Corsair Outs iCUE XH DIY Liquid Cooling Kit

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Aug 4, 2020.

  1. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    Added towards the DIY water-cooled "Hydro X" series meet the "iCUE XH" series, in which everything you need has been put together to make a nice liquid cooling loop....

    Corsair Outs iCUE XH DIY Liquid Cooling Kit
     
  2. kakiharaFRS

    kakiharaFRS Master Guru

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    a bit of info for people interested since I made my 1st custom loop last december using hydrox and have rebuilt/changed it 12 times now in 12 months lol (experimenting)
    1) you will need fittings that corsair doesn't sell, things like male-male adapters (corsair sells 2 female connectors parts and expect them to magically connect)
    2) you need to check another brand parts list and make drawings of everything you need before ordering or you will be stuck unable to install it, typical example : you want to connect 2 items, well it's not 1 fitting, there's at least 1 angle+1 fitting, if you want to make a T oh boy it becomes 3 connectors + 1 T plus probably a male-male connectors or more and that "one" fitting becomes 4-6 parts
    3) it's going to cost you more than you expect guaranteed, fittings are stupid expensive, that's where brands make their money not radiators or pumps, depending on where you live parts can be a pain to find
    4) not much point doing this for a "gaming" pc get a recent 360/280mm AIO, pretty much required for an HEDT/threadripper they basically generate +50 to +100% the watts of an oc 9900k-10900k EDIT : more like +10-100% but you get the idea just ran my 9900k oc@5.1ghz1.36v +kombustor cpu 207watts gpu 335watts PSU 700watts lol
    5) QL120 rgb fans are some of the worst static pressure fans but...they are also way more silent than bequiet or even Noctua at the same rpms (900 and above) if you want rgb look and quietness great choice if you want pure performance bad choice but all you'l lose is like 2°C not 10°C or whatever (tested with single and dual 360mm rad 9900k and 3960x threadipper)
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2020
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  3. fantaskarsef

    fantaskarsef Ancient Guru

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    ^ Very sensible post, especially important is #2 which leads to better plans for your layout and getting the right parts because #1 happens as well as #4.
    #5 is a thing, I agree, and to some extent it's up to personal preference and situation at where the PC runs as well etc.


    In regards to the OP, this is probably a good starting kit, but as soon as you do something that's a little more interesting than the very basics, you end up doing it with different parts, longer tubes, etc. so this is really only for starters, and there, with custom h2o... there's no such thing as going small :D
     
  4. Mineria

    Mineria Ancient Guru

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    I would also avoid their GPU blocks, the inlet/outlet part is flexible in such way that it is prone to leaks.
     

  5. illrigger

    illrigger Master Guru

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    I ended up buying the iCue pump/res combo a couple months back after my old one started leaking after a flush :(

    Things to know about these products:
    * Literally everything is made from nylon. This in and of itself isn't BAD, but it's not very durable, and it's really soft. In other words, it's pretty easy to cross-thread the fittings, and if you do, the whole thing becomes garbage. I also have serious doubts about the re-usability of the parts - they're fine, but I have doubts about how well they will hold up to unscrewing and re-screwing.
    * The D5 pump they include is awesome. It's BY FAR the quietest D5 out of the 4 I have had. It's dead silent to the point where I wasn't even sure it was running even at full speed. My EK Vardars at idle speeds easily block out the pump sounds.
    * The box includes a nice all-metal fan mount kit that connects horizontally or vertically to any 120 or 140 fan or fan mount point. This was why I ended up getting this pump, I was in a hurry and decent brackets are few and far between right now. This alone is worth $15-30. They also include a thermal sensor in the box, which is a $10-15 add-on.

    As far as the rest goes, this is my 3rd custom loop, and I will absolutely agree with #2 above. It's the fittings that make loops expensive, and MAN do they add up fast. In general the fittings you need will cost as much or more than any other component in your loop. The advent of distro blocks that make hose/tube routing easier only compounds the issue, as they improve convenience and looks at the cost of needing about 50% more fittings. Thankfully decent fittings have gotten a lot cheaper (EK Classic fittings cost about the same as cheap Bykski or Barrow ones now), but a minimal CPU/GPU loop is still gonna set you back nearly a hundred bucks minimum, especially once you factor in the "crap, this isn't gonna work like I thought" factor and need to order more.

    And yeah, #4 is definitely the truth as well - if you aren't looping in your GPU, then there is no benefit to doing a custom loop vs a 360 AIO. And if you are going to go through the trouble of a full GPU/CPU loop, you may as well bite the bullet and plan on getting a mobo that has a monoblock available and cooling the power components as well.

    One other thing I want to add is that while a full custom loop is definitely going to give you a lot more headroom for OCing and keep everything cooler in general, they will heat up the space your PC is in (often by quite a bit) due to the way they efficiently move the heat out of your PC. Be prepared to do something about room ventilation or the ambient temps will make life unpleasant for you, especially in the summer.
     

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