Corsair Hydro H50 CPU Water Cooler

Water cooling is similar to air cooling. The first link in the chain of heat transfer is the waterblock, the equivalent of the base of an air cooled heatsink. The H50's waterblock is a big piece of copper with a relatively rough surface pre-slathered with generous amount of thermal compound.

The waterblock is located at the bottom of a cylindrical structure that also houses the reservoir containing the water and the pump that circulates it through the tubing. These components are separated and much larger in most DIY water cooling schemes.

The water cools down the waterblock and carries the heat with it along one tube, through the radiator, and out the other tube so it can be re-circulated. The tubing is somewhat analogous to the heatpipes found in tower coolers, although the water stays in liquid state instead of changing dynamically between gaseous and liquid states as in a heatpipe.

Heat is transferred from the water to the radiator which is composed of very thin pieces of aluminum measuring about 0.14 mm thick. They are curved to form long rows of coils with an average separation of approximately 1.20 mm. The coils are cooled by a 120 mm fan.

The fan and radiator are mounted together in a 120 mm fan placement. According to Corsair it is ideal to use the fan as an intake blowing cool air from the outside through the radiator and toward the pump. This should result in lower CPU temperatures, but in most cases, it will also disrupt overall air circulation.