A Water Block Emerges For MSI's Gaming 6G Series 980 Ti

News
By Kevin Carbotte
published

EK Water Blocks has announced the release of a full cover water block for MSI's GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G, which is designed as a direct replacement for the TwinFrozer V cooler that comes with the card.

EKWB makes some of the most highly sought after water cooling components in the industry. The company typically makes blocks for a wide range of graphics cards, from different manufacturers. It is often the first, and sometimes the only company making blocks for factory overclocked cards with custom PCB designs. The EK-FC980 GTX Ti TF5 block is the first water block available for this particular card.

The EK-FC980 GTX Ti TF5 shares the same central inlet split-flow cooling engine found in all of the company's recent releases. This design is unique to EK, and the company said it has been designed to work flawlessly with liquid flowing in either direction, and offers low resistance suitable for weaker pump systems.

The block has been designed to actively cool the VRMs and RAM along with the GPU itself. Fluid flows over all of these critical components to keep them as cool as possible, which should allow for better stability while overclocked.

In typical EKWB fashion, the company has released two versions of the EK-FC980 GTX Ti TF5 block. It is available in black POM Acetal and in clear acrylic. Unlike most other blocks from EKWB, the two versions are made somewhat differently. The acrylic version only has a window over the nickel-plated copper block, but does not extend over the rest of the PCB, leaving some capacitors and chokes uncovered. The Acetal block extends in both directions, giving it complete coverage over the entirety of the circuit board. In both cases, there is a nickel-plated plate above the VRMs, giving the block a two-tone look.

EKWB said the water blocks are available to order now in the EK Webshop, but they're currently being assembled. The acrylic-topped block is priced at $141.99, and the Acetal version is a dollar more. The company said back plates will be available in two weeks, and there will be a nicked plated version as well as a black version.

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Kevin Carbotte

 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. 

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • JackNaylorPE
    And last I looked, the EK cooling configurator said there was no plans to make a full cover water block.

    They also say there's one coming for the OC (white) version but unfortunately no love for the Lightning :(
    Reply
  • cats_Paw
    These things are always too overpriced. I love cool nerd stuff like this but if you calculate the total price of a good water cooling system it can easy get to 40-50% to the total price of the PC.

    If you invest that in better components, or later when new gear comes out, you will almost certainly beat the performance from water cooling+OC.

    So the way I see it, water cooling is only good for cool looks and quiet PCs.
    Both are good reasons, but paying a premium price for that alone?
    Hard to rationalize that.
    Reply
  • db188
    that's why it's for enthusiasts. stick to air coolers or clc aio's if you want to do it on the cheap.
    Reply
  • squirrelnutss
    These things are always too overpriced. I love cool nerd stuff like this but if you calculate the total price of a good water cooling system it can easy get to 40-50% to the total price of the PC.

    If you invest that in better components, or later when new gear comes out, you will almost certainly beat the performance from water cooling+OC.

    So the way I see it, water cooling is only good for cool looks and quiet PCs.
    Both are good reasons, but paying a premium price for that alone?
    Hard to rationalize that.

    If liquid cooling is accounting for 40-50% of your rig cost, you're either an idiot, or exaggerating to the point of buffoonery. Liquid cooling isn't going to help a Pentium II/GeForce 2 rig. This plate and a Corsair H100i for an i7 are less than $300.00 combined, champ.
    Reply