Accidentally bought watercooling GPU; need to find air cooling solution to replace it

[Carousels]

I accidentally purchased 2 Zotac GTX 1080s that were already made for installing in existing water cooling loops and I need to uninstall the pre-installed waterblocks on them and install some aftermarket air/hybrid cooling because I don't have a water cooling rig.

Can someone suggest some simple and easy air/hybrid coolers to install? I plan on putting them into SLI (probably going to buy an EVGA bridge).
The card in question is: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500406
My case is the CM HAF912.

Also how would I go about removing the waterblocks and installing the new cooling solution?
Would the process for installing the new cooling solution be like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MepbdKc6m_s

 

[Adamw0611]

Are they still returnable? If you just bought them that would be your best bet, that's really expensive for a 1080 you have to buy additional cooling on top of it.

 

[Carousels]

Are they still returnable? If you just bought them that would be your best bet, that's really expensive for a 1080 you have to buy additional cooling on top of it.

Not returnable, so my only choice is to find an aftermarket cooling solution now :/

 

[burtman88]

Why not just build a custom loop then, they will run amazing with a custom loop. Also with the two 8 pin power connector they will overclock well. 100 dollars for Swiftech mcp35x pump then 30 dollars for reservoir or a nice one for 60. 15 for tubes, radiator 120 mm will work around 90 dollars liquid is around 20 dollars. You cna use any 120 mm fans. There you go a custom loop that will be much better then air.

 

[Carousels]

Why not just build a custom loop then, they will run amazing with a custom loop. Also with the two 8 pin power connector they will overclock well. 100 dollars for Swiftech mcp35x pump then 30 dollars for reservoir or a nice one for 60. 15 for tubes, radiator 120 mm will work around 90 dollars liquid is around 20 dollars. You cna use any 120 mm fans. There you go a custom loop that will be much better then air.

Pretty sure my case is too small to do this and it's kind of more work than I'm willing to do; also I don't play on overclocking so I don't think the temperatures will be too much of an issue if I just use air/hybrid.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

which case is it? what is the radiator support? cuz both swiftech h14X and fractal design celsius s24 r expandable to include GPU cooling.

 

[Carousels]

which case is it? what is the radiator support? cuz both swiftech h14X and fractal design celsius s24 r expandable to include GPU cooling.

CM HAF912

 

[Carousels]

Thinking of buying https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=9SIA4CP2AN8136 for them.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

no need for that g10 kraken. u need a new case for a expandable aio suport and hook them up to ur 2 1080s.

 

[Carousels]

What about using EVGA Hybrid cooling?
These look like they don't take up much space (https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Hybrid-Waterblock-Cooler-400-HY-5188-B1/dp/B01IPVQUSG/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1498906736&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=GPUCooler)

Here's a picture of my mobo with my reference AMD 7950 in it at the moment: https://i.gyazo.com/ecd6e77e3403eb5ecc5719a5631778da.jpg

 

[Lucky_SLS]

those are for reference cards. ur zotac already comes with prebuilt waterblock and g1/4 fittings to connect to a expandable loop. all u need is to connect the fittings with tubing to ur swiftech or celsius cooler. and thats y u need a case compatible with the expandable cooler. dunno abt kraken cooler even though they can connect to the g10 and g12 GPU coolers.

 

[Carousels]

those are for reference cards. ur zotac already comes with prebuilt waterblock and g1/4 fittings to connect to a expandable loop. all u need is to connect the fittings with tubing to ur swiftech or celsius cooler. and thats y u need a case compatible with the expandable cooler. dunno abt kraken cooler even though they can connect to the g10 and g12 GPU coolers.

I was thinking I'd just take the waterblock off; it shouldn't be too difficult, and then after that it's just another GTX1080 reference card right?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

its not as simple as that sounds. the waterblock is integrated with the GPU to hold all the circuitory.