best 980ti for custom watercooling?

[Anakey]

Hi, I am probably answeing my own question here but i wanted to get the same answer from others who know their stuff with custom waterooling loops. Anyway what i am wanting to know is what is the best GTX 980ti to watercool with? I am guessing it would just be whatever is the cheapest stock pcb that has a bit of factory overclock as the cooler itself will be removed anyway?

I am building my first waterccoling setup in a black and copper color scheme have already ordered some nice looking aqua computer waterblocks for them from aqua tuning just need to buy the cards themselves now

 

[Mysterae]

I went for reference stock cooler MSI ones and flashed them with a BIOS from a higher tier GPU once they were water cooled. Just keep the original BIOS so they can be flashed back.

 

[Doomslayer]

I would say EVGA 980Ti.

People can correct me if i'm wrong EVGA will allow you to put blocks on the card and even if you have problems with them EVGA will allow you to return them not like other companies

 

[Kushiro]

Yep, an EVGA reference 980ti would be great.

 

[JR23]

People can correct me if i'm wrong EVGA will allow you to put blocks on the card and even if you have problems with them EVGA will allow you to return them not like other companies

It's far less strict than in the past and essentially any manufacturer will be fine with removing the cooler. EVGA are still the most flexible company i've heard of allowing people to return cards without the cooler fitted. They are also just about the only people to officially offer a transferable warranty on most product lines which really helps with resale value.

RJK from OCUK had this to say on the subject....

Hi Guys

Here is a brief overview of board partners takes on stock cooler removal.

This is in no way reflected by Overclockers UK and is only information provided by myself from personal experience.

Warranty is at manufacturers discretion.

I have never had a single issue with any stock cooler removal. if you don't break anything then there shouldn't be an issue with warranty.

The easiest way of thinking is that if the cards have warranty stickers over screws, these tend to be manufacturers that are strict with warranty on their products.

Brands I have personally owned in the past and removed stock coolers without issue:

Sapphire
Gigabyte
Asus
EVGA
MSI
KFA2/Galax
HIS
OcUK Own Brand


Brands that Are fine with it only if you are very careful and reinstall the stock cooler perfectly.
VTX3D
XFX


As a rule of thumb, if you have a sticker over any of the screws, then the company is generally a pain when it comes to stock cooler removal.

The truth is that most manufacturers now, especially ones that OCUK deal with are fine with cooler removal. They have to be in this day and age. It is a factor that we consider and always negotiate heavily on when working with new board partners.

some board manufacturers may publicly go on record as being against it but as long as you don't send your card back for a warranty claim with it looking like a bag of smashed crabs then you will be fine.


Common sense and technical ability to restore a product to its original condition is key here.

As always it's probably best to buy from a manufacturer and retailer who understand our hobby to minimize issues.

If you have already bought reference 980Ti blocks then just go for any reference card, just looking at OCUK the Superclock ACX seems to be the best priced option.

JR

 

[Anakey]

ok, i had been looking at EVGA before, was going to at first go with the hydrocopper cards but for the price of them i decided i could go and get a cheaper card and have waterblocks that will match my system asthetics. Is the Superclocked ACS still a referance design? I see it says EVGA above the pcie finger, i thought that they had to say Nvidia for it to be reference design?

 

[Kushiro]

Generally all EVGA cards are reference boards except the classifieds, kingpins etc etc. The SC/OC cards are simply reference boards that ship with a nudge in clock speeds.

 

[JR23]

Reference, ACX, Reference SC, ACX SC, ACX SC+ and Hybrid 980Ti's are all reference PCB's compatible with reference 980Ti/Titan X waterblocks.

The 980Ti FTW is close to a reference PCB but with none reference components hence it's not compatible with any full cover blocks. The 980Ti Classified has a true custom PCB which is compatible with 780 Classified blocks. The 980Ti Kingpin has it's own specific block as although its based on the same 780 Classified PCB it has different power and video connectors.

JR