Unboxing and Accessories

I've had the Hydro XD7 for a while now; so long in fact that newer CORSAIR products with a slightly tweaked packaging design to reduce that ugly yellow presence have come along. As such, I sought to see whether it would look better on a black background, and it somehow does even worse there. I hope CORSAIR's updated packaging we saw on the K70 RGB PRO is a sign of things to come, but there's no denying that this product box is ultimately for a CORSAIR product if chanced upon in a brick and mortar store. On the front is a render of the pump/reservoir combo all lit up against a black background with the company logo, product name, and salient marketing features. This continues on the back and sides in multiple languages, with seals on either end keeping this outer sleeve in place. Peel one off and open the side flap to get to the inner box itself.


The inner box is simpler in design, but still cardboard, with the CORSAIR logo on front. Two side flaps keep the contents in place, and opening it, we see the Hydro XD7 surrounded by thick foam on the sides. There are even two pieces of foam on the inner lining of the lid, and we see more of the same to protect the integrated pump just as well. Nicely done, CORSAIR! There is some paperwork on top of the unit, including the warranty policy and a quick-start guide that is little more than a simple illustration followed by a QR code for the detailed guide (online copy here). It appears CORSAIR is stepping away from printed manuals in the box, at least for this particular product. This is a multi-language user guide that walks you through identifying the various items that come with the Hydro XD7 and how they all fit together for installation.


The other accessories are in a large plastic zip-lock bag, of which several are in their own smaller plastic bags. These include a 24-pin ATX PSU bridge to power the pump separately and fill up the loop, a G1/4" temperature sensor stop plug, ARGB extension cable/adapter for use with standard 5 V addressable RGB LED headers on your motherboard rather than a CORSAIR LED controller, four acetal G1/4" low-profile stop plugs, a plastic tool to install and remove them, and 12 M4-threaded 8 mm long screws which are no doubt for the M4-threaded holes on the XD7. Similar to the M4-threaded radiators made by Hardware Labs for CORSAIR, this is another way the Hydro XD7 follows the design language of other CORSAIR components.