EK Water Blocks Has Five 1080 Ti Water Blocks In The Pipeline
EK Water Blocks revealed the roadmap of upcoming GTX 1080 Ti water blocks. The company plans to support the Founders Edition and a handful of custom cards from Nvidia’s partner vendors.
It's no surprise that EKWB is gearing up to support Nvidia’s latest flagship GPU. If any component in your computer deserves a water block, it’s your GPU. And, in the case of the GTX 1080 Ti, it almost needs a water block.
We looked at the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition in early March and discovered that the stock cooling solution leaves much to be desired. The card maintains safe temperatures, but it’s overclocking potential is held back by the sub-par cooling solution. Putting the GPU under watergives it the thermal headroom to reach its full potential.
On April 5, you can pre-order the GTX 1080 Ti Founder Edition water block. EKWB didn’t say when the blocks would ship to pre-order customers. EKWB isn’t stopping at the Founder’s Edition card, either. The company is developing full-cover water blocks for 1080 Ti cards from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and EVGA, and plans to roll them out over the next two months.
Following the release of the 1080 Ti Founder’s Edition water block, EKWB will shift its focus towardthe Asus 1080 Ti Strix water block, which should launch in mid-April. The company plans to release MSI 1080 Ti Gaming X, Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti Aorus, and EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 water blocks over the course of May. EKWB said the blocks could fit on multiple graphics cards, so you should check the EK cooling configurator if you purchase a different model 1080 Ti from these vendors.
| Graphics Card | EK Water Block model | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti | EK-FC1080 GTX Ti | Early April 2017 |
| ASUS® GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti Strix | EK-FC1080 GTX Ti Strix | Mid April 2017 |
| MSI® GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X | EK-FC1080 GTX Ti TF6 | Early May 2017 |
| GIGABYTE® GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti Aorus | EK-FC1080 GTX Ti Aorus | Early May 2017 |
| EVGA® GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 | EK-FC1080 GTX Ti FTW | Late May 2017 |
EKWB said that it would offer each of the GTX 1080 Ti water blocks with clear acrylic and Acetal tops over nickel plated copper. The company didn’t announce pricing for the forthcoming GPU blocks.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
-
GamingEnthusiast420 I guess that means I can ditch the Titan X blocks and backplates I have running in my system.Reply -
Alan Pritchard I've just bought a 1080ti FE and titan x block, as it's compatible...why the need for a specific 1080 ti block?Reply -
TechyInAZ Reply19499840 said:I've just bought a 1080ti FE and titan x block, as it's compatible...why the need for a specific 1080 ti block?
1. So newer people know for certain that it will work with their 1080 Ti.
2. So the wording 1080 Ti is on the block and not titan X. -
Hellbound Reply19499840 said:I've just bought a 1080ti FE and titan x block, as it's compatible...why the need for a specific 1080 ti block?
Custom PCB's.. EVGA's FTW3 1080Ti is a custom board and the FE block wont fit properly.
-
bluzbrother Not a knock on water cooling, because I would love to go that route if it wasn't so expensive, but I think it's ridiculous that a $700 graphics card comes with cooling that is "sub-par".Reply -
JackNaylorPE If you want to avoid throttling, you'll need a AIB provided air cooling system or a water block. That's going to be true for the 1080 Ti just as it was for the 1080 / 1070. Water blocks for reference cards are interchangeable across brands and often between model numbers when two models use the same PCB.Reply