Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
Similar to the U-series of Noctua coolers, the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi features a single large stack of fins with several heatpipes going through it. The top is covered with a black plastic shield. Underneath, there is a strip of RGB lighting to illuminate the CRYORIG logo on top. There is another lighting strip underneath the heatsink. This explains the internal USB header dangling from the heatsink, as it is used to power and control the lighting and its effects. We will see what this looks like later on. Included with the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi is the attached CRYORIG QF120 LED fan, which is held onto the stack of fins with two metal wire clips. CRYORIG has included another pair of clips to attach an additional 120mm fan, but only one fan is included in the box.
As you can see from the top, the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi has a flat profile on the leading edges of the heatsink fans. This top view also shows off a V cutout in the middle of the back edge. This allows users to reach the installation screw. Finally, six flared teeth can be seen from the top, and this continues down all the fins in the stack. This helps by optimizing the ability to permit airflow in between the fins while reducing resistance and noise. With a total of forty fins on the radiator, this is pretty much as expected. Each fin is about 0.4mm thick, with the spacing in between each fin at 2.2mm. From my calculation, the total surface area of the cooling fins combined is close to 0.79 square meters, which is pretty reasonable considering its size. By comparison, the Noctua NH-C14S shares a very similar surface area size at 0.77 square meters.
Most CPU heatsinks and coolers are pretty standard in their colors, and the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi is no different when unplugged. CRYORIG sticks to their standard black colors for the plastic shield and the fan frame. The fan has a translucent color in order to allow its lighting to shine through. As we already alluded to, the CRYORIG name can be found on the top plastic shield in a similar translucent finish, while their shorter logo can be found on the middle of the QF120 LED fan. At a total mass of 585g without a fan the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi is quite light for its relative size. This weight jumps up to 713g when the QF120 is attached. By comparison, the Noctua NH-C14S weighs 820g for the heatsink alone.
Removing the fan is quite easy, as it utilizes a system that can be found on Noctua and other CRYORIG models. These two wire clips insert into the mounting holes of the fan and clip onto the side of the heatsink fins. Raised edges on the side of the fins hold the clip in place to prevent the fan from slipping off. The wire clip retention length is reduced to a balanced level, so attachment stability is not compromised. Overall, fans are very easy to add or remove. Even so, the fan probably will only be moved about during installation.
As for the fan in question, the single QF120 LED comes attached to the H7 Quad Lumi. This 120mm fan has a CRYORIG specified rotational speed range of 330 to 1600 RPM, airflow rating of 49 CFM, and static pressure of 1.65 mmH2O. It has a rated noise level of 10 to 25 dBA. According to CRYORIG, there are three versions of the QF120 available, but the one included with the H7 Quad Lumi is the "Balance" version, which strikes a balance between sound, airflow, and static air pressure produced. Overall, we will see what this actually translates to when we do our tests. The fan also has four rubber corners to reduce vibrations between the fan and the fin stack. In addition, the LED refers to the white lighting that lives in the middle of the fan head.
Looking back at the heatsink, you will probably have noticed a different pattern unlike any other CPU cooler we have seen before. Rather than placing their fins flat all the way through, CRYORIG has employed this honeycomb like pattern in what they call their "Hive Fin Technology". According to CRYORIG, this allows for air to pass through here quicker because it reduces air turbulence. Personally, I think this pattern looks really neat, though it does not continue all the way through, as the other side is a uniform flat stack of fins. Otherwise, the total dimensions of the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi are average, with a height of 145mm, a width of 123mm, and a depth of 98mm. This height should not be a huge issue for most standard mATX or ATX cases, though it will probably cause a problem in smaller mini ITX cases. As we have mentioned on the previous page, the "Quad" in the name refers to the four continuous U-shaped heatpipes extending from the base and into the fins, splitting into two sides of the same radiator to dissipate heat. This effectively makes eight heatpipes in total. These 6mm pipes are supposed to lead the heat away from its source due to the low heat of vaporization, or phase change energy, of the fluid inside. They are aligned in an alternating manner to evenly spread out the heat in the single array of radiating fins. The 0.79 square meters of surface area, combined with the CRYORIG QF120 LED fan, should be able to deliver in this regard, though we will see if this is so on the next page.
CRYORIG's big claim to fame is its zero RAM interference design, as the cooler keeps a footprint that allows no part to hang over other areas on the motherboard. Even the fan, in its default position, hangs over the installation screw of the H7 Quad Lumi and does not protrude out enough to affect the memory slots. When I installed this on my ATX motherboard, there was more than enough room for the single fan. However, if you were to add a second 120mm fan, it would start getting close to the other side, which could interfere with other motherboard components. Even still, CRYORIG allows for users to mount the cooler in two different orientations, so they can be flexible with their builds.
A shot of the bottom of the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi CPU heatsink. The photo above shows the configuration of the heatpipes more clearly in relation to the base leading into the fin array. These heatpipes are slightly convex to the base, which is intentional. CRYORIG claims this allows for more heatpipes concentrated at the hot spots of the CPU surface. Otherwise, you can see the base is very flat, which means practically the entire base should rest evenly on top of the processor. A quick inspection also reveals there are no abnormalities here, though you can see some of the circular milling marks when they finished the surface.
Similar to past CRYORIG heatsinks, the H7 Quad Lumi uses a C1100 copper base electroplated with nickel. The base and heatpipes are built using copper for best heat transfer ability with a thermal conductivity of 401 W/mK. The heatsink fins utilize aluminum as it is quite a bit lighter in comparison to copper. This compromise allows the H7 Quad Lumi to be as light as possible, thus reducing the stress on the motherboard from the weight. Aluminum has a thermal conductivity of 237 W/mK, which is not as optimal for heat transfer, but the tradeoff is understandable.
Visually speaking, the H7 Quad Lumi from CRYORIG conceals the copper color with its copper heatpipes and base. According to the specifications, the H7 Quad Lumi is electroplated with nickel on top of its copper, which has a thermal conductivity of only 90.9 W/mK. While nickel has a lower thermal conductivity than copper, the electroplated layer is very thin and should not directly affect performance to a significant degree, but it is likely related to the corrosion allowance factor. Nickel and nickel-base alloys generally have desirable properties that can withstand corrosive environments and high temperatures, which are especially beneficial for a heat dissipation device. The reason why nickel has such a property is because of nickel's ductility and toughness all the way up to the melting point of 1455°c, measured at non-standard pressure. Nickel's face-centered cube crystal structure is virtually unaltered all the way up to that temperature. Nickel, like titanium, is highly resistant to corrosion so corroded material will not build up on the surface in the long run. It is surely a good sign, because the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi will be less prone to losing its cooling performance over time as juxtaposed to a corroded copper surface.
Additionally, all the joints are cleanly soldered at the base. However, the heatpipes are not soldered to the fins, so it is possible it could lose contact over time. This can lead to degradation over time as contact between metals decreases due to thermal expansion and contraption. Overall, the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi appears to be built very solidly. Reliability should also be excellent as CRYORIG offers a six year warranty, matching the length offered by other reputable cooling brands like Noctua.
Installation of the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi takes a similar approach to some past coolers we have seen, though there are a few things that were frustrating to work with. First of all, we have a plastic backplate here. You will need to slot the four tall bolts into the correct holes and mount them into place. During my installation, I found the metal bolts would slip out of place, since the plastic tabs did not keep them securely in place. I would have liked to see a metal backplate, or at least a backplate where the bolts are already attached. Following the user manual step by step proved to be helpful, as there were some steps I was not entirely certain about. Starting from the beginning, be sure you use the correct side, as this backplate is used for both AMD and Intel motherboards.
On the other side, two mounting bars are included to attach the heatsink to the motherboard. Once the backplate and bolts are fully pushed through, mount the two bars on using the thumb bolts. You can mount the bars in a vertical or horizontal orientation, depending on what you want. From the photo above, I have placed the bars in order to get a horizontal orientation, as you will see soon enough. I did find the arms to move about a bit, even when connected to the backplate. This caused for some instability when mounting the H7 Quad Lumi, which is disappointing. I think it would have been better if CRYORIG included some spacers to prevent this sort of movement. Once you hand tighten the thumb bolts on the bars, you can pick up the heatsink itself.
Before doing so, be sure to put some thermal paste on the processor. I normally recommend putting about a rice-sized amount, though you probably want to avoid having too little rather than too much. Next, remove the attached fan and mount the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi, screwing in each side bit by bit until it is fully tightened. Finally, you can attach the QF120 fan to the heatsink and plug the fan into the CPU fan header. You will also want to plug the USB 2.0 header into your motherboard to power and control the lighting on the heatsink. Overall, the installation was still a straightforward process, but these things I have mentioned are things CRYORIG should fix.
As I have mentioned before, CRYORIG has done an excellent job to ensure the H7 Quad Lumi does not even come close to interfering with my other components. The cooler really has a small footprint, staying away from my memory and graphics card. Depending on your installation and build, an additional fan could get in the way, though I still commend CRYORIG with what they have done here.
After installing the motherboard, I also installed the software utility to control the lighting on the CRYORIG H7 Quad Lumi. If you think this screenshot looks familiar, then I would say you are correct. In fact, CRYORIG worked with NZXT to integrate their cooler with the CAM software. The last time I used CAM was with the NZXT HUE+, though it has undergone several visual overhauls. As we mentioned in the past, CAM allows you to do full system monitoring, from temperatures to fan speeds and more. However, I will just focus on the lighting side of things today. Similar to the HUE+, you can make for a whole lot of different lighting effects, from single color to fading in and out to a banner of colors. You can also make the lighting display colors to represent computer information like CPU or GPU temperatures. Finally, you can sync the lighting with the audio emitting from your computer. I really like NZXT's CAM software, but I think some may wish this cooler would work with motherboard implementations of RGB, which is becoming increasingly common.
As you saw from the image above, there are two areas you can customize individually. The first is the logo behind the black shield at the top. The second location is found right underneath the LED strip near the base of the heatsink. As expected from RGB lighting, these two areas are very vibrant, adding pizzazz to your build. However, I really wish CRYORIG included an RGB fan instead of their white LED QF120 fan. Even though white is a neutral color to avoid clashing with other lights, it feels out of place. If it does bother you though, you could always look for an RGB fan from NZXT to integrate with CAM, or replace it with a fan that does not light up at all. Otherwise, I should note the lights seem to always stay on even if the computer is powered down, which could be annoying to some.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
