Bykski Full Coverage GPU Water Block and Backplate For ASRock Radeon RX 7900 XTX Taichi (A-AR7900XTX-X)

being new to water cooling and already having a premier graphics card with the ASRock 7900 XTX Taichi wasn’t upgrading anytime soon but manufacturers have moved on so Bykski was the only choice….definitely doesn’t disappoint very well made fit my card exactly as it should they give you all necessary hardware to complete the transformation to full water cooling.

I was so ready to love this Bykski block for my 7900XTX Taichi. Solid machining, great aesthetics, and it looked like a good value—until I got to the mounting hardware. Let me be clear: the screws included are a complete joke.

If you’re using even a single layer of thermal pads—let alone high-quality, non-compressible ones like Thermal Grizzly Minus Pad Pro—you’re out of luck. The provided screws assume a completely bare PCB with zero padding. No wiggle room, no headroom, no common sense.

And if you’re planning to keep the backplate on (as anyone would for structural integrity and looks), forget it. Not even close to fitting. I had to go source my own longer screws from Amazon just to finish the job. That’s extra delay, extra cost, and extra headache for something that should be standard.

It’s wild that a company making thermal products doesn’t account for… thermal pads. At this point, it feels like they just throw a handful of random hardware into a bag and hope you don’t notice.

TL;DR: Block looks great, performance is probably fine once you get it installed—but the included screws are useless unless you like running your GPU raw. Either be ready to improvise, or buy something from a brand that actually QA’s their mounting kits.

Right up front, the numbers. With the stock air cooler, full load test, I was seeing 80C-85C Core temp and hot spot temp of 95C-100C, at 100% fan speed. I have custom loop water cooling on the CPU (7950x3d), and at full load, CPU temp is around 75C. That's with a 140x280mm rad.
When adding this cooler, I also added a 120x360mm rad to the top, and moved the old rad from the top to the front of the case. Now, the loop goes Pump -> GPU -> CPU -> top rad -> front rad -> reservoir/pump. Top rad is blowing up, front rad is blowing in, rear 140mm fan exhausting as well.
New temps after 1 hour furmark: GPU core 42C, Hot Spot 58C, Memory 62C, GCD 57C, all other temps are below 50C on this card. CPU temp is now 78C, which makes sense since the warmer water from the 440 W GPU is going directly into the CPU, but the temps are perfectly fine and I haven't touched my overclock settings at all.
Based on the performance, appearance, size, etc. of this cooler, I would absolutely recommend it. HOWEVER, there are NO installation directions in the box whatsoever. I had an insert with a exploded diagram of a CPU cooler installation, but none of the sides have English on them. Not that it matters, since that was clearly not the right diagram.
Here's how I installed it: I removed the rear IO shield, heatsink and fans, backplate, and the large rectangle support bracket. Basically, strip the card down to the bare board. Clean, clean, clean, clean. Get as much of the old paste and pads off as you possibly can. Use a VERY soft tooth brush and some 91% isopropyl alcohol to very gently massage away the old material so that everything is clean. Then rinse the board with the alcohol, and let it dry. You will get some under the GPU die and memory dies, and you can't reach that to dry it. You just have to wait, like a day or so to be safe.
Then look at the block. There are some holes that are not shared by the backplate that do align with holes in the GPU board. These are not the same holes that your stock cooler used for the GPU mounting. They are a little father out. Cut the thermal pads to size and cover the modules indicated in the screen shot of the marketing images above. Then, apply the thermal grease to the GPU. You will want to spread this around to absolutely ensure even, no bubble or gaps, full coverage of the die. Then put a small 1/4 pea sized drop in the middle, to encourage spreading when you apply the cooler.
Lower the cooler down over the GPU, and inspect thoroughly from the sides to make sure it's aligned properly.
Hold the parts together carefully and flip over to access the back side of the GPU board. Find the small black screws that do not have springs on them, and put them in a little at a time, going in a cross pattern until you have gotten them snug. DO NOT over torque them, and make sure you don't deform your GPU board too badly at this stage. Mine was a little bowed, but that's the thermal pads holding it apart slightly. Now, look at the stock backplate and locate the old location for the pads on the back. I transferred my old pads straight over to make sure that doesn't overheat something. Their diagram doesn't say to do this, but it fit, so I did it.
Then **** down the backplate with the long screws that have threading only part way. Go in an x pattern, and keep the strain even. Tighten them reasonably well down but don't over torque.
Put your IO shield back on, starting with the two edges that go between the GPU board and the backplate. It might require some delicate work to get it in and straight. Lastly, put the 3 tiny, tiny screws into the io shield over the display ports.
Figure out your coolant direction. I don't think flow direction. I installed the GPU, and have flow coming up from beneath into the hole near the power cables, then going up from the hole closer to the IO shield. Plug the other two holes, and DO NOT overtighten. You are putting metal threads into plastic, and you will damage threads if you overtighten.
Prime the loop carefully, work out as many air bubbles as you can. I used an external power supply to run the pump for a few seconds at a time until I had all the big air out. Then I physically manipulated my case around to ensure the rads weren't trapping a bunch of air. Then I topped it off, and completed assembly. It will take a few days of normal use for the thermal material to thin out enough to get best performance and longer than that for all the air to work out of the loop. You'll need to top it off a few times. Keep an eye on it.