Asus gives its new Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs a sexy watercooled PCB slip

Asus watercooled 30-series GPU
(Image credit: Asus)

It's a given, the new RTX 3080s, along with the rest of Nvidia's 30-series GPUs are going to be running hot when they're pushed to their absolute limits. In an effort to combat this sweltering silicon Asus has announced a slew of watercooled cards will be joining the pool-party.

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Asus has been working with EKWB to produce water-cooled GeForce RTX cards sporting swanky, pre-installed EK-Quantum Vector water blocks.

The new compact, single-slot RTX 3070, RTX 3080, and RTX 3090 GPUs will need to be utilised as part of an existing full water cooling loop, and will be rocking EKWB coolers with a split-flow engine, underpinned by a nickel-plated copper cooling block. 

All this topped with a classy transparent acrylic cover, the minimal design of which allows your choice of coolant and RGB lighting to speak for itself. It will also showcase the beauty of the underlying tech, as opposed to overpowering it with flashy casing, like that of Gigabytes new Aorus Xtreme Waterforce.

The exposed PCB look gives it an air of "Yes, my components are out, and I'm proud."

The new cards will be hitting stores in late November, but no price has been speculated as yet. Still, don't get your hopes up for nabbing one until next year, these second generation RTX cards are like gold-dust at the moment. 

You can keep an eye out on RTX 3080 stock here, and see what retailers have to say on the matter. Also, if you ever do manage to get your hands on a 30-series card devoid of a water block, you can always get your hands on a separate EKWB cooling block here for around $150.  

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Katie Wickens
Hardware Writer

Screw sports, Katie would rather watch Intel, AMD and Nvidia go at it. Having been obsessed with computers and graphics for three long decades, she took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni, and has been rambling about games, tech and science—rather sarcastically—for four years since. She can be found admiring technological advancements, scrambling for scintillating Raspberry Pi projects, preaching cybersecurity awareness, sighing over semiconductors, and gawping at the latest GPU upgrades. Right now she's waiting patiently for her chance to upload her consciousness into the cloud.

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