Challenging NVIDIA's 4090 FE: Liquid Cooled RTX 4090 Neptune Tear-Down & Review

Sponsor: Thermaltake Core P3 Pro on Amazon geni.us/6Q6M
We're reviewing Colorful's $1800 RTX 4090 Neptune OC video card, including a water cooling solution with a 360mm radiator, all-white tubing, radiator, and fans, and an aluminum chassis around the card body. This video includes a tear-down & disassembly, flatness and pressure testing, thermal testing, and more.
Learn about the RTX 4090 FE that this competes with: • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 409...
Learn about the best GPUs of 2022 (so far!): • Best & Worst GPUs of 2...
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RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]
Colorful RTX 4090 Neptune on Amazon (if it ever comes in stock there): geni.us/5X2L6m
NVIDIA RTX 3070 on Amazon: geni.us/qS5n
NVIDIA RTX 3080 on Amazon: geni.us/5LyY
AMD RX 6900 XT on Amazon: geni.us/TQGAa0
AMD RX 6950 XT on Amazon: geni.us/BVTdIu
NVIDIA RTX 4090 on Amazon: geni.us/U2UV
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - The Neptune 4090
01:07 - Colorful Specs, Prices, Models
02:28 - Walking Around the Card
03:01 - Radiator & Tube Material, Loss of Liquid
05:07 - YOU WILL KILL THE PUMP if you do this
06:04 - Tearing Down the Colorful Neptune
07:02 - NO TEARING UP
10:14 - Tearing Apart the Block
14:11 - Paste on Copper
14:58 - Thermal Test Setup
16:50 - Thermal Benchmarks
19:08 - Quiet Operation
20:45 - Problems with BIOS & Power Consumption Tests
22:17 - Severely Bugged
24:15 - Frequency Behavior
25:10 - Flatness & Machining Consistency
25:43 - Case Fit & Tube Routing
27:25 - Bad OC & Conclusion
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
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Host, Writing, Testing: Steve Burke
Testing: Mike Gaglione
Video Editing: Vitalii Makhnovets
Video & QC: Andrew Coleman

[@GamersNexus]

Learn about the RTX 4090 FE that this competes with: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGrZdGyEd7FrsNE Learn about the best GPUs of 2022 (so far!): kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6PWhqBoa7h7fas

[@robertlawrence9000]

Googling the word "Virtal" it's a drug for "Irritable bowel syndrome" and "Heavy bleeding during periods". Maybe this config is designed for heavy flow? 😂

[@ADB-zf5zr]

You need to invest in hair dye, not so much the beard, but why not, but the hair IMHO needs to be done. Saying this as a Man in a similar situation who doesn't dye, but I have watched you for years and watching you go grey hurts, doesn't bother me so much as I lost my hair years ago, and I am not a YT star.

[@michaelluster2694]

We want buildzoid on this ASAP!

[@Pisscan]

Why did you partly dismantle, reassemble, then test? Shouldn’t you fully test out of the box, then tear down? 💀

[@OIFIIIOIF-VET]

I still have my EVGA 980Ti Hybrid. Love that card. First time I was able to play PUBG at 4K 50 average FPS hahahahahah

[@dobromir90]

The GN sub count was 1.6M a week or two ago, 1.7M 2 days ago and 1.8M now. I am so glad they continue to grow the way they do - they deserve it.

[@superdbsfan8670]

Steve works so hard for us ❤❤

[@JamesBond-vi2eh]

meh.

[@kreozello]

They do deserve to grow!

[@locutusvonborg2k3]

it feels like not long ago, when they had a few 10k xD

[@PDXCustomPCS]

10 years later.... 1 billion subscribers(Dr.Evil Face.)

[@Capellix0001]

THANKS STEVE

[@SKHYJINX]

Back to you Steve.

[@mza131313]

THANKS STEVE

[@marclapin]

BACK TO YOU STEVE

[@GenuineNPC]

THANKS STEVE

[@mechtechpotato4249]

BACK TO YOU STEVE

[@dra6o0n]

A GPU so hot that when liquid cooled, the bios got confused because it assumed it's suppose to be engulfed in flames.

[@maegnificant]

I dont think there is a single 4090 that gets hot on the market

[@Ocastia]

@@maegnificant hey my MSI Suprim almost reached 65°C once...

[@ImmaSpam__________________Can]

@@Ocastia Jesus Christ, you are playing with the sun there

[@Razvann220]

Wow your so funny i laughed 😅

[@Octet]

All 4090s run very cool. Coolers on them are built for 600W, so none need to blast their fans to stay really cool (

[@lucasrossiemc]

Button on the back sounds nice, better than having to open the case if you want to change the BIOS. I know it shouldn't happen very frequently, but still.

[@Slavolko]

It's also exposed this way, meaning someone can accidentally push it. Imagine a cat, a kid, or yourself fumbling at the back of the computer. It's probably unlikely for the most part.

[@___DRIP___]

@@SlavolkoThat is so unlikely that it’s not even worth worrying about TBH

[@wayge]

​@@Slavolko oh no my cat is gonna make me lose 70mhz on my core clock what will i ever do

[@yakacm]

Yeah I was thinking that, not sure about a cat doing it, but I could imagine if you have to pull the machine out to connect a cable or something you could hit the switch, I don't know if the GPU would crash if you swapped the BIOS while it was on.

[@Slavolko]

@@yakacm I don't know if it'd crash either. Hopefully not.

[@waynestorton1875]

Great video :) I suppose the benefit of having the push-button BIOS switch on the rear panel is that you don't have to remove the side panel of your case just to switch between BIOS's.

[@vlad_8011]

+ occasionally pushing by mistake when re-seating gpu on motherboard. ;)

[@cjm5002]

I was just thinking that myself, worst case they just move the switch off that back plate and put it inside v0v. Its a good feature that should be optional on all 3rd party cards imo. Or at least the connector on the pcb like these guys have, can at least add a switch to it without being a master soldering expert.

[@vlad_8011]

@@cjm5002 On the back i would love to see 2 switches - one for LED, on for BIOS. But 2 small switches like we have now would be enough (with PCB behind PCI cover)

[@lebelge7168]

Exactly, it's a good idea I thought.

[@Dangerman-zg3ui]

I wish we saw more 4090s etc with this colour scheme, everything is mostly black or dark grey.

[@ApfelJohannisbeere]

@GN, I like the button on the outside of the case, so one can switch and doesn't have to open the case for switching BIOS.

[@DATWagonator]

ngl I liked it too.

[@ledoutofshadow8004]

I have an older system with a 1080ti and 8086K, overclocked. Cooled with 2 280mm AIO's. One for cpu and one for gpu, both set to exhaust out of the case, GPU front and CPU top. I supply cold air from the rear of the case. No gpu or cpu heat enters the PC and i get great temps. The radiators/pumps are positioned correctly, and are still running great after more than 5 years. It is a viable option if closed loop cooling is too expensive, which it is here in Australia.

[@moleman9504]

Definitely a beast of a cooler. Would be awesome to see an all white build thats top teir 4k performance and virtually silent

[@notsyzagts7967]

Good luck with the "virtually silent" part lol.

[@everythingcrypto5577]

That’s still 30% cheaper than what I paid for my 3090

[@AEP8FlyBoy]

Now that's a SUPRIM oof.

[@gamingwithblaise3822]

Only $100 more than my 6900XT 🤣

[@hardlinebruiser1311]

F

[@DavidTMSN]

Yep.

[@BBWahoo]

Why did you pay that much?

[@blackmage4100]

For liquid cooled, there is the Suprim Liquid X. Should be interesting to see how that performs against the FE.

[@Propixia]

Optimum tech has a video on fe and suprim liquid x

[@WTP_DAVE]

I think this is the level of cooler needed to charge more then founders, white paintjob aswell as a full block gpu not a hybrid solution which doesn't provide the acoustic benefits

[@AdamsWorlds]

I was thinking of buying an air cooled one to heat my house. My gas bills are already 4x higher than last year, to combat the cold i normally game in bed using the TV connected to my PC. Perhaps if i get a 4090 i can heat my home enough to sit at the desk and game during the colder months of the year. They need to start making watercooled GPU's with a quick disconnect on the card end and selling the radiator/fans/tube as optional extras. This way its easy to just hook them up to existing loop.

[@MenkoDany]

my 4090 heats the place up less than my old 3080 10gb...

[@AdamsWorlds]

@@MenkoDany ah, so maybe not a good option then. I need an upgrade from my 2060 (none super). Maybe the 4060ti/super or 4070. I dont actually game much in summer so the heating of the card would be genuine.

[@xtxschmidt]

In the desert winter of Oregon I really do use my OLED tv + pc as heaters; they are about 4-5ft from me and I will turn my heat down so that it does not come on while I'm gaming. When you play a game like Cyberpunk on an LG c1 oled shit gets hot!

[@AdamsWorlds]

@@xtxschmidt yep, with the costs here in the UK of gas its allot to pay for heating + electric + gaming. It might genuinely work out better to get a hotter card with better performance and save some gas, pay a little extra electric and still live in warmth but only with the benefit of a better gaming experience.

[@alouisschafer7212]

how do u still pay 4x as much im paying 2,5x as much as the normal level from the last seasons which was around 7 cents and electricity is now 2x the cost of gas so absolutely dumb idea to heat my place with electricity because gas is cheaper your pc warming the ambient air up is just a side effect

[@denvera1g1]

6:58 "No tearing up" on that sticker instead of 'warranty void' may sound like a lost in translation error, but it is equally likely that they were on the receiving end of an FTC Action for violations of the Magnuson & Moss warranty and repair act, but still wanted to deter customers from servicing/modifying/fixing their cards and assumed most people would not read the text.

[@proCaylak]

maybe it's just a tamper seal to indicate that it's been torn down at least to an extent, independent of how it affects the warranty status if there is one.

[@denvera1g1]

@@proCaylak What i want to do is buy 4 of these cards, and use a friction driver to pull all of these stickered drives out without damaging the sticker(or a heat gun to pull them off) then put them all on one card, and send it in for an intermittant problem that they're not going to be able to reproduce and say 'i'll pay for shipping and all that if you cant figure it out because its just as likely to be my motherboard/monitor' I just want to see what they say seeing 4 tamper stickers when there should be only one.

[@proCaylak]

@@denvera1g1 I admire such humorous acts.

[@streamroller1974]

STEVE 1- Who is the pump maker ? Asetek , CoolIT, Cooler Master ? Why you didnt mention this ? 2- What about Pump whine ? Is it audible ?

[@oceanbytez847]

GN is so awesome to both the makers and users of these things. Intentionally holding back the review until it was finally patched and ready is awesome.

[@hquest]

Back in my day, I used to receive unfinished software to test. Back in my day, those were also sent for free. In 2022, people seem way too happy to shell over a grand for the privilege (?) of testing products.

[@BBWahoo]

A fool and his money...

[@eliotmansfield]

From a mechanical perspective I would design a card that simply has two coolant ports on the rear and keep all the pumps and radiators external. Then you have the option of running the lines through a pub beer line cooler 😊

[@Ken-no5ip]

I would hook up a car cooling system through the pc to be safe

[@T1cksandLeeches]

I would just extend the hoses and place the radiator outside in the snow. Then I would move to a colder climate for the summer.

[@Crow-EH]

I would hook it up to the freezing cold heart of my ex

[@ANSWERTHECALLOFJESUSCHRIST]

@@Crow-EHOuch! 😢

[@LastAphelion]

I've always wanted to see more race car theme pcs with real parts, like have an actual race car radiator, turbo, and nos can as part of the case, would be amazing if it actually helped cool lol

[@zukessurvival4785]

White PC color scheme is so 37 minutes ago. New age is to build as big and empty a PC as possible, keeping the primary components inside an all-glass case, while having your cooling system ported to the AC compressor outside. Also, your case can be beige. All your parts can be beige.

[@alexmills1329]

Reject modernity, return to beige.

[@pcbuilderlover4271]

The Vbios switch is a better idea if you are needing to switch often as you don't have to open your case. Love to see this compared to MSI SUPRIM Liquid X.

[@stavencapp]

who switchews it at all? if i paid 1800 for a GPU i want max performance all the time lol

[@nascob]

I completely agree. I don't get the negative tone towards it. If I'm debugging a potential OC issue or I'm in the process of overclocking - why do I need to open up the case in order to switch bioses back and forth. This seems like a much better idea.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@stavencapp the real reason for dual bios chips is because you can flash a modded bios for overclocking, and you still have a "factory bios" you can switch to if the bios mod does not work (which is very possible). If your bios mod fails the card does not boot up and you need to use hardware flashing tools to rewrite the bios chip. Which is very inconvenient. They obviously can't market it directly as such because it voids warranty, in theory, in some regions.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@ラテちゃん the "official" marketing reason is to have two card modes from factory, one for performance and one for silent mode with slower fan and less performance. This is really an obvious lie for many years. You can set power targets and fan speed settings with GUI software since years ago. The real reason is bios modding to overclock the card. Bios modding is ""not officially allowed"" by AMD/NVIDIA so they can't say "hey we made this special feature so you can do safe bios mod" in the marketing. They need to lie about that.

[@hassans3426]

I do not get why everyone says the button is gimmick for the OC. its a genius Idea to be honest. This way, 1 - you will need a magnifying glass to see the switch and move it left and right. and most importantly, 2- you do NOT need to open the glass of the case to change Bios if you ever needed to do so.

[@andrikurniawan531]

Maybe because it says one click oc, if colorful write dual bios on it, i think no one will complain

[@hassans3426]

@@andrikurniawan531 I mean .. its kinda common sense lol. one click to oc or u know... do not click it.. thats your second bios lol

[@hovant6666]

The "no tearing up" sticker was actually telling you not to cry

[@vexling1]

I like the fact that the bios switch is on the outside 👍🏻

[@anasevi9456]

4:10 Also the teflon line tubes can have the teflon flake off and clog the Block, either from poor manufacturing and/or the tubes getting slightly too bent during installation. permeation any day of the week over that.

[@xyzwsfr]

Dear Colorful: a White 12VHPWR Adapter long enough to hide the cluster of 8 pin connectors would be nice thanks .

[@Lishtenbird]

I heard you get bonus points if you pair it with Royal Trident Z.

[@Zuleyus]

Great video, but I would have liked to see comparison values for other watercooled or hybrid models like the Suprim in the charts.

[@peace_maybenot]

I saw neptune numbers from other hardware channels also coming to the same conclusion that the neptune doesn't provide much, if any, extra clock speeds under stock conditions. I'm happy to see gains from the newly updated/flashed turbo mode but it's a shame that the performance boost isn't that great for this water-cooled gpu.

[@TheVideoCrazyness]

That totally makes sense though since the air cooler 4090s are not temperature constrained and even at stock voltages you're at the far end of the efficiency curve. At a 75% power limit it already supplies almost 90% of the clockspeed. Meaning adding 33% power from there gives you +12% performance. Already not impressive, and still, at these stock settings, it's only 60-something degrees on air. Realistically adding another 33% power gives you the 600W limit but less than 10% in clockspeed as you'd expect efficiency to worsen further as it's a curve. So liquid is more about space in your case here.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

the space savings are still 100% worth it. If space saving is important, that is

[@nehcooahnait7827]

@@marcogenovesi8570 for me yeah… I hate those 3-3.5 slots GPUs

[@chanoname4940]

The way steve drop those coasters i thought they were tradable XD New idea GN tradable cards!

[@hquest]

Tech KZbinrs Top Trumps card game. Complete with fields such as: GamersNexus card Testing methodology: A - Standards maker Hair: A+ - Jesus Marketing abilities: C - Sells intermediate merch LTT card Testing methodology: E - As recommended by the sponsor Hair: B - surely Gel Marketing abilities: A - Sells his wife and kids as brand new, unused, but drops it in the process Jayztwocents card Testing methodology: C - Uses some tools but doesn’t really follows any standards Hair: E - Gramps has cooler hair Marketing abilities: B - IFIXIT!!!!!!!!! Roman/der8auer card Testing methodology: B - German engineered Hair: B - Wunderbar! Marketing abilities: A+ - Builds stuff for other KZbinrs to advertise them Paul’s Hardware card Testing methodology: D - Learned from Newegg Hair: C - enough to barely cover the head Marketing abilities: D - requires beer BPSCustoms card Testing methodology: B - Follows most standards Hair: E - what hair, dummy? Marketing abilities: B - Rolled 2 on Charisma but isn’t afraid to call bullish!t when it is bullish!t HardwareUnboxed card Testing methodology: B - Oi, 3 hours of packed bar graphs per 30min videos Hair: C - always upside down Marketing abilities: D - Fortnite player StevenHe card Testing methodology: F - Failure! He is not even a tech KZbinr. Hair: C - good enough to send you to Jesus Marketing abilities: A - sold 100 gym memberships at age of 4 and there wasn’t even a gym in town Feel free to add more cards to this game and let us wait for GN or any other YT’er to bring it to life. Also, those are random notes for each of you: don’t take offense - it is just a joke.

[@Username-u5e]

@@hquest 😂Linus

[@alexmills1329]

@@hquestJesus dude you took off with this

[@NeroKoso]

Must say, that button location for bios switch is very nice. Opening the case every time to flick it is annoying (to be fair, not needed often). This one doesn't need that.

[@realbadtech9318]

Great coverage, with the amount of AIO failures I’ve personally seen across different systems and brands in the past few years, I’d be hard pressed to trust my shiny new $1800 4090 with one

[@Zzz76532]

I'm new to computers, and your channel has been invaluable to my research. It's UNBELIEVABLE how many tests you guys have run. The data. The data. THE MF DATA. You always provide the numbers. I wish every KZbin channel in their respective category followed this method. Thank you. Continue the good work, and may your channel never stop growing.

[@FAT9L]

Seconding this. I'm the kind of person who gets excited over a good spreadsheet. I don't really care about opinions (unless it's a trusted one, like this channel), I want objective hard numbers that I can analyze and draw my own conclusions from. GN does an exceptional job with that.

[@alt5494]

Would be interesting to see GN test the Acer a770 16gb card. Using a blower fan & a high pressure blow though fan is a novel design.

[@Prophes0r]

That is literally how every server has been cooled for 30+ years... Which is why servers are SO loud.

[@alt5494]

@@Prophes0r They are not in series but in parallel. Server are also only now moving to PWM variable speed fans verses extremely high speed/pressure constant rate fans. It entirely different from blower only cards. Take a look at the card it's a interesting option at $400 MSRP.

[@badnewsbeaver]

Pulled out a 1.3mm allen head bit the as I heard that in the video 😅

[@deepend9376]

Been a part of my toolbox since 1983!! It just happens to be the size needed to adjust the height of the arm lifter on my record deck/s (Rega).

[@8K240hz]

for someone who has such a deep history with pc gaming hardware i really haven't seen steve play any video games but i'm sure he must be into some ! one of these days it would be really cool to see what games steve plays.

[@rellikai945]

Who is Colorful to tell me where and where not to not "tear it up"? 💃

[@___DRIP___]

Steve is such an all rounder lol. The only KZbinr who can teach me about PCs, sell me products when he reviews them favourably, and make me laugh at the same time. “Thanks Steve!” Love the GN team! Haven’t missed a video in years lol. Edit: This card is a bit of a beast in the thermal department. I actually love the look of it too. Shame it couldn’t use that thermal headroom though!

[@ShimejiiGaming]

A bios full of issues sounds like a nightmare for this price lol

[@BBWahoo]

It's not a bug, it's a feature.

[@shirgall]

That big black sticker could also help dampen vibration of the plastic housing where it's right next to the pump.

[@masrock10]

Very true, that's a legit reason to use that instead of a cover directly on the pump. Physical clearance too. If it's tight enough for a sticker to work, there isn't much room at all in there.

[@MallocFree90]

I don't understand the critiques of the dual bios switch on the back of the GPU. It's a good feature because I can change it without opening the pc.

[@zixxth6377]

Fantastic in depth work as usual steve, we really appreciate your level of detail in your reviews. Would love to see this compared to the AORUS 360mm radiator in thermals of the GPU and the memory and MOSFETs and other and performance as well. Also, with AIO cards like that, the best case scenario would be a front mount with the tubes at the bottom, correct? Or am I misunderstanding something?

[@funkonsight]

Interested to know the answer as well… Steve?

[@andrikurniawan531]

I like Colorful, one brand thats not cheap out on vrm component and power limit, not like most popular brand

[@manguerrero6220]

I appretiate all your complains. Ive taken decisions based on them and im very happy with the result

[@puppet_master]

Have an old 1080GTX from them (seem to have been shipping to the UK for a good while now). Has lasted ages with no issues.

[@puppet_master]

@ラテちゃん got it just before crypto destroyed the market

[@jonboy2950]

My Zotac Trinity, which is pretty much the founders edition with a huge cooler bunged on top is running at full load 54 degree C and 1820mhz at stock, im glad i did not pay the factory overclock tax.

[@AngleSideSideThm]

That's neat how y'all show your number of years of experience reviewing the product category

[@gidderman]

Alright so what im hearing is, put the radiator in the bottom of the case, then cut the return side hose and add an additional reservoir higher than the pump. Check ;)

[@3RAN7ON]

I haven't tuned in for a minute and holy crap Steve has some gray hairs coming in! I feel old

[@-opus]

18:10 "The problem is FE is getting really good now, and the price difference is still in favour of FE. Partners are going to have a really hard time competing on price with Nvidia" EVGA leaves the chat

[@maegnificant]

Best thing about the FE is that they use honeywell ptm 7950

[@rafsh1846]

the problem FE is common in north America , but rarely been sold by pc retailers in other countries , so Nvidia barely can compete with other brands all over the world

[@maegnificant]

@@rafsh1846 don't think they need to dude. They earn most of the money from the other cards as well.

[@EarthIsFlat456]

You all seem to forget that availability of the FE is far worse so unless NVIDIA can offer enough of them partners are always going to sell a lot more.

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

About two dissimilar metals stuck together, they're brazed. Essentially, you're gluing one metal to the other using an intermediary metal that sticks to both.

[@mafiahalo93]

someone should explain to nvidia/Neptune how the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act before they get sued for having those screws saying do not open/warranty voided if removed shit

[@mustangthearpy]

Dang you Steve!! I've been trying to get Neptune with no luck!!

[@nintendoatarikiller]

Thanks Steve My car cost about the same as this card so theoretically I could straight trade a 1999 Volvo S70 for this beast of a GPU. Mental.

[@cyclode9584]

I havnt encounter any issue using this card for a week now, temps are in 50s or sometimes below 50s in GPU, memory and hot spot is just around mid 50's degrees. Im using a lian li sl120 controlled by the hub so my fan is running fix all the time. Im thinking if im gonna flash the vbios to increase power which i dont usually use. Im using curve .960mV at 2.8Ghz plus 1000mhz on memory. The performamce increase slightly, reduced the temps and consuming around 280 to 320w when gaming

[@yosharian]

Where did you buy it from?

[@cyclode9584]

@@yosharian local retailer here in Philippines. Waited for more than a month before the 1st batch of this card including the vulcan and 4080s arrived here last week. According to local distributor that only 15pcs vulcan and 10pcs of neptune arrived for the 1st batch

[@haywoodjay385]

Their wiring solution for the fans is super clever, the other AIO companies should take note.

[@gadgestlab]

Would love to see FLIR images of the copper heat sink in action.

[@michaelthompson9798]

I love the design of this AIO cooler designed GPU by Colorful 💪🥰👍✊. I remembered using Colorful gpus back in the early 2000’s ….. they seem to disappear and reappear from our market here in Australia 🇦🇺……… yet have been seen for about the 5years or so from some retail stores.

[@elan_07]

Expanding on this investigation, it would be really interesting to to see an investigation into how custom waterblocks (EKWB, Phanteks, Heatkiller etc) compare on the 4090.

[@elan_07]

I'm sure you have plenty of work already on your plate tho!

[@lawyerlawyer1215]

Sounds interesting, I would love to put custom water cooling on my 4090 But I’m just not there yet 😅 Between my own builds , and builds for my friends , I’ve become quite decent at building computers , but custom water cooling still scares the hell out of me. XD

[@lowzyyy]

@@lawyerlawyer1215 same with me. First is extremely expensive and second its extremely confusing because there is no "standard" way.

[@lawyerlawyer1215]

@@lowzyyy yeah , on top on that , there the annoyance of maintaining it. It’s not like an cpu AIO , that you forget about it. You need to empty and refill the liquid every certain time etc. Aaaand on toop of that you see “professional” pc builders , having spillage problems on their videos , while building the loops, because the connections they decide to use , happened to not be not the best fit , although those where the ones that where recommended for their tubes . And when I see that , I shit my pants thinking about having spillage on my well past 3,000$ pc 😅 But one of the things, that stops the most from doing it , is upgradability I like changing my pc parts , every time something really interesting comes out. And I know , that if I went through the struggle , and tension of bulding a custom water loop , that pc is staying that way , till I decide to build a new one from the ground up 😂 And I might be on to emerging here, because to this date , I see custom water loop pictures and videos come out , with old , GPU and cpu configurations. Like GTX 980ti with custom water loops. The kind of guy , that built such a system in its day , is NOT THE kind of guy that keeps a GPU for 7 years haha my theory is that they rather build a new pc , than upgrade an existing custom water loop pc

[@ledoynier3694]

@@lawyerlawyer1215 actually 90% of the loop carries over to an upgrade. changing a GPU you only change the GPU block and keep all the rest (granted it's a 150 - 200$ block), but it's the same overhead as getting an AIO GPU. Maintenance? uhm not really. you overblow it a bit ^^ it's good to change the coolant at least once a year. If you're not all thumbs and were smart enough to add a drain valve to your loop it's a 5 minutes job. Open the vent, drain in a bottle, maybe flush with DI water, refill with new coolant, startup. But to get to the original question, a custom loop cooled 4090 would probably run 10 - 15° above water temperature, at least if you don't use a crappy corsair block. Water temperature would depend on the number of radiators and their size, so.. depends on the particular build. just to give a close example, my 3090 tops at 40°C on demanding games in a 25°C room. the cooler it gets, the less power the silicon draws for the same work. so there's even further benefits compared to AIO cooled cards. Mine idled at 54-55W on air, and now at 36 - 38W on water. The neptune would certainly show that too which is why it's so silly the vbios doesn't allow to take advantage of the big headroom. Of course, the benefit/money ratio is ridiculously bad. you don't custom watercool a PC for the gains only :)

[@Standard.Candle]

So the real benefit is how quiet it is, care to actually measure this? That would be super useful. I have a Liquid X which I also bought because it runs barely audible at full load, so I think this is the metric that would be most useful to your viewers.

[@windstalker2244]

"and it will take 2 days of my life" ........ later ...... "okay it took like a week." lol I feel that

[@trees69]

Ah was excited to see the fins under the pump

[@Arthzil]

Would love to see you do comparison of all 4090s with AIOs.

[@TipOfTheSauce]

@epicgames1792wrong name lmfao

[@camjohnson2004]

Finally, someone puts the Dual V-BIOS switch external so you don't have to open your case to switch it

[@nameinvalid69]

I like the looks of this thing, blocky silver, looks very industrial, wouldn't thought that it is a GPU if not of the large model label.

[@KingSvenDeluxe]

Nice of them to leave a decent amount of cable slack for that vBIOS switch.

[@RedAppleApe]

I am still waiting for some 4080s for custom loops. Since my 2080ti runs alone in a cl it would be waste of money for the existing loop to put him away. My old 9900k has a nice AiO with 360mm radiator for himself hehe

[@aimmarc367]

I run pretty much the exact same stuff, curious on what your cpu temps look like?

[@nene71286]

Thank you Steve. Great review. Have not have a desktop in like 15 years, I will definitely come here when i am ready to build a new setup

[@jackalclone1]

Is it possible to request disassembly of AIO coolers like this to fully expose the microfins and coolant, as well as commentary/education on different microfin designs and densities? I think there's some education to be had for viewers there. Or do you all try to avoid refilling AIO's, or changing the internal coolant from stock?

[@UNKA757]

So good to see that your card wasn't replaced with Metal, Rocks or Anti-Static Bags......that were empty.

[@sychepsk]

Had a couple of cards from them, all Vulkan cause it comes with a small LCD screen on the side

[@pauldrice1996]

I remember the turbo button on old old computers that actually make it slower but I didn't know that at the time. Its a feature to make it work with even older software (mostly games) that's designed to run at a lower clock and will run the entire game, not just framerate, at double or more speed if "turbo" is not enabled/

[@watsup39]

I think the button approach is a very good troubleshooting feature! It allows you to switch out problematic vbios without needing to open up a panel on the case. This easily let's you test out problematic Vbios software - which neptune is definitely dealing with.

[@brandonsteffenhauser]

Excellent breakdown and thanks for doing this. Seeing as how the GN team has been expanding the level of detail in testing for coolers, it would be fantastic to see a similar comparison to a custom loop with an EKWB on a 4090 and something like the Gigabyte Aorus AIO 4090 and ASUS's ROG STRIX AIO 4090 (when it becomes available).

[@erfanpoison7618]

Having a bios button near the the display outputs, lets you switch modes without removing case panel That's a neat feature imo

[@COddietsch]

So glad you did a tear down. When I spend hard earned money on a so called top end GPU card, liquid cooled at that I expect a lot more. I am quite disappointed to the workmanship that they put into this. I am planning on upgrading my rig and have been researching for a while now. I can make this one off my list. Great video.

[@maloo2brvo26]

I’d love to just be able to buy gpu at retail and have it be available. :/

[@racerx3669]

Go to amd website. Or Microcenter. Or even nowinstock.

[@AceStrife]

Never thought I'd see a turbo button on a modern GPU. Maybe it can help get 'cinematic' FPS on demand!

[@spankeyfish]

I bet it's actually cos there's a 486 chip running the pump, lol

[@agentoranj5858]

Holy fuck that typo is hilarious.

[@hillppari]

that aio footprint is tiny compared to full gpu waterblock

[@pcfreakx]

It says no TEARING (tee-ring) up! You can't cry while removing it. Pretty solid advice.

[@kaylanwade3392]

"No tearing it up" goddamn it burke XD

[@arturdrelich9881]

Oh brother a typo on a 1800$ card, this aint starbucks, its not okay.

[@MCSchuscha]

wow i would love to get a 4090 for 1800$ here in EU we have to pay like 2300-2500$

[@sirab3ee198]

Wow!!! Thx for existing..... I hope you detect my sarcasm.

[@thecarrot4412]

On the topic of typos on expensive equipment, I used to own an archery riser ( the inflexible middle part) worth 500 euro that had the word "Profeessionalism" on it. The best/worst possible word to spell incorrectly

[@realkarfixer8208]

7:04 Thou shalt NOT be tearing up!

[@mindwreckRC]

video cards are getting power intensive. Ive been watercooling since 2002.. but only cpu and it was fine with a 360 with silent levels or even full passive with just a 3900x. then i upgraded to a 5900x and i added a 6900xt and the gpu cooler noise it made was insane with the 90C temps to go with it. I couldn't take it. finally added gpu into loop and it dumped so much heat i had to upgrade to 2 420 rads to keep temps below 50c at silent noise levels. i like the turbo button. hearkens back to the old 286 386 days. 😅

[@TheSunflowerGalaxy]

This is the way to go. The RTX 40 series should have come water-cooled from the onset instead of making ridiculously large heat sink and fan combos that do not fit into a mid sized case and spew ridiculous amounts of heat. Look forward to more stock graphic cards with water blocks.

[@DoObs]

It must also be mentioned that those AIO coolers the FAN/RGB cables run coiled up both tubes to the Radiator from the GPU block. So people get the wrong impression that their tubing ID is going to be wider when in reality its actually not. Those inner ID of those tubes are like 4.5mm/5mm. Thickness of the tubing is maybe just under 2mm thick. Giving your overall tubing OD being just under 10mm.

[@DizConnected]

Now we need a GN mug that looks like a LN2 pot!

[@j78823]

Wanna see Colorful NB 4090 review. ( the only card that sold at MSRP right now)

[@arcticfox04]

Water cooling is the only way I'd go for a 4080/4090. Just due to the size of the coolers.

[@blai5e730]

I have an EK block on my ASUS TUF 4090 OC and it brought the overall length down from 348mm to 260mm which ends up shorter than my blocked 1080TI's and way shorter than my blocked EVGA 3090 FTW3 Ultra.

[@hossosplitternacken7819]

@@blai5e730 JUST AVOID that Generation of Cash cow from Nvidia satanist inc. conglomerate Co.KG and spend the money instaed for hookers and crack

[@TD_YT066]

wish they would send the pipes (and power connectors/cables) out the end of the card instead of the top. PCs usually have plenty of space for long cards, but not for tall cards.

[@kvn864]

oh, loved the button on the backplate!

[@whalemonstre]

Maybe the sticker actually says "no tearing 😥 up" as in 'our product won't make you cry'. A guarantee of consumer satisfaction. 😃🤔

[@VakmanCA]

What happened to you during the last year my friend? You packed some serious weight.

[@butterfingersman]

thats some great cooling performance, i hope they sort out their vbios situation and allow more power to get pushed through it. at that price point and level of cooling, overclocking should've been more of a consideration from colorful.

[@butterbee2384]

The real benefit of such a card is being able to access the other PCIe slots on the mobo, since the card is not covering them.

[@nehcooahnait7827]

Yeah I learned that the hard way with my Aorus 3070ti Master…

[@TheKazragore]

Quite the colourful review!

[@Xfade81]

Can't wait to see if they will ever step foot in Virtul Reality.

[@sovietrussia3632]

Virtal*