Tubing, Fittings, and Bending Kit

It's now time to go over the remaining items of the CORSAIR Hydro XH303i PRO kit. Let's begin with the tubing. I was expecting soft tubing when I first heard CORSAIR was doing kits after all, but quickly realized these are all hardline tubing kits! We get six 1 m long PMMA (acrylic) cylindrical tubes in the "crystal clear" finish, as opposed to the satin black, white, or transparent options also available in the 14 mm OD, 10 mm ID size. These come individually packed in plastic with a clean cut on either side, and the clear finish makes for a closer look at the coolant too, in addition to any RGB lighting picked up from the various items previously covered.


Now knowing there is 14 mm hardline tubing involved, I was not surprised to see 14 mm hardline fittings. CORSAIR includes eight of its Hydro XF hardline 14 mm fittings in black, and generously threw in two 90° rotary fittings in a matching black. I expect white fittings for the white version of the kit, but the fittings had been manufactured by Bitspower for CORSAIR when the Hydro X was announced a few years ago, and a few minutes spent with these fittings confirmed they are of the excellent build quality expected of Bitspower. The locking collars are knurled for grip, the threads are all perfectly machined, and the rotary part of the angled adapters is not loose—these will not start leaking whatsoever. The internal O-ring is black; however, the external O-ring is a light luminescent green that might clash with your preferred color scheme.


These are compression fittings, and installing them is simple enough on both sides. For the tubing, the locking collar goes over the internal O-ring seal and squeezes the fitting tightly in place to where finger-tightening these will suffice. If you are unable to easily pull the fitting off the tubing, you are good to go. Installing the barb end on any component with a threaded BSP G1/4" port is trivial, and there were once again no issues of cross-threading or misaligned threads. Seen above is an example of the two types of fittings installed on the Hydro XC7 RGB PRO, as well as one of the tubing sections coming straight off the block itself.


When it comes to hardline tubing, your options are either going with more fittings and avoiding bending or using a heat gun and bending the tubing after taking careful measurements. But no matter which route you go, tube cutting will be involved. The final piece of this puzzle comes in the form of CORSAIR's Hydro XT hardline bending kit, which caters to both 12 and 14 mm OD hard tubing. It does not have any fancy packaging, at least when it comes to the banderole for aesthetics, relying instead on bare cardboard with printing on it to show what is inside. Open the box to see a handy user manual, and we then have the various items neatly inside separate foam compartments for added protection.


We get a fine-toothed hacksaw with a large grip to help cut the acrylic tubing, and the saw blade is replaceable for when it eventually wears out. Missing are a set of gloves to protect your fingers, and I recommend getting some heat resistant gloves for reasons we will soon see. There is also a deburring tool with both inward and outward-facing blades that will be useful for smoothing freshly cut tubing on the ends both inside and out, which is critical for minimizing any leaks and a good fit into the fittings.


Helping with the actual cutting is a cheap but functional cutting jig with two standoffs that go over the tubing to secure it in place. Ridges past the jig on the bottom on either side protect you if being.. passionate.. about cutting the tubing, if the hacksaw won't just fit your table or whatever other surface this jig is on. In practice, I would have liked a clamp to secure this jig to a table, but that also adds to the cost. But what's really missing is a heat gun, which is why I was recommending heat-resistant gloves if buying some in the first place. You see, CORSAIR includes a 30-cm long silicone insert that goes inside the 14 mm tubing, as well as a cutting and bending mandrel tool for bending at 45°, 90°, 135°, and 180° angles courtesy the markings. These are markings lengthwise, in 10 mm increments, and I appreciate that the mandrel is ambidextrous for exactly the same functionality regardless of whether you are left or right-handed. What you would need now is a heat gun, ideally 2000 W or higher with multiple heating levels and a temperature indicator, to then carefully go over the tubing that has the silicone insert inside. Then use the heat-resistant gloves you bought along with the heat gun to carefully bend the tubing exactly at the points you marked. Measure twice, and cut and bend once! It's no Eiskoffer Professional, but will do the job as part of a kit.