A Vietnamese modder has carried out some first-rate modding on an ASUS ROG RTX 5080/5090 Astral graphics card. While preserving the card’s original design as far as possible, he has integrated a complete custom watercooling system into the card’s casing. This integrates two reservoirs, a pump, etc., without the need for a loop connection. A kind of 100% independent watercooling!
RTX 5080/5090 Astral: independent watercooling integrated into the card!
Quite often, when a graphics card is underwater, the original heatsink is dismantled and a waterblock installed in its place. While this greatly improves cooling performance, the result is a card without much personality, with a copper block, sometimes stylized, mounted on top. However, the aim of Modding Cafe’s work is to preserve the features and personality of the original board.
That’s why he removes all the original aluminum/copper structure and integrates a complete, customized circuit. The latter is built around a pump and a double reservoir, while a copper base takes care of cooling the GPU, memory and power supply stages. Of course, each of these elements can be admired through the fan slots. In place of the central fan, the modder has integrated a temperature indicator.
With this installation, we have a 100% independent integration that doesn’t need to be connected to any radiator, which can quickly become cumbersome. On the other hand, we’re curious to see how this model behaves thermally, since the board embeds a limited quantity of liquid, which should restrict its inertia.
In the meantime, Modding Cafe has done a hell of a job, and the finishes seem beyond reproach, while the card retains its ROG spirit.