First of all, let's take a look at the main Hydrocool unit. Predominantly made of black tinted Plexiglas, it certainly looks striking with its chrome handle, filling cap and mat black bezels. On the front of the unit (also Plexiglas) you will see the large LED display which can show up to four numbers or characters. The red "Turbo" button is used to over-ride the Hydrocool’s monitoring and run the unit at full speed - ideal for those max-overclock 3DMark record-breaking attempt stints.
To the right of the display there are two buttons labled C and F. Predictably enough these toggle between Celsius and Fahrenheit. When setting up the unit these also act as + and -. Control mode is accessed by pressing the Set button. Upon first pressing SET you will enter into AL1 mode, in which you set the temperature at which the warning alarm sounds. This defaults to 45 C (block temp - CPU temp will be 15-20C higher). Pressing SET again brings up the AL2 option, the temperature at which the Hydrocool turns off the unit. A very useful feature, this means you can go on vacation and have few worries that damage will come to the PC, even in the unlikely event of a fan/pump failure.
To the side of the unit you can see a vent for the radiator, through which the 120mm fan pushes air. Corsair makes use of the remaining free space on the side for some understandable brand pimping ;)
On the Rear of the unit you can see the quick-release style connections to which you attach the CPU block, as well as the D-SUB 15 pin connection from which the Hydrocool pulls its power via the PCI backing plate. By using this method of power, Corsair cleverly cover both the UK / European markets (230V) and the US market (115V) in a single device.
The top of the unit has the filling cap, which you can open and tighten using a large coin. The black Perspex lid is just translucent enough to see the day-glow flow meter through it, which allows you to check that water is circulating effectively.
