Corsair HydroX products are damn good.

[sblantipodi]

As title.
I just want to share my experience with Corsair's HydroX products.

They are damn good.

Radiators are made by HardwareLabs and fittings by BitsPower so two of the best in class in their segment.
Pumps uses the well known D5.
Fans are better than what most people say.

This are the components:

• Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB.
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D.
• GPU: MSI SuprimX RTX4090.
• Mobo: MSI X670E ACE.
• RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x16B @ 6000/C30.
• PUMP: Corsair Hydro X XD5 Elite LCD.
• CPU waterblock: Corsair Hydro X XC7 Elite LCD.
• GPU waterblock: Corsair Hydro X XG7 RGB.
• 2x Corsair XR5 Neo 360mm x 30mm radiator.
• 1x Corsair XR7 360mm X 55mm radiator.
• Fittings: Corsair Hydro X fittings.
• Tubes: Corsair Hydro X Series XT Softline.
• Coolant: Corsair XL5 clear.
• PSU: Corsair HX1200i digital 1200W (2024 version).
• Headphones: Corsair Virtuoso XT.
• Fans: 10x Corsair QX120.
• Hub: Corsair ICUE Link System Hub, Lightning Node Pro.
• Ambilight: Luciferin + official PCB.

for a whopping of 700W of power that needs to be dissipated by radiators/fans.

When the PC is in full load my RTX4090 needs 520W, CPU needs 150W, pumpo 30W more or less.
GPU card never goes over 60°C with a TAMB of 28°C and the fans spinning at 1200RPM.

Please note that Corsair QX120 fans are much much much quiter than other fans when spinning at the same RPM even if they are not the best for airflow/CFM and static pressure.

At 1200RPM this fans are not audible and when the PC is not in full loads (or with a lower TAMB) they spins at even lower RPM.

Here a video that shows how well those fans move air through radiators, even the tick 55mm one at only 1000RPM.

But the poin is...
Will you really see any noticeable differences in a fan that produces 30CFM and one that produces 27 CFM?
no, you will not.

If you want the absolute bests there is probably something better and it will require you much more time and effort to build the system.
If you are fine with "one of the best" components that watercooling can offer, with a very easy to use ecosystem, that simply works Corsair products are a good alternatives to look into.

I know that there are a lot of people that hates iCue but be real, internet is full of haters for no reasons.

No one forces you to use iCue if you don't want to because this components has an hardware memory that stores your preferences but if I need to be sincere, I love icue and it works great here.

Leave alone the fact that Corsair customer care is simply the best one you can find now.

Just my two cents on this.

 

[Ruru]

I don't even want to think about the price premium vs. comparable products from other manufacturers. I'm fine with Alphacool and (older) EK stuff myself.

 

[sblantipodi]

I don't even want to think about the price premium vs. comparable products from other manufacturers. I'm fine with Alphacool and (older) EK stuff myself.

hardwarelabs and bitspower components are not way cheaper, price is the same more or less but you don't have the Corsair's premium customer care.

 

[Brotato]

thoughts on the gpu block? Does it require the iCue link hub or commander for anything aside from RGB?
Good tolerances? Not a pain in the ass to install?

 

[N/A]

Do you really need a triple 360mm. 4090 suprim is 240mm, 4090 matrix 360 only..

 

[phanbuey]

Do you really need a triple 360mm. 4090 suprim is 240mm, 4090 matrix 360 only..

You do if it's in the same loop, otherwise the CPU cooling goes to crap. Separate loops you can get away with 240mm+ for gpu and 280/360+ for cpu. Cpus are so sensitive to water temp since they're kind of crap at moving heat to the block.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Supposedly. Corsair snapped up one or two high profile individuals from EK a few years back. So what you are experiencing could be the end result of that.

Not always been plain sailing for Corsair though. They went through a bit of a scandal in 2020 with leaky waterblocks but they've probably recovered from that.

 

[N/A]

Cpus are so sensitive to water temp since they're kind of crap at moving heat to the block.

CPU is being fed hot water coming from the GPU. Edit. i was wrong about that.

 

[ir_cow]

CPU is being fed hot water coming from the GPU. Edit. i was wrong about that.

Doesn't matter the direction of the loop. water moves so fast its like 1-3c difference at max load.

 

[sblantipodi]

thoughts on the gpu block? Does it require the iCue link hub or commander for anything aside from RGB?
Good tolerances? Not a pain in the ass to install?

It's not the best looking one but it does what is meant to very good.
Performances are good, very easy to install , RGB can be controlled by icue link or by a standard RGB connector.

Do you really need a triple 360mm. 4090 suprim is 240mm, 4090 matrix 360 only..

Do I need it? No.
Do I like it? Yes.

Doesn't matter the direction of the loop. water moves so fast its like 1-3c difference at max load.

I confirm that the hottest part of the loop is 3°C more than the coldest one.

Custom loop can't do miracles on modern CPUs unfortunately but it doesn't throttle, and this is enough.

 

[phanbuey]

It's not the best looking one but it does what is meant to very good.
Performances are good, very easy to install , RGB can be controlled by icue link or by a standard RGB connector.

Do I need it? No.
Do I like it? Yes.



I confirm that the hottest part of the loop is 3°C more than the coldest one.

Custom loop can't do miracles on modern CPUs unfortunately but it doesn't throttle, and this is enough.

Do you have your fans ramp based on water temp? Does the corsair software allow for that fairly easily or did you have to do something special for the temp sensors?

 

[sblantipodi]

Do you have your fans ramp based on water temp? Does the corsair software allow for that fairly easily or did you have to do something special for the temp sensors?

Yes, I set that fans must rump up from 800rpm to 1200rpm based on coolant temp.
I have set that coolant temp must stay below 44°C and fans does it to achieve this with minimal noise.

iCue is very powerful on this, you have infinite options.
You can ramp fans based on various sensors if you prefer, set alarms, turn on some rgbs based on the temperatures, shows temperatures/rpm on the water block/pump LCDs etc.

The things I like is that you can store this preferences in the internal memory of the components, in this way, your preferences will work even when icue is not running, for example when you run Linux, or when you are in the bios with no OS running.

 

[phanbuey]

The things I like is that you can store this preferences in the internal memory of the components, in this way, your preferences will work even when icue is not running, for example when you run Linux, or when you are in the bios with no OS running.

That's actually amazing. Running fans based on CPU temp these days in era of "94C is fine bro" is not ideal - i see so many custom loops doing tho.

 

[Toothless]

It's all fun and games until icue decides to off itself until reinstalled.

 

[A Computer Guy]

As title.
I just want to share my experience with Corsair's HydroX products.

View attachment 362632

They are damn good.

Radiators are made by HardwareLabs and fittings by BitsPower so two of the best in class in their segment.
Pumps uses the well known D5.
Fans are better than what most people say.

This are the components:

• Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB.
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D.
• GPU: MSI SuprimX RTX4090.
• Mobo: MSI X670E ACE.
• RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x16B @ 6000/C30.
• PUMP: Corsair Hydro X XD5 Elite LCD.
• CPU waterblock: Corsair Hydro X XC7 Elite LCD.
• GPU waterblock: Corsair Hydro X XG7 RGB.
• 2x Corsair XR5 Neo 360mm x 30mm radiator.
• 1x Corsair XR7 360mm X 55mm radiator.
• Fittings: Corsair Hydro X fittings.
• Tubes: Corsair Hydro X Series XT Softline.
• Coolant: Corsair XL5 clear.
• PSU: Corsair HX1200i digital 1200W (2024 version).
• Headphones: Corsair Virtuoso XT.
• Fans: 10x Corsair QX120.
• Hub: Corsair ICUE Link System Hub, Lightning Node Pro.
• Ambilight: Luciferin + official PCB.

for a whopping of 700W of power that needs to be dissipated by radiators/fans.

When the PC is in full load my RTX4090 needs 520W, CPU needs 150W, pumpo 30W more or less.
GPU card never goes over 60°C with a TAMB of 28°C and the fans spinning at 1200RPM.

Please note that Corsair QX120 fans are much much much quiter than other fans when spinning at the same RPM even if they are not the best for airflow/CFM and static pressure.

I've been using Corsair LL fans for my rig for years. Not the best but it's worked well enough despite not having a fully sealed surface where air can escape instead of going through the rad.

At 1200RPM this fans are not audible and when the PC is not in full loads (or with a lower TAMB) they spins at even lower RPM.

Here a video that shows how well those fans move air through radiators, even the tick 55mm one at only 1000RPM.

But the poin is...
Will you really see any noticeable differences in a fan that produces 30CFM and one that produces 27 CFM?
no, you will not.

If you want the absolute bests there is probably something better and it will require you much more time and effort to build the system.
If you are fine with "one of the best" components that watercooling can offer, with a very easy to use ecosystem, that simply works Corsair products are a good alternatives to look into.

I know that there are a lot of people that hates iCue but be real, internet is full of haters for no reasons.

iCue at one time was messing with Ryzen boost behavior.

No one forces you to use iCue if you don't want to because this components has an hardware memory that stores your preferences but if I need to be sincere, I love icue and it works great here.

The old commander pro was good at remembering hardware settings and I still use that in my main rig and I can shutdown iCue RGB and fan curves still work. I don't think the newer one works as well as I have to start iCue to apply fan profiles in my gaming PC and it sucks they removed 2 temp sensors (down from 4).

Leave alone the fact that Corsair customer care is simply the best one you can find now.

Just my two cents on this.

It seems they really have put the most R&D into their RGB offerings but at the expense of fan performance. If I recall properly after the LL series the better RGB fan options had generally worse fan performance. I'd have to go back and look at reviews to be sure.

 

[sblantipodi]

I've been u

I've been using Corsair LL fans for my rig for years. Not the best but it's worked well enough despite not having a fully sealed surface where air can escape instead of going through the rad.

Agreed, I used LL fans before the QX.
Newer QX and RX ones are better in that department.
There is a good review of those fans on tech power up.

Try not to jump to conclusions and read the graphs carefully.
You'll notice that at 1000RPM this fans performs 10/15% worse than the top performer while producing 30% less decibels.

At the same noise level this fan is pretty comparable to very good ones and sometimes even better.
To me, the most important thing is the performance/noise ratio.
I don't care who performs best at a specific rpm.

I'm not saying that this are the best fans in the market, no they are absolutely not, but they are a good option for people searching for a very good product, a very customizable environment, governed by only one software, that can work well in "hardware mode" by storing your preferences in the hardware memory without the needs of having a software that is constantly controlling them.

 

[ir_cow]

It's all fun and games until icue decides to off itself until reinstalled.

So true thats what is funny about it.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Agreed, I used LL fans before the QX.
Newer QX and RX ones are better in that department.
There is a good review of those fans on tech power up.

Try not to jump to conclusions and read the graphs carefully.
You'll notice that at 1000RPM this fans performs 10/15% worse than the top performer while producing 30% less decibels.

At the same noise level this fan is pretty comparable to very good ones and sometimes even better.
To me, the most important thing is the performance/noise ratio.
I don't care who performs best at a specific rpm.

I'm not saying that this are the best fans in the market, no they are absolutely not, but they are a good option for people searching for a very good product, a very customizable environment, governed by only one software, that can work well in "hardware mode" by storing your preferences in the hardware memory without the needs of having a software that is constantly controlling them.

I like the direction they went of simply daisy chaining the devices. It seems like they discontinued their ML series.
I take it the Corsair iCUE Link System Hub but be a lot better than the Commander XT?
Does it remember your fan profiles if you close iCue?

 

[sblantipodi]

I like the direction they went of simply daisy chaining the devices. It seems like they discontinued their ML series.
I take it the Corsair iCUE Link System Hub but be a lot better than the Commander XT?
Does it remember your fan profiles if you close iCue?

It remembers it, yes,
fan/pump curve based on the coolant temp, it remembers even the RGB settings...

Icue link, is much better, yes.

 

[Fokker]

It's all fun and games until icue decides to off itself until reinstalled.

True story.

 

[sblantipodi]

True story.

True story for someone, I use icue since many years on various systems and it happened one time. 10 minutes needed to solve it.

What about Asus Armoury crate and similar, I would consider that software far worse than icue

 

[Ruru]

It's all fun and games until icue decides to off itself until reinstalled.

So I'm not the only one

 

[Fokker]

True story for someone, I use icue since many years on various systems and it happened one time. 10 minutes needed to solve it.

What about Asus Armoury crate and similar, I would consider that software far worse than icue

True for many. I've been using it for years and sometimes it decides to just take a dive because reasons. I still like the software overall, but it's not issue free.

Amoury Crate is garbage and Asus needs to add an option to control any built in board lighting in BIOS (only option is on/off in my experience) without having to install their software.

 

[Ruru]

Amoury Crate is garbage and Asus needs to add an option to control any built in board lighting in BIOS (only option is on/off in my experience) without having to install their software.

I use it only to show the battery level on my headphones. Which sucks since it almost always offers installing updates and other crap when I check the main software.

Luckily the RGB on my motherboard works fine without it.

 

[A Computer Guy]

I use it only to show the battery level on my headphones. Which sucks since it almost always offers installing updates and other crap when I check the main software.

Luckily the RGB on my motherboard works fine without it.

Sometimes I think back and if I hadn't gotten into RGB I could have easily bought another Optane drive.