EK Active Backplate Waterblock install for 4090 FE

[Jay-G25]

I posted a few pics of this in the main 4000 series thread but decided to do a separate thread in this section showing the process i took of installing the EK Active back plate on the 4090 FE , will include pics of the temps i achieved after doing do


Setup to accommodate air cooled 4090 after upgrading from a 3090 Water cooled Strix

Time to watercool that 4090 FE

Front , back and side of the EK Active back plate

Disassembly time.
The back plate is very easy to remove and just has a small clip to release next to the io shield , no screws as its held in magnetically . Very little cooling going on hence the lack of thermal pads to get the pcb out needed to release 2 fan ribbons and an rgb cable then just a case of unscrewing the clamp for the die and removing 6 torx screws from the io shield, a couple of screws around the pcb and the pcb should then lift out .

PCB removed , the stock thermal paste was like cement ... rock solid !

PCB cleaned ready for thermal pads , i went for better thermal pads than EK supply ... not cheap but keep the memory and vrm as cool as possible

Many thermal pads

s i am using Liquid Metal as the TIM it is imperative to protect the smd surrounding the GPU , for that used Thermal Grizzly varnish which i got from OCUK .. nice shade of red

Then on to the boring task of cutting all the thermal pads to shape and size .. i swear this stage took me a good 2 hours to do both sides

Conductonaut Liquid Metal applied to die , i also gave the mounting face of the block a light coating.

Backplate fitted and pressure testing for leaks

Time to drain the loop and get the pipework sorted . I actually got a bit lucky and was able to reuse the top complex hose for the gpu all it needed was a little cutting down but had to make a new lower pipe as previous was a bit short .

Filled loop and all back together

RGB Yo!

And on to some Temp data , At 450w the delta will be 20deg over water temp but in normal gaming loads which are around 350w this drops to a 13-14 deg c delta over water temp . Hotspot is 6-7 degc over core temp . The result of this is the card will now boost a few bins higher than previously and will hold its boost stable . Previously i could get a max of 3075Mhz running Time spy extreme where as now that is 3120Mhz due to the core being cooler. Overall very happy and it has done exactly what i wanted , bit more performance , runs much cooler , looks nice and doesn't make any noise

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Does the 4090 active backplate differ
From the 3090 one?
Thought on the 3090 you were meant to go out the port
Above the one you went in
Ie some ones other post in here they went in
Port on bottom right hand side of gpu block and out
Port on top right hand side
Which is what the instruction manual said to do
Just interested if the 4090 is different for future reference

 

[Jay-G25]

Yes mate they have redesigned the port termainl for these blocks and can use any configuration you want

From EK site :

Direct Link Terminal​

These new Vector² GPU water block and active backplate sets feature a Direct Link flow solution - the first multiple block solution to implement a conventional 4-port terminal layout. That allows serial and parallel connections from adjacent or opposing sides of the block. It was made possible by the addition of a machined brass insert in the terminal itself that diagonally links the water block directly to the active backplate inside the acetal terminal. Direct Link proves invaluable when flexibility is required for the right setup, like in a case of a distribution plate or vertical GPU mount.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Thanks mate
Much better solution
Being tied to certain ports was a bad design really

 

[Jay-G25]

Thanks mate
Much better solution
Being tied to certain ports was a bad design really

Yeah i was a bit worried about it myself at first thinking have i got it the right way round then when i found out what they actual designed was like oh that is actually a very good idea

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

They should have done it that way to start
Now going to have a V1 and V2
Now if people post about it will have to check which version they have
First World problem I know lol

 

[OC2000]

Can you overclock your memory as high as you could with air cooling. I've read on overclock.net people say it need to be warm and water-cooling is actually reducing its overclocking potential. Im thinking of using EK's stock thermal pads now because of this. Hoping its an isolated case though as like you ive just spent loads on after market pads.

 

[Jay-G25]

Can you overclock your memory as high as you could with air cooling. I've read on overclock.net people say it need to be warm and water-cooling is actually reducing its overclocking potential. Im thinking of using EK's stock thermal pads now because of this. Hoping its an isolated case though as like you ive just spent loads on after market pads.

I'm glad you asked this as that is exactly my findings, I'm no longer able to clock the memory as high due to it being cool . I thought I was imagining it at first but no I am no longer able to hold 1500mhz stable on the memory and had to reduce it to 1450mhz so although it's only a very minor decrease it is a decrease none the less . From all the videos I have watched on ln2 overclocking while not to the same degree of cold have heard many times that the memory clocks had to be reduce to get it to pass due to it not liking being so cold and imagine with this pulling so much heat out the pcb and memory is having the same effect

 

[OC2000]

I'm glad you asked this as that is exactly my findings, I'm no longer able to clock the memory as high due to it being cool . I thought I was imagining it at first but no I am no longer able to hold 1500mhz stable on the memory and had to reduce it to 1450mhz so although it's only a very minor decrease it is a decrease none the less . From all the videos I have watched on ln2 overclocking while not to the same degree of cold have heard many times that the memory clocks had to be reduce to get it to pass due to it not liking being so cold and imagine with this pulling so much heat out the pcb and memory is having the same effect

Interesting to hear. Ill use the EK stock pads then. On the other forum they were saying memory likes to be around 45C to perform normally. It seems its all changed now which is strange considering its still GDDR6X all be it 2GB instead of 1GB.

 

[^JP^]

Good pictures and information.

Hopefully non active backplate and standard EK thermal pads will keep the memory in its optimal window.

Got my block sitting here now too.

 

[Jay-G25]

Interesting to hear. Ill use the EK stock pads then. On the other forum they were saying memory likes to be around 45C to perform normally. It seems its all changed now which is strange considering its still GDDR6X all be it 2GB instead of 1GB.

Yeah for now best to use the ek pads and see how you get on , tbh will still be more than cool enough with ek pads just hopefully not to cool to effect memory overclocking, would be interesting to see your results when done as I could always swap them out but would really only matter in extreme benchmarks as 50mhz won't lose hardly anything as I am getting better scores due to the core boosting higher now . Temp wise the memory struggling to get out mid to low 30 currently so sounds like it's definitely needs to be a touch warmer in games I have it set to+1200mhz which is what I had on air and it remains rock solid stable at that clock and low temps on memory, its just when trying to get that very last bit in benchmarks

 

[Jay-G25]

Good pictures and information.

Hopefully non active backplate and standard EK thermal pads will keep the memory in its optimal window.

Got my block sitting here now too.

You should be fine I imagine but would be good if you can share your results aswell I've never had to take a card apart to try make it warmer and have worse cooling but will see how you guys get on

 

[OC2000]

Good pictures and information.

Hopefully non active backplate and standard EK thermal pads will keep the memory in its optimal window.

Got my block sitting here now too.

I've got an EK with active backplate coming. Wishing I didn't now, but may leave the back pads off totally on the ram for the active plate and potentially the back VRMs as that caused insane coil whine last time. Pretty much make the active back plate obsolete

 

[^JP^]

It’s interesting that the stock FE cooler has minimal thermal pads and then EK go ham with them covering all the coils and everything.

Yep, I’ll share before and after, will be a little while still as going to build new rig on air for testing first while I clean all my WC gear.

 

[OC2000]

It’s interesting that the stock FE cooler has minimal thermal pads and then EK go ham with them covering all the coils and everything.

Yep, I’ll share before and after, will be a little while still as going to build new rig on air for testing first while I clean all my WC gear.

I have a test bench with disconnects so give all possibilities a go too before I put it in the main case

 

[^JP^]

Excellent, post here to keep this thread a good resource for the EK 4090 FE block and then not lost in other threads.

Is it possible to try the ABP block without sending coolant around the backplate? Or would that require a different terminal connection like the stock blocks have?

 

[OC2000]

Mine will be the EK active for ASUS TUF, But its the same components end of the day, but will do. There won't be away unfortunately. Its a shame too as I have to remove the M.2 spreader just for the active back plate which isn't now necessary. Not to mention the extra £180+

 

[Jay-G25]

It’s interesting that the stock FE cooler has minimal thermal pads and then EK go ham with them covering all the coils and everything.

Yep, I’ll share before and after, will be a little while still as going to build new rig on air for testing first while I clean all my WC gear.

Thanks both , will be good to see both your results when done

Yep EK went crazy with the amount of extra thermal pads they used considering when you look at the back of the stock back plate it basically does sweet fa for cooling ... EK with all the extra thermal pads pulling out the last bit of heat that makes the memory stable , Its no bad thing having a cool card just maybe they went a bit overkill in certain places .

 

[Jay-G25]

Excellent, post here to keep this thread a good resource for the EK 4090 FE block and then not lost in other threads.

Is it possible to try the ABP block without sending coolant around the backplate? Or would that require a different terminal connection like the stock blocks have?

I am not sure if you could use the active back plate without coolant running through it , the back plate is thick enough ( 11mm copper afaik ) so would be up to the job of cooling dry but would have to somehow swap the distribution block on the front to a stock one which should allow the coolant to flow through just the bottom section but not sure if it would physically fit this setup with the abp being in the way

 

[^JP^]

Ah ok OC2000, still good to see all the different configurations you can test.

Was just a thought to test if the ABP actually does anything in exactly the same conditions.

Jay, Have you noticed any coil noise since padding them to the block?