With its power consumption of 450W and higher, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card can certainly benefit from liquid cooling. But unfortunately, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti adopts a new design with all memory chips on the front, which is why it needs all-new water blocks. This is where EK Water Blocks comes into play, promising to develop water blocks for reference and custom GeForce RTX 3090 Ti boards. The question is, do you need it?
"EK is working on a plethora of new Quantum Vector² water blocks for Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti-series graphics cards," a statement by EKWB reads. "This would allow unprecedented performance levels and no worries about wasting heat."
Plethora of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Water Blocks Incoming
Over the past year and a half, EKWB has developed over a dozen of water blocks for Nvidia Founders Edition, reference, and custom GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards. None of these water blocks are compatible with Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics board that carries 24GB of GDDR6X memory on its front and sets records not only with its performance, but also with its power consumption that starts at 450W.
For now, EK Water Blocks plans to design water blocks for Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition, Nvidia's reference boards supplied by partners with custom air coolers, Asus Strix RTX 3090 Ti cards, EVGA's FTW RTX 3090 Ti boards, and MSI's Trio RTX 3090 Ti as well as Suprim RTX 3090 Ti adapters. This is EKWB's preliminary plan; it may add more water blocks, but there are no timeframes as it takes some time to design and produce water blocks for custom graphics cards.
Traditionally, EKWB's water blocks for GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics cards cover the GPU, voltage regulating module and memory to remove heat from the hottest components of the board. The new water blocks will be compatible with Vector2 and Matrix7 sets for custom liquid cooling systems. The exception is the Founders Edition water block, which will be only compatible with Vector2 as it keeps its signature look and design.
While EKWB hasn't disclosed all the details about its upcoming water blocks, we expect them to resemble its existing products. Expect them to keep using CNC-machined nickel-plated electrolytic copper base with a plexiglass or stainless steel top. The water blocks will also feature EKWB's proprietary Open Split-Flow design with low hydraulic flow restriction to ensure sufficient cooling performance in cases when a low-speed pump is used or water flow is reversed.
To make the cards sturdy and enhance their longevity, EKWB will also offer active backplates for GeForce RTX 3090 Ti boards as well. These will not cool memory, but promises improved temperatures across the whole board.
EKWB hasn't yet specified when it intends to release its water blocks for GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.
But Do You Need One?
For now, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is the world's fastest graphics board. But Nvidia's next-generation Ada Lovelace family is incoming several months down the road and given typical generation-to-generation performance improvements, we expect the current flagship to be dethroned this fall.
This begs the question whether it makes sense to invest in a custom water block for Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti or just use an all-in-one liquid cooler that is compatible with a particular card. That cooler will likely retain compatibility with future graphics cards like the GeForce RTX 40-series. Of course, it will not perform just as good as a custom liquid cooling solution as it does not cover memory and VRM. But maybe it will be enough to enjoy the top-of-the-range card for a few months?
