Custom PC - UK (2020-07)

ANTONY LEATHER’S

Customised PC

Case mods, tools, techniques, water-cooling gear

andeverythingtodowithPC modding

MODDING / OPINION

C

orsair is still relatively new to
custom water cooling, but its
first Hydro X-series products,
from rigid tube fittings to waterblocks
and radiators, were a good start. I
particularly liked the pre-applied
thermal paste and pads on the
waterblocks, as well as the XD5 RGB
pump/reservoir combo unit.
It looked good, it had RGB lighting
and the pump could be controlled
using your motherboard too. Corsair

also included two adaptor plates to

mount the pump in fan mounts at

various angles. It was expensive, but

these sorts of inclusions meant you

had all the gear in a single kit. However,

the XD5 isn’t exactly small, and you’ll

struggle to fit it into cases that don’t

have plenty of clearance around fan

mounts. It’s nearly impossible to fit it

into most micro-ATX or mini-ITX cases.

However, the latest bit of kit to land in

Corsair’s Hydro X arsenal is the smaller

Hands on with

Corsair’s XD3 RGB

The XD3’s

lighting looks

superb, but

you’ll need

a Corsair

lighting

controller to

control it

A temperature

probe is included

in the box, so you

can monitor your

coolant temperature

XD3 RGB pump. It uses a small Laing

DDC pump, which is much more

compact than the D5 pump used in

larger reservoirs. This smaller pump has

enabled Corsair to create a very compact

pump/reservoir combo unit that’s small

enough to fit into space-starved cases,

and it’s very flexible when it comes to

ports and tube routing as well.

The XD3 RGB has two inlets and two

outlets. On the front plate, there’s an

inlet on the right and an outlet on the

left, and you can also use the G1/4in

ports on the sides as an inlet (right) and

outlet (left). There are further G1/4in

ports on the top and bottom, acting as

a fill port and temperature probe port