Installation and Lighting

Installing the Alphacool Core GPU block for your specific GPU begins with removal of the stock cooler. In this case, I had received the PCB only for this water block roundup and it's quite something else to behold in person. For those curious, we have a full review of the ASUS RTX 4090 Strix here. The next step is to remove the stock I/O port bracket from the PCB—hold on to the screws. Then take off the back plate from the block/backplate ensemble, if you haven't already, to allow for the cold plate to access the PCB. Apply thermal paste and make sure you have the correct thermal pads on the front before placing the block carefully on top of the PCB while aligning the holes around the GPU core with the four standoffs on the cold plate. Then carefully flip the whole thing over and screw the block and PCB together followed by the back plate, including the specific thermal pads, as shown in the manual. The final step is to attach the Alphacool I/O bracket which also helps add further support points for the PCB now outfitted with a relatively heavy block.


The finished product looks super clean and now you know why this combination of clear top and a shiny cold plate is popular. If you are going to use colored coolant, the clear top will allow you to see it nicely. For those wanting to use the integrated RGB lighting, you have to plug in the provided cable with the smaller connector going to the port on the side near the I/O ports and the larger one headed to a standard 3-pin, 5 V ARGB header on your motherboard or other such compatible LED controller. Alphacool ensures there is enough room for the power connector but the BIOS switch is not as easy to access. As such, be sure you have it set to the BIOS of your choosing before installing the backplate.


There are 12 individually addressable RGB LEDs in the Alphacool Core GPU block for the ASUS RTX 4090 Strix/TUF and this works out quite well despite all of them being in a single row at the bottom. The clear top without any side cover/accent strip means you do see the LEDs too but it's otherwise bright enough to not be a distraction. Indeed, the entire block comes off fairly uniformly lit too. Seen above are some photos and a video showing you how the block would look with the LEDs up and running—please be aware I turned down the exposure since my camera isn't the best for videos, the block is more vibrant in real life. In case you were wondering, the various logos/branding are opaque.