XSPC Razor Neo GTX 1080 Ti Waterblock Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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XSPC Razor Neo GTX 1080 Ti Waterblock Review

If you are thinking about delving in water cooling your high end NVIDIA GTX 1080 or 1080 Ti video card, the XSPC Razor Neo is certainly worthy of being on your short list. Outside of its incredibly good looks, Frag Harder Disco Lights, and easy install process, does it work well when it comes to overclocking and cooling your GTX 1080 Ti?
 
Great read... makes me look back fondly on my watercooled Tbird (or was it a TBred?) days from ~2001-2003ish. Those are serious gains. Will we be seeing what that translates to in terms of performance? Did I miss a line in the article about that?
 
CombatChrisNC said:
Great read... makes me look back fondly on my watercooled Tbird (or was it a TBred?) days from ~2001-2003ish. Those are serious gains. Will we be seeing what that translates to in terms of performance? Did I miss a line in the article about that?
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Thanks. I wanted to keep this a cooler review and not turn it into a GPU review.

Running some quick canned benchmarks is one way to go but I just do not believe in those. If you check our GPU reviews we overclock those cards and give you plenty of examples of real world gaming and how overclocking helps those out. Here Brent's 1080Ti review and he go that one to 2062MHz on the custom cooler.

I would like to hear more for you guys on this though. This is my first GPU cooler review in quite a while and I would like to know how you think it flows, what should be added, or what should be removed, so please speak up!
 
Dam that shit is beautiful! Makes me wish I had bought an FE card instead of an non-reference :oops: Awesome read & review Kyle, thx!
 
Well you have covered everything - perhaps flow rate is one thing you can add but I doubt it is going to be an issue.
 
Very informative review Kyle!

Quick question about temps, since you decided to place the 1080Ti in it's own loop, what sort of max temps do you think you would see with a 1950X + 1080Ti on the 480, both highly OC'ed? I have a client who is pondering if a 480 would be overkill for his needs or if he should just stick with the 360 he already has.
Because he's getting around 50c @ 25.5c ambient w/ a Swiftech MCR320-XP 360 rad, M12-P Noiseblockers @ 1200rpm, a MCP35X pump, Phanteks Glacier Cpu block and a Heatkiller IV GPU block. 3.9GHz @ 1.4v and 2000MHz.

Also what rpm are the fans running at in your review on the 480? I know your pump is maxed but I don't recall seeing anything about the fan speed on the rad, unless I missed it.

Great review though, I especially like the teardown performed on the GPU, felt like I was at a peepshow minus the sticky floors. :D
 
CAD4466HK said:
Very informative review Kyle!

Quick question about temps, since you decided to place the 1080Ti in it's own loop, what sort of max temps do you think you would see with a 1950X + 1080Ti on the 480, both highly OC'ed? I have a client who is pondering if a 480 would be overkill for his needs or if he should just stick with the 360 he already has.
Because he's getting around 50c @ 25.5c ambient w/ a Swiftech MCR320-XP 360 rad, M12-P Noiseblockers @ 1200rpm, a MCP35X pump, Phanteks Glacier Cpu block and a Heatkiller IV GPU block. 3.9GHz @ 1.4v and 2000MHz.

Also what rpm are the fans running at in your review on the 480? I know your pump is maxed but I don't recall seeing anything about the fan speed on the rad, unless I missed it.

Great review though, I especially like the teardown performed on the GPU, felt like I was at a peepshow minus the sticky floors. :D
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I honestly just don't know. While I still have it plumbed up I should put it in the CPU loop with the Threadripper. Good idea!

We all know that more rad is better, right? This XSPC rad is an effin' beast. It brings a hot TR down to idle temps in less than 1 minute. The biggest problem using this stuff is keeping it heatloaed.

The fans I am using are the stock XSPC 1650RPM fans that come with its kit. Running wide open. Very quiet though.
 
I've been really tempted to replace my AIO CPU cooler and do a CPU/GPU loop, but I don't think this block will work on the Gigabyte Turbo version. I guess I'll be jealous until my next upgrade.
 
Nice review, given the detail put into the look of the blocks and the tempered glass along with the lack of 90 degree ports makes it a great choice for people displaying the card in their windowed case. Seeing all the water cooling reviews is really making me want to get back into doing that stuff again.
 
WATERCOOL-Jakob said:
No Overkill? May I introduce you to the 18x140mm MO-RA3 420 radiator :D?
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That's not overkill. I'm still trying to find a way to fit that into a modded case. C'mon now. I'd go push-pull too with 3000 RPM 38mm Ultra Kaze finger slicers.

Nice review, Kyle. This block makes my EK 1080Ti block look like a good recycling candidate. Or maybe I can melt it down and sell the copper.

Ugh....Too sweet.
 
I do believe that to decide how much value one gain by going water one can look at a few gaming benchmarks.
there are situations where one either Wc or can not use the part properly, like a 4870x2 or a 8700k without delid on a tropical country.- both throttle at stock settings.
However in most scenarios the waterblock cost can only have its value measured with before vs after benchs.
 
Thanks for all the work on this and leading up to it.

Seriously a beautiful thing here and seeing 2101MHZ @ 31c-WOW!. Awesome!
 
Kind of funky how it was creating "whirlpools" of that size in the corners like that. I mean, it still has to be circulating the water correctly to get those kind of temps though, very impressive!
 
The only thing I think this needs is other points of reference. This block does great compared to the stock blower, but any GPU waterblock will. Lets see how it compares to other 1080 Ti blocks.

Peeps will ask for flow restriction and stuff, but the real question is how it does against it's competitors at cooling the card. I wouldn't be against FLIR images under load, but man, that's almost 200 bux for the phone adapter.

For what it's worth, most 10X0 blocks are universal for the particular manufacturer/line. So this data trickles down into the <1080Ti models.
 
I'm impressed at those temps considering you didn't use liquid metal. my EKWB on my 1080 Ti FE performs near identically but i have thermal grizzly conductonaut on my die.

stockoctemps.jpg 2164octemps.jpg

also at these low of temps you can flash the strix xoc bios on a FE to get 1.2v opened up and break that infamous 2100 mhz barrier the 1080 Ti's always have.
 
Full Otto said:
The only thing I think this needs is other points of reference. This block does great compared to the stock blower, but any GPU waterblock will. Lets see how it compares to other 1080 Ti blocks.
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That will happen. Have to review more blocks first.

Full Otto said:
Peeps will ask for flow restriction and stuff, but the real question is how it does against it's competitors at cooling the card. I wouldn't be against FLIR images under load, but man, that's almost 200 bux for the phone adapter.
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Considering this. Need to just bit the bullet and do it.
 
Is it normal for water blocks to have a flow pattern with some many vortexes? I would think it would be inefficient for cooling?
 
What does the manufacturer have to say about the vortexes?

I am no material or hydrodynamics engineer, so I can only guess...
The block is massive enough, with plenty of surface area and water flow to not be hampered by vortexes forming in the block, especially in lesser hot spots.
 
Great review as always Kyle, All i can say is keep 'em coming!

All these WC reviews lately are making me want to step up and roll with the big boys and start assembling a custom loop.

WATERCOOL-Jakob said:
No Overkill? May I introduce you to the 18x140mm MO-RA3 420 radiator :D?
Click to expand...

God damn, at first glance I thought you linked to a slim rad like you see on built Honda's to make room for the monster turbo manifolds :D

What a best, whew. Price is pretty shockingly low too for the amount cooling surface you get.
 
Currently my titan xp runs cooler on air then my cpu on water with both 100% load.
 
Am I missing something? I don't understand how the card is 20° cooler overclocked on fans. Is this because the fans ran slower at stock speeds?
 
1_rick said:
Am I missing something? I don't understand how the card is 20° cooler overclocked on fans. Is this because the fans ran slower at stock speeds?
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All testing scenarios are fully explained on the top of the testing page.
 
In the video you said this card allows for flow in either direction. What I would like to see is if there is any difference in temps or flow restriction putting the flow in "reverse". I am waiting on the black chrome to be available and, if the ports are in the same general spot as my Poseidon, it would be cleaner to run the coolant in that direction. I don't want to put any more strain than I already have to on my pump though.
 
BlakLanner said:
In the video you said this card allows for flow in either direction. What I would like to see is if there is any difference in temps or flow restriction putting the flow in "reverse". I am waiting on the black chrome to be available and, if the ports are in the same general spot as my Poseidon, it would be cleaner to run the coolant in that direction. I don't want to put any more strain than I already have to on my pump though.
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So the "big" difference there is you either cool the VRM before or after the GPU. XSPC was to the comment that it really did not matter since the cooler did such a good overall job anyway. I would simply go with whatever is best for your system.
 
Very well. Given that the channels looked to flow in a particular direction, I just wanted to be sure that it wouldn't add more strain to the pump. Hitting the die or the VRM first should have little effect given how fast the coolant flows.
 
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