AquaComputer Kryographics for GTX 980 Review – AquaComputer’s GTX 980 Water Block & Active Backplate

Now let’s take a look at the “full” backplate – this comes in two versions – ‘active’ and ‘passive’:

The backplate itself is the same in both cases however the ‘active’ version comes with a heatpipe to be mounted to the backplate that enables coolant to cool the backplate further.

More instructions, thermal pads and mounting hardware are all included in the package.  It should be noted that we were one screw short.

The backplate is nice and chunky – probably the thickest piece of Aluminum we’ve seen for a backplate.  It feels nice and cold to the touch too which you’d hope for from a heatsink.

The underside has milled channels to give clearance for components and screws.

A replacement bridge is included that mounts the heatpipe.  As you can see the heatpipe is exposed in two small sections within this bridge.  It is very desirable then to use the two ports on the heatpipe side so that coolant passes over these sections of pipe.  Being restricted by this to use only 2/4 ports on the bridge may also make your life a little more difficult.

To fit the heatpipe first the block and backplate must be attached to the card.  The the bridge can be swapped out for the one with the heatpipe.  TIM (not supplied) must be used to thermally connect the heatpipe to the backplate.  It is then held in place with a plate:

Aesthetically it looks pretty good.  However we would have liked to have seen the backplate screws blend in better by using black versions:

Lastly although the backplate is mostly thinner than the included “mini” backplate that comes with the block it is still quite thick itself.  Again compatibility is an issue:
Here the backplate clashes with the DIMM slots on a Rampage IV Extreme motherboard.  At 6.15mm thick (including standoffs, but not including the heatpipe and clamp) then the backplate is a problem.  Other motherboards may also clash around the heatpipe:

Now let’s take the block apart…