Despite being years old, I was able to find an EKWB block for the 2080ti that was still NIB! The thermal pads were a bit crunchy and dry, but some TG Thermal Putty set it right.
Since the original build used an AIO, I never realized the motherboard had integrated watercooling for the VRMs from EKWB. So this was my first chance to add that to the loop.
Tiny reservoir was a pain to fill.
Obligatory unicorn vomit
Not great but not bad cable management?
Starting to come together finally.
Testing out different tube configurations.
Scrap Parts Build
After building my other water cooled rig, I had a ton of left over tubing, fittings, and a few other components that didn't work with what I was trying to achieve with that build. My new rig was to replace an old PC I had built back in 2017. Despite still running strong, I needed something beefier for video editing so I built that other system from the ground up.
Rather than toss out or scrap my old PC, my stepson asked if he could have a few of the components since they were upgrades compared to his PC. Instead of parting out the components, I just converted it to another water cooled rig and gave it to him as a late birthday present.
The only components I had to buy were the EKWB block for the 2080ti and the Alphacool 120mm reservoir. Everything else was leftover water cooling parts and spare hardware from the PC I was replacing. Building this thing was far more frustrating than my first system as this PC was originally built back in 2017 and the case was clearly not designed around water cooling like so many cases are today.