We've put this CPU cooler through its paces and pushed it probably far beyond anyone would under standard use, and it did very well. Corsair has been in the cooler business for years, not only that, but its fans are some of the best on the market, not the people who like it, I'm talking about the ML120 ELITE RGB Fans.

What's in the box

The box contents are just as important as the cooling performance of the CPU cooler, at least we think so. Here's what you'll find in the box:

Design

The design of the LCD XT is much akin to the other entries into the Corsair cooling armada, it's not strayed too far from the norm. Besides the 2.1-inch IPS display, it's business as usual, and nobody said it was bad. Most of the metal parts on this cooler are made from durable painted aluminum, and the bits you want to bend are made of sleeved rubber, for both flexibility and durability.

The cooler is made with high-quality materials and is durable enough to withstand general use and constant cooling. There is plenty of weight to the component, but not so much as to make us uncertain whether or not the mounting hardware can hold it. The cooler does come with washers if you want to distribute the load more evenly.

Screen

The 2.1-inch LCD screen is a stroke of genius, we know that they have been around for a while, but how can we not appreciate a place to put a meme? It's not just memes you can display useful system information here too, like liquid temp, CPU temp, pump RPMs, you name it, you can probably display it. This is useful for those a little too obsessed with the temperature of their hardware.

The block comes in 2 parts, there's the actual block that contains the water pump and the screen that attaches over the top. The screen is separate from the water pump, this makes installation more convenient and reduces the risk of water damage.

Tubing

The tubing is made of sleeved rubber, giving it decent flexibility while remaining rigid and durable. The fittings that fix the tubing to the CPU block are on a swivel, that offers just less than 180 degrees of rotation, which is more than enough to find a configuration that works for you.

Fans

Corsair's ML fans offer magnetic levitation bearings and air glide technology for quiet and reliable operation, not only that, but they look good doing it. These fans 120mm fans have 24 individually addressable RGB LEDs to light up your system. The ML120 supports speeds of up to 2000 RPM, so you can rest assured knowing you're getting a fantastic cooling performance. All these points come together to cement the H150i as one of the best CPU coolers.

Installation - it's a breeze

Installation is a breeze considering it's an AIO cooler, some of them can be pretty convoluted in the way they deploy mounting solutions sometimes, but not Corsair. It only takes 4 fan screws to affix each fan to the radiator, and then some longer screws to attach the radiator to the PC case.

As we mentioned before, the block comes in 2 parts, and it does so for convenience. The screen separates away from the block so you have access to the mounting screws that fix the block to the motherboard. The tubes connected to the block swivel for access and rarely get in the way.

The hardest part of the installation is cable management, as it usually is, but you won't be short of places to connect your fans, as the 150i comes with the Corsair Commander Core. The Core has space to plug in your RGB, fan connectors, and LCD cooler. Just remember to connect the USB cable that controls the LCD screen to the motherboard.

Performance

The performance of this CPU cooler is very good considering we gave it the herculean task of cooling the Intel i7-14700K. Intel CPUs run notoriously hot, especially when being pushed to their limits. In these benchmarks, we use a tool called Aida64 to push the CPU beyond normal usage and record how well the cooler deals with it. We have tested a couple of fan profiles to see if that makes a difference in cooling prowess.

First, we need to make a note of all the ambient temperatures of the system and the room and note how well the cooling is when the benchmark PC is idling, this will give us a good idea of a baseline to compare the stress test results with.

Ambient temps before starting tests

Idle cooling performance

We take the core temperature average and maximum readings from HWinfo, we measure over 5 minutes to see how the cooler holds up. As you can see, there is a difference between these two fan profiles. This is noted by the "full fan" and "balanced" names, but if you look at the RPM and the air temp being output from the radiator, then the differences become clearer.

The ELITE LCD, when on a higher fan profile, helps to move more heat away from the CPU more quickly, this is evidenced by the lower CPU temperature on average for the higher fan profile and the higher temperature of the air exiting the back of the cooler. But this does come at the sacrifice of your peace - you know because of the fan noise.

Stress test cooling performance

Now, these are the results of a 5-minute Aida64 stress test, stressing the CPU cores, the FPU, and the cache. Some of these results may seem alarming, but it is important to note that this test is way beyond where you'd push your CPU in everyday use, this is the extreme end of CPU testing.

It's interesting to see the balanced fan speed setting throttle more despite achieving the same RPM, this is because this setting starts on a lower RPM setting, and it takes a minute to spin up. The full fan speed setting is louder but performs 5 degrees better than the balanced setting.

Days Gone cooling benchmarks

Standard gameplay was sustained over 10 minutes and the average temperatures recorded, were similar to the other tests, just longer. We were very happy to see that the H150i can hold its own in gaming benchmarks. Gaming is a different workload as it does not demand as much of the CPU as a stress test does, it's for that reason that we know the cooler will always do better in games. 55 Degrees is absolutely fine for a CPU, and well within operating temperature.

All you need to do is make sure your PC has enough intake and exhaust fans and is allowed room to breathe, as long as those criteria are met, you'll have a very capable cooler ready and waiting to cool even the hottest CPUs.

What these benchmarks mean

We use extreme tests to determine the cooling efficiency of the CPU coolers that we test. Aida64 is a well-known CPU stress test tool that loads the CPU to its limits, forcing it to output the maximum heat possible. The loads in these benchmarks are far beyond the standard workloads you will experience in day-to-day use.

With that being said, the H150i LCD has performed very well despite the odds being stacked against it. The 14700K is a powerful CPU with a 253W output, so we haven't made the challenge easy for this Corsair cooler. All in all, the H150i performs very well, despite the scary throttle percentages that stem from Intel's IHS design, which is not necessarily a cooler fault.

We push the Cooler using CPU tasks that vary in intensity and some gaming workloads, and we measure the heat of the air coming from the cooler to gauge how much heat the cooler is displacing from the CPU. This isn't an exact science, but it's good to see how the various fan modes affect things.

Alternatives to the Corsair H150i ELITE LCD XT

If you're looking for great alternatives to the H150i, just in case it doesn't tickle your fancy, these coolers might be what you need. You could opt for a smaller cooler, maybe a 240mm, if you don't feel you need so much cooling power. In that case, there is a 240mm variant of this cooler, the H100i. If you don't feel you need a CPU cooler with a screen, there are other options available from Corsair, such as the Capellix.

Price

The H150i Elite LCD was released a year or so ago, so it has come down in price since it was launched. Now, you can often find the CPU cooler around $249. A popular Amazon price tracker, Camelcamelcamel, noted that the lowest price ever for this cooler was $229 back in December 2023. So it could be even cheaper this year in major sales events.

Conclusion

We conclude that this Corsair CPU can hold its own when it comes to cooling those toasty Intel CPUs., though it is also compatible with AMD. Its robust design and fully fleshed features make it well worth the investment. not only that but if you're already on the Corsair ecosystem, it'll seamlessly integrate using iCUE to make controlling it a breeze.

If you need a CPU cooler to titillate the need to plaster memes all over the inside of your PC, or you're more sensible and want to display system information to keep better track of your PC, then this cooler might be the one for you.