Closer Examination

In an increasingly rare move these days, CORSAIR is bundling in an aluminium backplate. Many aftermarket cooling companies either sell them separately or rely on first-party backplates if directly compatible. There are definitely instances where people can use the stock backplate with different screws and a third-party water block, but including a supported backplate is another case of CORSAIR wanting the Hydro X series to be user-friendly first and foremost. Covering the entire back PCB, the backplate is full-length, with a pattern on top to reflect the updated design language for the brand. Turning things around, we see pre-applied thermal pads with plastic protectors that need to be peeled off prior to installation. This is because the RTX 3090 gets notoriously hot in certain use cases and any bit of added protection helps. With the RTX 3080 PCB, however, the thermal pads barely make any contact as there are no VRAM modules on the back. So the backplate is more for looks than function on the RTX 3080, also as the pre-applied thermal pads are less helpful since thicker thermal pads would work better.


We finally get to the GPU block with, once again, the CORSAIR design language. The top is polished acrylic over the cooling engine for a better look at the coolant passing through. So colored coolant would look right at home here, but CORSAIR would rather you use a clear coolant and the integrated RGB lighting instead. Another benefit of the see-through top is the ability to check for any stuck air bubbles and maneuver the system to wiggle it loose. Gone is the flow indicator wheel, though, which was a nice touch for me, but will not be missed by most. On either side of the acrylic (PMMA) top is an aluminium heatsink-style side plate that is pretty much form over function rather than any active cooling. A white CORSAIR sails logo in the bottom-right corner adds contrast to the black plate of this full-length, full-cover GPU block.


Four BSP G1/4" threaded ports are part of an acrylic extension that makes up the I/O terminal. This is the biggest change from the previous CORSAIR GPU blocks, at least as far as the target audience is concerned. There was quite a hullabaloo before about the CORSAIR Hydro XG7 not having enough screws in the I/O terminal to prevent potential coolant leaks, which I personally thought was exaggerated since I had done plenty of testing, and only in extreme scenarios with pressure externally applied on the terminal was there a leak with my samples. Regardless, and in a move that will help PR, three screws now connect the I/O terminal with the rest of the block. There remain two smaller O-rings underneath to keep coolant going in and out of the pathway only, and CORSAIR has changed the aesthetics to match the newer Dominator Platinum RGB RAM sticks. There is another CORSAIR logo here, in addition to a GEFORCE RTX writing on the side. Also seen above is how the provided stop plug and tool go into place, and the acetal stop plugs are adequate, albeit definitely a cost-savings measure compared to the usual brass plugs. Nothing wrong functionally here, and they arguably match the black on the terminal better even if they don't come off as premium as I would personally like.


Turning the block around, we see what has primarily made CORSAIR a preferred GPU block provider for many. As with the backplate, thermal pads have been pre-applied on the cold plate, so you just have to peel off the plastic protectors. Coming from the EKWB offerings where you had to identify the correct pads, measure the required lengths, cut every single segment, and apply them yourself, this is a massive quality of life improvement. The cold plate makes active contact with the GPU core, VRM, and VRAM, and is thus a full-cover block in that all the required components are cooled directly. The aluminium side plates extend past the cold plate, and we see two cables affixed to a flexible PCB that is at the bottom of the acrylic top for integrated lighting. The cables are black and employ flat, ribbon-style wiring with a 3-pin connector CORSAIR has been using for a while now, and it goes to a CORSAIR Lighting Node PRO/CORE or Commander Pro for iCUE support. You can use the provided adapter cable for more traditional 3-pin motherboard LED control instead. The other cable is for pass-through lighting, so you can use a single LED header for this GPU block as well as a CORSAIR CPU block, for example.


A plastic cover is present on the back too, with a notch on the side to remove it. Doing so exposes the pre-applied thermal paste for direct contact with the GPU core, further adding to the increasingly user-friendly installation. This also means you only get one shot at the installation, however. For my testing, I removed the applied paste and used my own to keep things uniform and allow multiple tests/mounts. Keep in mind that CORSAIR typically uses a higher-end paste on such applications, so there is no reason to apply your own. As per usual, disassembly was done after all testing was complete, and just eight Phillips head screws hold the GPU core piece in place.


There is not much else to see here, especially as the flow indicator is not included anymore. CORSAIR uses a series flow pathway with the coolant going in the block in either direction to cool the VRAM/VRMs before moving onto the core and the rest of the components before exiting. This means the GPU core does not make direct contact with the coolest-possible liquid as far as it relates to the GPU block, but in practice, the coolant flows through the entire loop fast enough to stay at a fairly steady temperature.

The removed piece is a CNC-cut microfin section that can be manufactured separately and is simply screwed in place as seen above. This is not the most elegant of approaches, nor is it necessarily leading to the best-performing layout, but it is a pretty good solution for manufacturing the volumes CORSAIR deals with in comparison to the average water-block manufacturer that uses a CNC machine to churn out fewer blocks in a unit of time. There are over 50 microfins here, and the overall area is larger than the actual die size on the RTX 3080. This makes for a GPU cooling engine that has more fins than pretty much every other block out there, definitely more than the others tested thus far.