If you're hoping to plug Pascal into your water cooling setup, good news, EK Water Blocks has a new full-cover liquid cooling solution (EK-FC1080 GTX) for Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080.
The new water block comes in four different variations, including two transparent Plexiglas variants (EK-FC1080 GTX and EK-FC1080 GTX - Nickel) and two acetal models (EK-FC1080 GTX - Acetal and EK-FC1080 GTX Acetal+Nickel). EK says there's no difference in performance between models, only the aesthetics. All four cover the entire PCB of the card and apply cooling directly to the GPU, RAM, and VRM (voltage regulation module).
EK went with a central inlet split-flow cooling engine design, same as with its flagship EK-Supremacy Evo CPU water block. According to EK, this type of heat exchanger works just as well with reversed water flow. In addition, EK says it's a solid option for liquid cooling solutions with weaker water pumps.
The base of the new coolers are made from electrolytic copper or nickel-plated electrolytic copper, while the top consists of POM Acetal or acrylic (depending on the model). They all come with pre-installed brass standoffs.
Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080 is already the fastest single GPU solution on the planet, though if you plan to overclock, water cooling could lift the ceiling. In our tests using the stock cooling solution, we were able to goose the core and more by about 15 percent above reference (see our review for more in-depth coverage).
The new water blocks will be available on Friday priced between €100 (about $111) and €110 (about $123). Retention backplates, which also cool the memory ICs on the backside of the PCB, will be available for €30 (about $33) to €38 (about $42).
