Graphics cards with liquid cooling

Liquid (water block)

— video cards designed for connection to external liquid cooling systems (LCS).

In the graphics card itself, the key element of such a system is the water block — a special part made of heat-conducting material that fits snugly to the cooled components of the board. With the help of hoses, such a part is connected to an external coolant radiator (this radiator can be supplemented with a fan for additional efficiency). Thus, during the operation of the system, water (or other coolant) passes through the water block and takes away excess heat from it, then enters the external radiator, where it is cooled, and again moves to the water block. A special pump is responsible for the circulation of the coolant.

The key advantage of such cooling is extremely high efficiency — it is enough even for the most powerful and performant modern video cards. On the other hand, LSS are quite bulky and difficult to install. In addition, only the built-in water block is usually included in the delivery package of video cards from this category; other components of the cooling system must be purchased separately. At the same time, special attention should be paid to compatibility — so that the efficiency of the LSS is sufficient for the selected model. Thus, water blocks nowadays are found mainly among individual advanced solutions, for which more traditional active cooling (see the relevant paragraph) is no longer enough.