Consider adding a distro plate to your next build?
LOOK NO FURTHER
If you're looking for a simple yet elegant way of finishing off your next build, look no further than our Distro Plates.
The distro is easy to install, and looks amazing. My only complaint is that there is no port for an inline temperature sensor. Also, I chose the option with the included DDC pump. The pump is trash! Very noisy. Had to replace it with EKWB pump which is completely silent. A D5 pump verssion would be great.
I've been using this reservoir for approaching 3 years now, and it's been fantastic. Very unique look and the aRGB integrates easily with your system. People always recommend D5 pumps over DDC because DDC's are louder and aren't cooled by the water flowing through, but this pump has been very quiet and it's been running flawlessly with Bykski's big "Armor" heatsink. I definitely recommend mounting it by a radiator, though, so heatsink does get some airflow. Haven't had any issues pushing plenty of flow through a chonky 420 and a 280 rad with a cpu & gpu block. And it's PWM so I can control it through my Aquacomputer controller, which is another plus since a lot of D5's aren't PWM.
Only negative I'd say is that the bottom port is listed as an inlet, but that's a little finnicky. Trying to fill up the loop in that configuration ends up starving the pump and it makes unhappy noises, so I just switched to the upper side inlet instead. Really that might demerit half a star, but since you can't do half-stars on here I'll leave it at 5 stars, since it's been excellent otherwise.
I ordered a part and got it. Great Job.
The water block has a fantastic look if you can figure out how to assemble it around your video card. It comes with lots of extra screws. Most of which look like are not needed. The one important item is missing is an assembly guide. There was none in the box.
An assembly instruction diagram is shown in the product image gallery, although the proper locations for the thermal pads may not be totally clear. They should be applied to the mosfets and VRAM on the card. The GPU core should have thermal paste applied to it. Pre-spreading the paste to ensure full coverage of the die is recommended, as any part of the die not having thermal paste spread onto it could result in damage to it. The screws and washers should be used as shown in the diagram.
GPU runs 20 degrees C cooler than with original fans, and the RGB looks good. (GPU mounted vertically with riser.) My only issue is with Corsair, not Bykski. It took two sets of adapter cables to get the RGB to the Corsair Core Commander. It would be great if Bykski would make a Corsair specific cable available.