Aqua Computer aquagraFX Water Block for GeForce GTX 480 Video Cards

Installing the aquagraFX water block

The aquagraFX comes with all that is needed to mount it to your GTX480: thermal tape, strips of foam, screws, spacers, and port plugs. There are three different lengths of screws and some places get two spacers and some get none. This is where reading the instructions really helps.

The instructions are very easy to follow and the pictures are in color and very clear.

If you are more of a visual learner Aqua Computer has a video they have made to help you with the process.

I used an old box I had to rest everything on while I worked. I would suggest a very sturdy box because to get a couple of the screws started over the foam spacers you have to put a bit of pressure on the backing plate to collapse the foam enough to get the screws started. Once you have two in the rest start easy.

Here we have the end result: sharp looking.

With everything together I looked the assembly over and noticed one corner of the card was kicked up a smidgen.

Looking closer the standoff was not seated all the way on the main body of the block.

I took everything apart and tried to tighten the standoff. I got just over a 1/8 of a turn and it snapped off. Luckily, this was not one of the standoffs around the GPU core. This one in particular was at the top of the card. The wall of the standoff between the inner and outer threads is quite thin. This is where having the standoffs machined as part of the main body is nice.

To test the card I decided to use a small plastic clamp I had to simulate the screw in that area. I didnt want to risk messing the block up prior to attempting to remove the broken standoff.

Here is a quick video by Aqua Computers that shows the block installation all on video: