XD6 RGB ELITE: Everything you need to know

The CORSAIR XD6 RGB ELITE is the newest pump/res combo in the Hydro X Series lineup. The XD6 is a direct replacement for the XD5, and you can read more in detail about the differences in our XD5 vs XD6 - what is the difference article.

The XD6 is a stand alone pump/reservoir combo that integrates into a custom cooling loop and provides high flow rates, easy filling, and easy draining of your loop. Like the previous XD5 RGB Elite this unit is iCUE LINK compatible, meaning you will only need a single cable to connect both power, RGB control and temperature monitoring.

The XD6 RGB Elite also comes in an LCD version - if you want to know more about the LCD version please read our everything you should know about the XD6 RGB ELITE LCD article

The XD6 RGB Elite is part of the Hydro X Series lineup, and you will need at least a radiator as well as a cooling block (either for the CPU or graphics card) to complete the system. Unlike AIO units for the CPU, a custom cooling loop needs to be assembled and filled with liquid by the user.

It is quite difficult to directly compare different pumps on the market as some will state theoretical limits for flow rates and pressure head, while others will be based off of a real world scenario.

For pumps, we care about two things:

• Flow rate in litres per hour, which is how fast the pump can move liquid athrough the loop.
• Pressure head in meters, being how high the pump would be able to move water directly upwards.

This is important as many specifications mention max values, but these are not very representative since a pump could have a maximum flow rate that is very high, but a very low pressure head.

This is also why we state three key specifications

• X L/h (litres per hour) @ Y m (Metres) pressure head
• Max flow rate
• Max pressure head

Where the X "L/h @ Y m pressure head" is very good, since it shows how the pump compares in a normal use case.

For the XD6 RGB Elite, it sports the following specifications:

• 500L/h @ 3m pressure head
• 750l/h Max flow rate
• 6.7m Max pressure head

To put the above specifications into perspective, let us look at some scenarios.

It should be obvious that the more stuff you add to a custom cooling loop, the harder the pump will have to work. If you have a loop with just a single radiator and block (like most AIO coolers have) then you do not need a very powerful pump. Most custom cooled loops are different, having multiple radiators and blocks.

We will look at two scenarios

• Typical resistance loop - two 360mm radiators, CPU block and GPU block
• Large resistance loop - four 360mm radiators, CPU block and two GPU blocks

In both of the charts above it can be seen that the XD6 performs better, even though the XD5 has a higher "max flow rate". We would have to build a system with less than a single 120mm radiator and one CPU block to get to a point where the higher "max flow rate" of the previous XD5 would perform better.

In the box of the XD6 you will find:

• 1x iCUE LINK XD6 RGB ELITE Pump Reservoir unit
• 1x 120mm fan mounting bracket
• 1x 140mm fan mounting bracket
• 1x L-bracket 3x G1/4” stop plugs
• 1x 600mm iCUE LINK cable
• 1x 600mm USB-C cable
• 1x ATX 24-pin bridging plug
• 4x M3 thumb nuts
• 4x M3 x 6mm mounting screws
• 4x M4 nuts
• 4x M4 x 6mm mounting screws
• 4x M4 x 35mm screws
• 4x M4 Washers
• 1x Plug tool

The Flowdrive MAX pump motor is the heart of the XD6 and how we've managed to increase performance over the previous models. Not only is it higher performing than the previous models, but it is also quieter at the same performance levels.

The built in temperature sensor of the XD6 RGB Elite enables us to control the fans in the system based on coolant temperature which is very important in a custom cooled system. To read in detail about why this is an advantage you can dive into our article about why using coolant instead of components temperatures gives a smoother user experience.

Building a PC has never been easier than with the iCUE LINK ecosystem. A single cable can chain devices together, making cable mess a thing of the past.

Do note that all Hydro X Series devices are end-point devices (only an "in" port") as opposed to iCUE LINK fans which has both an in, and an out LINK port. To make building with iCUE LINK and Hydro X Series easier, we recommend using the 4-way LINK splitter.

The XD6 RGB Elite features 22 LED's mounted in the bottom of the reservoir to evenly light up the coolant.

Just like previous models, the XD6 comes with mounting brackets for both 120mm and 140mm fans, so it can be easily mounted anywhere in your system.

While the XD6 RGB Elite has multiple options for how to connect your inlet and return tubes, you must use the assigned outlet as shown in the above pictures - this is the only port that will act as outlet, so it is crucial that this is used as the loop will otherwise not function.

You will also need to be careful not to use the fill port as an inlet as this will cause splashing, and the potential for air to constantly be sucked into the pump due to the fill port not having an inlet tube (as you will see on the top inlet port).

You can also utilize one of the two bottom inlet ports as a drain port.

If you have built a custom cooling system before you will know that many pumps will default to 50% speed if the PC is not turned on. This can be an issue when you want to do the initial filling of the loop as you will need lots of power to remove all air bubbles from the loop.

With the XD6 RGB Elite you can just move the priming switch to the "1" position - this will force the pump to run at 100% while you are filling the loop with the included 24 pin jumper cable.

After installing iCUE you will have near unlimited options for controlling the pump. As default, it will run with the Hydro X Series pump profile which will gradually adjust the RPM based on coolant temperature.

But above you said that using coolant temp was better than CPU temp?

Correct! For fans that is. With high-end CPUs you will gain a lot from having increased flow rate, but this will also make your system louder. If you really want to optimize your settings, you'll want to have a slow running pump when you are not stressing your system a lot, and ramp up the flow rate when needed.

A slow ramp up based on coolant temp might not be fast enough to satisfy your CPU since the coolant can still be very cold, but the CPU is not getting enough flow to adequately cool it down.

To do this we can create a custom curve that will adjust the pump in steps, instead of a slowly increasing curve. We personally find this a very good way to use the unit as it will keep a "steady" humming sound from the pump instead of a constantly changing one.

In the above screenshot you can see:

• A: Press this to create a new curve
• B: Select "Temp Curve"
• C: Make sure the sensor is using your CPU's "package" temperature
• D: Set your pump to use the newly made fan curve

The values we are using is as follow, but you can adjust to your liking:

1. 30% PWM @ 75C
2. 75% PWM @ 76C
3. 75% PWM @ 95C
4. 100% PWM @ 96C

This will make it so that whenever you CPU reaches between 76 and 95C it will force the pump to run at 75% which is slightly louder than the 30% idle speed we have set.

The reason we are doing this is that, at least for the 14900K used in our setup here, this is where it will typically operate when used for gaming or high-intensity tasks. When it's below this temperature we do not really care how warm it is idling, since it will be well below the threshold for what is considered high for a CPU.