- These two computers have the exact same specifications,
which means their performance is exactly the same, right?
Wrong.
When we tested the Corsair One a200,
we noticed some fishy results.
So we built a near exact replica except for the case,
motherboard, radiator, and memory.
And don't you worry,
we'll explain why the memory is different later.
Then, we ran the same benchmarks
and I'm pretty sure the results will surprise you.
No, actually that's a lie.
I am completely sure the results will surprise you.
What won't surprise you is this message
from our sponsor, GlassWire.
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(upbeat music)
Our Corsair One a200 boost impressive specs.
It's got an AMD 5900X, 12 core CPU,
a full-fat RTX 3080 GPU,
one terabyte of NVMe storage
with two terabytes of hard drive based storage
and 32 gigs of 3200 megahertz ram
all in this nifty little case with separate
170 and 240 millimeter all-in-one liquid coolers
for each, the CPU and the GPU.
Wait, 170 millimeter?
Well, it should be better than 120, at least.
So then what the heck is up with this performance?
I mean, to be clear,
60 fps in "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" at 4K with RTX enabled
is a lot of performance.
But the Corsair One a200 also costs a lot of money.
So I expect it to leave absolutely nothing on the table.
And something smells a little funny here.
(sniffs)
You smell that?
(sniffs)
It smells like heat.
It's going up my nose.
Ah, there's your problem.
Despite this machine being liquid cooled
it's CPU idols at around 50 degrees
and check this out.
Just about the second you put it
under any kind of load.
I'm gonna print screen, MS Paint
and we're gonna paste this.
You're gonna see it's actually jumped a full 10 degrees
just from, since I took this screenshot.
What even is that?
And get this,
our CPU never saw the max rated boost speed of 4.8 gigahertz
throughout our testing.
I mean, it is important to note that
AMD's fine print specifies
that that is a single core boost speed,
but still seeing 4.8 gigahertz on the box and only
actually seeing 4.5 in games and 4.0 in Cinebench
can be very confusing to the average user,
especially when I'm pretty sure
that this chip can do better.
And we're not the only ones experiencing issues.
We found a few posts on Corsair's forum
discussing poor thermals on the 5900X
and 5950X equipped models.
It's not surprising considering how small form factor builds
do tend to run hotter, but it's certainly not ideal.
The thing is though many modern computers are actually
designed to run at or near their thermal limits without it
significantly impacting their performance.
So the only way for us to know just how much
this is hindering us is to build up
another machine to compare.
And thanks to movie magic,
(awkward music playing)
Panel.
(murmurs)
(awkward music playing)
This one is already done.
She's a chunky boy,
but spec for spec, this sucker is identical
to our Corsair One a200
except for a couple of things.
As I mentioned before,
we used a different motherboard to match our case size
and our 3200 megahertz memory actually had to be manually
adjusted to be slower,
to match the loose timings
on the ram included with the One.
And since we don't have a 170 millimeter rad,
we went with a 240, since 120 is definitely not enough.
During a 10 minute stress test running Cinebench R23
the Corsair One reached a sweltering peak
of 90 degrees Celsius running at just over 4 gigahertz.
Meanwhile, our clone here with a similar Corsair mind you,
240 millimeter radiator ended up in the mid seventies
at just over 4.9 gigahertz.
That's a difference of just over 15 degrees.
But the thing is that clock speed delta
doesn't fully explain the performance
that I feel like is missing here.
What else is going on?
In both of our systems, the RTX 3080 GPU's
easily reached their maximum boost clock
of 1950 megahertz
and maintained nearly identical average clock speeds
throughout our testing.
But while our air cooled card barely pushed past 60 degrees
running "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" maxed out
the liquid cooled Corsair One peaked at over 70
in the same test.
Now 70 degrees under load is fine for a GPU and
it's clear from the narrow
two and a half percent difference in results
that 80 degrees on the CPU is also fine.
That is if you don't mind trading
two and a half percent of your performance
for a super gorgeous and compact design like this one.
But hold on a second.
Not all games behave the same.
Take a look at CS:GO.
Yeah, sure.
Both machines manage around 600 frames per second.
So you're gonna be having a pretty good time,
but that is a 6% difference in raw performance.
So it's clear that the more
CPU bottlenecked our application is
the more the Corsair One's borderline cooling system
is likely to affect it.
And this rabbit hole goes even deeper.
You know, man,
I thought this was just gonna be a simple system review.
That makes sad Linus even sadder Linus,
lttstore.com.
We actually built our clone system here
with a fatal flaw.
Watch as we transform it into a system
that performs even better.
(Linus makes instrumental tone)
Yeah.
Holy hot monkey bananas.
Going back to CS:GO here.
There's something I didn't mention Last time.
Average fps is not really a great indication
of the gaming experience
because you don't notice animation smoothness
when it's good.
You notice it when it sucks.
That's why a CPU that's thermal throttling at all
is such a problem.
As its speed fluctuates you'll experience
extremely short, but sometimes drastic dips in performance.
And we can measure those.
So looking at the worst,
1% of our frame times
our clone here beat the Corsair One
by almost 15% right out of the gate
and our upgraded clone takes that lead to almost 20%
just for adding a bigger radiator.
I mean the Corsair One is still over 300 fps, so, all right,
no problem in this game,
but these effects can be measured and more importantly felt
in other situations as well.
Let's take a look at Cinebench.
Our clone with the dual radiator
performed nearly identically to our Corsair One,
but all of a sudden we throw a triple radiator in
and it manages a 3% advantage over both of them.
This is probably because our 12 core 5900X is
right at the limit of what
a dual 120 millimeter AIO can handle.
So bringing that coolant temperature down,
lets the CPU opportunistically boost up higher
and more often.
Of course this raises the question,
why is it so hard for a 170 millimeter radiator
to cool a CPU that's rated at just 105 Watts TDP
when a slightly larger radiator on the other side
of the same computer is cooling a GPU
that's rated at 320 Watts.
That's over double.
Well, there's a couple of reasons for this.
First is that the dye of the GPU like this one
is much larger and more surface area means
more thermal transfer.
Second, GPU coolers are pre-installed at the factory
where they can be placed directly,
that's a pun, on the GPU itself
rather than having a heat spreader in between.
Our die lapping adventure video
by the way is a great look at just how many degrees
you can literally shave off with a steady hand
and some risky work.
Now some of you have probably noticed I've been very focused
on thermal differences between our systems here.
It is possible that the power delivery
on the ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming ITX/ax
is holding us back.
But given that our performance continues to improve
by going to a bigger radiator,
it looks like thermals are the culprit.
And in any case,
it changes nothing about this machine
costing $400 more
than Corsair's own similarly equipped Vengeance a7200
while underperforming
compared to what the hardware is capable of.
I mean, we poked at some ideas to fix the One a200.
We updated the bios.
We tried undervolting with 1usmus tool,
which resulted in hard crashes.
We tried tuning the fan curve,
although that gave us some really funky behavior that
doesn't seem to be isolated to our unit.
And I mean, I don't know.
We could reapply a high quality thermal paste
or put liquid metal on it or something.
But the thing is,
this is a prebuilt.
For better, for worse
most people are not going to do any of that stuff
and it should just work out of the box.
And besides some people might not even care
about the trade-off they're making.
Maybe for you, form means more than function.
And the Corsair a200 might be worthwhile
from your perspective.
I mean, it still is a downright sexy machine
that uses standardized parts,
which allows you to upgrade it down the line
if you're so inclined.
It's just that I do think that Corsair should
revise the case in cooling design
if they're going to keep packing it with the latest
and greatest hardware going forward.
Just like I'm gonna keep packing
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So did you guys buy an a200?
I mean,
even though it's expensive,
it might just be the easiest way to get your hands
on a 5900X and a 3080.
So we understand entirely if you did just,
hey, make sure you keep it well ventilated
and let us know in the comments,
if you're running into similar issues.
If you guys liked this video,
make sure to check out "My EASIEST PC Build In Years!".
The machine looks a lot like the Corsair One
but it's not.
It's like super easy to build.