EKWB Limited Edition 3090 Waterblock teardown | bit-tech Modding

[@joviesdreams]

Huge props to my man pulling out his own personal 3090 just to showcase a waterblock for us. Thank you so much Alex 💕

[@andrewparker3689]

My kind of demonstration! Talking about machining, metal thicknesses and weight, perfect! Subscribed.

[@VynZography]

Please please do more reviews like this! It's great to hear the opinion of someone who actually knows what they are talking about!

[@JasonVanPatten]

I just installed this on my 3090FE last week and I love it. It's definitely a heavy piece of kit at 4lbs total, *without* the GPU in it! Heh. Looks like EK announced the fully active back plate for this block, due out in September. Already pre-ordered.

[@stevenross-watt8640]

Loose screws is an EKWB favourite. I just took out an EKWB Vector 2080ti Strix and one screw on the block was wiggling around due to no tightness at all and several others had next to zero tension on them as well. I have also seen this with a few other EKWB waterblocks I have fitted including one to a 2080ti FTW3. ANother youtuber that I watched back in time mentioned it was always worth checking every one of the screws before installing. What I will say is I have had no leaks from EKWB items, so even if the screws were loose, overall the waterblock was well sealed.

[@MakinComputers]

Very cool and thorough overview. Certainly weren't afraid to pull any punches either. More importantly, the beard game is coming on strong. 💪

[@ranamuerta]

Can't wait to put mine together. It arrived a few days ago.

[@stevenross-watt8640]

I'm getting unimpressive temps with this block. I've read some reddit comments about needing to re-seat the waterblock several times. On stock clock settings I'm getting about +36c over room temp doing heaven stress test and that's with 3 x 360mm radiators and 9 ML 120 Pro at 100%. I've fitted multiple waterblocks in the last few years and this is the first one I've not got very impressive temps from. How did you get on?

[@ian4012]

Excellent video Alex👍 Just got the 3080 version and found the screws to be loose and an o ring missing from one of the stop plugs. Check your blocks guys before fitting!!

[@Tattysnuc]

Great feature Alex. I do love your presentation style and the Jazz-lounge sound is just so fitting. :)

[@ScriptureConsolidated]

they need to make these for every gpu series. they have the best looks and install design ive ever seen.

[@udp1073]

Sir, kudos to you! you made interesting a 45 minutes chat about a water block... this is some serious feat if you ask me. Very well done (and as always, great video!)

[@dallatorretdu]

I've seen on REDDIT some 3080 blocks being accepted in RMA because the coldplate was not mirror finished, so double check with EK. the want is strong in this, but I first need to yet put my hands on one of those cards. I think I'll wait the winter to upgrade

[@JUNEBUGLLC]

vram running at 110c yea ur gonna want to if u can afford one.

[@JustDizzq]

I have change out my thermal pads on 2 of mine asus strix 3090 cards from ekwb pads to Gelid solutions GP-Ultimate pads. And I dropped the temperature from 110c to 80c on the memory junction when mining. Thats crazy. I will never use ekwb pads again. Can highly recommend the Gelid solutions GP-Ultimate pads. They are a bit pricey but in my opinion they are worth every penny.

[@DanielPierce]

Was the GPU chip contact point a little rough to increase surface area perhaps? Considering there is thermal paste would it be better to have micro ridges…?

[@Debate_everything]

i love my WB. finally came in last week. very well designed.

[@mods-qo4pr]

Fascinating teardown. Thanks for your video and report.

[@erikvasauez9361]

I have one of these on the way, camped out for my 3090 FE card for 12 hours on Wednesday so next weekend the block should be here, I already requested the day off it's said to be here just in case so I have more time to re-do my loop and get this card in there and the excitement is killing me...

[@1pqlamz466]

I had a very uneven surface at the die with my strix block. I took some time to sand it down and had to remove a good 0.1mm before getting a smooth surface.

[@filanfyretracker]

I fully agree after finally getting mine that they need to do precut and applied thermal pads, Especially in the spots for those really tiny ICs that need a little bit of pad the size of a pinky nail. Cutting the pad itself wasnt hard but getting the foil off sure was. But its getting great numbers, If I have to take it apart at any point again I might consider ordering those thermal grizzly pads and see if they are any nicer to work with.

[@rtxoverkillgaming602]

I have this waterblock with my 3090, for the thermal pads, I basically bought like 4 tubes of Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut paste and spread thermal paste on both sides of the thermal pads then put the thermal pads on. This worked great, temperatures were lower.

[@GS0CK6]

OH MY! Why would you do that? Adding thermal paste to thermal paste will just destroy the pads over time! Big no no.

[@Neeb1337]

I think it is intriguing that the card can have ports out the back as well. If only I could find a 3090 FE to play with it. lol Excellent video as usual. =)

[@Outland9000]

If your in the UK there were some 3090fe's on SCAN *_at msrp!_*

[@santhoshk8890]

this guy is gonna make me spend more money...................thanks for the great review man.

[@dassolution3094]

EK does say that the block comes 'loosely assembled' so that is why the screws were loose when you opened it. Nice teardown though!

[@olivercox2565]

This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.

[@TPPPP]

EKWB product really looks good I want to build a custom loop with EKWB.

[@randomrouting]

Ive seen you drooling over some of the Datron machines and what not and I really have appritiated your videos over the years so now that Im lucky enough to be getting a linear motor driven Kimla router delivered on friday, let me know if theres anything you'd like to have cut on it Alex! (We cut mainly aluminium) Cheers!

[@thibautnoah2599]

Holy shiit ! Gonna test the screws before plugging the block ! Thank you ! To be fair the conductivity of EK thermal pads has always been low, having to spend 40euros more for better pads shouldn't be a thing considering how pricey the blocks are

[@makers6362]

Another epic build.

[@meropolis]

I really wish ekwb would make a version of this available for the rtx 3080 strix. I really like this look.

[@Ghettochild.2600]

Wondering if its worth switching my Alphacool Eisenblock for the EKWB one for better memory cooling. Only while mining with +800MHz mem I see about 84c on the memory. Would really like to see that drop to say 60c instead.

[@The1PatSmith]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Top stuff there Alex! Thank you, and I look forward to your progressive vids.

[@rezenclowd3]

So it would seem the upcoming active backplate is not necessary. Installing mine next week as well. Going to be a tight build, fractal 7 with 10 drives, 6 of them 10TB HDDs.

[@yuchuga8341]

You can use a sandpaper to sand the gpu die location since is a bit rough with machining marks

[@MRD0889]

My 3080FE and the 3090FE factory cooler is simple but elegant 👌 in design.

[@simracingcockpit]

This is a cool channel! Subscribed

[@AlCapownedPL]

Hello, I here just to say I would like to see a "big thermalpad showdown".

[@Elaba83]

Did you ever measure the coolant temperatures? I wonder what an acceptable temperature is for cooling liquid, i never see this in any watercooling video's.

[@patricktrakzel9657]

Missing a screw, short screws and the machining of the cooling plate, which seems to be rough ( especially where it has to touch to the die of the GPU ) isn't very good. They could have done better. Do you have to lap that piece of the plate? I take my hat off for you to pull out your personal stuff to make this video, thanks Alex.

[@chrisranas1380]

This man is damn awsome,so much knowledge in his head!DAMN!!!

[@MsSocrates86]

Wow! Work of ART!

[@-MaXuS-]

Awesome m8! Thx for the content!

[@blackmennewstyle]

Attila should give to whoever designed that GPU block a serious raise man, that thing is a true piece of Art

[@ElectricDreams10]

Yes, but fire assembly and quality control. Those loose/missing screws are a serious and not isolated oversight. When as a customer you have to do your own qc checks on a top-tier product there's a big problem.

[@PitboyHarmony1]

Im going to disagree with you. This IS a hardware review, you disassembled and tore into the hardware, from a hardware perspective, by an extreme hardware manufacturer / reviewer guy. With your experience, a step by step over how they made it, what they got right, and what they could have done better, is a huge learning thing for viewers. Which is great. Mod hardware is what we expect to get a deeper look into, from your channel, and I think you nailed that. No one else will go to that detail. Then you hooked it up, made it work and even ran some basic synthetic temperature tests. We really dont need a dozen games and productivity benchmarks to get the idea that the block works. Soo ... I would call this a review.

[@Squinoogle]

Love the design, pity about the QC. Also, it's nice to see an Aquaceras update ;)

[@ed-te1fp]

Good video. But whatever software is controlling the camera's focus needs to be adjusted. For example, for a few minutes after 11:00, the camera changes focus at least 20 times which is a bit distracting. I'm no expert but perhaps it's because auto-focus is confused on what it should focus on, which could be your hand, your fingers or anything else that's moving. Maybe just fix the focus on the waterblock instead or reduce the speed at which autofocus is triggered to several seconds instead of immediately.

[@herrerkan]

The Motherboard and GPU in full Aluminium looks soo goood 🤤

[@Outland9000]

Indeed. Not a fan of that 'case' though. 🤢 🤮

[@JUNEBUGLLC]

that is an insane computer.

[@XAV41160]

salut, belle video . mais tu as pas inversse le branchement sur le radiateur ?

[@Cylindermaster]

Great video as normal, just found the amount of ads annoying. Keep up the good work

[@FractilOpacity]

Thanks for this! I’ll be tearing my 3090 FE down in the coming weeks and installing one of these blocks. I’ll be using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and Thermalright 12 w/mk pads because it’s my first block and I like collecting different data when I can

[@Brigade069]

Wow stuff dreams are made of.

[@snadtek6673]

My EK 3090 FE water block had 4 loose screws, but none missing.

[@GhostMotley]

Someone on /r/watercooling said they dropped GDDR6X junction temps by around 10c by replacing the stock EK pads with Thermalright Odyssey ones. Also, a missing screw on a £300 block is totally unacceptable.

[@stevekalle6969]

Awesome- you're the AvE of water cooling without the funny spicy language

[@mildlyinterestinggameplays3956]

I have RMA'd my 3090FE block twice now. Same problem. Lose screws, screws missing, standoffs not threadlocked, coldplate not polished.. etc. etc.

[@FeuerToifel]

truly a beautiful blockdesign. for me personally, i'd like a fully black version more. a big fan of the solution for the terminal. others should do that too, even with standart square pcb desings.

[@WoLpH]

Maybe the combined black with silver to prevent colour mismatch issues?

[@warryxchannel4592]

i did fit a 360 radiator plus a 240 rad inside the meshify s2 chassis and im sure that i could put a 360 instead of the 240 to have a dual 360 inside my chassis if you were looking for one well thx for ur video i was looking for a waterblock realy soon from ek

[@Outland9000]

I do wish that having the ports on the end was the standard rather than on the side.

[@falkhogan]

Will you do a teardown of the active backplate, too? Extrapoints for showing me a way to vertical-mount with the backplate in front instead of the waterblock. I personally love the look of the backplate MUCH more. So far, nobody I asked could help me with that one..

[@bittech1]

Could use an MNPCTech vertical mount and turn that upside down? Tbh it depends on your case a lot, it's a very simple mod but it does depend on your capabilities and tools etc.

[@falkhogan]

@@bittech1 That answer was WAY faster than expected, thank you so much! Iam using an Raijintek Enyo, a pretty large open-frame-case with more space I could ever need. I'm going to check that one out - Iam sadly not really skilled in such things but I guess I can compensate the lack of skill with time.. lots of. :D

[@bittech1]

@@falkhogan The MNPCTech bracket could be the ticket then, it takes up a 120mm slot, but with that case you’re laughing really. I assume Bill’s still making them?

[@falkhogan]

@@bittech1 i do think so since i could buy it... That Thing is btw Just perfect. And yes, easy 120 Slot. Im thinking of Putting it Not only reverse-vertically but also horizentally. Would also ease the mounting

[@wololo10]

The 30 degrees difference is height error and no contact not the material of the pad.

[@budhzie]

love all your videos

[@IIARROWS]

I would have preferred a single colour too... black to be precise, as my internal are black. But I figured out that the silver back would reflect the RGB. Also, the memory temperature are different mainly because Nvidia uses the worst pads imaginable... if you don't want to mod your FE, you just buy on Amazon good pads just for the back and drop your temperature a lot.

[@PalchikVykin]

May I ask What fittings you are using nearby your radiator on the top? I have seen them before and am thinking of gathering some WCooling parts here soon

[@frostybe3r]

My 3090 FE has been 110c for the last 6 months, should I just get a waterblock?

[@JUNEBUGLLC]

definitely i am not only are the stock thermal pads crap those temps damage your card long term i hear and waterblock will def reduce them big time.

[@dangingerich2559]

I wish I could get my hands on a 3090. I could afford it at MSRP, but not the current ebay prices.

[@ursmii_]

did you try to sand the GPU block (17'05") for better performance?

[@raziel3726]

Another Great video!!

[@wholeshow]

How very strange. Tore down mine today to remove bad staining and I am missing this EXACT screw.

[@davion0013]

Where can you buy these limited edition 3090/3080 water blocks? Are they all sold out

[@brandonbajc2084]

I bought the 3080 version in black. I love it! I'm hoping that the 3080 ti FE is the same pcb as the 3080 FE so when I buy my 3080 ti fe I won't have to get another 300$+ block 🤣

[@joshc7154]

My moustache looks like that after I drink soup from the bowl

[@VynZography]

Great video! I'm not happy with the smoothness of the part that contacts the die. Silicon is brittle and those points could crack it. Those screws on the end water attachment are also way too short. Lastly this design does away with the spring clamp from the back of the GPU. This is very important for enuring even pressure on the die. It worked for you but i can see the potential for damaged cards.

[@Yoyo34]

Mate, how much longer do we have to wait, till you make your own waterblock? Both CPU and a GPU one? :) kidding aside, I think most of us would love to see one with your signature. Isn't that a planned future project?

[@CaptNemo_]

Was wondering do you know any good water block that would fit a 3090 gigabyte ox edition gpu?

[@mauriziob5944]

is the one for 3080s the same as 3090 model? They sell two different models so wondering why if pcb is similar?

[@mauriziob5944]

i noticed they are diferent indimensions

[@Cooper3312000]

EKWB is slipping I’ve seen multiple people having issues with this block screws missing or screw stand offs for mounting pcb not milled in. I’ve been waiting over a month for mine they keep extending my wait time for shipping. My future builds will be with another manufacturer. Especially when this is $350 USD.

[@JUNEBUGLLC]

proof? you have no content at all?

[@Cwronaga216]

Do they make blocks this low profile in this design for the 3080 and in black???

[@GS0CK6]

They make the same block for the 3080 fe and yes in black too!

[@Cwronaga216]

@@GS0CK6 do they have this same block for non founders (its almost impossible to get any fe) but I love this look.

[@GS0CK6]

@@Cwronaga216 No unfortunately they dont!

[@aguerr211]

i bit bummed EK didnt do the same design for the 4090 wb

[@raffy121]

got 3 founders edition on ek waterblock

[@JUNEBUGLLC]

now that is sick how much better are the temps.

[@chrisrnz]

First, I dunno what's happened with EK. They used to be perfect and now in recent times that approach seems to have become less of a priority. Second, I bought my first Alphacool product late last year and it was missing a standoff, making the backplate and block impossible to secure properly. The lack of QC in both instances is worrying, considering the price of the hardware at stake.

[@Butanding]

The camera is focus-hunting.

[@bigmike4133]

What size Torx are you using

[@Caffeine-Corner]

Hmmmm would look good in Aquaceras

[@KayJay01]

The 3090 FE has terrible thermal pads, this has been known for a long time in hardware circles. That's why you were seeing massive throttling on air. The memory instantly hits it's max allowed temp and throttles to compensate.

[@rezenclowd3]

Agreed. Changing the pads for mining brought temps from 110ºC (max allowed) to ~94ºC when warm in my house. I am tempted to try the same brand pads (though 1mm) instead of EKWBs, but that adds another $50. The observed temps are already just fine with this block.

[@KANATADOMPIZ]

I swapped my ek thermal pads with thermalright ones. Pretty big difference in temps, like 10-15C

[@eriknastovski1330]

@@KANATADOMPIZ how much did the additional pads cost?

[@KANATADOMPIZ]

@@eriknastovski1330 15$ per pack, needed 2 packs, so like $30. I didn't use expensive pads on everything, only the memory.

[@eriknastovski1330]

@@KANATADOMPIZ If any water block manufacturer raised prices for $30 for adding better thermal pads, they'd be crucified by the users. This is why basically all water cooling manufacturers use mid-range pads over high-end pads which are extremely expensive, but only slightly better.

[@sinistergrin7053]

Removing the film from the thermal pads was a complete nightmare. Thankfully there were plenty of pads but still. Not acceptable esp with the price. Otherwise the block is amazingly beautiful and performs noticeably better than the corsair 3090 fe block I had and the cooling on the back of the block has allowed better OC

[@htko89]

you have to remove the soft film before removing the hard film. If you do it the opposite way you lose material / break it

[@michaelthompson9798]

Love the video 🥰🤯! It would be nice to get a GPU of this caliber in a single slot design these days. I guess I can still dream 😴 🛌 💭.

[@tthbeige3332]

What PSU are you using? I'm looking for one with without the mesh sleeving and bulky heat-shrink.

[@Outland9000]

I mean, you can make or buy custom cables. That way you can choose whatever PSU you want.

[@tthbeige3332]

@@Outland9000 At the time i did not have the space for cables and extensions, and I didn't want to spend more than $120 on a psu upgrade AND aftermarket cables. Luckily I found a better case where small and flexible cables were not needed. got a new rog strix 750w for 40% off

[@Outland9000]

@@tthbeige3332 Nice. Although I don't use extensions, just make my own custom cables. It's often the only way I can make builds work in SFF cases.

[@DMonZ1988]

is 20 minutes really enough time to heat soak such a large loop?

[@bittech1]

Easily, it had basically saturated by 10 minutes. I left the first try on for longer but it didn’t change at all. The bigger issue was having to wait between runs to get the coolant temperature back closer to ambient.

[@BackgroundCharacter86]

its LE because of a reason right? :D Thanks for the detail breakdown of the WB.

[@RaidersXI]

Dang it looks sleek

[@lIIl_lIl_lIIl]

*Never trust a man with the mustache of a cartoon villain!!* 😉

[@SixSilverStones]

Nice

[@kar351]

My beef with the rtx's is the power plug. I just hate it. That block is amazing, and in a vertical position, it would really shine, but that power plug...beh. Kinda funny for a man that do chassis do not have one test bench :p Maybe it is time to machine one for you...? 😉

[@bittech1]

Truthfully I hate every test bench on the market, so don’t want to buy one. At the same time, it just takes ages to make one worth having, soooo here I am without one haha

[@kar351]

I got you. 😉 Anyway, love your videos and the amazing things you create. Cheers from Portugal m8.

[@JUNEBUGLLC]

i like it the vga plug its really nice it just draws so much more power than any other cards

[@kar351]

@@JUNEBUGLLC Ok, you like the plug because it's nice or because it draws so much power? You know more power is bad right? 😛

[@jrok96]

This dude must be a huge elevator music fan with a twist of some r and b

[@knives6683]

This isn't the first Ek review I've seen with the bad QC on loose screws this month. Fix it EK, it's not good enough.

[@gh0stp1rate]

Which is why I'm never ever going to purchase anything from them again. I had 2 of their FCWB for my EVGA 980 Ti Classified's on my very first custom liquid cooled build and about a month later the top GPU block leaked all over the bottom one killing it along with the PCIe slot it was in on my motherboard. The blocks even had a QC Passed and Leak Test Pass stickers on them when I got them brand new directly from EK. The liquid leaked from 3 screws that hold the 2-piece block together. It was my first custom water cooled build so when I saw they had Leak Test Pass stickers on the blocks, I didn't to tighten down the screws myself just to be sure. On top of that which kind of annoyed me in the beginning was they refused to make an EVGA 980 Ti Classified waterblock because their blocks for the 780 Classified's were compatible. Talk about bad first impressions/experience with a company.

[@eriknastovski1330]

@@gh0stp1rate EK replaces all damaged hardware if the cause is product failure that was leak tested and not disassembled by the user. So if you did an RMA, EK would have reimbursed you for all the damaged hardware.

[@gh0stp1rate]

@@eriknastovski1330 Yes I know that and that's good on them. But they had leak test passed stickers on them, plus it was my first custom water cooled system and my first impressions of their company. Also they hardly ever make blocks for high-end EVGA motherboards and GPU's anyways so I have no reason to ever purchase anything from them again. Bitspower on the other hand will make blocks for them. Also, I now know better and tighten the screws down before a build.

[@kuikelooo]

I also had a screw missing from a quantum vector rtx 2080ti block.. ek quality control is shit nowadays imo

[@CloudyDeveloper]

Awesome, put my 3090 in one of these and now I don't get video output!

[@CloudyDeveloper]

It was the lian li cable lmao. Works great now!

[@dazley8021]

Thats probably the most expensive "workbench" ever. xD

[@Outland9000]

Granite surface plates are not that expensive. You can get them for less than £100 (unless you want a really big one and the stands can be quite a lot).

[@MisterRorschach90]

If they made this for the strix of ftw3 so that it was much larger, it would be the best waterblock ever. I hate how small it is. It doesn’t fit in with the kind of hardware it’s best suited to pair with like the glacial asus board or an aqua asrock board.