corsair icue h150i elite lcd display free sample

Released just in time for the launch of Intel"s 12th generation CPUs, Corsair"s H150i Elite LCD cooler is the first to come with the fixings for the new LGA Socket 1700.

Compatible with both Intel and AMD CPUs, Corsair"s new cooler is a big beasty. With three 120mm fans and a radiator almost 400mm long, it takes up plenty of real estate in your case. It"s so big that I took the plunge and upgraded the test rig case to a Corsair 7000D Airflow with an almost cathedral-like interior space. But if you want to maximise your CPU cooling without going for a bespoke water-cooling solution, one of these 360mm AIO coolers are your best bet.

For this test, I used an Asus TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WIFI motherboard paired with a top-of-the-range Intel Core i9-12900K. This was all installed within the aforementioned Corsair 7000D Airflow tower case.

The Corsair H150i Elite LCD is essentially the same tried and tested design at their H150i Elite Capellix liquid CPU cooler. They are so similar that the Capellix Socket 1700 upgrade kit fit the H150i Elite LCD review sample that was shipped to me without the standoffs for the new Intel 12th generation Core CPUs.

Opening the box, you are confronted with the huge radiator and RGB water block connected by two 380mm flexible hoses. There"s also a mess of cables, the Commander CORE RGB - PWM Fan Controller, and the three ML120 RGB ELITE PWM fans.

Most cases state that they are compatible with 360mm AIO coolers. Be mindful that the 360mm refers to the 3x120mm fans and that the H150i radiator is actually 397mm long. The radiator itself is 27mm thick, with another 25mm for the fans. You may find yourself having to clear out your hard drive cages and removing your DVD drive to fit it all in.

The LCD is a separate unit clipped onto the water block. This means that it can be removed and placed out of the way during installation. Also, if it develops a fault, it can be easily replaced.

I installed the fans as per Corsair"s recommendations to the underside of the radiator, exhausting air through it, up and out of the case. The Corsair 7000D Airflow case has three fans at the front blowing air in and one exhausting to the rear as standard. I prefer cases to be under positive pressure, so installing a couple more 120mm fans is on the cards. But, for now, at least it is not sucking dust in from the top.

The Corsair H150i Elite LCD uses Corsair"s universal iCue software for both RGB and LCD control, as well as system monitoring. The iCue software is free and downloadable from the Corsair website. The software also integrates with some other vendors" equipment allowing synchronisation of RGB lighting displays. My Asus TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WIFI motherboard uses Asus"s proprietary Asus Aura RGB system, of which there is a plugin for enabling it to work with Corsair"s iCue software.

The iCue software has a dashboard displaying temperatures and fan speeds of all the PC"s main components, the CPU, GPU, and, of course, the cooler itself. The software also allows fan speeds to be adjusted using any of the default settings: quiet, balanced, extreme, zero, or variable. In addition, alerts can be triggered if the coolant temperature gets hot, triggering RGB LEDs, fan speed, and even a PC shutdown should the temperature cross a threshold.

There are many preconfigured RGB lighting designs that can be customised to taste. All the RGB components can be controlled by a single scene-setting, synchronising them together, or set individually. The H150i Elite LCD screen can also be customised within the iCue software. The display can be set to show data such as CPU package temperature, GPU temperature, and CPU load. The LCD screen can also be customised with an animated gif, either from one of the included files or one of your own.

The Corsair ML120 RGB Elite fans run from 450 RPM to 2000 RPM and have an airflow between 14.86-58.10 CFM. Corsair states that each fan has a sound level of 10-30.4 dBA. During normal use, the fans are inaudible when set to balanced.

Corsair H150i Elite LCD is the ultimate all-in-one cooler. There are bigger AIO coolers, but you"d be hard pushed to find a case larger enough to accommodate one. As a self-contained alternative to messing about with a bespoke liquid-cooling solution, you"ll likely not be able to do much better. What initially appears to be a confusing box of components turns out to be very easy to install if you have the right case.

The CPU temperatures are kept in check, and the fans are not too loud. The customisable RGB lighting sets things off nicely, and the LCD screen on the water block adds something special to your PC build. All in all, the Corsair H150i Elite LCD is an easily recommended and very fancy cooling solution for AMD and Intel CPUs.

Here at TBG, we have a thing for coolers. We’ve tested well over six dozen at this point, of all types, from low-profile to towers to big liquid models. In fact, we’ve conducted multiple shootouts for each of these categories, which we believe gives our audience a much better understanding of the market than one-off reviews do. But occasionally we’ll still do a single-product review if we think it will build on a recent shootout, and that brings us to Corsair’s H150i Elite LCD.

Back when we tested the Corsair H150i Pro RGB XT, we mentioned that if Corsair could tweak the fans a bit, it might be able to reestablish itself as a true leader in the liquid cooling market that it pioneered. And lo and behold, buried way down on the spec sheet for the Elite LCD are brand-new fans!

That, dear readers, is why we decided to test this cooler, not the snazzy LCD screen on the pump (which we will obviously be showing off). The Elite LCD is in fact the first cooler to feature the new ML120 RGB Elite fans, which are a major revision of the original ML120 and ML120 RGB fans.  While the basic 7-blade design remains, the shape of those blades is slightly different, and more importantly, the frame has been completely redesigned. One other notable update: every Elite LCD includes an Intel Socket 1700 adapter, which will be music to the ears of Intel 12th-Gen early-adopters.

But how does the Elite LCD perform? Only testing will tell us, so let’s jump into it! As always, thanks to Corsair for providing a sample of the Corsair’s H150i Elite LCD for review.

As with all of our reviews going forward, this review appears exclusively on YouTube, which you can see below. Not only do we provide details on what comes in the box and dive into some benchmarks, but we also show you what the Elite LCD looks like in action!

With that said, a few things stand in the way of total domination. First, of course, is the price. If you don’t want the snazzy screen, you probably shouldn’t be paying for it, right? We just hope that Corsair updates it’s other AIO coolers with the improved ML120 fans on the Elite LCD. Even then, the ML120 fan blade design still holds back the cooler slightly versus the best rad-specific fan designs, and the CoolIt pump is not quite as sublime as what Arctic provides (although it’s at least on par with Asetek designs). But the Elite LCD has enough going for it that other manufacturers can’t provide that we’ll give Corsair a pass on all that and bestow it with our recommended award!

This was my first liquid CPU cooler purchase and my first PC build in over 10 years. So I wanted to go all out on my build with all the LED bells and whistles (LED Fans, LED Memory, LED on GPU, LED on motherboard, etc.) so after doing some research the iCue software was the most compatible with other manufacturers. I also made sure that I got a case with plenty of ventilation (room for 10 fans).

The only issues I"ve ever had is with the LCD screen and the LED ring on the pump. Oddly enough, the problems seem to resolve themselves given enough time (either just randomly or through a software/firmware update). Over the past six months I"ve had three unique issues happen with the LCD.

The first was I got a triangle with an exclamation point on the screen within a few weeks of installing. I went through all the troubleshooting steps online and nothing seemed to work (updating the iCue software, firmware updates, disconnecting/re-connecting cables, etc.). I was about to RMA it and then one morning it starting working.

Third issue happened this morning (Nov. 13) with the LCD screen. When I booted up the computer, the images on the LCD screen was jumping. Kind of like the old computer monitors that had a v-sync issue. It only did this for about 20 minutes. I"m assuming it was the cold weather as my home office was cold this morning and after the LCD screen warmed up the image jumping on the LCD cleared up on its own.

Overall, I only give it three stars. The CPU cooling works great. However, having random issues with the LCD that seem to fix themselves on their own is a major turnoff.