[SOLVED] Help cooling a GIGABYTE AORUS Xtreme GeForce 1080 Ti Waterforce (Beginner)

[wes_actual]

Complete and total novice here so forgive my supreme ignorance. Trying to surprise my son with a PC build. I recently purchased a used (still under warranty) GIGABYTE AORUS Xtreme GeForce 1080 Ti Waterforce GV-N108TAORUSX WB-11GD thinking that it came with the liquid cooling apparatus. My model is the waterblock version, so it is just the card by itself.

What are my best (cheapest) options to cool this card if I don't have custom cooling built into the case? Can the card be air cooled if he's not putting a heavy load on it? Thanks in advance!

 

[The prime mediocre]

Unfortunately, you definitely cannot run the card as-is without attaching it to a liquid cooling loop. Can you still return it? It's possible that the seller will understand. A cursory eBay search shows me how easily the mistake could be made.

If you're stuck with that GPU, you have a few options:
1. Completely remove the water block and back plate, and replace the cooler with an air cooler like the Raijintek Morpheus (the most popular and readily available option) for about $75 or the Arctic Accelero Xtreme for about $60. This will void the warranty.

2. Completely remove the water block and back plate, and replace the cooler with an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler using an adapter. The NZXT G12 ($30) is the only adapter option I know of. You'll have to also buy an AIO liquid cooler for about $60. The end result will be similar to what you expected from this purchase. Obviously, this will also void the warranty.

3. Build a custom loop around the GPU. It'll be expensive enough that you're better off adding a CPU block (etc.) and running a full liquid loop. This could actually be a fun project! Though it depends on how much time you have.

Unless you got an excellent deal (less than $450) the best option would be to resell it. It should fetch $500-550, which is enough to get an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super brand new. That card is only negligibly slower than the 1080 Ti, and about two and a half years newer.

Hope this helps.

 

[wes_actual]

Unfortunately, you definitely cannot run the card as-is without attaching it to a liquid cooling loop. Can you still return it? It's possible that the seller will understand. A cursory eBay search shows me how easily the mistake could be made.

If you're stuck with that GPU, you have a few options:
1. Completely remove the water block and back plate, and replace the cooler with an air cooler like the Raijintek Morpheus (the most popular and readily available option) for about $75 or the Arctic Accelero Xtreme for about $60. This will void the warranty.

2. Completely remove the water block and back plate, and replace the cooler with an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler using an adapter. The NZXT G12 ($30) is the only adapter option I know of. You'll have to also buy an AIO liquid cooler for about $60. The end result will be similar to what you expected from this purchase. Obviously, this will also void the warranty.

3. Build a custom loop around the GPU. It'll be expensive enough that you're better off adding a CPU block (etc.) and running a full liquid loop. This could actually be a fun project! Though it depends on how much time you have.

Unless you got an excellent deal (less than $450) the best option would be to resell it. It should fetch $500-550, which is enough to get an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super brand new. That card is only negligibly slower than the 1080 Ti, and about two and a half years newer.

Hope this helps.

Great notes! Thank you so much! Leaning towards the Arctic Accelero Xtreme solution, although someone did mention to me that it might be possible to remove the waterblock and use a traditional liquid CPU cooler. According to Arctic: "Without any thermal glue the graphics card can be returned to its original condition any time without leaving marks or residues." I don't feel great about removing the waterblock, especially if it can't be easily put back together to honor the warranty if necessary.

Again, you're chatting with a guy who buys his gaming rigs off the shelf, aware that I am overpaying, lol. So my expertise is limited to upgrading memory every couple of years. Thanks again!

 

[wes_actual]

UPDATE: So, this is the problem that I am running into. The HDMI housing is preventing the Card from full assembly with the Arctic Accelero Xtreme. Curious if I will have the same problem with the Raijintek Morpheus. Pics-

 

[wes_actual]

This has been resolved/ solved: The waterblock has been removed and an NZXT G12 Kraken has been added with a Thermaltake Water 3.0 120 AIO Cooler.