It's true that all that glitters is not gold, but EK's latest special edition full-cover GPU waterblock for the Nvidia's Titan RTX sure helps the Turing-powered graphics card increase its bling game.
According to Slovenian liquid-cooling specialist EK Water Blocks, the EK Vector RTX Titan waterblock has been designed specifically to help Titan RTX owners unlock the $2500 graphics card's full potential while keeping operating temperatures in check. However, EK noted that the waterblock is compatible with some unspecified GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards.
The EK Vector RTX Titan waterblock is the real deal as it cools the graphics card's enormous TU102 die, the surrounding memory chips, and the power delivery subsystem. Although the waterblock is based on EK's Vector series of GPU waterblocks, this special iteration sports a larger surface area to increase heat transfer performance. The waterblock also features the Open Split-Flow design so it can be paired with weaker water pumps or water pumps running at low speeds and still maximize cooling performance.
The waterblock's base is carved entirely via CNC machinery out of a gold-plated electrolytic copper material while the top is manufactured out of black POM (Polyoxymethylene) acetal material. EK tells us that the company used EPDM O-rings for sealing and brass standoffs in the waterblock. The waterblock is compatible with G1/4" threaded fittings, which can be installed on either side of the terminal. EK also generously provides a single-slot I/O bracket so your Titan RTX only occupies one PCI slot instead of two.
The Titan logo is located at the corner of the waterblock and employs a special LED light diffuser. It's compatible with various motherboard RGB lighting systems, including Asus' Aura Sync, Gigabyte's RGB Fusion, MSI's Mystic Light, and ASRock's Polychrome Sync. The waterblock communicates with the motherboard via a 4-pin LED cable.
The EK Vector RTX Titan waterblock is currently up for pre-order for $259.99 (~£199.32) at the EK Webshop. The waterblock includes a mounting mechanism with screw-in brass standoffs, gold-plated mounting screws, nuts, and washers, two nickel-plated brass G1/4” plugs, a 6mm Allen key, thermal pads, and a tube of EK-TIM Ectotherm (1g) thermal paste. Unfortunately, a GPU backplate isn't included, but EK recommends you purchase one, which will set you back another $39.99 (~£30.66).
EK stated that it would start shipping out EK Vector RTX Titan waterblock orders on April 5.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.