If you've been sporting a GTX 980 Gaming 4G from MSI, but are aching for a water cooling upgrade, you can now turn to EKWB for a water block. The Slovenia-based water cooling component manufacturer added the EK-FC980 GTX TF5 to its arsenal.
The water block will come in two different flavors, although cooling performance for the lot should be identical. Both feature a copper block plated in nickel, which covers the GPU, VRM circuitry and memory on the top of the graphics card. Above the GPU area resides a so-called microchannel structure, which forces the fluid through a denser arrangement of fins in order to increase the heat transfer from the surface to the fluid. This particular block also has it shaped in a "split-flow" design, which forces the fluid into the center of this structure and then out the sides, after which it merges again.
One of the blocks comes with an acrylic top, which is see-through, allowing you to accent it with differently-colored fluid, while the other block is a full-cover block with an acetal top. There are also backplates available for the flip-side of the card, which will come in black plastic or nickel. Do note that because the backside of these graphics cards don't actually have any memory on them, the backplates won't help performance at all, unless, of course, you're going after aesthetic performance.
The water blocks are available immediately from EKWB for $127.75.
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