MSI 1080Ti Sea Hawk X vs Corsair Hydro GFX GTX 1080 Ti

Wolf-R1

[H]ard|Gawd
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Might be a stupid question but does anyone know if there is any difference between these cards other than $50 less for the one MSI is selling? They look identical to me, specs and everything. Is there something I'm missing?
 
As much as I'd like to go with a custom water loop again I don't have the time. I'm going to do Corsair cooling for both video card and CPU. I was going to get the Corsair branded version but saw this yesterday and can't see any difference between these two other than $50 less which I would gladly take!
 
As much as I'd like to go with a custom water loop again I don't have the time. I'm going to do Corsair cooling for both video card and CPU. I was going to get the Corsair branded version but saw this yesterday and can't see any difference between these two other than $50 less which I would gladly take!


Consider the "semi-custom" route of an Alphacool Eisbaer with the quick connect fittings. I'm running an Eisbaer 420 on a 1080ti with an EKWB full coverage water block. Installation was simple, took maybe 30 mins total. Although admittedly I was migrating to a new case at the time, so I setup the CPU block/pump brackets easily.

Adding in the waterblock for the gpu was as simple as attaching the expansion lines, screwing the fittings into the block. It's not as pretty as a full custom loop, but you save an assload of time not cutting/bending tubing, mounting a bunch of BS (pump is integrated into the cpu block), just attach the radiator/fans, attach the block, add the expansion tubes, attach gpu waterblock, shake it around a bunch with the pump elevated to get any air out, and you're GTG.


Edit: I re-read and realize that I think you're talking about something similar in a Corsair product, anyway, checkout the Alphacool Eisbaer options, I'm really thrilled with mine.
 
I'm looking at Alphacool's site now. It's definitely intriguing however I recall seeing that their AIO models didn't perform as well as discrete Corsair models. Correct me if I'm wrong.

And I'm reading that the Eisbaer pump can be noisy...
 
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I'm looking at Alphacool's site now. It's definitely intriguing however I recall seeing that their AIO models didn't perform as well as discrete Corsair models. Correct me if I'm wrong.

And I'm reading that the Eisbaer pump can be noisy...


No noise from my pump, although there definitely seems to be a large contingent of people that can't figure out how to purge the trapped air from them. I had no issues, but yeah, they'll make some noise if you're too daft to figure this out. Fluid pumps are not designed to pump air, and when they encounter air, it'll lead to noise.

As far as the performance, it'll depend on size I'm sure. I've got the 420mm model, which is pretty huge (fits nicely in Thermaltake Core p3, largest size it'll accommodate). Although the fans that come with it, aren't real PWM fans, they're large and quiet, and I'm having no problem cooling my CPU and GPU. Because of the size, they stuck with super quiet, fixed speed fans for the larger models, but this leaves me some upgrade path if I need to go with higher perf PWM fans later.

I also haven't messed with the pump speed at all yet, just haven't needed it yet even with my 1080ti OC'd to 1924mhz so far, but planning to attempt higher clock.


I can't compare to Corsair, since I've never seen one in person, let alone tried one. I can say that coming from a large Noctua CPU cooler and stock cooling on video cards that this thing is whisper quiet, by comparison, to my ears. AFAIK, this is the largest AIO made, so it's not really a direct comparison, unless corsair has come out with one this big since I did research. Even when I was looking at smaller versions, the reviews I read rated them as a good compromise between performance, features, and noise, build quality, etc, relative to the others available.

Another big advantage I think of the Alphacool products, is that they're one of the few, if not the only, that offers all copper components. That, along with the pure nickel EKWB waterblocks (for the metal parts at least), should mitigate most of the concerns for corrosion and make maintenance much easier, while being able to use off-the-shelf fluids, i.e. distilled water, without having to purchase specific coolant, taking care of proper storage and considering it's shelf life.



Galvanic corrosion especially, of aluminum parts, can be pretty destructive.


I also considered that if I wanted to go to a full custom loop later, I would have, regardless, bought the same radiator, from Alphacool because of the above mentioned all-copper construction, along with standard type fittings and interchangability of parts with the rest of the components, it made sense to me, as opposed to going with either the a) absolute best reviewed performance, or b) absolute lowest price., researching on my own indicated a low failure rate that wasn't operator error, and a company willing to support even the knucklehead customers, who take pride in the quality of their products. Ultimately I would easily be able to swap components in and out if I decided to go fully custom later, without a lot of loss of value.

Got the 420mm model for around $150 shipped, seemed like a no-brainer to me.
 
Newegg put the MSI 1080Ti SeaHawk up for US$709 and I bit- have to say that I'm now a fan. I don't really see how a custom loop could really improve much in terms of noise or performance really.
 
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