Water Cooled GPU: Replace Air Cooler vs Native Water Cooled

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

I completed my first custom loop in December of last year and I chose to purchase a natively water cooled GPU (MSI RTX 2080 Sea Hawk EK X) instead of installing a block onto a natively air cooled GPU for the ease and the significantly reduced upfront cost.

 

When NVIDIA releases the 3000 series I might decide to sell my RTX 2080 and buy an RTX 3080 to replace it (depending on price, performance, etc.)

 

What do you folks see as the pros and cons of buying a natively water cooled AIB GPU vs buying a Founders Edition/air cooled card and replacing the air cooler with a water block.

 

I'm looking specifically for opinions on comparative cost, resale value of the cards and blocks, reusability of the block on future cards, any performance differences, ease of maintenance and anything else you might want to share.

[xdeathshot20]

2 minutes ago, HairlessMonkeyBoy said:

I completed my first custom loop in December of last year and I chose to purchase a natively water cooled GPU (MSI RTX 2080 Sea Hawk EK X) instead of installing a block onto a natively air cooled GPU for the ease and the significantly reduced upfront cost.

 

When NVIDIA releases the 3000 series I might decide to sell my RTX 2080 and buy an RTX 3080 to replace it (depending on price, performance, etc.)

 

What do you folks see as the pros and cons of buying a natively water cooled AIB GPU vs buying a Founders Edition/air cooled card and replacing the air cooler with a water block.

 

I'm looking specifically for opinions on comparative cost, resale value of the cards and blocks, reusability of the block on future cards, any performance differences, ease of maintenance and anything else you might want to share.

well in terms of the pros and cons, really all that i can think of for pros for getting one thats already good to go is that there is no room for error at least when it comes to installing the block.  Water blocks on gpu's are really easy to install in the first place.  I cant really think of any cons to going with either or besides maybe the air one being a better built card maybe.  What i mean by that is like taking the gaming x with a water block already installed where u could get the gaming z which would be a faster card and just slapping a block on it.  Reusibilty, generally the block is made for that specific card unless nvida does the same thing with the 1070ti and 1080 back when where some of the blocks fit both cards but otherwise generally the block is only good for that one and only card.  Hope this helps you at least somewhat

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

@xdeathshot20, thanks for sharing.

 

I'm not too concerned about installing the block or finding a better built card to install the block onto. This is pretty straight forward.

 

I'm more concerned about reuse and resale. With reuse out the window, do you have any experience with selling used water blocks? I'm thinking that in the long run it might not only be easier but also more cost effective to continue to go with cards that have the water block preinstalled because of the better resale value compared with the initial cost.

 

But I'm also concerned that it might be difficult to resell a water block preinstalled card due to the more niche market.

[xdeathshot20]

@HairlessMonkeyBoy Not personally as my current rig is actually my first water cooled rig.  From what i have seen tho cards with blocks on them generally tend to get a additional $50 or so depending on the card but those are usally aftermarket blocks from brands like Ek and alphacool.  Really not too sure on resale value, i would do some research on ebay and whatnot and see what the specific card that you have with the block already on it goes for and then try and find that card again but with someone putting the block on it them selves and that should give you a pretty good understanding on pricing. 

[HM-2]

The biggest challenge with aftermarket blocks is the risk of voiding warranties. Approaches vary from vendor to vendor, but IIRC some including EVGA warranty their cards even with aftermarket coolers as long as they're RMA'd with the original one fitted. As a general rule performance is fairly similar, erring on the "slightly better" side for the aftermarket blocks- but it's more dependent on the specific GPU in question (binning, VRMs) than it is on the cooler.

[Lipe123]

Native Watercooled:

Too expensive.

Only the highest top end models get it.

Only one or two manufacturers release these

 

Buy normal aircooled card:

Save money with a budget card that you can OC to death with water.

Wider range of cards and blocks available.

Your choice of block to fit your style -if you are into that (eg white only pc's etc..)

Feel superior to the normies that buy an AIO solution?

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

8 hours ago, Lipe123 said:

Native Watercooled:

Too expensive.

I'd have to disagree with this statement. I bought my MSI RTX 2080 Sea Hawk EK X for $695, cheaper than most air cooled cards at the time, and then I didn't have to spend another $150 on the water block. However, the Gigabyte and EVGA offerings were a lot more expensive at the time, though. In the mid $800s IIRC.

 

The initial cost is equal or in the favor of cards that come with water blocks preinstalled, which makes sense since you are buying less overall (no extra air cooler lying around).