Best Water Cooled Graphics Cards Open Loop
There are many water cooled graphics cards that come with all the attachments needed so you can attach your own water cooling system to it. This is great as you won’t need to take apart your fan graphics card and attach a water cooling block to it.
All these graphics cards require you to have your own water cooling system with pump, reservoir, radiator, tubing, fans, etc. These cards are great to make a very custom unique PC build. Not only do these cards have great customization, but they have great temperatures and can be very silent. However, this can be dependent on your water cooling system. In this article we will list some of the Best Water Cooled Graphics Cards Open Loop.
Check our guide on the Best Water Cooled Graphics Cards Closed Loop if you don’t plan on having a full water cooling setup.
If you want to know the difference between closed and open loop check this article here.
Table of Contents
Best high end water cooled graphics cards
Here we will list some of the higher end models – ideal for enthusiasts.
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Hydro Copper Gaming 11GB GDDR6 – one of the Best Water Cooled Graphics Cards Open Loop
First on this list, is one of the best graphics cards in terms of performance. EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Hydro Copper Gaming 11GB GDDR6 is like any other RTX 2080 Ti but with higher clock speeds. However, this card features the Ultra Hydro Copper Gaming cooling block which allows for cool temperatures even when under load.
Like all RTX 2080 Tis it features Nvidia Turing with real time ray tracing as well as AI. There is an all metal back plate pre-installed that will support the card for strength.
EVGA’s Precision X1 software gives you complete control over temperatures, voltage, fan speed in addition to wattage monitoring. This card features adjustable RGB LEDs. For I/O it has Display Port 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, USB Type C and also HDCP 2.2.
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| EVGA Precision X1 | Expensive |
| RGB Lighting | High Power |
| USB-C | |
| Copper cooling block | |
| 11GB GDDR6 Memory |
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER WATERFORCE WB 8G
Next we have the Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER WATERFORCE WB 8G. This card is very good at playing games in 4k at high settings. It is not as good as the RTX 2080 Ti but for the price it is a great option as it has great performance. It has an increased clock speed of 1860 MHz base clock. This card is powered by Nvidia Turing and so has real time ray tracing and AI. Not only does it have the latest Nvidia Architecture but it also features the Gigabyte Waterforce water block. This will ensure that your graphics card will stay cool even when at load.
Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion 2.0 is included in this graphics card which makes it great for a custom build with a water cooling setup. You can further customize your graphics card with Gigabyte’s Aorus Engine utility which allows you to customize fan speed, lighting, temps as well as lots more.
There are 7 display outputs including: Display port 1.4, HDMI 2.0b and USB-C.
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| Great performance | Can be expensive |
| RGB Fusion 2.0 | High power |
| Gigabyte Aorus engine utility | |
| Lots of I/O |
ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm 11GB GDDR6 – one of the Best Water Cooled Graphics Cards Open Loop
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm 11GB GDDR6 is similar to the EVGA RTX 2080 Ti. It however, has a different kind of water block and RGB lighting. Zotac’s RTX 2080 Ti features the ArticStorm water block pre-installed. This allows for great temperatures even at load. This is achieved by the full board coverage with direct copper contact between 0.3mm micro-channels to maximize thermal performance. Like all the cards in the RTX series, this card features Nvidia Turing with real time ray tracing and AI. Spectra 2.0 is used for the RGB lighting. This allows you to use pre-programmed light sequences and adjust colors along the RGB lighting.
Use Zotac’s firestorm utility to customize colors, clock speeds, temperatures, fan speeds in addition to lots more. There are a variety of ports including: Display Port 1.4, HDMI 2.0b and USB-C.
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| RGB Spectra 2.0 | Expensive |
| Firestorm Utility | High Power |
| Great performance | |
| Lots Of I/O | |
| Turing Architecture |
Best Mid Range water cooled graphics cards
Here we will list some of the mid range more affordable graphics cards. These are still quite high end because most mid range graphics cards are not manufactured with a water block variant.
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Waterforce WB Xtreme Edition 11G
The Gigabyte AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Waterforce WB Xtreme Edition 11G is an older card but still performs amazingly. This isnt suprising as it isnt a cheap card and was probably the best card you could get from the previous generation Pascal cards. This card features Waterforce water block cooling with advanced copper back plate cooling. This gives great cooling when under load.
Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion 2.0 is included in this graphics card which makes it great for a custom build with a water cooling setup. You can further customize your graphics card with Gigabyte’s Aorus Engine utility which allows you to customize fan speed, lighting, temps as well as lots more.
There are lots of display outputs including: Display port 1.4, HDMI 2.0b and USB-C. Aorus VR Link means there are extra video ports so you won’t have to switch cables between monitors and your VR Headset.
Being last generation’s card means that this graphics card may not be as future proof as the RTX Variants. Furthermore, it does not feature real time ray tracing or AI.
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| Great performance still | High power |
| RGB Lighting | Can be expensive |
| Aorus Engine utility | No ray tracing (Pascal Card) |
| good I/O with VR Link | No AI (Pascal card) |
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 ArcticStorm 8GB GDDR5X
This ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 ArcticStorm 8GB GDDR5X has good performance in gaming. Whilst it won’t perform as good as any of the cards above, it still will have amazing performance and can be obtained at a good price sometimes. This GTX 1080 features an ArticStorm cooler block with a metal wraparound back plate. This will allow for good cooling and strength throughout the card. Zotac’s Spectra RGB system is included on this card which allows for lighting with 8 brightness values. This lighting in addition to lots of other options can be customized from Zotac’s FireStorm utility.
Since this card is from the previous generation, there is no real time ray tracing or AI. Thus, it may not be the best option if you want some future proofing.
There is Dual Link DVI, HDMI 2.0b as well as Display Port 1.4 included as video outputs.
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| Good performance | med-high power |
| RGB Lighting (Spectra) | No AI or real time ray tracing |
| Firestorm Utility | |
| Good cooling | |
| Can be gotten for cheap |
Conclusion
There are many great graphics cards to use for your water cooling setup. These cards are great if you don’t want to have to install your own water block on a graphics card. You have to remember that you need a water cooling setup with: pumps, reservoirs, radiators, fans, as well as tubing and attachments.
Most of the cards are quite expensive due to the fact that they are high end cards. This is due to the fact that most people with these water cooling setups are enthusiasts so will have money for better graphics cards. All graphics cards on this list will perform great but the Turing RTX cards are better in our opinion since they have more feature proofing. Be sure to check our graphics card buyers guides.
