EK Water Blocks, the leading premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is releasing EK-Quantum Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT D-RGB water blocks that are compatible with reference design AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT graphics cards. These water blocks are an evolution of the EK-Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT RGB blocks which featured regular RGB. The new Quantum blocks feature 5 V D-RGB addressable LEDs for even more lighting customization and control of every LED diode separately.

As with its predecessor, this water block directly cools the GPU, 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, and VRM (voltage regulation module) as cooling liquid is channeled directly over these critical areas. The base of the block is made of high-grade copper or nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of high-quality acrylic material or black POM Acetal material (depending on the variant). The entire plexi covered block is lit up with D-RGB while the acetal version is implementing D-RGB in the aesthetic white corner piece. The top material does not affect the block performance in any way. The block also features a special plastic cover over the block Terminal which is also lit with addressable D-RGB. This add-on is designed to reveal the graphics card model, visible from the side. Sealing is ensured by high-quality EPDM O-Rings.

Following the success of their Touchaqua-branded Summit MS OLED CPU block earlier this year, which was for Intel platforms only at that time, Bitspower have decided to add the OLED display to their main brand in the form of the new Summit M CPU water block. The design is a departure from the squared-off Summit MS, with a smaller form factor that also increases CPU socket compatibility to the red camp out of the box. The OLED display is housed on a metal top plate, with an acrylic body enabling side views of the coolant, a temperature sensor enabling readout on the display, as well as the integrated dRGB LEDs for lighting options compatible with ASUS AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome.

The cooling engine uses a nickel-plated copper base plate, with 0.3 mm CNC-machined fins and microchannels that are part of a split central-inlet flow promising high coolant flow directly over the fins to remove as much heat from the CPU as possible. This is similar to the vast majority of CPU block designs in practice, but manufacturers tend to experiment with the flow schematic to see if they can do better, so time will tell how the Summit M fares on the TechPowerUp test bench. In the meantime, it is available for direct purchase from the Bitspower store for 4500 NTD (~$150 USD) before any applicable taxes and shipping costs.

EK, the leading premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is releasing the EK-AC Radeon RX 5700 +XT D-RGB water block as a part of the Fluid Gaming lineup. This water block is compatible with reference design AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT graphics cards as well. One of the current best-buy graphics cards just got a best-buy block made of aluminium to make the ultimate combo for budget-oriented buyers that value silence and maximum performance with enhanced reliability and longevity.

This aluminium water block directly cools the GPU, 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, and VRM (voltage regulation module) as cooling liquid is channeled directly over these critical areas. The base of the block is made of high-quality aluminium while the top is made of glass-like acrylic material. The entire water block is lit up with D-RGB (Addressable) LED. Sealing is ensured by high-quality EPDM O-Rings with the standoffs already pre-installed allowing for a safe and easy installation procedure.

If our review of CORSAIR's Hydro X series XG7 GPU water block for the NVIDIA GTX 1080 interested you and made you want to look into their offerings for newer cards, then you may be just as interested in knowing that AMD's latest and greatest in the discrete GPU market gets some Hydro X love too. CORSAIR has added to their custom watercooling product portfolio with the new RX-SERIES GPU block which is compatible with all reference design AMD Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT offerings. The block has the same feature set as with their other XG7 GPU blocks, with full coverage (GPU, VRM, VRAM), integrated dRGB lighting supported by iCUE, pre-applied thermal pads and paste for easy installation, a full-length aluminium backplate included in the package, and a transparent top coupled with a flow indicator wheel. It costs $149.99 for customers in the USA, and is available immediately as of the time of this post.

Bitspower informed us earlier today that they have a new mono block out for the ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard based on AMD's X570 chipset. Titled the BP-MBASX570CVIIIH, it features an acrylic top to allow the end user to see through into the cooling engine and the coolant flow in use and a nickel-plated copper coldplate. The latter, as with any mono block, is massive relative to just a CPU water block since it covers the CPU in addition to the critical power delivery section of the motherboard to ensure no thermal throttling, be it direct or indirect.

The direct injection of the coolant over the microfins via the split central-inlet flow design allows for the CPU to be cooled first, before a parallel split through the VRM section and also a flow indicator wheel as seen in the images below. The mono block also has integrated lighting support via Bitspower's digital RGB LEDs, which in turn are compatible with ASUS Aura Sync and onboard LED headers in addition to Bitspower's TouchAqua dRGB controller. Bitspower also teased more mono blocks on the way, with owners of the ASRock X570 Taichi and Gigabyte X570 Auros Master going to see support coming up shortly.

EK Water Blocks, the leading premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is introducing the new members of EK-Velocity lineup off high-performance water blocks for popular AMD and Intel CPU sockets. It features a newly developed aesthetical top with a diagonal strike-through design mixing matte black and silver or black nickel and black for an elegant and striking look. The 45-degree line across the center of the block perfectly matches with some of the high-end motherboards that are on the market today.

EK-Velocity Strike is featuring the 5th iteration of the award-winning EK cooling engine which is further tweaked to perfection. Built upon a decade of experience in liquid cooling, EK Velocity series CPU water blocks are a product of countless hours of simulations, research and market-leading engineering. The top is CNC machined out of a solid piece of brass which is coated with black chrome or matte black, while the aesthetic cover piece is made of black anodized brushed aluminium or pure brushed aluminium. The purest copper available on the market is used for the EK-Velocity Strike cold plate which is precisely machined to a dense micro-fin structure. The contact surface itself is machine polished for better contact with the CPU IHS.

It turns out that the EK-Vector isn't the only water-block family to feature models compatible with AMD Radeon RX 5700-series graphics cards. The Slovenian water-cooling major has plans for a truly unique block design for "Navi," building on AMD's "bend the rules" design language used on its reference RX 5700 XT graphics card. The unnamed single-slot, full-coverage water block covers the entire length of the AMD-reference PCB for the RX 5700-series, and appears to feature an metal or POM acetal top that's been molded along the lines of the reference air cooler. A metallic "Radeon" logo dominates the front-face of the block. The company didn't reveal details such as whether the block has RGB LED embellishments. It didn't mention a launch date, either.

Bitspower formally launched its Brizo BR-VGRVIIRD full-coverage water block for the AMD Radeon VII graphics card. The block combines a nickel-plated copper primary material with a clear acrylic top that has brushed metal embellishment with laser-etched Bitspower and Radeon VII logos. The top has a factory-fitted addressable-RGB LED setup that plugs in direct to a 3-pin aRGB header. The block features a large micro-fin lattice that covers all chiplets on the "Vega 20" MCM, the 7 nm GPU die, and the four HBM2 stacks. The block is single-slot capable, measuring 266.2 mm x 136 mm x 15.22 mm (WxDxH). It features standard G1/4" threads for up to four fittings (multi-GPU capable). The company didn't reveal pricing.

EK Water Blocks, the leading premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, announces the expansion and global availability of newly released Classic Product Lineup. The Classic Lineup is directly addressing price-conscious users while reusing some of the key technological solutions that set the EK as the market leader in the PC liquid cooling industry. The packaging, just as the products themselves are streamlined and simplified, making Classic Line Products the pure essence of liquid cooling. And now, it's available for everyone.

The portfolio is now bearing all the relevant parts that a user needs to complete his liquid cooling loop. The existing combo unit, CPU block and GPU block are now joined with Classic Line radiators, fittings and even a GPU block for the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card. The Classic Lineup is implementing EK's market-proven technologies that ensure high-quality and high-performance liquid cooling products at a more accessible price. Available at about 3/4 of the price of leading EK Quantum series products, our products can now reach more liquid cooling enthusiasts that desire efficient cooling with EK's guaranteed quality and excellent customer support.

Bitspower, a leading supplier of water-cooling equipment for performance computers, has announced the release of their latest Intel CPU block, the Bitspower Touchaqua CPU Block Summit MS OLED for Intel Platform. This product combines the best of both performance and aesthetics to give you an ideal cooling solution for LGA 115x and LGA 2066 socket CPUs. In addition to a CNC-machined block top made of hardwearing acrylic and base made of high-quality copper, the block features a digital thermal sensor and a bright OLED display so you can monitor your water-cooling loop temperature in real time, as well as dazzling DRGB lighting.

The block incorporates a single piece of wiring that runs power to both the DRGB lighting, as well as the temperature gauge - ensuring that you can keep the design of your build as clean as possible. Furthermore, the water block's RGB LED Strip has been certified by ASUS AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASRock Polychrome and Razer Chroma-so it's highly compatible with a range of setups. Bitspower Touchaqua range offers the same quality as Bitspower's regular product lines, but features a range of unique functions and designs.

EK Water Blocks, the premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is introducing its new generation of extended compatibility high-performance water blocks specially designed for reference design based NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards. The EK-Vector RE high-performance water blocks are an evolution of the original EK-Vector water block where the cooling engine is tweaked for even more performance with an optimized flow pattern.

The RE water blocks use the signature EK single slot slim look and cover the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling solution will transform your powerful NVIDIA graphics card into a minimalistic, elegant piece of hardware with accented RGB LED lighting in RGB variants. The block also features a unique aesthetic cover over the block Terminal which is designed to showcase the graphics card model via LEDs, visible from the side.

EK Water Blocks, the leading premium liquid cooling manufacturer, is releasing a new Quantum Line series EK-Velocity sTR4 water block lineup specifically designed for HEDT AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. The cooling engine is utilizing a 3rd generation design with the cold plate covering the IHS of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor while the fin structure is covering the entire multi-die CPU layout. This brings further improvements to the cooling performance and heat transfer compared to previous generations.

The release of higher core count HEDT processors opened new opportunities and challenges for cooling solutions. The primary goal in designing the new EK-Velocity sTR4 water block was to completely redesign the cooling engine to achieve even better performance than the previous generations. A dense micro-fin structure counts 91 wide grooves to enable superb heat transfer.

EK Water Blocks, the leading premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is releasing the EK-Velocity WS, a robust premium grade water block for narrow ILM LGA 3647 (Socket P) Intel processors, and the EK-VRM ASUS ROG Dominus Extreme, a VRM water block tailor-made for the ROG Dominus Extreme motherboard. Both are all metal water blocks with nickel plated copper cold plates and nickel plated brass tops. No compromise on quality, durability, and performance!

CES may have officially ended but our coverage from the trade show continues. Bitspower had invited TechPowerUp to come visit their suite, mentioning there would be something new and unexpected, and that indeed was the case. Our tour began with the customary showcase of the new GPU water blocks compatible with reference, and board partner designs, for the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and relatively new AIC RTX 2070/80(Ti) cards as well. These feature integrated RGB lighting compatible with all major motherboard lighting solutions for control, and adopt the split central-inlet flow design as well.

To meet demands of the 1U server market and extreme enthusiasts Alphacool had on display their Eisblock Flatboy CPU block. While this latest solution is predominately targeted at servers with support for Intel's LGA3647 and LGA 2066 and AMD's TR4. That said, enthusiasts running a Threadripper system can also easily make use of the block as well. The only detailed specifications we have currently is that It measures in at 79 mm x 63.8 mm x 25.5 mm and offers multiple G1/4" connection options including 3x in and 5x out.

Thermaltake today introduced the Pacific V-RTX 2080 and Pacific V-RTX 2080 Ti full-coverage water blocks for ASUS ROG Strix series graphics cards based on the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, respectively. These blocks are tailor-made for ASUS' custom-design PCBs for these cards, with heat-drawing bumps at just the right places, over memory and VRM MOSFETs. The blocks combine a nickel-plated copper primary material with a clear-acrylic top that has a stainless steel plate along the edge of the channel. A brushed metal finish back-plate also comes included. The top is studded with addressable RGB LEDs that can be controlled via ASUS Aura Sync RGB software. Both blocks come with mounts for standard G 1/4" fittings. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Phanteks, the award-winning thermal cooling and chassis manfacturer, is excited to introduce the latest additions to the Glacier Series, the C350ip (Intel) and C350ap (AMD).

The Glacier C350ip and C350ap features a large copper base in high quality nickel finish, acetal top, and integrated high density cooling fins. The fins are fine-tuned to 0.4 mm width and designed with extra high fins (5 mm) for improved conductivity. The C350ip and C350ap are RGB-free and focus solely on performance. Tailored with Viton O-Ring, the C350ip and C350ap are durable, resistant to extreme temperatures and retains sealing performance for long periods of time. The Glacier C350ip and C350ap can be intergrated into any enthusiast system without compromise.

ASUS has seemingly revised the PCB design of their ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti graphics card in such a way that it has introduced compatibility issues with already-released custom waterblocks. The warning from Ek WaterBlocks (a silent one as well) comes via an update to their EK-MLC Phoenix GPU Module FC1080 GTX Ti, and EK-FC1080 GTX Ti waterblock modules product pages, where EK wrote that "Due to changes in the PCB design, ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards in the following S/N range are not compatible with EK-FC1080 GTX Ti Strix full cover water blocks: HBYVCM064817- HBYVCM999999; HCYVCM000001- HCYVCM059975".

Product revisions are a dime a dozen (particularly in motherboards). However, it's relatively rare that changes are enough to render cooling solutions completely incompatible with the new design. Granted, ASUS saw something worth some additional engineering, and went on to do it, so users looking towards the acquisition of a new GPU waterblock for their ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti graphics card should just look closely to the serial numbers on their graphics card packaging. Based on the range of serial numbers, graphics cards manufactured on or after November 2017 are the ones rendered incompatible with EKWB's purpose-built GPU waterblocks, so users purchasing graphics cards after this time-frame should take particular heed.

The EK Fluid Gaming lineup is finally supporting AMD Radeon RX Vega based graphics cards! EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing a new kit, the A240R and the EK-AC Radeon Vega aluminum based full cover water block! The EK-AC Radeon Vega full cover water block brings a pure and minimalistic design for liquid cooling enthusiasts and the same can be said for the EK Fluid Gaming A240R kit. The kit is equipped with an EK-Supremacy AX CPU water block, an evolution of the renowned high-end EKWB water block that brings excellent performance and an attractive appearance! It's a universal water block that suits all modern CPU sockets on the market, both Intel and AMD.

The included EK-AluStream SE radiator offer high-class cooling performance for its thickness of 28mm. Dense aluminum fins combined with a slim profile provide a huge cooling surface, while the radiator remains highly compatible with most cases on the market. AluStream SE radiators are optimized for maximum heat dissipation across the entire operational range of the included high-static pressure EK-Vardar fans which deliver exceptional performance at both low and high RPM operation.

Thermaltake today introduced the Pacific W4 Plus CPU water block, a step-up from its Pacific W4 RGB block launched in January. While the underlying block hasn't changed, Thermaltake updated its top to feature 12 RGB LED elements, with support for 16.8 million colors. The older Pacific W4 RGB only supports 256 colors, put out from fewer diodes.

The Pacific W4 Plus features a standardized RGB LED header, and the company is including the Riing Plus RGB software to let you control the color, brightness, and lighting patterns of the LEDs. What's more, the Pacific W4 Plus also includes socket AM4 retention modules, in addition to socket LGA2011/2066, and LGA115x. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Swiftech introduced the limited edition Apogee SKF Heirloom Series CPU water blocks, which come in unique collectable colors, and which can be accessorized using mods and inserts. The block is predominantly made of copper with an anodized aluminium top, and comes in five color variants - Black Chrome, White Chrome, Solid Gold, Matte Gold, and Rose Gold. The top features an acrylic cutout over the block's main dissipation area. This is where an insert goes in; available in six colors. The Swiftech logo on the metallic portion of the top holds a second color insert, which comes in six colors. The retention bracket comes in two colors - black and chrome. Under the hood, the block features hundreds of 125 micron-thick copper fins for effective heat dissipation. Available now, the Apogee SKF Heirloom Series is priced at $94.95, and includes one choice of inserts, each. For $5 more, you can laser-engrave a phrase on the top.

Hold on to your ETH hats: you will still be able to cash in on the ETH mining craze for a while. However, you should look towards your 3 GB and 4 GB graphics cards with a slight distrust, for reasons that you should know, anyway, since you have surely studied your mining cryptocurrency of choice. Examples are the GTX 1060 3 GB, or one of those shiny new 4 GB RX 480 / RX 580 which are going at ridiculously premium prices right now. And as a side note, don't you love the mechanisms of pricing and demand?

The problem here stems from ETH's own design for its current PoW (Proof of Work) implementation (which is what allows you to mine the currency at all.) In a bid to make ETH mining unwieldy for the specialized silicon that brought Bitcoin difficulty through the roof, ETH implements a large size data set for your GPU to work with as you mine, which is stored in your GPU's memory (through the DAG, which stands for Directed Acyclic Graph). This is one of the essential differences between Bitcoin mining and Ethereum mining, in that Ethereum mining was designed to be memory-intensive, so as to prevent usage of ASICs and other specialized hardware. As a side-note, this also helps (at least theoretically) in ETH's decentralization, which Bitcoin sees more at risk because of the inherent centralization that results from the higher hardware costs associated with its mining.