2 / CHECK COMPATIBILITY
Once you know the precise model, use the compatibility charts
of waterblock manufacturers such as EKWB, Alphacool and
Thermaltake, to check which water blocks are designed to fit your
exact card.MODDING / HOW TO GUIDES
Wa t e r- coo l
AMD Navi cards
How to
3 / CHOOSE WATERBLOCK
There’s usually a range of waterblocks available to suit different
tastes, and you’ll want to match your block’s aesthetics with the rest
of your system. There are both transparent and closed versions of
EKWB’s Radeon RX 5700-series waterblocks, so decide which style
best suits your system.W
hile AMD’s Navi-based graphics cards cost under £400, it’s
still perfectly reasonable to want to water-cool them. In fact, if
you bought one with a stock cooler, it’s a good idea, as these
coolers make a horrible racket when the GPU is running at full load.
Thankfully, EKWB has released several full-cover waterblock options for
the Radeon RX 5700 XT and RX 5700.
There are plenty of hotspots on AMD’s new 7nm GPUs, and
waterblock installation can be fiddlier in some places than on Nvidia’s
RTX cards. In this guide we’ll show you how to fit the EK-Vector Radeon
RX 5700 XT D-RGB Special Edition waterblock, as well as the backplate
that’s included with it. However, the backplate is also available separately
if you opt for a less fancy waterblock instead.Antony Leather shows you
how to banish the blower, and
fit a waterblock to one of AMD’s
new Navi cards
TOTAL PROJECT TIME / 1 HOURS
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
1 / IDENTIFY GRAPHICS CARD
As with all graphics cards, make sure you buy the right waterblock
for it. Small changes to the PCB layout can mean the block will fit one
card, but not another similar model. Reference cards are often the
best option if you intend to water-cool them, but you can usually buy
blocks for third-party models too. Identify your exact model.Precision Philips
screwdrivers
Most hardware storesThermal paste cleaner
overclockers.co.ukGPU waterblock
and backplate
overclockers.co.uk