Introduction

Phanteks started off in 2007 and is relatively new to the market. It is amazing to me what they have achieved within the past decade, becoming a forefront brand for cases in particular. They started out with CPU coolers, and it took another nine years before they ventured into custom liquid cooling. Today, we take a look at their first GPU waterblock - the Glacier GTX 1080 Founders Edition block. Thanks to Phanteks for providing a review sample.


The Glacier GTX 1080 Founders Edition is a full-cover GPU block in that it makes contact with and cools the GPU core, VRMs, and VRAM. Core-only GPU blocks, while practical in that they can be transferred over to newer GPUs, have not been even remotely as popular as the full cover ones owing to aesthetics, and it is good to see Phanteks going this route also. They have done a lot of things right for what is essentially a new product line entirely, so let us begin with a look at the specs below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Phanteks sent this in a plastic envelope packaging, which I did not photograph. Inside was the GPU block's packaging surrounded by two thick, shaped pieces of foam, which was nice to see. The GPU packaging itself is luxurious if I say so myself: a thick two-piece packaging held together with a couple seals and the Phanteks brand everywhere. The product name and inclusion in their Glacier series is referenced on the front and side respectively. Open the box and you see the product's user manual (online copy here). This does need to be improved upon in my opinion as the details in the installation section are not sufficient for a first-time user, and the distinction between the different screws provided needs to be better explained as well.


Another piece of foam, a sheet this time, covers the rest of the components underneath. Remove it and we see a thick foam compartment with cutouts for the various included accessories and the block itself. The first impressions here have been very good overall. In terms of other provided accessories, you get two spare G1/4" stop plugs, a tube of Phanteks PH-NDC thermal paste with a thermal conductivity rating of 4.5 W/mK, an RGB LED cable for the block, an RGB cable adapter to use with a case/motherboard, and the RGB Y-splitter and installation items themselves - thermal pads (0.75 or 1.25 mm thick), twenty M2.5 x 5 screws and their accompanying washers, four hex nuts, and an H4 hex wrench to aid in disassembly of the NVIDIA Founders Edition cooler from the GPU as you get it. Note that Phanteks does not promise any disassembly/re-assembly materials or instructions for any GPU that uses the reference PCB but a third-party cooler, but the block with the provided installation materials will still work fine. The only issue would be whether or not any stock backplate will still fit, which we will talk about in due time.