I have got all my fittings, the res, a vertical GPU mount from cable mod. Pretty much all my bits and bobs. But there is one thing missing, the graphics card. Like everyone I know acquiring one of these has been extremely difficult. I've even spoken to people I know who work at e-tailers and they're getting literally 30 cards at a time on some days. Pretty crap.
So anyway I decided to get in the queue and I've pre-ordered an RTX 3090 Strix OC from Overclockers. I have no idea when it'll arrive but it is what it is. Here is the one I purchased: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-gef ... 4j-as.html
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/UMLaW7O.png)
I chose this card for a few reasons. Firstly it is an RTX 3090 and I was on the fence about getting a 3080 or a 3090 but I decided to just get the more powerful card because I simply wanted it.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
This 3090 differs from the founders edition in that it has a 480 Watt power limit instead of 350 watts. This allows the card to be 19% faster than the RTX 3080 instead of only 9% faster like the founders edition. This is without overclocking it's just the GPU is constrained by that power budget and giving it more energy lets it boost higher and for longer. This card also has a 200MHz overclock from the factory (it's a binned chip) over the Founders Edition. Which is quite significant.
Finally this card uses three 8-pin power connectors instead of two or that new-fangled 12-pin connector NVIDIA put on their cards. I think this will look really nice in my build, my current card uses an 8-pin and a 6-pin by comparison.
This card does have available a waterblock from EK which I still need to purchase, I'll probably wait until I actually have the card in my possession to order this as there may be other blocks from other watercooling companies I like the look of more by then.
So the build is coming along nicely. I think I will buy a new CPU waterblock. As much as I like the one I have now it won't look that great with pastal coolant which I'm using this time around. So I'm going to instead go with probably a Phanteks waterblock like this one:
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/2M6Okps.png)
As I think the really large "viewing" window for the fluid will look nice. Obviously I'll get the black version that is intended for Socket 2066, this is an image of the AM4 version I believe.
I also purchased an EK leak tester:
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/qUDqimp.png)
Which lets you fill your loop with compressed air (0.65 bar or so) so you can be certain if your build has a leak or not before you fill it with any coolant. In the past I've always used wet testing which takes hours and if there's a leak it can be quite annoying. So £30 investment for peace of mind, quite worth it. I already received this and it feels quite nice being made out of a solid block of brass.
Once the GPU arrives I'll run it on air for a week or so to make sure it's working properly before I install any waterblock on it, something you should always do and I've always done as GPU blocks are quite an involved thing to install on your card taking care and time.
So that's the update hopefully next one will be with the GPU in my hands!