Corsair Gaming: Hydro-X iCUE Family

The Hydro-X iCUE custom cooling family features the new iCUE LINK ecosystem which allows for easier building via singular cable connections. Custom cooling not only improves your PC’s performance, but also its visuals, turning it into a work of art. Nothing else quite compares to the distinctive style of elegant, polished water blocks and the unique twists and turns of hardline tubing runs. The Hydro-X Series also offers additional customization options through new units with integrated dynamic LCD Displays and RGB lighting, opening up more potential for personalization.

The Huge team was tasked with defining the creative vision for integrating the iCUE link technology into an updated suite of the Hydro-X liquid cooling system. Patrick and the Huge team determined key functional aspects of the products such as LCD integration, connector location, mounting management, and RGB Expression. Additionally the team developed a fresh new design language to celebrate the new technology.

Client

Corsair Gaming via Huge Design

Role

Lead Industrial Designer / Project Lead

Phases

Research / Concept Development / Design Development / CAD Handoff / CMF

Credit

Chris Harsacky / Design Director

Bill Webb / Design Director

Frederik Bruer / Junior Designer

Nick Wode / Junior Designer

Ian Ferguson / Junior Designer

Corsair Gaming Team

CPU Water Blocks ( iCUE LINK XC7 )

Two tiers of CPU water blocks were developed. One tier includes a customizable display while the other has no display and celebrates an RGB window. The hose routing was moved to the side of the devices for unobstructed views of the display and liquid window. The form transitions from a square in the back to a circle in the front to celebrate the circular display integration.

Pump / Reservoirs ( iCUE LINK XD5 )

The pump reservoirs were developed with a new customizable LCD display and incorporate a built in temperature sensor and RGB lighting—all controlled via a single iCUE LINK cable. The XD5 Units also feature a newly created Lofted design language to create a family of form.

GPU Waterblock ( iCUE LINK XG3 )

Water blocks for graphics cards are a bit more complicated than CPU blocks since there are so many different types of graphics cards available. For this reason, the iCUE LINK Hydro X Series line-up introduced a new universal water block that fits not just one specific type of graphics card but can mount to a wide variety of different cards, no matter what type of PCB and cooler is used.

A complete cooling system with a cohesive design language.

The designs of each unit were developed utilizing a new lofted design language which features transitions from soft squares to circles. Additionally the design language features bold split housing with metallic accents and dynamic chamfered LED light bars. Each unit fits into a cohesive family of form to create a complete cooling system.