Can the big brother do everything better? – Corsair iCUE XC7 RGB Elite LCD water block review including teardown and test loop 2.0

Corsair iCUE and LCD operating modes

As you can easily see from the name of the water block, the lighting and display are configured using Corsair’s iCUE software. The screen and RGB lighting of the XC7 Elite LCD can basically be operated in 2 modes: 1. while iCue is running and 2. while iCue is not running. In the former, telemetry data is available for the display and the lighting can change during runtime, e.g. changing colors when the CPU temperature changes.

If you do not want to have iCUE running in the background, only the 2nd mode remains, which is also called “hardware screen”. Only the integrated water temperature sensor is then available as telemetry, or alternatively an image or video can be set to be displayed on the screen. The lighting can only be set statically and not, for example, depending on the water temperature. However, this setting is then saved on the water block onboard after setup, so that this also runs completely without iCUE or Windows system, only USB power is required for this.

Let’s take a look at the options iCUE offers here and the potential pitfalls. The first one is already present during the installation of iCUE. The product website for the water block links to the general iCUE page. There are major versions 4 and 5, but the difference is not explained. I simply opted for version 5, but some help or explanation would have been desirable.

In addition, iCUE doesn’t seem to support offline installation, so you have to download the installer once, run it and then download the iCUE components again from unknown software sources. Even if you don’t have an offline bench system like I do, an offline installer would be the more trustworthy option, at least as an alternative to the online installer.

So I just brought the Ethernet drivers out of a deep sleep, castrated Windows Update and plugged in the network cable: lo and behold, iCUE installs itself. Apparently, only components for the hardware actually installed are installed in a modular fashion, so that the required hard disk space is kept to a minimum.

At the first start, the display in the water block changes directly from “Liquid Temp” to “CPU Temp”, with the integrated telemetry data. The changes on the water block are also reflected directly in the software display.

In the “Screen Setup” menu, the telemetry data can also be used to configure a dynamic motif for the screen and lighting.

This is what it looks like in real life, for example.

However, static images or even videos can also be shown on the display. The only important thing here is that you are limited to a maximum file size of 30 MB and that the motif should of course somehow fit the round 480 x 480 pixel aspect ratio. Beyond that, however, there are no limits to creativity.

The zoom and the orientation of the round section relative to the original medium can also be set up directly in the iCUE software. And once you have saved this on the “hardware screen”, it remains there on the onboard memory, even if you take the water block with you to another system – cool!

In addition to the CPU temperature, there are also several other sensors that can be stored as a source, such as temperature sensors of the mainboard or graphics card, the CPU voltage or fan speeds. Unfortunately, these sensors are really internal to iCUE, so they must be supported by iCUE, which should not be a problem for common, modern hardware. Unfortunately, there is no integration with other monitoring software such as HWinfo, which means that the “Liquid Temp” sensor of the water block cannot be monitored with HWinfo. It’s a pity, because the H150i AIO can do this. iCUE can at least monitor and log various metrics itself.

The screen itself can also be dimmed together with the LEDs, the frame rate of the display can be reduced – for whatever reason you want – and the orientation of the display can be rotated by 90° steps, so that the orientation from water block to mainboard to housing remains completely flexible. And even the color of the water block housing can be changed here so that the preview display in the software corresponds to reality. This part is very well thought out.

The auto-start can also be configured in the application itself and I would generally describe the usability as good after a little familiarization time. Even if the application is not always the fastest, there were no bugs, glitches or crashes, as you might expect from competitor software.

Unfortunately, the resource consumption of approx. 400 MB RAM including all subprocesses is sobering, especially in comparison to HWinfo with 50 MB RAM. The target group of gamers and RGB fetishists probably won’t care about this, but for me as a hobby enthusiast and full-time Linux admin, it borders on bloatware. Personally, I would probably start the software once, save the configuration via the “Hareware Screen” on the block and then deactivate the auto-start. Unfortunately, you lose the dynamic control of the display, depending on system metrics, because iCUE must always be running. It’s clear that there’s no other technical solution, but at least for me it leaves a slightly unsatisfactory feeling.