Installation

Behold the unicorn that is the working RTX 3080 PCB! I was originally conflicted on whether to go with the Founders Edition, which has led to some clever and different GPU blocks because of the unique PCB design, or the reference PCB used by several NVIDIA AICs and for which there is more support from block makers. In the end, the latter logically won out, so here we are.


Installation of the Alphacool Eisblock ES Acetal GPU water block for the NVIDIA RTX 3080 reference PCB is about average in terms of effort and ease. Begin with the removal of the stock cooler, which is outside of the purview of this article, and place the block over the card for a quick fit check. At this point, apply thermal paste to the GPU and thermal pads to the other components as laid out in the manual. Mate the block and PCB together again and carefully flip the assembly over on a box, such that the card's own I/O section extrudes past the edge. Use the four spring-loaded screws in a diagonal manner to screw the block around the GPU itself before placing the thermal pads on the back of the PCB and fitting the backplate in place with the other four longer screws. There was an extra spring-loaded screw in my sample, which I would rather Alphacool hadn't placed just to remove any ambiguity for newcomers.


In the absence of any lighting, there are no cables to worry about, so you are done already! The finished looks are seen above, and this is effectively a single-slot cooling solution that I personally think looks quite nice. The backplate does not extend as far as the block itself, which did irk me, though it is of course of no consequence in terms of functionality.