![]() I naively thought this to be the easiest job of the lot (and the most dangerous GPU dies are fragile) but it turned out to be just the most arduous and time-consuming.Įven the screw holes on an RTX 2080 have screw holes.Įverything is a screw, and those screws unscrew from screw holes that are themselves screws. I had no idea how many screws I would have to remove in order to take apart an Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition. Once fitted, you can apply a decent serving of the included thermal paste to the CPU heat spreader, slot the cooler on top, and then tighten the included screws to secure it in place.įrom there it's straight onto dismantling the graphics card. The instruction manual recommends proceeding with this whole process before you install the motherboard, but to hell with it- it works. Simply fit the rear rubber layer to the rear of the mobo, hold firm the metal backplate atop of that, and secure with some lengthy bolts through the mobo on the front-facing side. The installation process is a simple one, not unlike the best all-in-one coolers available today, albeit a little more heavy-duty than most. With the CPU slotted into place and the motherboard secured, it was time to fit the CPU water block sans tubing or fittings. Onward with the (hopefully) corrosion-free build! It still promises decent thermal performance nonetheless. These don't come cheap, however, and that's why EK has settled for aluminium for its Fluid Gaming lineup-it's the more budget-oriented product line, after all. Eventually, the corrosion would render my entire rig useless.Ĭopper, and nickel-plated copper, are common across water blocks, and are favoured for their exceptional thermal performance. If I were to mix my metals, the less noble of the two, in this case the aluminium, would slowly but surely dissolve and wear away due to the water flowing through it and the copper components. These metals cannot be mixed-'try telling Linkin Park that', my housemate responds. Every component included with the EKWB kit is manufactured out of aluminium. A dedicated VRM cooling block is not a requirement for a custom-loop PC, not by any means, and in fact this included water block brings us onto one very important aspect of open-loop building: choice of metal.ĭespite having a compatible block already built-in to my motherboard, and just begging to be connected up, if I were to do so I'd break the whole damn thing. My motherboard of choice for this build is the rather excessive Asus ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390, which is fitted with the EKWB Crosschill EK III VRM block. Only two thumbscrews in and the whole case falls away, essentially. The side and front panels simply slide out once the top panel's been removed. It's a relatively simple case layout, with a gratuitous access and copious cable tidy grommets. ![]() It makes quick work of just about any thermal paste going, and my CPU was spick-and-span sharpish.įollowing that, it was time to load up my motherboard and start the process of building into the Lian-Li O11. To ensure a clean application (but mostly for my own peace of mind) I cracked out the Arcticlean thermal grease remover and got to work. Building a custom liquid-cooled gaming PCĪfter dismantling my existing gaming PC, it was time to prep my components for a liquid lifestyle. My BeQuiet! case, capable twin-fan Founders Edition graphics card, and colossal Noctua D15 cooler kept everything running cool and quiet-these high-end components all made for stern competition for the finished loop, too.īut it's not everyday that you're offered the chance to sink some time into a custom loop on the clock, and I had been vying for a chance to do just that for the past two and a half years. My old build wasn't exactly screaming for an update, I'll admit. Using my own personal parts for this build also meant the pressure was on-if I broke anything, it would be my own hardware that would pay the ultimate price. My personal gaming PC is fit with an Intel Core i7 9700K and Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition. In lieu of office access, I had to grab what was at hand. All you need to bring to the workbench is compatible PC hardware and coolant (pre-mixed fluid, preferably, as none is included with the kit). ![]()
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