Corsair finally did it.

[godevskii]

Question: Didn't another company use the moniker "Hydro" in their watercooling products? I vaguely remember something like that but I can't for the life of me remember. Was it Corsair all along?

In short yes, Corsair Hxx AIOs are Hydro series since the early days (see top right corner of the box) , but there are other companies using it like EVGA and their hydro copper stuff.

Corsair’s is clearly better because it’s Hydro X.

The x maybe stands for x-treme since they already have a "simple" hydro series on AIOs.

 

[WedgeWhacko]

Price is somewhat insane....

 

[Alaric]

Price is somewhat insane....

But not very surprising. Corsair=Big Name In The Business + Senior Staff from a Big Name In The Business should result in a quality offering and commensurate price structure. Should. We'll see how that logic plays out in reviews.

 

[Robert17]

I've seen a number of posts over the years saying EK and other custom loop houses have superior fittings. Just to be clear, they charge 5X the price for the same exact fittings (industry spec, I know as I have been dealing with the manufacturers of them for years) as you would pay at Home Depot or such. That Corsair would do the same isn't surprising. There isn't much that is unique outside the blocks which must all be engineered, some to a better form, fit and function. Otherwise, a pump is a pump, a tube is a tube, a radiator is a shrunken Ford Motor company part (somewhat improved) from 1910.

I had issues with the first iteration of Corsair Link, but they patched their software (seems some other companies do that a lot) and had no issues afterwards. Not a fan boi, but they haven't been as innovative as some, have marketed better than many, and sell as much or more than most. Just sayin'.

 

[WedgeWhacko]

I must say it looks pretty damn nice with all the Bling, but for me I'll just stick with being bland.
I'll wait for OC to put it through the ringer.
Is the block anything special? from the initial configurator it doesn't appear to be anything that just jumps out XC7 RGB pretty much is a basic block, it serves a purpose but if nobody sees the L.E.D.s what's the point.

 

[Alaric]

they charge 5X the price for the same exact fittings (industry spec,

Everybody can have the same specs and produce vastly superior or inferior parts. Manufacturing tolerances under spec tolerances, better materials, etc..

 

[Robert17]

Everybody can have the same specs and produce vastly superior or inferior parts. Manufacturing tolerances under spec tolerances, better materials, etc..

With all due respect, which is considerable, no, not really. The specs for the different alloys of copper are what they are, the tolerances on the elements are to the 2nd decimal place in % content. The tolerances for the form are to the 3rd decimal place in actual inches or millimeters. Plating is to the 4th decimal place. Form, fit, function. When a distributor or OEM asks a factory for a non-standard product there is a lot of work involved to create it and it's related components. Been there, done that over a thousand times. The pixie dust of plating a product chrome instead of nickel is no big deal but looks pretty cool and depending on environment of end use, one or the other is preferred.

Had an engineer in Austin ask for a product years ago that was spec'd to within the 3rd decimal place of a normally available product, off the shelf, for $2.50/hundred. His request would require QC measuring of every part coming off the Brown & Sharpe. The price, $80.00/hundred; all we had to do was turn down the end of a simple Allen head screw, shaving off 3/1000th of an inch. He decided that he'd over-engineered the part and took the cheaper, off-the-shelf parts. He hadn't read the standard specs.

This happens a lot. I had a mechanical engineering student working for me years ago. I asked him during his junior year if he had to study fastener design in any of his courses. He told me that there was one chapter in one course that was covered in one week, total. Years later I asked the same question of a mechanical engineer schooled in Germany (he'd come to the US with an Air Force cross-training unit and fell in love, etc., stayed, became a citizen) and lived next door to me. He said that they had an entire course in fasteners alone, ran the whole semester and was a requirement for a mechanical engineering degree. Fittings, tubing, clamping, welding, electrical, all of it. There's specs if you care to learn them, otherwise it's just hacking together parts.

 

[Alaric]

Didn't know there was a metallurgical spec they were adhering to. Nice!

Brown & Sharpe

That's some nice gear, right there.

With the current state of manufacturing in Asia I was (not clearly) alluding to the quality control and production tolerances we've come to know and love from places like China. The threads may be the same pitch on the fasteners, but I wouldn't trust my life or safety to a Chinese bolt for...well...all the tea in China, and the quailty of Chinese metal casting is generally, if not mostly, garbage. Also, the couple Bitspower rotary fittings I've handled were very tight, while a couple others were noticeably looser/easier to reorient so I figured Bitspower just stayed farther inside spec than the competition. Production tolerances can stack up during the manufacturing process, too. My usual analogies are engine building so I'll toss in that example without dwelling on it.

Anyway, I should have stated more clearly that I was referring more to manufacturers adhering to specs more or less stringently depending on various factors.


edit: BTW, how are you liking the new house? I'm not an envious person but that property may have given the green monster a little poke!

 

[Robert17]

Asian manufacturing certainly still has some issues. But, like you, I was more alluding to American manufacturing, some European as well, which is still at the top end of quality. This is what I look for first in purchasing virtually anything. Unfortunately electronics isn't as often made here anymore but the factories overseas that are located in Asia have definitely upped their game, thus their predominance in the marketplace.

Professional buyers rate their criteria for purchasing semi-annually and the data is published in a purchasing trade journal. Of a dozen or so criteria, quality and availability are always trading blows for first and second place. Price seldom leaves third place, and never in the top two places. So the pattern has been for over 25 years.

I haven't initiated any professional work for the past week. I've replied to calls, emails, etc., but basically have taken the week off. The green briars got to me. We have had a busy 14 months living here clearing the brush which includes green briars. The best way (I've studied it in the past year) is to dig up the tubers which eliminates the stored energy. Although the soil is very good sandy loam, I have 130 lbs. of tubers to dispose of in just the past three weekends. And when they're wrapped around tree roots which I don't want to damage it's quite the demanding task. A couple of them weighed over twenty pounds. Water heater blew up a couple of weeks ago. But I hired plumbers to handle it as I don't have a pick up truck anymore (gave it to my son a couple of years ago; bummer). Otherwise, the past 14 months have seen tremendous improvements (my completed task list is 4 pages, single spaced) and we're loving it out here. Very quiet living (we live on a Farm to Market road, about 3-1/2 miles between the north and south FMs we connect to and there are only twelve residences/ranches on our stretch), local towns are becoming familiar, not missing the city at all. Getting pretty close to starting my deck cover. Need to trim the sheet metal to size, buy the lumber and connectors. Garden is in: tomatoes, yellow squash, peppers, onions, cilantro, cucumbers and watermelon. Routines are coming into play. I highly recommend it to one and all.