Five versions, all with a central inlet split-flow engine

Sep 19, 2014 10:45 GMT  ·  By

EK has been making a name for itself quite successfully over the past two years, to the point where some of the biggest gaming PC and PC hardware makers offer it as a premium choice alongside their products. Thus, it's no surprise that the company already has something ready for NVIDIA's newest video boards.

For those of you who haven't had the chance to learn about it yet, NVIDIA has finally launched the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards, powered by the Maxwell graphics processing unit architecture.

EK doesn't have a cooler for the latter (yet), but it wasn't about to let the former's launch happen without some way to take advantage of it.

After all, with the GeForce GTX 780 (Ti) and GTX 770 being pulled out of the market, the GTX 980 is bound to sell quite well during what's left of the year.

The EK-FC980 GTX water block

This cooling module is only compatible with reference designs of the GeForce GTX 980, so make sure your product qualifies before you consider buying it.

From what we can gather, NVIDIA didn't impose the regular restrictions on the new device. Which is to say, its partners don't have to wait for a month before being allowed to launch custom-modified versions of Maxwell.

Anyway, the newcomer boasts a central inlet split-flow cooling engine, which allows for good cooling all around.

The water block also comes into contact with not just the GPU, but also the voltage regulation module (VRM) and the memory (RAM) chips. Very good news for overclocking.

The base of the cooler is built out of bare or nickel-plated electrolytic copper, while the top is made of POM Acetal or acrylic material. The transparent ones have pre-drilled slots where you can install 3mm LED diodes too, for color.

Pre-installed screw-in brass standoffs make installation easy and let you even continue using the NVIDIA backplate that NVIDIA included with its new video board.

Availability

Pre-orders of the EK-FC980 GTX are already possible on EK Webshop for the price of €99.95 / $99.95 - $129.16 to €109.95 / $109.95 - $142.12. If you do want to replace NVIDIA's backplate, you can get an EK one for €29.95 / $29.95 - 38.72 (black) or €37.95 / $37.95 - $48.96 (nickel).

All water blocks are manufactured in Slovenia, Europe, so the prices in other parts of the world will probably be closer to the exchange rates than the sum of Euro, due to shipping/importing taxes.

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EK-FC980 GTX (4 Images)

EK-FC980 GTX water block plexi top, copper base
EK-FC980 GTX water block installedEK-FC980 GTX water block nickel back
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