Finding waterblocks for older components

Bacon?

Bacon?

Bacon?

Soldato
Joined
21 Apr 2012
Posts
4,991
Location
Bristol
Hi all,

I'm not necesarily new to watercooling (I've done a few full custom loops now), however I'm used to buying the GPU in particular with the waterblock.

Lately I've been eying up an upgrade to a 3080, I tend to buy 2nd generation from current but I'm slightly worried that given the 30 series hasn't been in production for a while it will be difficult to locate waterblocks.

So I was wondering, how do people get waterblocks for older hardware, is it entirely by the likes of the bay? and are there lists of what boards are reference boards since that seems easier than trying to buy a block for a custom PCB / one-off GPU PCB? Don't want to buy a 3080 and then end up unable to locate a waterblock!

Thanks :)
 
I look to see what water blocks are avaiable new for what cards and then see if I can buy the cards themselves. your way more likely to be able to buy the card itself then the block and It saves the lottery of buying a card and then finding the block is like rocking horse poop.

NVIDIA Graphics Card Waterblocks Available at Overclockers UK

NVIDIA GPU Water blocks are one of the most important components within your water cooled loop. A good block will not only improve performance and keep your hardware cool but adds to your systems aesthetics. Here at Overclockers UK we have a wide selection available, ready to ship today.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk

Also older gen blocks tend to be well discounted ;)
 
Yeah I always check block availability
Before buying a gpu
Members market would be first place to look
Plus can always ask in wanted section
For either a block
Or gpu with block already on there
Plenty of us sitting with a 3xxx block card
Who might be considering an upgrade
2080ti cards with a block are a bit of a bargain now in mm
3xxx series cards are still in the decent price range
at least I hope so as got a 3080ti with block and active backplate
so if ever wanted to upgrade
am hoping would still fetch a decent amount lol

Ek configurator is worth looking at too
Though obviously there's other block makers too
But ek usually do one for the more popular cards

Clearance section of ocuk too
As dfour said can save quite a bit if the block you need
Happens to be in there
 
I do the same as you. Usually buy used when a new gen comes out.

So, I find a card and see if there's a block for it, before I buy it. On the fence about doing another build with the 3090ti I have.
 
Completley forgot about clearance / b-grade ocuk stuff, might have a check there!

I did try the ek-configurator but the blocks for the 30 series seemed oddly high, around 250 euros :eek:

Regarding waiting, yeh it may be best then to wait around until the next Nvidia card release and see if theres more 3080 w blocks available to buy second hand.
 
Last edited:
Yeah the 3080ti ek block I have
Was somewhere around that price new
Plus cost of active backplate
Though slightly in their defence
It's absolutely huge
Much bigger than any other block I have had
So Definitely a lot more material used to manufacture it
Probably not enough to justify the price though

The cost of some of their newer cpu blocks
Is more ridiculous to me
Far less material to make those
And should be easier to make compared to gpu block
 
Did you find getting an active backplate worth it? I'm considering getting one (where possible) purely on the looks alone if its acetal or acrylic. I've managed to track down a local Inno 3080 that has a reference board design so I can get an Alphacool waterblock + backplate for (in stock whoop!)
 
Bacon? said:
Did you find getting an active backplate worth it? I'm considering getting one (where possible) purely on the looks alone if its acetal or acrylic. I've managed to track down a local Inno 3080 that has a reference board design so I can get an Alphacool waterblock + backplate for (in stock whoop!)
Click to expand...
I bought it off a friend
Already had the active backplate on there
Not sure was totally necessary on 3080ti
But yes it's acrylic
Does look really good
A big "but"
It made the block so thick that I literally had to
Take a hacksaw to a heatsink on the far right of the motherboard
Because the blocks so long and that added thickness too
Then I had to remove the motherboard oled screen
And just have it resting on top of the block
Also not sure how on earth I will get it out of the pcie slot
As the extra thickness means can't get to the release latch

So with this particular card 3080ti evga ftw
Can definitely cause issues with active backplate
Depending on what motherboard you use
 
Talking generally about gpu water blocks here, I am fast moving towards not bothering to watercool future GPU's and leaving them with their stock air coolers. Seems there is little advantage in terms of being able to overclock graphics cards any more than on air cooling with the power limit thing they all have now. The cost of gpu blocks and the difficulty in making sure you get the right one to match specific gpus is seriously making me think it is not worth it for the gpu's any more. My next mobo/cpu/gpu upgrade will very likely just be custom water on the cpu only. In the old days you could be guaranteed to significantly overclock gpus if on water, I'm not sure that is the case these days.

Or least start with that and see if I am at all bothered by the increased noise and any potential slight benefit in minor overclocking if hitting the temperature limit shows up more than power limit. Also, with the power they consume nowadays I am not sure I would even want to do anything to increase the wall power consumption, compared to chasing fps. It's certainly getting to that point with me personally. If more people start to go this way I can see 2nd hand gpu water blocks becoming even harder to source as time goes on. You could even say that the money you save buying a graphics card a gen behind current, but then add a waterblock to that, you might be quite close to the cost of a current card on air? It will be a wrench for me to abandon water cooling on the gpu, but I feel it coming.

But for the OP's question, yes up to now it has always been to browse what vendor specific water blocks are on the website first, ocuk or whoever, then match that with the named graphics card. With a 3080 I looked for one with as specific a name as I could see, i.e. down to brand and spec number/name in the title of the listing, and then found the corresponding card. My theory was that if the waterblock listing had that much detail in the listing, it was more likely someone had done the work to match the waterblock and card, rather than it being a chance on anything to do with "reference" cards/blocks.
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
I bought it off a friend
Already had the active backplate on there
Not sure was totally necessary on 3080ti
But yes it's acrylic
Does look really good
A big "but"
It made the block so thick that I literally had to
Take a hacksaw to a heatsink on the far right of the motherboard
Because the blocks so long and that added thickness too
Then I had to remove the motherboard oled screen
And just have it resting on top of the block
Also not sure how on earth I will get it out of the pcie slot
As the extra thickness means can't get to the release latch

So with this particular card 3080ti evga ftw
Can definitely cause issues with active backplate
Depending on what motherboard you use
Click to expand...
I think the 3080 series definitely benefited from the active backplate as the memory chips run quite hot, I had a 3080 & a 3080ti and they both run quite hot, I didn't have the active back plate, I'm now on the 4090 and it runs a lot cooler, IIRC it's down to the memory chips being 2Gb whereas the 3080's had 1Gb memory chips. The 4090's took a performance hit with the active back plate as it was being over cooled, I don't know if you remember the thread on here when they were first released?
 
Gavster said:
I think the 3080 series definitely benefited from the active backplate as the memory chips run quite hot, I had a 3080 & a 3080ti and they both run quite hot, I didn't have the active back plate, I'm now on the 4090 and it runs a lot cooler, IIRC it's down to the memory chips being 2Gb whereas the 3080's had 1Gb memory chips. The 4090's took a performance hit with the active back plate as it was being over cooled, I don't know if you remember the thread on here when they were first released?
Click to expand...
I could be wrong
As I got the card already blocked up
So I didn't bother checking
But I thought all the vram on a 3080ti was on the front of the pcb
Not the rear?
My memory sucks some days remembering my own name
Is as good as it gets :cry:
 
Gavster said:
I think the 3080 series definitely benefited from the active backplate as the memory chips run quite hot, I had a 3080 & a 3080ti and they both run quite hot, I didn't have the active back plate, I'm now on the 4090 and it runs a lot cooler, IIRC it's down to the memory chips being 2Gb whereas the 3080's had 1Gb memory chips. The 4090's took a performance hit with the active back plate as it was being over cooled, I don't know if you remember the thread on here when they were first released?
Click to expand...

Yeah remember something about performance actually dropping if you cool the ram chips too much.
 
My 2 cents here...but based on your wanted thread in the MM.

Spending £350 on a 3080 plus upto £100 on a waterblock is a terrible idea value wise, for comparison a 4070Ti sold for £425 on the MM the other week and barely got any bites at that, a faster, more efficient card, new technology... If money is no object and you're waterblocking a 4090 sure fire away, but IMO i'd just be spending your money on a superior air cooled card.

Failing that, if you *have* to watercool, buy one with a block already fitted 100% to save yourself some money, as it should be cheaper if anything as they have a dramatically smaller market to sell to, when GPUs are not selling quickly anymore.
 
Last edited:
Oh it's definitely not worth it money wise, but I enjoy the challenge associated with building it (making all the unique hard-line bends) and the tinkering I can do with the system after (the aquero software has a lot of fun stuff to play with). Plus is
 
hang on.. was there an active back plate for the 3080s? i thought these were only released to 3090s no? (excluding Ti)
 
Last edited:
Found the box
Makes a change usually I can't find anything in here
My pc rooms like a junkyard
Box says 3080/3090
Doesn't actually say 3080ti but it's on a 3080ti anyway
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom