU coolers, and more.

• 15+ years of PC Building Experience
• 10+ years of first-hand knowledge of technology
• 7+ years of doing in-depth testing of PC Hardware
• A motivated individual with a keen interest in tech testing from multiple angles.
• I majored in Computer Science with a Masters in Marketing
• Previously worked at eXputer, EnosTech, and Appuals.
• Completed Course in Computer Systems Specialization From Illinois Tech

Get In Touch: nauman@tech4gamers.com