How to Water-cool your GPU
Intro
Water-cooling is one of the best methods for cooling down your electronics, and has about 4 times the cooling power as regular air cooling. Water-cooling has been out for a while now, however it used to be only for CPU’s and you would have to build a custom system for GPU’s. Times have changed now that you can water-cool a GPU with a couple parts, keep reading to learn what you need and how to do it.
What Do I Need?
To water-cool your GPU you will need the following parts.
- Kraken G10 kit (Click Here to Purchase
)
- Kraken X40 Water-Cooler (Click Here to Purchase
)
- Your Supported GPU
- A screwdriver set.
Steps to Water-Cool your GPU
- The first step to water-cool your GPU is to remove the stock cooler from your current GPU. Remove the board screws (Pictured in Yellow Circles below) and the heatsink holder screws (Pictured in green circles below).
(NOTE: This may void your warranty, if you are not positive you are capable of installing the cooler do not attempt. SteamOctane, The Author, or any affiliate of this website cannot and will not be held for any damages arising from your use of this tutorial, this site, or anything related to this website. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

- Remove the Screws holding the cooler to the riser if applicable. (See image Below).

- Gently pull the board off of the stock cooler, taking care not to bend the board too far. The board may be held together with double sided sticky pads, so you may feel some resistance. If you board is hanging up somewhere and is starting to bend, double check that you have completely removed all screws from the board.
- Once you have removed the board, place the board on a non static surface such as a wood kitchen table or the anti static bag the device came with. We also recommend that you screw back in all the screws into the stock cooler so you can keep track of them if you ever need to return to stock.
- The next step to water-cool your GPU is to clean off the thermal paste that came with your stock cooler. We recommend you use a high quality dry paper towel for this step. Use your finger to put very light pressure between the paper towel and the GPU chip. Start from the middle and go in a outward circle motion until you have completely cleaned the surface. You do not need to worry bout the excess around the chip, you only need the top surface to be clean.
- The next step is to thread the long screws into the Kraken G10 backplate. Refer to the manual for the ABC placement.

- Secure the screws to the backplate by using the included bolts, tightening by hand. Make sure the screws are still in the correct ABC slot as specified in the manual.
- The Next step to Water-cool your GPU is to place the GPU on the G10 backplate. Align the holes circled below in red with the screws sticking out of the backplate which you secured in the previous step. carefully lower the GPU onto the screws taking care not to scrape the screws against the board. Note: If they do not align properly check that you have the screws in the correct section by using the guide on G10′s manual.

- Now, we need to install the included fan onto G10 Bracket. The fan will be used to blow air on your VRAM, so it is recommended that you place the fan so it will blow air on your VRAM. Use the 4 provided fan screws to secure the fan to the bracket in the locations circled in red below.

- Your cooler should have come with thermal paste pre applied. If not apply some now. Next we need to attach the Watercolor to the Kraken G10 bracket. To do this you will need to fit the cooler into the socket on the G10 Bracket, then twist so the cooler gets held down by the teeth on the bracket. Remain holding the cooler to the bracket.

- Next you will lower the cooler and the bracket onto the screws from the backplate. screws should fit in the brackets pre drilled holes leaving the threads visible. If the screws are not long enough contact NZXT support so they can ship you longer ones. You will want to make sure the NZXT logo on the G10 is facing the opposite direction of the PCI-E pins. In other words the NZXT logo should be facing your case and not the motherboard.

- Secure the cooler to the board by using the 4 include hand nuts. Hand Secure the nuts one at a time in an X pattern. For example you would tighten the lower left first, then the upper right second. Make sure your cooler and board have no wiggle room.
- The next step is to install the card into your motherboard and case. Remove the expansion risers near the PCI-E slot you will be installing the GPU into. Lower the card into the slot while holding the radiator in your other hand. Gently push the card into the riser until it is secure.
- Screw in the GPU to the riser rack using the thumb screws you took off when you removed the risers.
- Next locate a suitable area you would like your radiator and fan to be plugged into. Keep in mind your 2 hose lines have to be able to reach that point, and get an idea of how you want to position the hoses. You may also remove an existing fan to place the radiator in.
- Follow the instructions included with your cooler on how to install the radiator and fan into your case. Note: For best cooling the fan should be blowing through the radiator.
Congratulations! You have just Water-cooled your GPU. Let us know if the guide helped you in the comment section below.

121bBz43dGhttkyiipEgN71QHHYYMDh8bQ
LEAVE A COMMENT