Corsair Hydro X Series Watercooling Kit Review: a Serious Custom Cooling Contender

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Published
Editor's Choice

Tom's Hardware Verdict

Corsair provides impressively competitive custom watercooling components and a new customization website to help you configure your next cooling loop. The prices of various parts can add up fast, but that's true of any custom setup.

Reasons to buy

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    Quality components

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    Competitive pricing vs. other enthusiast brands

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    Full product line allowing for complete loop build by Corsair

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    Excellent configurator

Reasons to avoid

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    Limited marketplace availability (at launch)

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    Only one pump option (at release)

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Features and Specifications

A name widely known for everything from cases and closed loop liquid cooling solutions to power supplies and memory modules, Corsair sets its three sails on yet another mission: To help consumers build custom watercooling systems emblazoned with the well-known Corsair logo that can work with various cases and other custom watercooling gear. Its Hydro X components and the Corsair system (which we first saw earlier this year at Computex) is definitely worth a look if you're planning on venturing beyond air cooling or closed-loop alternatives, and you can start your build with the Corsair Hydro X interactive and intuitive custom cooling loop configurator.

Garrett Carver
Garrett Carver
CPU Cooling Reviewer

Garrett Carver is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering thermal compound comparisons and CPU cooling reviews; both air and liquid, including multiple variations of each.

8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • AlistairAB
    $800 to get the same OC as a $60 Noctua cooler.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    "The prices of various parts can add up fast, but that's true of any custom setup."

    I must be severely misreading the price list.
    Because the list I'm reading says Corsair charges $275 for EIGHT case fans, and $175 on 14 ordinary pipe fittings.

    I must be misreading it, because there's no way something so severely overpriced should be getting any kind of official recommendation, least of all Editor's Choice.
    Or does just every high-margin product that sends Tom's free gear and an affiliate link get an editor's choice badge now?
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    AlistairAB said:
    $800 to get the same OC as a $60 Noctua cooler.

    It isn't necessarily about achieving the same result, its also about the aesthetics and hobby itself.
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    "The prices of various parts can add up fast, but that's true of any custom setup."

    I must be severely misreading the price list.
    Because the list I'm reading says Corsair charges $275 for EIGHT case fans, and $175 on 14 ordinary pipe fittings.

    Each 3x pack of ML120 Pro fans is listed as a retail price of $99.99, and we needed to use two boxes to complete the dual radiator setup. This also included using the Commander Pro RGB and fan controller. So yes, that price is correct for what is shown.

    If you have watercooled in your PC building lifetime, spending over $10 per fitting should come as no surprise to you. This has been common for many, many years. In fact, some fittings are closer to $15-$20 a piece, depending on specialty.

    I must be misreading it, because there's no way something so severely overpriced should be getting any kind of official recommendation, least of all Editor's Choice.

    The recommendation isn't due to 'price or value', it is due to the quality of components, the usefulness of the website to provide build information and the overall user-friendliness of the gear being reviewed. Also, this is the price premium of custom watercooling builds - I would expect the same price would exist if you chose EKWB, Alphacool, Swiftech and others to complete a similar build. My understanding is that you, yourself, are not one to build custom watercooling, but your outrage seems unwarranted.

    I think far too often people only see components through one lens: "what is cheap, and what is the best for being cheap?" This doesn't apply to all PC hardware, especially when it comes to enthusiast products. If your budget doesn't afford a $1200 RTX 2080Ti or a $1700 32-core Threadripper CPU, you will likely then be looking at at 2060 or even a 1660Ti. The reality is, not everyone approaches hardware with these same views, so it would seem prudent to compare and evaluate them all as such - there is a very large market for people seeking information on these kinds of parts.

    Or does just every high-margin product that sends Tom's free gear and an affiliate link get an editor's choice badge now?

    Take a look at several of my previous cooling reviews involving 'big names' and 'high margin products', and you'll see that I rarely offer a 'Recommended' stamp on components that I cover. There is no benefit to me for rating a product higher than another, so I am curious what your basis is for the prior statement?
    Reply
  • jdsim9173
    This whole setup is a bad idea, anyone whose done water cooling knows not to mix metals. Gpu block is aluminium and radiators are copper and brass, Aluminum will be very susceptible to galvanic corrosion in contact with copper, assuming that the two metals are also in contact with a common electrolyte (such as water with some ionic content.)

    Source -
    https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Galvanic_corrosion
    Corsairs own web page says do not mix their XL5 coolant with aluminium

    https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Custom-Cooling/Coolant/hydro-x-coolant/p/CX-9060001-WW#tab-tech-specs
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    Gpu block is aluminium

    No they're not. The blocks themselves are copper and nickel, only the external bits are aluminum....and those do not come into contact with the coolant. The black heatspreader is alumunim, however that never contacts water so this isn't an issue.

    The parts that DO contact water are copper and nickel. Let's try and promote facts, please.
    Reply
  • oczdude8
    Wow the website is really sleek, makes it much easier to water cool your PC. I remember it took me days to figure out and plan what I needed and where to buy the parts. That being said, im not too sure how big of a market there is for this, considering enthusiasts often like to mix and match parts/brands. The the pricing doesn't really do it any favors either.

    I'm really curious to know if they pre-bend and cut hard tubing to fit perfectly in the case. That would probably make it a much better value.
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    They do not pre-bend the hardline tubing, at least to my knowledge (nor do any other sites I've seen). There are too many factors at play, even if the specific hardware is being used as defined in the configurator, there is always the chance that they might be off 1-2mm somewhere else which could cause leaking and making them responsible for user installation.
    Reply