I agree, personally I was never a fan of corsair stuff specially their fans. Too expensive and cheap quality. I get top of the line Noctua products for the same price. I only use corsair ram which until ddr4 is great (haven't tried their ddr5 yet). Although my T-force kit can get an extra 200 mhz when overclocked. Der Bauer made a nice video comparing water blocks and Corsair / EK while being the most expensive had by far the worst performance. It's actually very educational, if anyone reading this is on the market for blocks go and watch it, it's one of the more recent ones he made.
Woodworkers use a system called "biscuits" to join two pieces of wood together. They look kind of like guitar picks, made of wood and you place a specially shaped hole in the two pieces of wood, glue the "biscuit" and join the two pieces with the biscuit. This sounds like where the name comes from.
Another problem is when you put these new QX fans on a radiator. The QX cable connects by pushing strait into (180 degrees) the fans using out of the box cables. That takes up space on both sides of the rad. So if you use smaller cases (Lian Li mini in my case) and put in a 360 rad, it will NOT fit. Those QX cables take up a couple of inches and will hit the case wall not allowing the rad to fit. You may be able to get around this by ordering those QX cables (black) with the 90 degrees connects. Another problem was on a RAD where the water fittings come out. You may not be able to connect the cables to the QX fans. It is real real tight. So chaining the fans may not work. Also, buy the 4 way splitter extension with an extra short QX cable and a couple of those QX cable with the 90 degree connects. You will probably need it.
ya its a real problem but I feel itll end up more of an early adopter problem. the out of the box cable is wayyyyy too big. i have it crammed in the corner of my case going from the rear exhaust to the top, and i almost guarantee itll fail over time because of the kink in it
I got a 3 pack of corsair fans that came with the magnetic hub to go in my corsair airflow case. 1: Magnetic hub is pointless in that full aluminium case 2: two of my fans stopped working after 3 months IMO they put all the money into IQ link and then chucked in a load of cheap parts at a max price. I am now running B-quiet fans that cost a bit less and have much better performance the hub is also magnetic, but they do give you a sticky back steel backplate for that reason.
Technically with the usb port, using on on row does leave you space to use the other row which would be the other port, so might be a cost save, but might also be a convenience since it leaves a port open for another single row header / device.
I was pretty much going to day the same thing. I have had times were only having one row instead of 2 rows saved me from having to use an internal USB hub. In the situations where I could plug 2 devices into the same port since each one only used one USB connection row.
I had a similar situation where a motherboard my friend has had one internal 2.0 Header that was occupied by his case usb port but it only had one 2.0 and two 3.0 so when he asked me to install wifi and Bluetooth I needed another internal usb 2.0 header. One quick google search later I had de-pinned the header on the Bluetooth card and fit it into the other electrical usb that was going un-unused. It’s just better for consumers imo every device that relies on one port should leave the other one empty!
@@Dexx1s but then I'd have to cram a Commander unit somewhere in my ITX case. being able to just plug my Farbwerk and Octo into a single USB2 header bypasses the need for yet another thing that needs to fit somewhere in the case.
I love the idea of the Link cables, but OMG that price is just nuts. Corsair priced themselves out of the usual user and placed this in the enthusiast arena.
It's a good step in the right direction. You can clearly see they're trying to bring custom loops to the market of people who are on the edge of taking that plunge. It's incredibly expensive. Speaking as someone who has 10 corsair fans in their system, the amount of wires routed in my case is insane. It's a mess at the best of times and I single-handedly kept a zip tie seller in business for another year. The more makers move towards these types of solutions and the more competition there is in the space, the better.
I'm running 12 in mine and it was a pain routing all of the cables. But I built mine and 2 months later they announced the link system. And I can't bring myself to spend another 2-400 to change over
I feel you, when the 1000D released, I built one with a custom loop and 16 LL fans. It was such a pain between the corsair commanders, cable extensions, nodes and hubs.
@@manfredgooden5110 right? omg, when you're at the point when you need MULTIPLE commanders for all your fans... even in the 1000D with it's special "closet" in the back to hide all your wires, it was to the point i was having trouble closing it... so it's definitely moving in the right direction... but we need them to take an actual STEP, not just shuffle a bit closer.
The usb connector isnt a "cheap" move, its actually a good thought out move. Its so you can use the other half of the usb, it should be the standard for it to be that way if something is not using all the pins. I hate needing to repin a double for two devices.
biscuit connector is actually pulling from the wood working world, there is what's called a biscuit joint where you slot the wood on each sider and add a biscuit that will go into each slot and be held in with glue. so the wood people were the first hungry ones.
yeah, my reaction to hearing "biscuit" was like "yeah it makes sense it is like a biscuit joint in woodworking because there's a thing that's pushed in on both ends" and then Jay went on about how they must have been hungry and THAT caught me offguard, I thought everyone knew this.
I always thought they called them biscuit connectors because they resemble a common woodworking joinery style... called biscuits where they attach in a very similar way.
My only complaint with the link stuff I have is that all of it should come with more cables, not including cables with the single fan packs and only including 1 or 2 cables with the multi packs and some hydro x stuff is outrageous especially with how the cables are priced! Other than that I’ve loved it, looks great and performs great, I have 4 qx120 fans, xc7 (non lcd, so it is link) link block, and xd5 link pump
I agree @@guillaumejoop6437 . This absolutely by design. These products are made to get every dollar possible out of the consumer, but not in a "positive way" just in a covertly scummy way. Plastic stuuf at 200$ a pop.
They seem to be pretty quiet, not as much as something like a noctua or higher end fan, but I run mine up to 1700rpm on radiators and they are just a low hum, and provide plenty of cooling for what I need, and look great. @@Bluelagoonstudios
Yeah it's brutal, I didn't even realize I needed extra cables until I got everything, had to wait another few days because I needed a splitter and 2 more cables, 50$ fan that doesn't come with a cable what am I supposed to do with that lol@@guillaumejoop6437
I remember everyone including Jay was sponsored for the new Link connectors but regular buyers dropped interest when they were finally revealed and ended up being extremely overpriced and proprietary
$50 for a single fan that has some gimmicky useless temp sensor that noone in their right mind would give two sh*ts about, probably performs average, looks worse than cheaper alternatives and doesn't offer something useful that other cheaper fans don't already have. Wow, I can daisychain fans! Just like I could with Thermaltake, Phanteks and Lianli to say the least, most of which are outright better looking fans than these. They've lost their mind, but then again, they're also listed on the stock exchange and need that moneyyyyyyy.
@@litguru4748 I literally bought 10x 10k Ohm temp sensors for my PC a few days ago. Cost me a bit shy of $2. AND I get to place them where ever the F I want.
i know Jay has bills to pay and people to pay as well, but maybe go a bit lighter on the ads for a corsair product next time. I haven't bought any corsair products in ~a year. got tired of the rats nest and the price per fan being just...stupid. idc how "proprietary" it is.
gotta keep lining those pockets of the ancients who (most likely) are their shareholders lol. bet none of them even know a thing about corsair to begin with.@@litguru4748
I built my new rig with these fans. 11 total. 3 on the top radiator, 3 on the side, 3 on the bottom, and 2 exhausting out the back in a Lian Li Dynamic EVO XL. Looks great and was a snap to install. No issues whatsoever once I read the instalation intructions, which I didnt do at first LOL
From an electrical stand point I would not suggest to pass through or daisy chain the power connectors and that might be the reason why they didn't do it for all of the accessories. As you connect more devices the first cable in the chain will have an increased load and warm up after time, especially with the pumps it might go over the cables current rating and reduce efficiency and could even burn a connector or cable after time. At least have case fans and pump on separate supplies.
About the 'biscuit connections'. It is visually very similar to the 'biscuit joints' in contemporary wood working. So I strongly suspect that is where the naming comes from rather than food.
I bit the bullet and got the fans, XC7, and XD5 a few weeks ago. Its my first custom loop, so I wanted things to as smooth as possible. Love the easy cable management, but it definitely came at a cost. So far no complaints. My Alphacool GPU block is what’s giving me the most trouble.
Strange, it was my xc7 was giving me the most trouble - it restricts the flow to a trickle. I swapped it out for an alphacool core 1 cpu block and it was night and day. The corsair stuff is insubstantial and won't last.
The USB connector is a good idea, not being cheap, but to allow when you have only one side of a USB header used on motherboard, and you don't want to waste two effective USB slots with one device. I setup just last week my new AIO and the Controller both had the two deep keyed USB headers, however I spliced the two into one to preserve one header spare on the MB. I wish actually I knew of this model as I would of used it, the time to cable tidy I spent was mostly for stupid fans.
I wish I could say I was surprised by how awful that GPU block is, but let's face it: it's Corsair. They sell low-end & mid-range products at high-end prices to consumers who don't know better. That's their entire business model.
Yup, I do have a few Corsair products in my loop but that’s because I got a xd5 for $60 used and xc7 for $35 used so it was totally worth it for the price. I would not pay what they’re looking for new.
yep corsair and cooler master is what i avoid. i dont like these proprietary set ups. Just daisy chain PWM and ARGB on the mobo connector and be done with it.
Never had their PSU, Keyboard, RAM, Headset or fans fail though. When my H110i completely dried up, RMA was also a breeze, but had to be done again a year and a half later, the reason I'm aircooling now.
I would like to see a build with the current release of Hydro-X. And if Corsair does make a newer revision to this setup, a build for that. The idea seems like it is a great one, but it also seems like not a whole lot of time was spent on building mock ups to eliminate wire clutter.
After buying the iCue Link system, they need to include 90 degree cables in it FULL STOP. I had to fight so hard to get the iH170, the three 140's in the front and the one 140 in the back to connect due to the cable coming straight out and the Lan Cool III being very tight in space given what I was cramming in it. (like my motherboard has pressure on it because I was short a few mm to make the iH170 and the other seven fans fit correctly). In all honesty, after my experience, I am going to want nothing but 90 degree cables except for the ends coming off the hub. Even my three 120s on the bottom need the 90 degree cable because the original cable wouldn't allow the 360mm fan plate to sit at it's left most position. (I know I know, 1st world problems!) Another thing to note is I can't stand that I'm not allowed to rename the order of my fans in iCue. I can move them around in the mural setting to the correct order but that was a pain and when I finally was done doing that, iCue updated to a new way to identify where each fan is in your system but the colors are so close together that it was very hard to tell and almost useless. Still useful but not as much as it could be!
here in Scotland having worked as a kitchen fitter, we would use jointing biscuits to join the worktops and give them strength as usually it was a corner joint. so biscuit connection is quite an accurate codename.
I think it'll look pretty goofy having those big cables running through the system, but that depends on how well they can be hidden. It's basically a full blown USB cable running across my motherboard. I'll hold my judgement until I see a build using all LINK components though. I love the technology and overall design (except the GPU block) and look forward to seeing this technology evolve.
The reason why people want an open hardware is that, when Corsair abandons this product line, and they will abandon this product line for the next shiny fad, these products can still be continued to be used!!! How many times have we seen this happen with Corsair alone? Open hardware standards make investing in the ecosystem a safer bet.
And as I mentioned in another comment, there's not even the excuse he provided. I2C is standard, and the standard for documentation to sharing I2C commands and registers is open. The fact that Corsair refuses to share that (I've emailed and asked) shows they have no intent to make this usable, and zero care about what happens when they inevitably kill it.
The GPU block looks horrendous. I do like the display on the CPU block, though. It's one of those features AIOs had over custom WC. However, I wish they would've increased the height of the CPU block or something, so that the cable header disappears within it and only the cable itself would be visible. I don't know, I hate it that every company has their own software suit, and all of them are incompatible to one another. Would be nice to see Jay's opinion on the recent Alphacool blocks and their upcoming Apex Metal Fans.
Not surprising that they managed to mess it up. The problem with all these different connectors just makes it all the more reason why i stick with fans that have 0 RGB. Any system i build i do not use RGB for this very reason. Even some of the best thought out implementations still have their own issues.
@ShimejiiGaming Could it be that Corsair doesn't want to force consumers to purchase the new wiring "link" system? And that could be why they didn't make everything compatible? Something is telling me it could be this way because they don't want to force feed a new system to gamers and then get blowback... but that's the excuse I'd come up with (For the cooling system not having the new connectors). Is my reasoning sound?
@@j.a.velarde5901compatible with what and how? Their old stuff? Other Brand's stuff? Like what jay said and have pass true for all the devices? I don't understand what your upset about tbh. And let's not even get started on the horrendous software side of controlling this crap. Also would you rather them use Lian li's connector? They could do it illegally and get sued or beg for rights and then theirs will be really expensive (even more so) to cover that cost. So I'm not quite understanding what the issue is. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Like RGB and want less wires? Buy it. It's really that simple. I don't see many alternatives as coherent and spread across so many different parts. Personally I'm with OP no RGB. My PC is red and black. Fans just have red LEDs. Very simple. Just can't change colors but whatever.
The corsair icue link system is not cheap but people will pay more to eliminate cable clutter/difficult cable management and I can respect that. If I am right now building a new pc with rgb, I'll definitely go for the icue link ecosystem. Not only I'll end up paying a premium but my time is also worth something and saving hours on cable management is a big deal. You're already paying a big amount for the components, you might as shell out a bit more for the icue link.
@@craig9365 I also prefer no rgb. I'm a stickler for saving money on lighting and I want to create less heat, even if the difference is minimal. - Do you have a brand name for non-rgb fans you want to suggest? ---- In regards to the above: I meant that the cooling system parts, like the water tank and the cpu coolers, dont have the "link" connector plug.
@ahmedhamdan2009 If you're spending hours on cable management, you're the kind of sucker they're looking for. I'd rather get a case that allows better cable management than be an overpriced brand slave because I'm incompetent and lazy
I remember the original video when they first announced the central hub. I'm not surprised by the dead ends: the power draw on the AIO in the first video didn't allow enough power to the other fan(s). It's a good step and they are moving in the right direction. I'm just not sure I'd be purchasing their content right now for my next build partly because this may be my last one and I'm looking to go out on top if possible.
I agree, I am very disappointed that there is no pass through the corsair link devices. When they showed off the fans being daisy chained with magnets I was fully expecting the devices to have a daisy chain. So you could go to reservoir to rad fans or something.
I actually like that it's not a keyed USB internal connection because sometimes I don't have enough full "keyed" USB headers and a lot of motherboards have just the single non-keyed header for that exact reason 🙂.
In my Corsair XD5 RGB pump/res combo, the top of the res does not come off so it is impossible to clean the inside of it. This new XD5 RGB Elite looks like the top comes off, I can see x4 Philips screw heads so I'm assuming it comes off, if so this is a grand positive. Not a fan of the GPU water block, it reminds me of a cheap water block for the 90's so lame. Corsair what were you thinking, not making the blocks and pump/res combo daisychainable. I know, force us to spend more money on a four-way splitter box, shame on you.
I don't see why the wires have to be so think when you can get very thin CAT6E cables that handle high speed data and voltage. Do the Corsair cables actually need that much shielding?
I was thinking about the metal components in the water block being in contact with water. Even after being submerged in water, this curious sand stays dry. To produce magic sand, companies start with standard sand, and silicon dioxide, and then add a very thin layer of a chemical called trimethylhydroxysilane. This coating makes the sand hydrophobic, or water-repellent. Is it possible to extend the life of the pump block with trimethylhydroxysilane?
Cooler Master came close to having a nice non-proprietary argb system with their Gen2 devices as they use the standard 3-pin 5v connector, but they don't have the nice quick connect feature for linking fans together without the cable mess. But even so, it's still proprietary because only linked CM gen2 argb devices work together with the special gen2 controller.
11:10 in an older corsair elite, I have the usb connector with the full 9 pin (4 conductor) and my motherboard only has one usb2 header, so it blocks me from having other peripherals (commander core anyone?) Without a splitter or rewiring them. Now an internal usb hub works for normal operation, except firmware updates fail unless it's plugged into the header directly. So I think the thin connector is a nice compromise for the real issue of usb2
Thanks for the Hydro X review! As an early adapter of the link hub with the RGB Fans and AIO, I was planning to build my 1st water cool system with the Hydro X ecosystem! But as I watch your video, I'm kind of shocked how poorly though out those are! In turn, I'm going to wait for Rev 2.0
Jay: Corsair couldn't make something open source because this is a new thing and these types of cables & links didn't *exist* yet But Corsair could have just created the open standard themselves, duh! Instead we know if we choose these products we'll be 100% locked into Corsair's hyper-Xpensive ecosystem until the bitter end. If they made decent fans it might not be the worst thing ever, but they make some of the absolute worst fans out there Proprietary hardware/connectors/cables/adapters = bad Proprietary and *required* software often = bad too
And even if they just did what *every other I2C manufacture* does, it would still be more than sufficient. There's a standard for documenting devices that use the I2C standard. Corsair likely even uses that standard internally. It would be a 0 effort problem to simply publish that document. The refusal to do so is the smoking gun.
Jay has always been my favorite tech guy for learning practical applications. Steve has always been my fav for seeing how practicable those applications really are pushed to the absolute thermal limits.
I think missed the point those are endpoint connections so the water block would sit in front or near a rad with fans so the block would connect to that fan the chained to rest fan, same goes the water reservoir, it’s a stop/end of connection. If you have the I’ll fans connected at from of the case then your reservoir
I don't hate the size of the cable as much as the size of the connector. If they would just make the shroud hide that part the CPU blocks would look much better. There's no saving the GPU block.
Biscuit connector probably comes from the woodworking joinery method. Dowels have been used for centuries, & lately they have been using biscuit joints.
I bet Lian Li sues them like they did Phanteks. I just spec'd out an entire build using only Corsair parts. They don't make certain things so in my cart is liquid cooling parts, case, RAM, fans, PSU, mouse, keyboard, headset, ect. It was $3490! I still need a motherboard, processor, and graphics card!!! They are proud of their stuff.
I actually went and bought the starter fan kit and 3 separate fans for my upcoming water cooling build. It sucks the PCIE cable to power is only 7 3/4 inch long. Corsair said they would not entertain making a longer PCIE cable either. I guess Corsair think builders are going to place the link at the very bottom close to the PSU? Builders are going to place higher up in the case. Another grip is the cables to connect to the link isn't long enough.
Wife said the GPU block looks like a camera...I have the first gen of Hydro X stuff, except for the GPU blocks because they are for Founders, and I like it, they look good. Nothing WOW, but looks good. Works too lol That GPU block is just like the NZXT GPU/CLC multi GPU block but uglier
Jay, you're wrong when you say an open standard requires that something exists first. The only thing necessary for something to be open is that it be made open. If Corsair wanted, they could provide all the interoperability info for their connectors and provide perpetual free licenses to manufacture compatible cables and connectors (to prevent patent lawsuits). They don't want to because they don't want an open ecosystem. If you buy a Corsair fan, they want to make sure you can only connect it to other Corsair fans or hubs. While using an open source (or open hardware technically) connector wouldn't for instance currently eliminate the need for their hub due to motherboards not having a compatible connector, in the future that could change. Also Jay you're missing the point of that USB header only having 4 pins instead of the normal 9 pin connector. A USB header is technically two USB plugs in one. Each row is it's own USB connection. By using that 4 pin connector you can connect two of them to a single header. In your example where you complained if you needed to connect 3 you would be out of headers, no you wouldn't because you can connect 4 of them to the two headers.
The pass through is a miss on the cooler components along with the fam connections integrated in to the new case. Why are we running fan cables at all if we have connections that could be there in the case?
I rebuilt my partner's PC recently. Part of the reason was to replace the 10 Cooler Master Halo fans with Corsair QX fans. Expensive yes, but they work better, look amazing & it is so nice to reduce the 20 cables to 2 to the hub & a couple of short daisy chain ones that are tucked away out of sight. I'll stick with the J2C CPU block thanks & they can absolutely keep that GPU abomination.
The Hydro-X GPU thingy at 17:00 isn't entirely universal, there is a whole bunch of 30series and 40series cards it won't go on, like all of the MSI cards.
My only 2 complaints with the link system are the cost of course and the connectors. Running a 360 rad, 360 side and single back fan in my Hyte Y60 and I had to order extra 90° connectors to make it all fit. The straight connection doesn't fit. Frankly I think they should just ditch the straight connectors and ship with all 90°. I am disappointed that there is no LCD screen yet for the link waterblock.
10:39 Even if nothing bad happens when it's plugged in wrong you know some people will be confused enough that they will return it thinking it doesn't work. Or at least support will have to deal with extra customers just because it confused a few of them.
I do understand it's a little more tricky to properly plug in the USB to the header this way but it leaves the other half free for you to do other things with. You'd otherwise lose a perfectly good USB port.
10:36 I do not agree with having it keyed. If you build a lot of systems, then I am sure you have had times where you have run out of USB 2.0 slots on your motherboard because of devices that only use half the header. So, you have open USB 2.0 front i/0 it's just taken up by nothing. If you are good with repining headers, you can pin 2 devices to one USB header so you use up all of the header vs just half, but I think that would be harder than figuring out you have the cable plugged into the header the wrong way.
So I stopped at 10:52 just to type this. Jay, they may have done that connector that way so if you have or need more than one you can use the same connector on the motherboard, or if you already have a single connector like that then you don’t have to use a different usb connector on the board for this.
I think they did the 5x1 dupont connector was so if you had 2 of their devices, you could plug them into 1 header and still have the other usb header available. i ran into this problem before when I had 2 iCue devices in my X99 build.
When testing a pump/res combo I can't be the only one to use two fittings and a hose? Fitting on pump outlet and res inlet, then a hose between. Fill it up half way and put on the power. Then you se if the pump works and lights if there is any? Am I doing it wrong? Do you need to make a whole test loop?
Great video Jay, Another thing that should be suggested to Corsair is to make a cable connector with 2 90degree connectors in both ends. In my case I found it would be easier for me to connect in one of my rads if both ends were 90 degree connectors.
I own a full Corsair set up but my next build will be all based around price to performance Corsair products are extremely overpriced as I’ve bought fans like arctic etc etc I’ve noticed your paying for nothing but the Corsair symbol
yep there fans are stupid expensive so i went with the Lian Li sl120s that not only link together but look better for a fraction of the price. they charge way to much for there fan and controller combos
@@hairychesticles1 I agree unfortunately when I built my system I was a first time builder and thought Corsair was the best and I over paid on everything when I could of saved so much money going with cheaper alternatives and spent money on the stuff that mattered like cpu ram gpu
Arctic are the best bang for buck fans out there and they have great customer service. I had a fan explode, for lack of a better term, and they UPS next day shipped me a new one no questions asked. It took 2 total days to have the new fan in my system.
So I have to ask the question; does the corsair link cable allow them to do something (for the consumer) that they couldn't have done with a standard connector, like USB? Did they make it cheaper? Considering the price on these? No. Do they deliever more power? Probably not USB C can do way way more then enough to power all of the fans in your PC. Are the smaller? Not then USB C, or PWM. Easier for users to work with? Probably not appreciably. So, aside from exist to be an extra expense that the consumer must shell out to Corsair, what do they actually do? So the way they keyed the USB 2 header actually does have one advantage. You should be able to plug two of these connectors into the same header, if you wanted too.
I am actually curious, why can't the fans be controlled/powered/etc via usb? I can think of price but for how much people seem to pay for rgb 1 dollar difference to equip everything with usb seems trivial
I currently use that Fan Control software for all of my various fan speeds (I love the ability to use a mix sensor to react from). so the big question I have for this whole Corsair Link stuff is can I still control the fan speeds through Fan Control or would it all have to be inside iCue? I feel it'd be all inside iCue and then I'd lose the ability to have a mix sensor and I'd be sad
So everything I've read is that the Link system is much more friendly to third party software compared to iCue stuff. It should be plug and play without the same USB protocols from the Commander Cores.
@@aingealanlann I think the issue comes down to the Fan Control relying on the fan headers to have something plugged in. from what I've seen, Link uses the USB header, so pretty sure Fan Control can't do anything with communicating through the USB
@quasxen2439 I don't think so at all because there was a plug-in created to use Commanders. The reason it is needed is because of the protocol specifically on the Commanders needed to be recognized because they locked it down. But other third-party apps have said that it was much easier to communicate with the new Link hub. Aida64 being an example I've seen.
I've purchased to many corsair products with problems and headaches during the RMA process. My NV7 build I used all Phantek stuff and had zero problems.
I just finished my build with the new LINK stuff (only gpu cooler not because...), and my biggest problem was that the fittings om my radiator where blocking the ports off my fans. So i had to cut off access rubber of the cable end so it could fit... i surprised me that this was the case, in RnD this should have been a problem...
So the pump was never going to be daisy chainable. It probably is a best practice to actually have it as its on dedicated channel on the hub. The corsair link still has a max device/power draw limit even if it's higher than it used to be with just icue and that cable is providing the power for the pump and the lighting which is probably about 30 watts the single channel supports 2 amp at 12 V so about 24 W. It would use almost all the power from a channel. The water blocks probably could have been made daisy chainable and should have been but the pump is less a missed opportunity and more just a limitation of the specification for better or worse.
Why is the pump not a "master hub" if you are doing full custom loop, that should be a hub device since it is a high power draw anyway. Seems like a missed opportunity as well.
Interesting products, but wow, the costs have skyrocketed. They have. I mean back when water cooling was 'new' and there were like 2 'boutique' companies making blocks and such the cost was extreme. Then it started to become popular and AIOCs were coming in, and the costs started to drop. At one time I priced out a custom loop for my AM5 system and I was at about $500...that was pump, reservoir, tube, fittings, and rad. Now? I priced one out at Corsair for a basic system and it ranged from $750 to $1500!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, I just want a basic loop because the Lian Li Galahad (2nd one, first one gunked up and was replaced under warranty) I have just doesn't seem to have the cooling capacity for that big ole Ryzen 9 7900X...I mean this beast idles at 56C with that Lian Li Cooler (and yes, I've used both the factory applied paste as well as starting over with Kingpin KPX), it's a HOT FREAKING CPU! Looked at this setup on Corsairs build it site and this setup was something like $1500!!!! I was "NOPE".
@10:59 you understand that those "extra pins" are just another USB port? This way they only occupy a single USB port and you could use another single USB port for something else!
its also probably because they couldn't fit that type of data rate in their specific connector, this is also why what Gamersnexus(despite his faults) is doing is actually a very good thing. working to create a standard for these connected computer devices that HOPEFULLY can carry full video signals at like 480x480.
So I actually just installed the XG3 as Corsair was the only company that had a gpu block for my specific 4080. Honestly. Thermals are fine for the vrms. the fan pushes way more air then I thought that it would. the "gap" between the board and the shroud aren't that noticeable horizontal due to the fittings blocking a lot of the view. the WEIRD thing though, the LEDs on the fan are SO bright that it spotlights the empty space below the card to the bottom of the case.
Used to be a huge corsair fan sadly i feel they have been falling behind other than corsair link there keyboards and mice are just outdated recently got the 5000t case was not impressed with how hard they made it to get the plate off for the side fans
Yeah. Bad decision on no pass trhrough. Just want to be able to have as few legs of cables as possible. Not creating a spider please. Also are there shorter cables? Even if you daisy chained the GPU and CPU you have a giant cable connecting them. Where do you hide that?
I would understand that CPU block has no passthrought as it is kinda small and would be ok end piece... but pump/reservoir is huge and there is no excuse for that. It would be cool however if you can build PC with all this to show how all of this will align...
Ive had Boards with Single row headers that I could use with these type of usb connector. It freed up the Standard Headers for other peripherals. If you RGB a lot those Headers tend to get filled up pretty quick.
Question about the GPU cooler, does it come with an assortment of different heat sinks and pads for the VRM or do you source them yourself? It's an interesting idea but it feels a little like this was pulled out of the bin.
the pass through i can see on all rgb things but im sure the pump and lcd screen draws quite a bit of power and the picture to the lcd could be an issue as well
That GPU cooler looks like something that should have been crossed out on the white board during product development.
imagine the stuff that was
looks like an ali express product
plus that block is way thicker than waterblocks, no backplate either
@@sopcannon glad i wasn't the only one thinking the same thing.
I agree, personally I was never a fan of corsair stuff specially their fans. Too expensive and cheap quality. I get top of the line Noctua products for the same price. I only use corsair ram which until ddr4 is great (haven't tried their ddr5 yet). Although my T-force kit can get an extra 200 mhz when overclocked. Der Bauer made a nice video comparing water blocks and Corsair / EK while being the most expensive had by far the worst performance. It's actually very educational, if anyone reading this is on the market for blocks go and watch it, it's one of the more recent ones he made.
Woodworkers use a system called "biscuits" to join two pieces of wood together. They look kind of like guitar picks, made of wood and you place a specially shaped hole in the two pieces of wood, glue the "biscuit" and join the two pieces with the biscuit. This sounds like where the name comes from.
Another problem is when you put these new QX fans on a radiator. The QX cable connects by pushing strait into (180 degrees) the fans using out of the box cables. That takes up space on both sides of the rad. So if you use smaller cases (Lian Li mini in my case) and put in a 360 rad, it will NOT fit. Those QX cables take up a couple of inches and will hit the case wall not allowing the rad to fit. You may be able to get around this by ordering those QX cables (black) with the 90 degrees connects. Another problem was on a RAD where the water fittings come out. You may not be able to connect the cables to the QX fans. It is real real tight. So chaining the fans may not work. Also, buy the 4 way splitter extension with an extra short QX cable and a couple of those QX cable with the 90 degree connects. You will probably need it.
I seen they had a hard 90degree fitting that is low Profile.
@@nocturnal101ravenous6 his point being its not included in the box and costs another $20 extra.
ya its a real problem but I feel itll end up more of an early adopter problem. the out of the box cable is wayyyyy too big. i have it crammed in the corner of my case going from the rear exhaust to the top, and i almost guarantee itll fail over time because of the kink in it
I got a 3 pack of corsair fans that came with the magnetic hub to go in my corsair airflow case. 1: Magnetic hub is pointless in that full aluminium case 2: two of my fans stopped working after 3 months IMO they put all the money into IQ link and then chucked in a load of cheap parts at a max price. I am now running B-quiet fans that cost a bit less and have much better performance the hub is also magnetic, but they do give you a sticky back steel backplate for that reason.
Technically with the usb port, using on on row does leave you space to use the other row which would be the other port, so might be a cost save, but might also be a convenience since it leaves a port open for another single row header / device.
get outta here with your facts and logic! 🤣
I was pretty much going to day the same thing. I have had times were only having one row instead of 2 rows saved me from having to use an internal USB hub. In the situations where I could plug 2 devices into the same port since each one only used one USB connection row.
I had a similar situation where a motherboard my friend has had one internal 2.0 Header that was occupied by his case usb port but it only had one 2.0 and two 3.0 so when he asked me to install wifi and Bluetooth I needed another internal usb 2.0 header. One quick google search later I had de-pinned the header on the Bluetooth card and fit it into the other electrical usb that was going un-unused. It’s just better for consumers imo every device that relies on one port should leave the other one empty!
Or they could have it take up the entire connector and have a daisy chain the way the other Commanders do.
@@Dexx1s but then I'd have to cram a Commander unit somewhere in my ITX case. being able to just plug my Farbwerk and Octo into a single USB2 header bypasses the need for yet another thing that needs to fit somewhere in the case.
I love the idea of the Link cables, but OMG that price is just nuts. Corsair priced themselves out of the usual user and placed this in the enthusiast arena.
$160 for a pack of 3 fans, yikes
i mean nvidia is selling 2k graphics cards, gamers are cash cows and everyone knows it
Tbh I think that’s their target market
It's a good step in the right direction. You can clearly see they're trying to bring custom loops to the market of people who are on the edge of taking that plunge. It's incredibly expensive. Speaking as someone who has 10 corsair fans in their system, the amount of wires routed in my case is insane. It's a mess at the best of times and I single-handedly kept a zip tie seller in business for another year. The more makers move towards these types of solutions and the more competition there is in the space, the better.
and less zip tie sellers
I feel you with then fans, I can’t imagine adding one more, the 9 I’m running were already a pain to route 😅 glad I have the Lian Li XL 😂
I'm running 12 in mine and it was a pain routing all of the cables. But I built mine and 2 months later they announced the link system. And I can't bring myself to spend another 2-400 to change over
I feel you, when the 1000D released, I built one with a custom loop and 16 LL fans. It was such a pain between the corsair commanders, cable extensions, nodes and hubs.
@@manfredgooden5110 right? omg, when you're at the point when you need MULTIPLE commanders for all your fans... even in the 1000D with it's special "closet" in the back to hide all your wires, it was to the point i was having trouble closing it... so it's definitely moving in the right direction... but we need them to take an actual STEP, not just shuffle a bit closer.
The usb connector isnt a "cheap" move, its actually a good thought out move. Its so you can use the other half of the usb, it should be the standard for it to be that way if something is not using all the pins. I hate needing to repin a double for two devices.
He also mentions that it could be confusing for a new builder. A new builder is very unlikely to build a custom loop.
@@CapnKittenI think he was referring to new custom loop builders, not new PC builders in general...I could be wrong though
biscuit connector is actually pulling from the wood working world, there is what's called a biscuit joint where you slot the wood on each sider and add a biscuit that will go into each slot and be held in with glue. so the wood people were the first hungry ones.
yeah, my reaction to hearing "biscuit" was like "yeah it makes sense it is like a biscuit joint in woodworking because there's a thing that's pushed in on both ends" and then Jay went on about how they must have been hungry and THAT caught me offguard, I thought everyone knew this.
I always thought they called them biscuit connectors because they resemble a common woodworking joinery style... called biscuits where they attach in a very similar way.
My only complaint with the link stuff I have is that all of it should come with more cables, not including cables with the single fan packs and only including 1 or 2 cables with the multi packs and some hydro x stuff is outrageous especially with how the cables are priced! Other than that I’ve loved it, looks great and performs great, I have 4 qx120 fans, xc7 (non lcd, so it is link) link block, and xd5 link pump
Are the fans still so loud? I have here fans from Corsair, these were upgrades from the 360 AIO I bought some 5 years ago.
this is on purpose obviously, Corsair is leaning more and more on the Apple side of business
I agree @@guillaumejoop6437 . This absolutely by design. These products are made to get every dollar possible out of the consumer, but not in a "positive way" just in a covertly scummy way.
Plastic stuuf at 200$ a pop.
They seem to be pretty quiet, not as much as something like a noctua or higher end fan, but I run mine up to 1700rpm on radiators and they are just a low hum, and provide plenty of cooling for what I need, and look great. @@Bluelagoonstudios
Yeah it's brutal, I didn't even realize I needed extra cables until I got everything, had to wait another few days because I needed a splitter and 2 more cables, 50$ fan that doesn't come with a cable what am I supposed to do with that lol@@guillaumejoop6437
I remember everyone including Jay was sponsored for the new Link connectors but regular buyers dropped interest when they were finally revealed and ended up being extremely overpriced and proprietary
$50 for a single fan that has some gimmicky useless temp sensor that noone in their right mind would give two sh*ts about, probably performs average, looks worse than cheaper alternatives and doesn't offer something useful that other cheaper fans don't already have. Wow, I can daisychain fans! Just like I could with Thermaltake, Phanteks and Lianli to say the least, most of which are outright better looking fans than these. They've lost their mind, but then again, they're also listed on the stock exchange and need that moneyyyyyyy.
@@litguru4748 I literally bought 10x 10k Ohm temp sensors for my PC a few days ago. Cost me a bit shy of $2. AND I get to place them where ever the F I want.
Plus icue software is horrendous m
i know Jay has bills to pay and people to pay as well, but maybe go a bit lighter on the ads for a corsair product next time. I haven't bought any corsair products in ~a year. got tired of the rats nest and the price per fan being just...stupid. idc how "proprietary" it is.
gotta keep lining those pockets of the ancients who (most likely) are their shareholders lol. bet none of them even know a thing about corsair to begin with.@@litguru4748
1:47 I think the term "biscuit" was derived from woodworking. The biscuit is a piece of wood chip used in "joining" 2 pieces of wood.
Lian Li gets massive props for creating this first. They've been innovative for so many years..
I built my new rig with these fans. 11 total. 3 on the top radiator, 3 on the side, 3 on the bottom, and 2 exhausting out the back in a Lian Li Dynamic EVO XL. Looks great and was a snap to install. No issues whatsoever once I read the instalation intructions, which I didnt do at first LOL
From an electrical stand point I would not suggest to pass through or daisy chain the power connectors and that might be the reason why they didn't do it for all of the accessories. As you connect more devices the first cable in the chain will have an increased load and warm up after time, especially with the pumps it might go over the cables current rating and reduce efficiency and could even burn a connector or cable after time. At least have case fans and pump on separate supplies.
About the 'biscuit connections'. It is visually very similar to the 'biscuit joints' in contemporary wood working. So I strongly suspect that is where the naming comes from rather than food.
I bit the bullet and got the fans, XC7, and XD5 a few weeks ago. Its my first custom loop, so I wanted things to as smooth as possible. Love the easy cable management, but it definitely came at a cost. So far no complaints. My Alphacool GPU block is what’s giving me the most trouble.
Strange, it was my xc7 was giving me the most trouble - it restricts the flow to a trickle. I swapped it out for an alphacool core 1 cpu block and it was night and day. The corsair stuff is insubstantial and won't last.
The USB connector is a good idea, not being cheap, but to allow when you have only one side of a USB header used on motherboard, and you don't want to waste two effective USB slots with one device. I setup just last week my new AIO and the Controller both had the two deep keyed USB headers, however I spliced the two into one to preserve one header spare on the MB. I wish actually I knew of this model as I would of used it, the time to cable tidy I spent was mostly for stupid fans.
I wish I could say I was surprised by how awful that GPU block is, but let's face it: it's Corsair. They sell low-end & mid-range products at high-end prices to consumers who don't know better. That's their entire business model.
Yup, I do have a few Corsair products in my loop but that’s because I got a xd5 for $60 used and xc7 for $35 used so it was totally worth it for the price. I would not pay what they’re looking for new.
Their fans and their cases are pretty decent, but other than that I don't think I would buy anything from them...
So what brands do you recommend?
yep corsair and cooler master is what i avoid. i dont like these proprietary set ups. Just daisy chain PWM and ARGB on the mobo connector and be done with it.
Never had their PSU, Keyboard, RAM, Headset or fans fail though. When my H110i completely dried up, RMA was also a breeze, but had to be done again a year and a half later, the reason I'm aircooling now.
I would like to see a build with the current release of Hydro-X. And if Corsair does make a newer revision to this setup, a build for that. The idea seems like it is a great one, but it also seems like not a whole lot of time was spent on building mock ups to eliminate wire clutter.
After buying the iCue Link system, they need to include 90 degree cables in it FULL STOP. I had to fight so hard to get the iH170, the three 140's in the front and the one 140 in the back to connect due to the cable coming straight out and the Lan Cool III being very tight in space given what I was cramming in it. (like my motherboard has pressure on it because I was short a few mm to make the iH170 and the other seven fans fit correctly). In all honesty, after my experience, I am going to want nothing but 90 degree cables except for the ends coming off the hub. Even my three 120s on the bottom need the 90 degree cable because the original cable wouldn't allow the 360mm fan plate to sit at it's left most position. (I know I know, 1st world problems!)
Another thing to note is I can't stand that I'm not allowed to rename the order of my fans in iCue. I can move them around in the mural setting to the correct order but that was a pain and when I finally was done doing that, iCue updated to a new way to identify where each fan is in your system but the colors are so close together that it was very hard to tell and almost useless. Still useful but not as much as it could be!
I suspect they’ve called it a “Biscuit connector” due to the methodology in cabinet making (carpentry) of strengthening joins with a “biscuit”
here in Scotland having worked as a kitchen fitter, we would use jointing biscuits to join the worktops and give them strength as usually it was a corner joint. so biscuit connection is quite an accurate codename.
I think it'll look pretty goofy having those big cables running through the system, but that depends on how well they can be hidden. It's basically a full blown USB cable running across my motherboard. I'll hold my judgement until I see a build using all LINK components though. I love the technology and overall design (except the GPU block) and look forward to seeing this technology evolve.
The reason why people want an open hardware is that, when Corsair abandons this product line, and they will abandon this product line for the next shiny fad, these products can still be continued to be used!!! How many times have we seen this happen with Corsair alone? Open hardware standards make investing in the ecosystem a safer bet.
Exactly! These things are pretty much shiny, expensive e-waste.
And as I mentioned in another comment, there's not even the excuse he provided. I2C is standard, and the standard for documentation to sharing I2C commands and registers is open. The fact that Corsair refuses to share that (I've emailed and asked) shows they have no intent to make this usable, and zero care about what happens when they inevitably kill it.
The GPU block looks horrendous. I do like the display on the CPU block, though. It's one of those features AIOs had over custom WC. However, I wish they would've increased the height of the CPU block or something, so that the cable header disappears within it and only the cable itself would be visible. I don't know, I hate it that every company has their own software suit, and all of them are incompatible to one another.
Would be nice to see Jay's opinion on the recent Alphacool blocks and their upcoming Apex Metal Fans.
Not surprising that they managed to mess it up. The problem with all these different connectors just makes it all the more reason why i stick with fans that have 0 RGB. Any system i build i do not use RGB for this very reason. Even some of the best thought out implementations still have their own issues.
@ShimejiiGaming Could it be that Corsair doesn't want to force consumers to purchase the new wiring "link" system? And that could be why they didn't make everything compatible? Something is telling me it could be this way because they don't want to force feed a new system to gamers and then get blowback... but that's the excuse I'd come up with (For the cooling system not having the new connectors). Is my reasoning sound?
@@j.a.velarde5901compatible with what and how? Their old stuff? Other Brand's stuff? Like what jay said and have pass true for all the devices? I don't understand what your upset about tbh. And let's not even get started on the horrendous software side of controlling this crap. Also would you rather them use Lian li's connector? They could do it illegally and get sued or beg for rights and then theirs will be really expensive (even more so) to cover that cost. So I'm not quite understanding what the issue is. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Like RGB and want less wires? Buy it. It's really that simple. I don't see many alternatives as coherent and spread across so many different parts. Personally I'm with OP no RGB. My PC is red and black. Fans just have red LEDs. Very simple. Just can't change colors but whatever.
The corsair icue link system is not cheap but people will pay more to eliminate cable clutter/difficult cable management and I can respect that.
If I am right now building a new pc with rgb, I'll definitely go for the icue link ecosystem. Not only I'll end up paying a premium but my time is also worth something and saving hours on cable management is a big deal.
You're already paying a big amount for the components, you might as shell out a bit more for the icue link.
@@craig9365 I also prefer no rgb. I'm a stickler for saving money on lighting and I want to create less heat, even if the difference is minimal. - Do you have a brand name for non-rgb fans you want to suggest? ---- In regards to the above: I meant that the cooling system parts, like the water tank and the cpu coolers, dont have the "link" connector plug.
@ahmedhamdan2009 If you're spending hours on cable management, you're the kind of sucker they're looking for. I'd rather get a case that allows better cable management than be an overpriced brand slave because I'm incompetent and lazy
I remember the original video when they first announced the central hub. I'm not surprised by the dead ends: the power draw on the AIO in the first video didn't allow enough power to the other fan(s). It's a good step and they are moving in the right direction. I'm just not sure I'd be purchasing their content right now for my next build partly because this may be my last one and I'm looking to go out on top if possible.
I agree, I am very disappointed that there is no pass through the corsair link devices. When they showed off the fans being daisy chained with magnets I was fully expecting the devices to have a daisy chain. So you could go to reservoir to rad fans or something.
I actually like that it's not a keyed USB internal connection because sometimes I don't have enough full "keyed" USB headers and a lot of motherboards have just the single non-keyed header for that exact reason 🙂.
In my Corsair XD5 RGB pump/res combo, the top of the res does not come off so it is impossible to clean the inside of it.
This new XD5 RGB Elite looks like the top comes off, I can see x4 Philips screw heads so I'm assuming it comes off, if so this is a grand positive.
Not a fan of the GPU water block, it reminds me of a cheap water block for the 90's so lame.
Corsair what were you thinking, not making the blocks and pump/res combo daisychainable. I know, force us to spend more money on a four-way splitter box, shame on you.
I don't see why the wires have to be so think when you can get very thin CAT6E cables that handle high speed data and voltage. Do the Corsair cables actually need that much shielding?
I was thinking about the metal components in the water block being in contact with water.
Even after being submerged in water, this curious sand stays dry. To produce magic sand, companies start with standard sand, and silicon dioxide, and then add a very thin layer of a chemical called trimethylhydroxysilane. This coating makes the sand hydrophobic, or water-repellent. Is it possible to extend the life of the pump block with trimethylhydroxysilane?
Cooler Master came close to having a nice non-proprietary argb system with their Gen2 devices as they use the standard 3-pin 5v connector, but they don't have the nice quick connect feature for linking fans together without the cable mess.
But even so, it's still proprietary because only linked CM gen2 argb devices work together with the special gen2 controller.
11:10 in an older corsair elite, I have the usb connector with the full 9 pin (4 conductor) and my motherboard only has one usb2 header, so it blocks me from having other peripherals (commander core anyone?) Without a splitter or rewiring them. Now an internal usb hub works for normal operation, except firmware updates fail unless it's plugged into the header directly. So I think the thin connector is a nice compromise for the real issue of usb2
Thanks for the Hydro X review! As an early adapter of the link hub with the RGB Fans and AIO, I was planning to build my 1st water cool system with the Hydro X ecosystem! But as I watch your video, I'm kind of shocked how poorly though out those are! In turn, I'm going to wait for Rev 2.0
Jay: Corsair couldn't make something open source because this is a new thing and these types of cables & links didn't *exist* yet
But Corsair could have just created the open standard themselves, duh! Instead we know if we choose these products we'll be 100% locked into Corsair's hyper-Xpensive ecosystem until the bitter end. If they made decent fans it might not be the worst thing ever, but they make some of the absolute worst fans out there
Proprietary hardware/connectors/cables/adapters = bad
Proprietary and *required* software often = bad too
And even if they just did what *every other I2C manufacture* does, it would still be more than sufficient. There's a standard for documenting devices that use the I2C standard. Corsair likely even uses that standard internally. It would be a 0 effort problem to simply publish that document. The refusal to do so is the smoking gun.
Jay has always been my favorite tech guy for learning practical applications. Steve has always been my fav for seeing how practicable those applications really are pushed to the absolute thermal limits.
If the row of dead pixels was on a cheaper part, I'd just go "that sucks, but... meh." On a $200 part though...
I think missed the point those are endpoint connections so the water block would sit in front or near a rad with fans so the block would connect to that fan the chained to rest fan, same goes the water reservoir, it’s a stop/end of connection. If you have the I’ll fans connected at from of the case then your reservoir
GPU cooler looks like some unbranded device from 2004 you'd find in a local PC shop. LCD waterblock is cool but not worth the price
They use that half size connector so you can still use the other port. Each USB2 connector is for two ports.
I don't hate the size of the cable as much as the size of the connector. If they would just make the shroud hide that part the CPU blocks would look much better. There's no saving the GPU block.
Biscuit connector probably comes from the woodworking joinery method. Dowels have been used for centuries, & lately they have been using biscuit joints.
I bet Lian Li sues them like they did Phanteks.
I just spec'd out an entire build using only Corsair parts. They don't make certain things so in my cart is liquid cooling parts, case, RAM, fans, PSU, mouse, keyboard, headset, ect. It was $3490! I still need a motherboard, processor, and graphics card!!! They are proud of their stuff.
I actually went and bought the starter fan kit and 3 separate fans for my upcoming water cooling build. It sucks the PCIE cable to power is only 7 3/4 inch long. Corsair said they would not entertain making a longer PCIE cable either. I guess Corsair think builders are going to place the link at the very bottom close to the PSU? Builders are going to place higher up in the case. Another grip is the cables to connect to the link isn't long enough.
Wife said the GPU block looks like a camera...I have the first gen of Hydro X stuff, except for the GPU blocks because they are for Founders, and I like it, they look good. Nothing WOW, but looks good. Works too lol That GPU block is just like the NZXT GPU/CLC multi GPU block but uglier
Jay, you're wrong when you say an open standard requires that something exists first. The only thing necessary for something to be open is that it be made open. If Corsair wanted, they could provide all the interoperability info for their connectors and provide perpetual free licenses to manufacture compatible cables and connectors (to prevent patent lawsuits). They don't want to because they don't want an open ecosystem. If you buy a Corsair fan, they want to make sure you can only connect it to other Corsair fans or hubs. While using an open source (or open hardware technically) connector wouldn't for instance currently eliminate the need for their hub due to motherboards not having a compatible connector, in the future that could change.
Also Jay you're missing the point of that USB header only having 4 pins instead of the normal 9 pin connector. A USB header is technically two USB plugs in one. Each row is it's own USB connection. By using that 4 pin connector you can connect two of them to a single header. In your example where you complained if you needed to connect 3 you would be out of headers, no you wouldn't because you can connect 4 of them to the two headers.
“Someone was clearly HUNGRY, CLEARLY” 😂😂
2.4k in 8 minutes.. You're the greatest!
The pass through is a miss on the cooler components along with the fam connections integrated in to the new case. Why are we running fan cables at all if we have connections that could be there in the case?
I rebuilt my partner's PC recently. Part of the reason was to replace the 10 Cooler Master Halo fans with Corsair QX fans. Expensive yes, but they work better, look amazing & it is so nice to reduce the 20 cables to 2 to the hub & a couple of short daisy chain ones that are tucked away out of sight. I'll stick with the J2C CPU block thanks & they can absolutely keep that GPU abomination.
0:52 I really love that transition
The Hydro-X GPU thingy at 17:00 isn't entirely universal, there is a whole bunch of 30series and 40series cards it won't go on, like all of the MSI cards.
My only 2 complaints with the link system are the cost of course and the connectors. Running a 360 rad, 360 side and single back fan in my Hyte Y60 and I had to order extra 90° connectors to make it all fit. The straight connection doesn't fit. Frankly I think they should just ditch the straight connectors and ship with all 90°. I am disappointed that there is no LCD screen yet for the link waterblock.
10:39 Even if nothing bad happens when it's plugged in wrong you know some people will be confused enough that they will return it thinking it doesn't work. Or at least support will have to deal with extra customers just because it confused a few of them.
I do understand it's a little more tricky to properly plug in the USB to the header this way but it leaves the other half free for you to do other things with. You'd otherwise lose a perfectly good USB port.
10:36 I do not agree with having it keyed. If you build a lot of systems, then I am sure you have had times where you have run out of USB 2.0 slots on your motherboard because of devices that only use half the header. So, you have open USB 2.0 front i/0 it's just taken up by nothing. If you are good with repining headers, you can pin 2 devices to one USB header so you use up all of the header vs just half, but I think that would be harder than figuring out you have the cable plugged into the header the wrong way.
"We're sparing you from taking 2 seconds of your time to route cables neatly. That'll be $100,000 and one instant RMA cycle please."
So I stopped at 10:52 just to type this. Jay, they may have done that connector that way so if you have or need more than one you can use the same connector on the motherboard, or if you already have a single connector like that then you don’t have to use a different usb connector on the board for this.
That World of Warships ad with Jay as a Naval Officer gets me every time. Bet he LOVES that ❤😊
Definitely agree with what you said about the lack of pass through connections and also the inlet/outlet ports for coolant, seeming to be cheap.
This World of Warships advertisement still makes me smile; Phil pokes his head around. “yeah”.
I think they did the 5x1 dupont connector was so if you had 2 of their devices, you could plug them into 1 header and still have the other usb header available. i ran into this problem before when I had 2 iCue devices in my X99 build.
When testing a pump/res combo I can't be the only one to use two fittings and a hose? Fitting on pump outlet and res inlet, then a hose between. Fill it up half way and put on the power. Then you se if the pump works and lights if there is any? Am I doing it wrong? Do you need to make a whole test loop?
Great video Jay, Another thing that should be suggested to Corsair is to make a cable connector with 2 90degree connectors in both ends. In my case I found it would be easier for me to connect in one of my rads if both ends were 90 degree connectors.
I JUST finished building my water-cooled PC with all this stuff. I had the exact questions, concerns over it
I would add, fans are great, but you can not put a connector into the side of the fans that are on the side of the rad where fittings install!
I own a full Corsair set up but my next build will be all based around price to performance Corsair products are extremely overpriced as I’ve bought fans like arctic etc etc I’ve noticed your paying for nothing but the Corsair symbol
yep there fans are stupid expensive so i went with the Lian Li sl120s that not only link together but look better for a fraction of the price. they charge way to much for there fan and controller combos
@@hairychesticles1 I agree unfortunately when I built my system I was a first time builder and thought Corsair was the best and I over paid on everything when I could of saved so much money going with cheaper alternatives and spent money on the stuff that mattered like cpu ram gpu
Arctic are the best bang for buck fans out there and they have great customer service. I had a fan explode, for lack of a better term, and they UPS next day shipped me a new one no questions asked. It took 2 total days to have the new fan in my system.
@@RichWhiteUM yea I completely agree I’ve got 3 af120 fans and 6 ml120 elite fans and am in the process of replacing them with arctic
I own +25 arctic fans and they never let me down.
If I was budgeting out a system, I would be much more inclined to just get a 4080Ti or a 4090, rather than a 4070Ti and a custom loop system.
Maybe there is no pass through at some devices, because they need more amps and should not be connected on the same initial connector?
So I have to ask the question; does the corsair link cable allow them to do something (for the consumer) that they couldn't have done with a standard connector, like USB?
Did they make it cheaper? Considering the price on these? No.
Do they deliever more power? Probably not USB C can do way way more then enough to power all of the fans in your PC.
Are the smaller? Not then USB C, or PWM.
Easier for users to work with? Probably not appreciably.
So, aside from exist to be an extra expense that the consumer must shell out to Corsair, what do they actually do?
So the way they keyed the USB 2 header actually does have one advantage. You should be able to plug two of these connectors into the same header, if you wanted too.
This may seem like a stupid question but can you plug 2 (if needed) into on slot? Seems like two rows, two lines 🤔. I've never built a pc.
They now have a res/pump with the LCD built in! what's the difference between the original QX and the new RX fans?
I really really wanted this. Corsair is charging insane amounts of money for this. Just absolutely insane.
I would like to do a waterloop but with braided hose. Looks nice. It should work right ?
Lcd screen aside doesn't all the regular hydro x stuff only have 1 single rgb cable? So the link doesn't really kill clutter?
you're like my favorite youtuber Jay, your channel help's learn alot about computer's
I am actually curious, why can't the fans be controlled/powered/etc via usb? I can think of price but for how much people seem to pay for rgb 1 dollar difference to equip everything with usb seems trivial
I currently use that Fan Control software for all of my various fan speeds (I love the ability to use a mix sensor to react from). so the big question I have for this whole Corsair Link stuff is can I still control the fan speeds through Fan Control or would it all have to be inside iCue? I feel it'd be all inside iCue and then I'd lose the ability to have a mix sensor and I'd be sad
So everything I've read is that the Link system is much more friendly to third party software compared to iCue stuff. It should be plug and play without the same USB protocols from the Commander Cores.
@@aingealanlann I think the issue comes down to the Fan Control relying on the fan headers to have something plugged in. from what I've seen, Link uses the USB header, so pretty sure Fan Control can't do anything with communicating through the USB
@quasxen2439 I don't think so at all because there was a plug-in created to use Commanders. The reason it is needed is because of the protocol specifically on the Commanders needed to be recognized because they locked it down. But other third-party apps have said that it was much easier to communicate with the new Link hub. Aida64 being an example I've seen.
I've purchased to many corsair products with problems and headaches during the RMA process. My NV7 build I used all Phantek stuff and had zero problems.
Biscuit connector naming has been taken from wood joinery. A biscuit is a flat dowl used in woodwork.
The thick glossy plastic makes everything look so cheap. The pump looks like a Corsair branded bullet blender that goes for $19.95 at Target.
just what you need a smoothie when playing games
I just finished my build with the new LINK stuff (only gpu cooler not because...), and my biggest problem was that the fittings om my radiator where blocking the ports off my fans. So i had to cut off access rubber of the cable end so it could fit... i surprised me that this was the case, in RnD this should have been a problem...
Jay: "there was no communication device created, there was no cable existing to allow it to be open"
USB C: "am I a joke to you?"
the connectors a bit like usb c then because they can be used either way round
So the pump was never going to be daisy chainable. It probably is a best practice to actually have it as its on dedicated channel on the hub. The corsair link still has a max device/power draw limit even if it's higher than it used to be with just icue and that cable is providing the power for the pump and the lighting which is probably about 30 watts the single channel supports 2 amp at 12 V so about 24 W. It would use almost all the power from a channel. The water blocks probably could have been made daisy chainable and should have been but the pump is less a missed opportunity and more just a limitation of the specification for better or worse.
Why is the pump not a "master hub" if you are doing full custom loop, that should be a hub device since it is a high power draw anyway. Seems like a missed opportunity as well.
Interesting products, but wow, the costs have skyrocketed. They have. I mean back when water cooling was 'new' and there were like 2 'boutique' companies making blocks and such the cost was extreme. Then it started to become popular and AIOCs were coming in, and the costs started to drop. At one time I priced out a custom loop for my AM5 system and I was at about $500...that was pump, reservoir, tube, fittings, and rad. Now? I priced one out at Corsair for a basic system and it ranged from $750 to $1500!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I just want a basic loop because the Lian Li Galahad (2nd one, first one gunked up and was replaced under warranty) I have just doesn't seem to have the cooling capacity for that big ole Ryzen 9 7900X...I mean this beast idles at 56C with that Lian Li Cooler (and yes, I've used both the factory applied paste as well as starting over with Kingpin KPX), it's a HOT FREAKING CPU! Looked at this setup on Corsairs build it site and this setup was something like $1500!!!! I was "NOPE".
@10:59 you understand that those "extra pins" are just another USB port? This way they only occupy a single USB port and you could use another single USB port for something else!
The USB C decision DOES make it easy to check your LCD for failure before install.
its also probably because they couldn't fit that type of data rate in their specific connector, this is also why what Gamersnexus(despite his faults) is doing is actually a very good thing. working to create a standard for these connected computer devices that HOPEFULLY can carry full video signals at like 480x480.
So I actually just installed the XG3 as Corsair was the only company that had a gpu block for my specific 4080. Honestly. Thermals are fine for the vrms. the fan pushes way more air then I thought that it would. the "gap" between the board and the shroud aren't that noticeable horizontal due to the fittings blocking a lot of the view. the WEIRD thing though, the LEDs on the fan are SO bright that it spotlights the empty space below the card to the bottom of the case.
Used to be a huge corsair fan sadly i feel they have been falling behind other than corsair link there keyboards and mice are just outdated recently got the 5000t case was not impressed with how hard they made it to get the plate off for the side fans
Yeah. Bad decision on no pass trhrough. Just want to be able to have as few legs of cables as possible. Not creating a spider please. Also are there shorter cables? Even if you daisy chained the GPU and CPU you have a giant cable connecting them. Where do you hide that?
I was excited for this to come out to simplify my current corsair soft tube setup. Now i dont think i will
I can't unsee the Sesame Street aliens saying "yup yup yup yup yup yup yup yup yup yup yup yup, uhhhhhhh huhhhh" in the face of that cooler.
I would understand that CPU block has no passthrought as it is kinda small and would be ok end piece... but pump/reservoir is huge and there is no excuse for that.
It would be cool however if you can build PC with all this to show how all of this will align...
Lmfao, "Infinite Power!" Not just funny in your head Jay, that was funny.
Ive had Boards with Single row headers that I could use with these type of usb connector. It freed up the Standard Headers for other peripherals. If you RGB a lot those Headers tend to get filled up pretty quick.
Question about the GPU cooler, does it come with an assortment of different heat sinks and pads for the VRM or do you source them yourself? It's an interesting idea but it feels a little like this was pulled out of the bin.
the pass through i can see on all rgb things but im sure the pump and lcd screen draws quite a bit of power and the picture to the lcd could be an issue as well