Outstanding! This is the first Waterblock Showdown I have ever seen on RUclips. Loved it! I'm surprised nobody has done this before (Looking at you Gamers Nexus and JayzTwoCents). I imagine it is a lot of work. I would love to see comparisons with Bykski, Barrow, and Bitspower as well.
Very good testing, finally someone thought of including the GDDR6X temperatures in these tests as that is the actual big issue in the 3000 series, awesome video, VERY VERY helpful for such high investment decisions like watercooling. thanks!
@@bailey125 if you’re just gaming you shouldnt need a backplate as temps stay within advertised. But people that mine with 3090’s will see about 12 celsius cooler with the added backplate. Linus Tech Tips has a video that goes more in depth but if you mine definitely get the backplate as you will burn right through this card way faster.
@@abortme123 I'm thinking more on the lines of gaming + rendering + workstation + overclocking. I've also done some machine learning and NN training over the years and this can also be very GPU intensive and uses a lot of VRAM.
So nice to see a real review of these waterblocks, I really don't understand why so many tech channels did not review the corsair Hydro-X or any of these custom WC stuff. That test bench look super nice! It's self made?
@@RetroTinkerer I made it a few years ago using a fractal define R4 motherboard tray and some adjustable legs from kitchen units. It was really easy to make. Just drill out the rivets holding the motherboard tray to the case chassis, find and attach some legs and that is basically it. I just bolted some small steel L brackets to the top of the motherboard tray for mounting the radiator.
Thank you very much for this review, it was just what I was looking for. I did initially plan on buying the Alphacool Aurora waterblock due to the included backplate, but honestly if I'm going to spend an extra 25 euro or so to fix the thermal pads, I might as well just get the one from EKWB + backplate and the price difference is suddenly a lot smaller
The answer is always AquaComputer. *Corsair* - Overpriced cheap tat, easily accessible, poor software with lacklustre support. Normally solid hardware, WC gear not up to snuff. *EKWB* - Excellent quality parts, overpriced, have become a bit obsessed with unicorn vomit and acrylic. *AlphaCool* - Solid products, a bit outdated or outside the box. Excellent variety, fairly priced. OG. *AquaComputer* - Industry leading software, incredible control solutions, immense flexibility, superb quality, huge range, awesome spares support. Can be intimidating, not cheap. Honourable mentions: *HardwareLabs* - Still the best radiators in the market imo. Fairly priced. But looking old fashioned and with an outdated range. *Barrow* - Excellent budget BitsPower alternative. *Koolance* - Used to be great but didn't move with the times. *Phanteks* - Some lovely, albeit expensive products. Range needs extending. *BitsPower* - OG industry leader that is now overpriced and behind the times with tacky branding. Excellent quality. *Monsoon* - Expensive, outdated but good quality gear. Remember their customisable reservoirs fondly.
One thing I have just thought of regarding the RGB cables coming out of the GPU blocks WHY NOT have the cable coming out from just under or near where the PCIe power cable on the GPU would go because you can hide the RGB cables behind the PCIe power cable for improved looks
I like it where it is. I run it right behind the GPU and out of the case. You can’t see any of the RGB wires in my build. I sleeve all my cables, even the case cables, but the RGB cables are notoriously annoying because you can’t sleeve the way it comes. You have to solder new ones which is really easy but d-RGB connectors are expensive due to not being popularly purchased from a retail standpoint. Nevertheless, putting the wire there would be tricky in some builds especially when you have PCIe cables coming from the bottom like in the Lian Li O11 cases.
This is an excellent video! It's very dry and technical but I love it because it really gives information you can't find anywhere else that is critical. I'm really surprised at the Corsair and Alphacool results. Glad I went with EK. I had wondered why Corsair was less expensive. There is still a lot of value in Corsairs products even it it's not the lowest temps. Corsair does have a nice eco system with iCue.
Great review James 🥰🤯👍🥳 about to commence my EKWB cooling setup on my Asus TUF RTX 3080 & cpu Res/Pump combo, I managed to get my EKWB parts on a sale locally here in Australia 🇦🇺 at about 15-20% off which I’m happy about 😁🥰. This content that James does is awesome 😎🤩!!!
Very cool video, finally I see how you put that thing together. While the loudest thing on my system is the AIO, it is good to know you can make the system even more quiet.
Thank you very much for your work! That was exactly what I needed! BTW my first choice was alphacool (best design) but after your tests the vrm cooler is too bad for ~140€... I think EK is the best.
@@Redswipe Aren't you a little bit curious as to why only MajorHardware talked about that issue, the lack of reviews from almost every big tech youtuber (lack of time for a propper review, but plenty of time to do sponsored build), just how many reviews like this one have you seen that mention the issue with the previous revision? I'm still curious as how they handled warranty / system damage claims from their customers.
IMO the Corsair one is the best for 4 reasons 1) The design is similar to the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB RAM 2) Corsair has a huge ecosystem of RGB products so you can sync the lights with most RGB products in your system and Corsair peripherals 3) You can sync Corsair iCUE RGB with the RGB on Asus brand MOBO's and GPU's and MSI MOBO's 4) For a custom water block it is super easy for noobs to install since it has everything inside the box and the thermal paste and thermal pads are preinstalled in the correct places The biggest problem I have with Corsair's custom cooling is I don't really like the look of their pump/res combo's too much but it's still OK
Thanks for the putting the work in! I just bought the Corsair for $70. Open box, but never used. For that money you can’t go wrong. I definitely prefer the looks of the Corsair, great looking block.
I bought a Corsair xg7 rgb water block for my 2080, they had video's on you tube showing it will leak if you bend or try to force it to leak. Thanks to the bad reviews I was able to purchase it brand new @ 80. usd it works perfect no leaks no regrets...
I've found laying the block on its back, and lowering the much lighter board on to it, is the best way of aligning. It's the way you have to turn it for the screws anyway. The EK instructions would have you lowering the block down. The EK instructions for the Founders block leave you high and dry dissembling the GPU, as all it says is to dissemble it. But at least they have clearly legible instructions. The Bykski block (newly bought) I have for my RX 5700 came with two photocopied sheets, with smeared blue prints that are so small and faint they are totally illegible and cannot be used, and their website has no electronic version.
I have a new build going and am using the EK-Quantum Vector² FTW3 RTX 3080/90 ABP Set D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi on my EVGA FTW3 Ultra 3090. This water-block is huge. but fits nicely mounted vertically in the O11D XL.
I can confirm the memory temperature of 75-80C on Alphacool waterblock (I got Inno3D RTX 3080 Frostbite with waterblock preinstalled). Also, there was an issue with RGB strip solder, the signal pin was not properly soldered, so I had to repair it manually (yes, it's on warranty but waiting for the replacement or repair is not an option nowadays). Having it fixed I never had issues again.
@@pavelgorlachuk1460 that is interesting. It seems like the issue could be more widespread than I expected. Leo also tested his Palit RTX 3080 with the reference Alphacool block and found that VRAM temperature was excessive too.
@@KitGuruJames My guess is that the blcok thickness over mem/vrm is not matching the distance to the board components. If you could lay the disassembled card and measure the thicknesses precisely (over pcb) and then compare it to the heights on the waterblock I'd really appreciate it. Provided you have several blocks at your disposal, this could be an interesting follow-up video - the root cause for this mediocre performance. Cheers!
@@pavelgorlachuk1460 I agree that this could be the problem. However, I don't have the equipment to measure that precisely. I will follow up with Alphacool to see if they investigated and found the cause.
29:02 high memory temps with the Alphacool block. Would this benefit from 1.5mm thermal pads on the memory instead of the 1.0 (3W/mk) that come with the block? Or would better quality pads with 12W/mk suffice?
Hey James, thanks for great video. I like your content and you style a lot. I've installed an alphacool 3080 (FE, not reference though) block yesterday. However, after your video, and some forums posts, I've replaced the 1mm memory pads with higher performance 1.5mm pads (the thermalright odyssey ones). I tried to somewhat match your tests conditions (timespy extreme 30x loop), and with 2x360mm of rad, I'm getting ~47°C core temp, and ~53°C memory junction temp. I believe the FE block might be better than the reference block anyway, purely based on looking at the water path and copper plate, but I also believe that the slighly thicker and better quailty pads helped a lot.
Hi, I tried some 0.5mm thicker memory thermal pads with the Alphacool 3080 reference block and it improved memory temperature significantly, very similar to the EK readings. However, GPU core temperature increased so I assume that the block contact was impacted by the thicker memory thermal pads. I think if you find the optimal thermal pads, memory temperature will reduce and not impact the GPU core temperature using the Alphacool block, but this shouldn't have to be necessary. The best thermal pads for the job should be supplied in the kit. I have used the Alphacool 3080 Founders Edition block on the channel in a SFF build for the Intel NUC 9, it worked well.
Frankly it's irritating that for such an expensive product that EK doesn't even pre-cut the thermal pads. Would like to see you review a Heatkiller block as those look pretty sharp.
Great video !!! Great video bro !!! Very clear and super informative 👍👍 subscribed. I like ur style of review !! No bullshit ! Got in, did great job, left. People who drag out videos drain my soul. I decided what im buying thanks to you. Thank you for ur help.. i very appriciate it. 👍👍
Great vid, wish it had been done last year :) I have the Alphacool on the Trinity RTX 3090. My memory temps are 78deg!! I have been looking for options to cool the backplate but what grabed my attention is the ne EKWB active backplate. Hope you do a review for this and also look forward to see what happens when Alphacool send the new thermal strips
Did you know your 3090 Trinity memory temps were high before seeing this video? I tried the replacement Alphacool pads and memory temperature didn't improve. We planned on including the new EK Active backplate in this review but unfortunately the sample didn't arrive in time. One is on the way to me so hopefully I can test it out soon.
In august 2024, I'd look into EKWB and Alphacool before buying. EKWB we probably all know about now, but check out Alphacool's forum. I'm glad I got my money back when I cancelled my order which got postponed time and again for a month. I read on their forum one of their mods state that they weren't gonna make any new GPU-(WATER?)coolers until the next gen of GPUs comes out. also their RMA-section in the forum is a bit scetchy. also I could register on their forum, but got no confirmation mail to be able to see posted pics or write in there, no matter how many times I tried and checked ALL my email-folders.
I have the corsair block and was not happy with the temps on my 3080. I found a reddit post about repasting the gpu. Every one that did this saw a decrease in temps. Seems the stock paste is not very good.
Very exhaustive comparison. Well done. I have the AlphaCool block for the 6800 XT Nitro+ and the thermal pads for the back plate that came with it were 3mm thick. Question: How do you display the memory temperature in GPUZ? I can't seem to find the sensor for the 6800 XT.
@@KitGuruJames It's not in GPUZ. After some googling, I found that HWINFO has a "GPU Memory Junction Temperature," which is the closest you could get with the 6000 series cards.
I had a similar issue with my alphacool 3080 tuf block. Thermal pads on the inside were too thin and I was getting mem temps of 100 degrees. I remounted a couple times and made a visual check of the pads before I replaced with thermal grizzly pads that were slightly thicker and temps were fine.
@@forsgsrekylgevr2113 Hey, I just checked my order history and it looks like I replaced the 10mm pads with 15mm. Whichever you're looking to replace, I would add 5mm to the stock included pads. Hope that helps.
Well i can say that upgrading to Gelid 15w pads on memories on my alphacooling block showed off 24 YES TWENTY FOUR off memory temperatures. Now when mining never passing 60 with +1400 on mems. On top of that liquid metal used max core temp 37c.
@@KitGuruJames alphacooling uses some crappy pads for mems and thats why there is deifference. All in all u are better off getting alphacooling block liquid metal and gelid pads for mems. And still less than EK block and will be cooler :)
I bought the Eisblock GPX from Alphacool for my 3090 and got some problems with memory overheat (thermal throttle). But then I have mounted a CPU cooler on the backplate and now even with ethereum miner the memory keeps cool (around 90°C ^^). So active cooling the backplate is for the 30xx a nice addon.
I also like paper manuals. When you are building your pc or whatever you don't have always internet connections. AFAIK Asrock and a few others still supply a paper manual. MSI they only stick a CD in.
Hi I’m new here but I would love it if you do another video like this and include bykski gpu blocks aswell as they are another watercooling company that makes cooling solutions for pc ?
Could you do 6000 series as well, alphacool has one, bkyski as well as ekwb but im having a hard time choosing which one, and since not a lot of people do custom water loops, its hard for me to figure out which one to go with.
Hello! Please tell me where to buy a water block for a Palit RTX 2070 Super Jetstream video card? I'm looking on different sites and I can't find it. Thanks!
I have an EK Quantum Velocity on an EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3 and frankly I'm very disappointed with the temperatures, I think I came across a badly machined block (poor contact on the Die GPU, temperature that varies between 55 and 68º), my next will be an Alphacool.
Now, if I could just get something like this for my EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 card. But, for some reason, even though modern graphics cards are darn near impossible to find, these companies don't seem to want to product parts to keep old cards running a bit longer.
I wish you would have run another test were you used the same thermal paste for all of them. That is an easy and cheap test. I don't know about most people but... I always have thermal paste on hand.
i think you could use mpt to give more power to the gpu those results seem not getting higger because of the power limit of the card cause now you have more headroom in terms of temps
Great video! In it you mention that EK have added a range of active cooling backs - the backplate, rather than just being an unappealing metal plate is also vissibly water cooled and has RGB. Could you please do a review/comparison between the default backplates and the active water cooled backplate, to see what temperature difference there is? So we can also see how it looks - if its as good looking as the front plate, it would be worth the extra cost just for the look. ;) This active water cooled backplate only came out this month, EK Product EAN: 3831109836460. Thanks. :)
We planned to test the active backplate in this review but unfortunately the samples were not ready in time. One is on its way to me so we may get to do a quick backplate comparison.
@@KitGuruJames Just checking - you do mean the "EK-Quantum Vector RE RTX 3080/3090 Active Backplate D-RGB - Plexi" which only just came out this month? The ones which have an active and visible water cooling block right? Not the sealed "founder edition only cards" ones, which dont actually have a water block on the back plate, but just have the water in valves on the back rather than the side.
@@KitGuruJames Awesome, really excited to see that. I read that the mp5works "generic" water cooled backplate (which is quite limited as it has to fit on the back of all backplates, rather than having a cooling block touching the GPU components directly) led to an average of a 10 degrees C drop, with much greater overclocking stability. So really excited to see a proper active water cooled backplate designed to work with the active water cool frontplate. Could be a "game changer", very literally. ;)
I cannot believe i just spended around 10K on two pieces Asus Ekwb 3090 gpu's and Quantum RE Vector waterblocks, and then there is 6mm huge gap between thermal pads and waterblock!!! Ekwb support recomended this waterblock to me and said it was compatible with all RE RTX 3080\3090. I contacted them again and now waiting for a reply..... As far as i know its not possible to buy 5mm Thermal pads, and now im proberly forced to make some modifications with flat copper bars for heat transfer. EKWB Seriously????
I have the EK quantum on a Zotac 3080 AMp Holo and a MSI 3090 Suprim X, both in the same loop, works just great. the 3090 memory temps gets a bit high(around 82-86 degreese celsius while mining), but the passive cooling from the backplate is a bit to much to ask for really as those GDDR6X memory chips gets freaking hot. Going to get the active backplate if they release it for the MSI cards. Going to add some cooper fins and a fan for now.
Pretty much identical with aftermarket ones. I got alphacool block from Inno3d and it does get the hot memory situation. Guess alphacool should have made a closer metal contact to the memory modules.
like the finger print all over !!! Good information very educative and efficiency video, well done see the difference between this brand, not many people do videos like this one!! lol finger print always a headache!!
That was really good, James, but I'm a fan-boy of EKWB. Their products just ooze quality. I've got the EK 3090, and that is just beautiful, taking just one slot, and minimal case space. Thanks for the vid, - enjoyed as always! Stay well. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
@@pavelgorlachuk1460 Presuming you mean Loop Connect, perhjaps saw there were software updates from EK in the past few weeks. If so, did they fix your problems?
@@KitGuruTech I happily sold mine a year ago. You can check the comments to EK's Loop connect youtube video to see if it is any better now. They even deleted the comments some time ago. And there's one review dated one month ago. So, better to avoid it anyway.
I want to buy Aplhacool aio for my gigabyte 3080 ti gaming oc because this is my only option but I am afraid about memory temps which is really high and I don't like that.
I don't want to be a jerk, but I don't understand why anyone would even buy Corsair water cooling parts. I know looks is subjective but to me they don't look good, they look cheap but more importantly in an industry with companies like EK and Bitspower who have proven themselves for a decade+ what is the value of buying Corsair? I know Bitspower is the OEM for Corsair fittings which is ok, but I could never trust their blocks. I've been water cooling since the late 90's though so I'm sure I'm just a boomer when it comes to this stuff.
no.. you're right :) they consistently perform worst than the competition, and you get a cheap (fragile) injection molded part for the same price as CNC machined blocks.
The Alphacool block is tiny and lacks coverage. Seen several other people review it badly both on it's own and pre-installed on GPUs. Not a very good product at all, it's mostly plexi.
What reviews had you seen about the corsair hydro-x, it's been like 2 years since the youtube stars received their full kits and all I saw was a ton of sponsored builds... one small youtuber asking himself why nobody was talking about how the GPU WB leaked like there was no tomorrow if your tubes excerpt a little presure on the block?
@@RetroTinkerer I assume that this is the fixed version of the block. They changed the outlets on the block so they don't flex any more. I think Jayz2Cents actually showed the improvement in a video of his own.
@@chrishexx3360 I stopped following him and watching his videos after a colorful answer to my question about why there weren't reviews of this product being published.
@@chrishexx3360 I kind of loose a lot of respect for him when he was trying to install a Threadripper CPU on its socket using the motherboard box as a surface, you could clearly see that the box was giving out and flexing the crap out, but he still did an "AMD you need to fix this" rant video. I still liked watching his custom build WC rigs, but there are smaller channels that do custom loops better than him, so it became really pointless to me to keep on following him.
you should have checked vrm temperature. alphacool design choice is very interesting but corsair is very bad design for vrm. at least by looking at video.
I tried lots of different thermal pads on the VRAM with the Alphacool block, some improved memory temperature at the cost of increased GPU core temperature. Shame really because the GPU core temperature with the Alphacool block was very good.
I reached Alphacool months ago regarding with high VRAM temperatures on a Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-N RTX. They ignored my messages. The problem is they are using wrong thermal pads thickness and low thermal conductivity. Replacing with good ones and squeezing 3mm to ~2.5mm solves the problem.
For some reason the XG7 I have is running at 80° on the core. My water temps never get over 40° I have tryed re-seating it a few times and used different paste but nuthing seems to help. Anyone know what might be wrong?
WITHOUT THE ek FOUNFERS ADDITION WATER BLOCK THIS IS NOT A GOOD REVIEW CLEARLY HE DOESN'T KNOW HIS WATER BLOCKS. EK WINS HANDS DOWN WITH THEIR 3080 FE BLOCK YOU GUYS ALL KNOW WHICH BLOCK/ RTX 3080 FE Liquid Cooling - 350W of Juice - RUclips
Outstanding! This is the first Waterblock Showdown I have ever seen on RUclips. Loved it! I'm surprised nobody has done this before (Looking at you Gamers Nexus and JayzTwoCents). I imagine it is a lot of work. I would love to see comparisons with Bykski, Barrow, and Bitspower as well.
Very good testing, finally someone thought of including the GDDR6X temperatures in these tests as that is the actual big issue in the 3000 series, awesome video, VERY VERY helpful for such high investment decisions like watercooling. thanks!
Just finished my EK Quantum mod on 3090. Glad to see I got similar or better temps together with CPU in loop. EKWB really did a homerun here.
I know this comment is a year old, and I'm not sure when it released but did you also go for the EK active back plate also?
@@bailey125 no but on hindsight I wish I had, would have enabled better OC.
@@bailey125 if you’re just gaming you shouldnt need a backplate as temps stay within advertised. But people that mine with 3090’s will see about 12 celsius cooler with the added backplate. Linus Tech Tips has a video that goes more in depth but if you mine definitely get the backplate as you will burn right through this card way faster.
@@abortme123 I'm thinking more on the lines of gaming + rendering + workstation + overclocking. I've also done some machine learning and NN training over the years and this can also be very GPU intensive and uses a lot of VRAM.
So nice to see a real review of these waterblocks, I really don't understand why so many tech channels did not review the corsair Hydro-X or any of these custom WC stuff.
That test bench look super nice! It's self made?
Yeah the test bench is home made 👍
@@KitGuruJames It look "super pro"
I would love to watch a video about it or how it was made.
@@RetroTinkerer I made it a few years ago using a fractal define R4 motherboard tray and some adjustable legs from kitchen units. It was really easy to make.
Just drill out the rivets holding the motherboard tray to the case chassis, find and attach some legs and that is basically it.
I just bolted some small steel L brackets to the top of the motherboard tray for mounting the radiator.
Thank you very much for this review, it was just what I was looking for. I did initially plan on buying the Alphacool Aurora waterblock due to the included backplate, but honestly if I'm going to spend an extra 25 euro or so to fix the thermal pads, I might as well just get the one from EKWB + backplate and the price difference is suddenly a lot smaller
Hopefully, Alphcool will investigate this issue as it seems more common than I expected it to be.
The answer is always AquaComputer.
*Corsair* - Overpriced cheap tat, easily accessible, poor software with lacklustre support. Normally solid hardware, WC gear not up to snuff.
*EKWB* - Excellent quality parts, overpriced, have become a bit obsessed with unicorn vomit and acrylic.
*AlphaCool* - Solid products, a bit outdated or outside the box. Excellent variety, fairly priced. OG.
*AquaComputer* - Industry leading software, incredible control solutions, immense flexibility, superb quality, huge range, awesome spares support. Can be intimidating, not cheap.
Honourable mentions:
*HardwareLabs* - Still the best radiators in the market imo. Fairly priced. But looking old fashioned and with an outdated range.
*Barrow* - Excellent budget BitsPower alternative.
*Koolance* - Used to be great but didn't move with the times.
*Phanteks* - Some lovely, albeit expensive products. Range needs extending.
*BitsPower* - OG industry leader that is now overpriced and behind the times with tacky branding. Excellent quality.
*Monsoon* - Expensive, outdated but good quality gear. Remember their customisable reservoirs fondly.
My bitspower classic on my 3080 Strix is excellent. Super low junction temps and the block is very easy to install
Nobody messes with the best anymore. KOOLANCE has by far the best cooling radiators out there and their pumps and housings.
One thing I have just thought of regarding the RGB cables coming out of the GPU blocks WHY NOT have the cable coming out from just under or near where the PCIe power cable on the GPU would go because you can hide the RGB cables behind the PCIe power cable for improved looks
I like it where it is. I run it right behind the GPU and out of the case. You can’t see any of the RGB wires in my build. I sleeve all my cables, even the case cables, but the RGB cables are notoriously annoying because you can’t sleeve the way it comes. You have to solder new ones which is really easy but d-RGB connectors are expensive due to not being popularly purchased from a retail standpoint.
Nevertheless, putting the wire there would be tricky in some builds especially when you have PCIe cables coming from the bottom like in the Lian Li O11 cases.
Watching reviews of products i will never own. Just love this stuff though. Thanks.
This is an excellent video! It's very dry and technical but I love it because it really gives information you can't find anywhere else that is critical. I'm really surprised at the Corsair and Alphacool results. Glad I went with EK. I had wondered why Corsair was less expensive. There is still a lot of value in Corsairs products even it it's not the lowest temps. Corsair does have a nice eco system with iCue.
Glad you enjoyed it Allan.
perfect timing with the video bro
That's a great job James!! Thats alot of work what u just did!!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
Corsair makes the most user friendly imo.
Their cable management needs work on
Until it leaks…
Great review James 🥰🤯👍🥳 about to commence my EKWB cooling setup on my Asus TUF RTX 3080 & cpu Res/Pump combo, I managed to get my EKWB parts on a sale locally here in Australia 🇦🇺 at about 15-20% off which I’m happy about 😁🥰. This content that James does is awesome 😎🤩!!!
Thanks Michael, glad you enjoyed it.
Very cool video, finally I see how you put that thing together. While the loudest thing on my system is the AIO, it is good to know you can make the system even more quiet.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Very informative and technical as usual from James, good job!
Thank you very much for your work! That was exactly what I needed! BTW my first choice was alphacool (best design) but after your tests the vrm cooler is too bad for ~140€... I think EK is the best.
The Corsair one looks so much better than the others so despite not being quite as good I'll be going with that one.
I have to agree with you about the looks of the Corsair XG7.
Yep, so many sponsored builds talking about how great they look and only a few reviews here and there...
ruclips.net/video/2MjpWwP9Sno/видео.html
@@RetroTinkerer You realise it's had a complete redesign since that leaking model?
@@Redswipe Aren't you a little bit curious as to why only MajorHardware talked about that issue, the lack of reviews from almost every big tech youtuber (lack of time for a propper review, but plenty of time to do sponsored build), just how many reviews like this one have you seen that mention the issue with the previous revision?
I'm still curious as how they handled warranty / system damage claims from their customers.
IMO the Corsair one is the best for 4 reasons
1) The design is similar to the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB RAM
2) Corsair has a huge ecosystem of RGB products so you can sync the lights with most RGB products in your system and Corsair peripherals
3) You can sync Corsair iCUE RGB with the RGB on Asus brand MOBO's and GPU's and MSI MOBO's
4) For a custom water block it is super easy for noobs to install since it has everything inside the box and the thermal paste and thermal pads are preinstalled in the correct places
The biggest problem I have with Corsair's custom cooling is I don't really like the look of their pump/res combo's too much but it's still OK
Thanks for the putting the work in! I just bought the Corsair for $70. Open box, but never used. For that money you can’t go wrong. I definitely prefer the looks of the Corsair, great looking block.
Great to hear!
I bought a Corsair xg7 rgb water block for my 2080, they had video's on you tube showing it will leak if you bend or try to force it to leak. Thanks to the bad reviews I was able to purchase it brand new @ 80. usd it works perfect no leaks no regrets...
I've found laying the block on its back, and lowering the much lighter board on to it, is the best way of aligning. It's the way you have to turn it for the screws anyway. The EK instructions would have you lowering the block down.
The EK instructions for the Founders block leave you high and dry dissembling the GPU, as all it says is to dissemble it.
But at least they have clearly legible instructions. The Bykski block (newly bought) I have for my RX 5700 came with two photocopied sheets, with smeared blue prints that are so small and faint they are totally illegible and cannot be used, and their website has no electronic version.
They have them printed in the product web page for future reference.
Fantastic video and methodology! I'm curious, exactly how thick is the XG7 with the PCB installed? Thanks so much!
I have a new build going and am using the EK-Quantum Vector² FTW3 RTX 3080/90 ABP Set D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi on my EVGA FTW3 Ultra 3090. This water-block is huge. but fits nicely mounted vertically in the O11D XL.
Love the content like this.
Thanks Gary. Glad you enjoyed it.
I can confirm the memory temperature of 75-80C on Alphacool waterblock (I got Inno3D RTX 3080 Frostbite with waterblock preinstalled). Also, there was an issue with RGB strip solder, the signal pin was not properly soldered, so I had to repair it manually (yes, it's on warranty but waiting for the replacement or repair is not an option nowadays). Having it fixed I never had issues again.
Have you managed to improve the memory temperature with your Alphacool block Pavel?
@@KitGuruJames No, James, in fact I learnt about memory temperature situation from your video, thank you for pointing that out :P
@@pavelgorlachuk1460 that is interesting. It seems like the issue could be more widespread than I expected. Leo also tested his Palit RTX 3080 with the reference Alphacool block and found that VRAM temperature was excessive too.
@@KitGuruJames My guess is that the blcok thickness over mem/vrm is not matching the distance to the board components. If you could lay the disassembled card and measure the thicknesses precisely (over pcb) and then compare it to the heights on the waterblock I'd really appreciate it. Provided you have several blocks at your disposal, this could be an interesting follow-up video - the root cause for this mediocre performance. Cheers!
@@pavelgorlachuk1460 I agree that this could be the problem. However, I don't have the equipment to measure that precisely. I will follow up with Alphacool to see if they investigated and found the cause.
EKWB is the gold standard.
29:02 high memory temps with the Alphacool block.
Would this benefit from 1.5mm thermal pads on the memory instead of the 1.0 (3W/mk) that come with the block?
Or would better quality pads with 12W/mk suffice?
Hey James, thanks for great video. I like your content and you style a lot.
I've installed an alphacool 3080 (FE, not reference though) block yesterday.
However, after your video, and some forums posts, I've replaced the 1mm memory pads with higher performance 1.5mm pads (the thermalright odyssey ones).
I tried to somewhat match your tests conditions (timespy extreme 30x loop), and with 2x360mm of rad, I'm getting ~47°C core temp, and ~53°C memory junction temp.
I believe the FE block might be better than the reference block anyway, purely based on looking at the water path and copper plate, but I also believe that the slighly thicker and better quailty pads helped a lot.
Hi,
I tried some 0.5mm thicker memory thermal pads with the Alphacool 3080 reference block and it improved memory temperature significantly, very similar to the EK readings.
However, GPU core temperature increased so I assume that the block contact was impacted by the thicker memory thermal pads.
I think if you find the optimal thermal pads, memory temperature will reduce and not impact the GPU core temperature using the Alphacool block, but this shouldn't have to be necessary. The best thermal pads for the job should be supplied in the kit.
I have used the Alphacool 3080 Founders Edition block on the channel in a SFF build for the Intel NUC 9, it worked well.
Love this - not that I can buy a 3080 now but maybe sometime next year I am hoping...
Frankly it's irritating that for such an expensive product that EK doesn't even pre-cut the thermal pads. Would like to see you review a Heatkiller block as those look pretty sharp.
Great video !!! Great video bro !!! Very clear and super informative 👍👍 subscribed. I like ur style of review !! No bullshit ! Got in, did great job, left. People who drag out videos drain my soul. I decided what im buying thanks to you. Thank you for ur help.. i very appriciate it. 👍👍
not forgetting phanteks waterblock they make awesome waterblock too
Great vid, wish it had been done last year :) I have the Alphacool on the Trinity RTX 3090. My memory temps are 78deg!! I have been looking for options to cool the backplate but what grabed my attention is the ne EKWB active backplate. Hope you do a review for this and also look forward to see what happens when Alphacool send the new thermal strips
Did you know your 3090 Trinity memory temps were high before seeing this video? I tried the replacement Alphacool pads and memory temperature didn't improve.
We planned on including the new EK Active backplate in this review but unfortunately the sample didn't arrive in time. One is on the way to me so hopefully I can test it out soon.
@@KitGuruJames hi, no. it was this video that made me check my temps. After playing a game, Assetto Corsa Competizione, the temp went up to over 80deg
PS re the backplate have you seen the product made by MP5Works
@@Petrolhead66 no, do you have a link?
I've read that you should remove the spring loaded screws and insert regular screws to tighten the connection
Very useful info. I finally was able to aget my hands on a Nvidia RTX 3080Ti at retail price. I'm going with the EKWB:)
How much?
In august 2024, I'd look into EKWB and Alphacool before buying. EKWB we probably all know about now, but check out Alphacool's forum. I'm glad I got my money back when I cancelled my order which got postponed time and again for a month. I read on their forum one of their mods state that they weren't gonna make any new GPU-(WATER?)coolers until the next gen of GPUs comes out. also their RMA-section in the forum is a bit scetchy. also I could register on their forum, but got no confirmation mail to be able to see posted pics or write in there, no matter how many times I tried and checked ALL my email-folders.
I have the corsair block and was not happy with the temps on my 3080. I found a reddit post about repasting the gpu. Every one that did this saw a decrease in temps. Seems the stock paste is not very good.
Merci
Will come back and watch this if and when I can buy another GPU only have a 3070 but need another for other rig ...good review @ James
Very nice comparison, but you forgot the Phanteks water block
Very exhaustive comparison. Well done. I have the AlphaCool block for the 6800 XT Nitro+ and the thermal pads for the back plate that came with it were 3mm thick.
Question: How do you display the memory temperature in GPUZ? I can't seem to find the sensor for the 6800 XT.
With the RTX 3080 it is displayed automatically under the sensors tab in GPU-Z. It's not there on the 6800 XT?
@@KitGuruJames It's not in GPUZ. After some googling, I found that HWINFO has a "GPU Memory Junction Temperature," which is the closest you could get with the 6000 series cards.
I had a similar issue with my alphacool 3080 tuf block. Thermal pads on the inside were too thin and I was getting mem temps of 100 degrees. I remounted a couple times and made a visual check of the pads before I replaced with thermal grizzly pads that were slightly thicker and temps were fine.
what thickness did you use id you remember?
@@forsgsrekylgevr2113 Hey, I just checked my order history and it looks like I replaced the 10mm pads with 15mm. Whichever you're looking to replace, I would add 5mm to the stock included pads. Hope that helps.
@@lennox797 thank you very much man thats great
Well i can say that upgrading to Gelid 15w pads on memories on my alphacooling block showed off 24 YES TWENTY FOUR off memory temperatures. Now when mining never passing 60 with +1400 on mems. On top of that liquid metal used max core temp 37c.
That sounds similar to the result I saw with the EK block. Max memory temp was 58c.
@@KitGuruJames alphacooling uses some crappy pads for mems and thats why there is deifference. All in all u are better off getting alphacooling block liquid metal and gelid pads for mems. And still less than EK block and will be cooler :)
@@lordzed83 what card do you have?
@@KitGuruJames 3080fr for myself
I bought the Eisblock GPX from Alphacool for my 3090 and got some problems with memory overheat (thermal throttle). But then I have mounted a CPU cooler on the backplate and now even with ethereum miner the memory keeps cool (around 90°C ^^). So active cooling the backplate is for the 30xx a nice addon.
I also like paper manuals. When you are building your pc or whatever you don't have always internet connections. AFAIK Asrock and a few others still supply a paper manual. MSI they only stick a CD in.
Hi I’m new here but I would love it if you do another video like this and include bykski gpu blocks aswell as they are another watercooling company that makes cooling solutions for pc ?
Could you do 6000 series as well, alphacool has one, bkyski as well as ekwb but im having a hard time choosing which one, and since not a lot of people do custom water loops, its hard for me to figure out which one to go with.
Couldn't be a darling and tell me what brand water hoses you are using could you? Want Matte black and they look very flexible. Would appreciate it.
Hello! Please tell me where to buy a water block for a Palit RTX 2070 Super Jetstream video card? I'm looking on different sites and I can't find it. Thanks!
why i cant find a waterblock for the 4070 ti super? does the 4090 waterblock works for every 4000 series?
no sadly it doesnt i had this exact same question
I have an EK Quantum Velocity on an EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3 and frankly I'm very disappointed with the temperatures, I think I came across a badly machined block (poor contact on the Die GPU, temperature that varies between 55 and 68º), my next will be an Alphacool.
Now, if I could just get something like this for my EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 card. But, for some reason, even though modern graphics cards are darn near impossible to find, these companies don't seem to want to product parts to keep old cards running a bit longer.
"Watercool" ....
I wish you would have run another test were you used the same thermal paste for all of them. That is an easy and cheap test. I don't know about most people but... I always have thermal paste on hand.
i think you could use mpt to give more power to the gpu those results seem not getting higger because of the power limit of the card cause now you have more headroom in terms of temps
Great video! In it you mention that EK have added a range of active cooling backs - the backplate, rather than just being an unappealing metal plate is also vissibly water cooled and has RGB. Could you please do a review/comparison between the default backplates and the active water cooled backplate, to see what temperature difference there is? So we can also see how it looks - if its as good looking as the front plate, it would be worth the extra cost just for the look. ;) This active water cooled backplate only came out this month, EK Product EAN: 3831109836460. Thanks. :)
We planned to test the active backplate in this review but unfortunately the samples were not ready in time. One is on its way to me so we may get to do a quick backplate comparison.
@@KitGuruJames fantastic! Looking forward to it. :)
@@KitGuruJames Just checking - you do mean the "EK-Quantum Vector RE RTX 3080/3090 Active Backplate D-RGB - Plexi" which only just came out this month? The ones which have an active and visible water cooling block right? Not the sealed "founder edition only cards" ones, which dont actually have a water block on the back plate, but just have the water in valves on the back rather than the side.
@@TimLongson yes that is correct.
@@KitGuruJames Awesome, really excited to see that. I read that the mp5works "generic" water cooled backplate (which is quite limited as it has to fit on the back of all backplates, rather than having a cooling block touching the GPU components directly) led to an average of a 10 degrees C drop, with much greater overclocking stability. So really excited to see a proper active water cooled backplate designed to work with the active water cool frontplate. Could be a "game changer", very literally. ;)
Corsair is used friendly but they don't support many gpus
I have that GPU and I'm gonna water cool it. Thanks for the vlog, great stuff!
Glad it was useful info for you.
Would Like to see the Phanteks Waterblock tested against these as well
Great video and very informative,thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it.
If you check 4090 reviews alphacool is now same performance as ek
was that test done with the ek active backplate?
Good vid.. but since im considering the Bkyski Block, video almost has no meaning for me... :/
I cannot believe i just spended around 10K on two pieces Asus Ekwb 3090 gpu's and Quantum RE Vector waterblocks, and then there is 6mm huge gap between thermal pads and waterblock!!! Ekwb support recomended this waterblock to me and said it was compatible with all RE RTX 3080\3090. I contacted them again and now waiting for a reply..... As far as i know its not possible to buy 5mm Thermal pads, and now im proberly forced to make some modifications with flat copper bars for heat transfer. EKWB Seriously????
I have the EK quantum on a Zotac 3080 AMp Holo and a MSI 3090 Suprim X, both in the same loop, works just great. the 3090 memory temps gets a bit high(around 82-86 degreese celsius while mining), but the passive cooling from the backplate is a bit to much to ask for really as those GDDR6X memory chips gets freaking hot. Going to get the active backplate if they release it for the MSI cards. Going to add some cooper fins and a fan for now.
Wait that alphacool wb can be connected from the mid where those two circles are?
No, that is just where the water flows over the VRM mosfet. I think its designed like that for aesthetics.
Does it work if we just plug a radiator with threads/hoses directly to the GPU water block?
Can u use the ewk active backplate on the corsair water cool block ????
what about the pre-installed waterblock GPUs, like Aorus waterforce, Asus x EK collab and alphacool? how do they stack to after market water blocks?
I have used a 2080 Super Aorus waterforce before, it seemed perfectly fine.
Pretty much identical with aftermarket ones. I got alphacool block from Inno3d and it does get the hot memory situation. Guess alphacool should have made a closer metal contact to the memory modules.
like the finger print all over !!! Good information very educative and efficiency video, well done see the difference between this brand, not many people do videos like this one!! lol finger print always a headache!!
Can u do a founders edition 3090 comparison bitspower/ Corsair/ ek
Also looking for this!
That was really good, James, but I'm a fan-boy of EKWB. Their products just ooze quality. I've got the EK 3090, and that is just beautiful, taking just one slot, and minimal case space. Thanks for the vid, - enjoyed as always! Stay well. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Thanks Patrick, glad you enjoyed it.
If you can spend 60 Euros for EK Loop controller then try it and see how horrible it is.
@@pavelgorlachuk1460 Presuming you mean Loop Connect, perhjaps saw there were software updates from EK in the past few weeks. If so, did they fix your problems?
@@KitGuruTech I happily sold mine a year ago. You can check the comments to EK's Loop connect youtube video to see if it is any better now. They even deleted the comments some time ago. And there's one review dated one month ago. So, better to avoid it anyway.
Proper solid review
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
I want to buy Aplhacool aio for my gigabyte 3080 ti gaming oc because this is my only option but I am afraid about memory temps which is really high and I don't like that.
Bummer I have orderd a Inno3D 3080 with the Alphacool block pre installed. I might just stick with my Liquid Devil 6900 XT instead.
This issue may not affect the INNO3D card, but it would be very interesting to find out.
I'll take that 3080 off your hands!
Msi 6900xt gaming x trio does it have a waterblock ? I couldnt find any
i like that mat were can i buy one for delivery in england
ek got my vote ;D
Excellent review 👍
My son got me one of Alphacool kit, the pump stop working after only 9 months, not very good.
I don't want to be a jerk, but I don't understand why anyone would even buy Corsair water cooling parts. I know looks is subjective but to me they don't look good, they look cheap but more importantly in an industry with companies like EK and Bitspower who have proven themselves for a decade+ what is the value of buying Corsair? I know Bitspower is the OEM for Corsair fittings which is ok, but I could never trust their blocks. I've been water cooling since the late 90's though so I'm sure I'm just a boomer when it comes to this stuff.
no.. you're right :) they consistently perform worst than the competition, and you get a cheap (fragile) injection molded part for the same price as CNC machined blocks.
The Alphacool block is tiny and lacks coverage. Seen several other people review it badly both on it's own and pre-installed on GPUs. Not a very good product at all, it's mostly plexi.
What reviews had you seen about the corsair hydro-x, it's been like 2 years since the youtube stars received their full kits and all I saw was a ton of sponsored builds... one small youtuber asking himself why nobody was talking about how the GPU WB leaked like there was no tomorrow if your tubes excerpt a little presure on the block?
@@RetroTinkerer I assume that this is the fixed version of the block. They changed the outlets on the block so they don't flex any more. I think Jayz2Cents actually showed the improvement in a video of his own.
@@chrishexx3360 I stopped following him and watching his videos after a colorful answer to my question about why there weren't reviews of this product being published.
@@RetroTinkerer he’s not my fave, but I do watch him. He usually blunders his way through stuff, and could really use a script as he waffles a lot.
@@chrishexx3360 I kind of loose a lot of respect for him when he was trying to install a Threadripper CPU on its socket using the motherboard box as a surface, you could clearly see that the box was giving out and flexing the crap out, but he still did an "AMD you need to fix this" rant video. I still liked watching his custom build WC rigs, but there are smaller channels that do custom loops better than him, so it became really pointless to me to keep on following him.
Why there is no review of ASUS LC 350 AIO?
Wish u done the bitspower block in this test because i got some brilliant results
I just want a white version of literally any of these like there’s not even one with a white backplate or a white version for a all white theme
Buy one, paint it with some heat resistant paint only on the visible side, won't affect performance.
So i have the same issue with my alphacool the 1mm pad wasn't even touching u can see straight through going to had a mm and see if it helps
Cheers James.
Excellent video men congratulations
A very, very tired review of high scientific value, thank you very much for it.
EK ON TOP!
Nice title. Came here bc I thought it was a general thing. No no no, it's just for GPU Wterblocks.
So if i buy any of these i have to buy a radiator as well as a resrvoir because they dont come with the kits
you should have checked vrm temperature. alphacool design choice is very interesting but corsair is very bad design for vrm. at least by looking at video.
For the alphacool I achieved much better vram temperature results with high performance 1mm thermal pads.
I tried lots of different thermal pads on the VRAM with the Alphacool block, some improved memory temperature at the cost of increased GPU core temperature. Shame really because the GPU core temperature with the Alphacool block was very good.
And watercool ? 2nd better brand waterblock
I reached Alphacool months ago regarding with high VRAM temperatures on a Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-N RTX. They ignored my messages. The problem is they are using wrong thermal pads thickness and low thermal conductivity. Replacing with good ones and squeezing 3mm to ~2.5mm solves the problem.
Which card do you have and which pads and thickness did you go for (VRM/memory/backplate)?
Henrikoo 3080 TUF Gaming. I end up using GELID (12W/mk) for the 3mm and Thermalright (12.8 W/mK)
What size thickness for the thermalrights
I have two ekwb’s with two 3090s in my rig. With the active backplate and two rads I see 50 on the core and 71 on the mem while mining Eth.
At least I can buy the waterblocks for imaginary gpus!
😆
decent content soo good that im buying that ek block for my 3080. Hope i don't mess it up lol
Awesome job!
For some reason the XG7 I have is running at 80° on the core. My water temps never get over 40° I have tryed re-seating it a few times and used different paste but nuthing seems to help. Anyone know what might be wrong?
WITHOUT THE ek FOUNFERS ADDITION WATER BLOCK THIS IS NOT A GOOD REVIEW CLEARLY HE DOESN'T KNOW HIS WATER BLOCKS. EK WINS HANDS DOWN WITH THEIR 3080 FE BLOCK YOU GUYS ALL KNOW WHICH BLOCK/ RTX 3080 FE Liquid Cooling - 350W of Juice - RUclips