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Tl;dr at bottom
My story: In an attempt to liquid cool my Titan X Maxwell that fell outside the original EVGA offering ([...]) of a year ago that was much like the one listed here, I looked into a couple different options seeing as this one here is for the 1080/1070's.
My first was with the Corsair Hydro Series HG10 N980 Edition Bracket. The bracket was a second generation from Corsair, their previous one having been a fairly decent success. The N980 however was rife with problems from launch, information easily ascertained if you read any forums or google problems. Regardless, I gave it a shot. Attaching the card to the board was not too difficult, and even though this version of the bracket was already improved over the original release that had so many problems, it still bowed the card, much to my displeasure. It is clearly state to only tighen the screws that connect the board to the bracket until the head touches the board, more or less. I attached my H60 I bought to go along with this bracket, also leaving the stock thermal paste on the H60 instead of wiping off and using new. I installed the card in my case and the fan spun up to max speed instantly on the radiator and in a panic I power off the computer at the PSU switch. Taking the card out and removing the H60, I could see 1/3 of the die was never in contact with the cooling head. Looking online it turns out it takes large amounts of time to tweak and get the screws just right, both the screws from the board to the bracket, as well as the ones from the waterblock to the bracket. Fast forward four days of "tweaking", "swearing", and a little bit of "crying", I applied my own thermal paste, got the screws just right, and realized that the card sagged in the case causing less die contact from the waterblock, which required propping it up with a 5 gallon bucket sized wooden paint stir stick which droppe temps significantly. But, I had my GPU successfully liquid cooled. Idle temps with monitors (2 1080p, 1 4k) just coming on were between 25 and 27c. Load temps were 57 running Unengine Valley at 4k on ultra, no AA for 4 hours.
Jump ahead 2 weeks and all of a sudden my idle temps were 38 with monitors just turning on. At this point I was disappointed and wanted to try something else I had been looking at for a week in case this didn't hold, like it was now looking like it wouldn't.
So I ordered the ARCTIC Accelero Hybrid II-120 Water Cooler with the RAM cooler for the 980ti. The downside is, while the cooler head fits, the RAM heatsink doesn't cover all the RAM. But, I liked that it didn't require a bracket. Installation was easier as I didn't have to fiddle for four days, but the reviews of the unit itself are not wrong, a third arm would be nice.
My idle temps did not impress me much as they were in the mid to high 30's. I ran Unengine Valley and after 20 minutes I hit 72 degrees and it was still climbing. I was losing hope. I played StarCraft II with a friend for a couple hours a day later and that was getting into the 50's, and if you don't know, it is not a demanding game.
Finally I decided to look closer at this product, the EVGA 1080/1070 WaterBlock Cooler. I loved the aesthetics right out of the box (no pun intended) because it covers the board like a stock air cooler. I wasn't exactly fond of seeing my card as just the green board with some attachments. It felt dirty. However, I was willing to sacrifice for cooler temps since I wanted to overclock.
Regardless, I researched and saw someone ask on this page if it would fit a Titan X Maxwell. A 980ti user commented and said it should work as his 980ti fit and so if it was a reference board it would be fine. My Titan X Maxwell is directly from Nvidia so I figured, let's give it a shot. I ordered it, did one day shipping and eagerly awaited my chance to install it. Friends decided to pop over that afternoon after I got home from work so I was delayed. After they left around 6pm I removed my card from my desktop and began tearing it down again to is blank form. As I went to place the metal bracket on the card I immediately was met with a roadblock. The basic 1080 and the 1070 only require 1 8 pin power connection, and the bracket has this in mind. There is an opening for a single 8 pin and that is all. Initially I was saddened. Then I thought for a second. There are no vitals or anything on the bracket at this location, so I took my dremel and removed a small piece of the bracket to allow it the room it needed for the extra 6 pin. (FYI, remove the RAM thermal pads when you do this so you don't get metal filings on them. Learn from my mistake). ***Be aware, this will most likely void warranty of this unit, not the GPU.*** I also recommend using your previous thermal pads from your air cooling setup and place them where they should be. I pressed the bracket into place over the card and began to screw it down. Nothing could have gone any more perfect. Next I attached the waterblock itself. You've no idea how nice it is to be able to screw the block onto the card until the screws are tight. Both my previous attempts to water cool as listed above never really allowed going all the way down, so there was ambiguity with how tight to make each screw. This bracket and system in and of itself is "screw it until the screw stops". For the record, none of the screws are very long or screw in very far before you have to stop just because it cannot go any farther. So screw until snug and love that it is that simple. The only true "trial" of this install came when attaching the the plastic cover over everything. The waterblock plugs into the card with a small extension and another plug coming off of that, that the RAM heatsink fan then plugs into. Long story short, it takes some finagling to get the cord not to interfere with the RAM heatsink fan. Also, the plastic cover also connects to the other connector on the board to generate it's green light behind the GeForce Logo. However, once placed, I ran in the necessary screws and was ready to go. Overall, even with the need for dremeling, it was maybe an hour's worth of (worthwhile) work.
I installed the card, powered it on and the water cooled Titan X gurgled to life. I immediately opened Corsairs software that I installed after installing my h100 sometime ago and checked temperature. Low 30's Was hoping for better, but at least I knew I had decent contact with the GPU die. Suspecting I could improve that if I redid the thermal paste as I just used the stock amount it came with. Regardless, I spun up Unengine Valley, this time with the intent to beat that card with everything I could. After 2 hours of running at 4k, 8x aa, on ultra, 51c was the highest temperature I read. Yesterday 4 hours of heavily graphically modded skyrim only brought it up to 40c I haven't done much testing in total, but given I am running OC of 1300 core with a 3500 mem, those are impressive numbers, at least to me. That is also a flashed BIOS, not an overclocking tool. For now, I am extremely happy with this product. I may later on try new thermal paste, and maybe even a slightly higher OC as there is another BIOS offered to Titan X Maxwell owners over at overclock.net that brings it to almost 1400 core.
Tl;dr: I tried a couple different liquid coolers for aftermarket cooling and this has been by far the best one with no question. EVGA knows what they are doing. Fantastic job guys. This does work for the Titan X Maxwell so long as it is reference, however, please be aware that you WILL NEED to modify the metal housing the card attaches to. This likely voids warranty so just be prepared if you have issues.
| Brand | EVGA |
|---|---|
| Item model number | 400-HY-5698-B1 |
| Item Weight | 3 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 13.5 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 13.5 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches |
| Manufacturer | EVGA |
| ASIN | B07662S6GL |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | October 4, 2017 |
