Asus RTX TUF OC Water Block Questions

[Jaihun]

Hi there, I'm quite new to water cooling and after a long wait my 3080 TUF water block finally arrived yesterday. Overall build quality seems very good, but there was some drilling residue on both holes for fittings - luckily I could just scrape them off without having plastic bits in the cooler. However, I do have some questions on which I hope that you can help:

1. Cooler side thermal pads --> OK, but numbering was incorrectly printed & at least my TUF model didn't have 2 chips as illustrated on the guide
2. Backplate side thermal pads --> Here I run into issues, the thermal pads didn't correspond to the ones that Asus had as stock, size seemed to be wrong (nr12), and height of the thermal pads didn't level either - so I ended using the stock pads. However, I did use the additional (?) pads nr. 6 and 8 - and these do leave a gap between card and backplate (not sure if also nr. 7 has a gap). Would it be possible to post a picture of the card with Alphacool pads on it - and how the placement of thermal pads ideally should be? The GPU itself works, and didn't at least in my short test yesterday overheat.
3. Led's --> Unfortunately the led’s on the card don’t work. I have connected them to the only place, where they fit on my MB (Asus B450-I Gaming) i.e. with the digital RGB controller, but the lights don’t get on with Asus Aura. The connector on my MB works just fine for other led’s.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[djvj*]

It could be wrong size pads set placed in the package. If you could write an email to our support team: info@alphacool.com we can send you correct set of pads.

 

[Eddy]

LEDs - Any other controler available to check them?

 

[Jaihun]

Hi again, and thanks for your quick reply on mailing. For the led's, I don't know if there's an adapter for the Corsair Commander pins, but at least I don't have one and therefore can't test in some other way.

 

[Eddy]

Corair has a an own connection standard but they also offer adaptor cables from their connectors to standard 3-Pin 5V connections. Are you sure that you used the aRGB header and not the RGB header on your board? Because Aurora is only a standard rgb or argb controller with an own software, nothing more. There is nothing special on it, only the software.
But please feel free to write an email to our support team if you bought it directly from us. If not, start an RMA at your reseller where you got the parts from.

Our support email: info@alphacool.com

 

[Jaihun]

I'm already in contact with support as they are sending new thermal pads, but just curious, would I need a RMA to get working led's - or can I buy a spare set of led's and replace them myself.

 

[Eddy]

Maybe our supprt team will sent you new LEDs. I am marketing not the support team, so i am not able to decide this. Please ask them directly over email: info@alphacool.com
They will let you know how they can help you.

 

[Jaihun]

Hi again, small recap of what happened and how it ended, for anyone with similar issues. Support said that I received incorrect set of thermal pads, meant for some other card - and that led's were defective. I quickly received a package with new led strip, and with thermal pads.

Support didn't have the original thermal pads, and instead I received 8 pieces of 'Alphacool Thermal Pad for NexXxoS GPX' with various thickness. This is quite unfortunate since I don't have much experience working with thermal pads, and making sure that they all get proper contact to the cooler/backplate - but I'm sure that people with lots of experience would find this very easy.

All in all, I'm happy with the TUF water block - and just wish that others ordering the same cooler with get the correct set of thermal pads.