Installation and Lighting

Installing the CORSAIR XC7 RGB PRO CPU block is on the easier side of things no matter which platform you are on, and here I am demonstrating it on Intel's LGA 1700 platform, with a previous article having shown it on the older LGA 115x platforms. The included manual does detail the process for first-time users well. Begin with the placement of the backplate on the underside of the motherboard and add the spacer between the metal backplate and motherboard. With that done, line the four threaded inserts up with the cooler mounting holes around the CPU, such that all four jut in and remain in-line with the PCB on the front. Assuming you have the pre-installed thermal paste still on the cold plate, simply align the pre-installed thumb screws on the CPU block with these inserts and install the block by tightening the posts in a diagonal manner until you simply run out of thread. The process should take no more than a few minutes, and once done, be sure to connect the LED cable, using the provided adapter cable, to go to a standard D-RGB header on your motherboard as seen above, for RGB power and control alike.


The block can be also be directly connected to a CORSAIR Commander PRO or Lighting NODE PRO which in turn will automatically be recognized by CORSAIR's iCUE software suite. You will manually have to set the lighting channels to the connected Hydro XC7 RGB block and then play around with the various software and hardware profiles and associated lighting effects, of which there are several static, dynamic, and reactive effects, too. Use any spare LED channels in the controller for compatible CORSAIR hardware such as RGB fans that have a different number of LEDs compared to this 16-LED block. Other such Hydro X series components such as the Hydro XD3 pump/reservoir combo, can be daisy-chained with the XC7 RGB PRO because it has the same 16 RGB LEDs in a circular layout. If you expand the loop to include a CORSAIR GPU block, for example, you might be able to get away with both blocks and the pump/reservoir combo on the same channel, too.


Here is a look at the Hydro XC7 RGB PRO CPU block lit up by itself, first in a multi-color static mode that shows how bright it gets and how much light is spread outward and then set to all white (256/256/256 on the R/G/B channels) to test for color fidelity. There is also a video above which demonstrates the rainbow wave dynamic effect, with smooth transitions making for a light show that may be coordinated with the rest of the CORSAIR Hydro X items in your loop, as well as other iCUE-compatible RGB hardware in general.