So I pretty much never post to forums so forgive me if I am breaking some rules or in the wrong thread, however there is almost no information on doing this mod with the Kraken G12 at the time of writing this so I thought I would share in case it will help anyone attempting the same thing. Keep in mind that everyone's setup is different, so I'm not responsible if you attempt this and break something. I recently stepped up to an EVGA 1080 TI FE and love the card (thanks EVGA) but was pretty underwhelmed with the thermals, and since the EVGA mod is still unavailable I decided to use the new Kraken g12 with a Corsair h90 to remedy this. Here is the finished product (Ignore the messy wiring, I will deal with that later).   
 
I didn't originally plan on doing a write up so I don't have any pictures of the tear-down, however I recommend checking out the Gamer's Nexus video on youtube for the 1080 TI FE for a guide on removing the cooler in one piece. Once I had my card down to the PCB, I placed my stock thermal pads back on the old cooler, removed the old thermal paste from the GPU, and began installing my own heatsinks onto the card. You may be able to get away with not using heatsinks at all since the G12 has a fan for this purpose and the VRM components can handle alot of heat, but I decided to be cautious and use them anyway. I used arctic thermal pads from amazon, (One 50mmx50mmx1mm and One 50mmx50mmx.5mm sheet) and two packs of VRAM heatsinks (8 pack) and one pack of FET heatsinks (20 pack) but I would recommend getting two instead since I didn't have enough to put one on every component. I removed the adhesive from the bottom of the heatsinks and cleaned off any residue with 90% rubbing alcohol, then cut the Arctic thermal pads to size, using the 1mm pads for the VRAM heatsinks and .5mm for the FET heatsinks. The thermal tape that comes with the heatsinks may be sufficient, but there was no information on its conductivity so I opted to replace it. Something to remember is to be careful not to short anything out with the metal heatsinks, I made sure that the thermal pads were covering the entire bottom of the heatsink to prevent this. Make sure to firmly press your heatsinks on so that they don't fall off as well, and clean off any residue from the old thermal pads as it will prevent the new ones from sticking.

Once you have the heatsinks on your VRM and VRAM, you can install the G12 mounting bracket, which conveniently just clears the VRAM heatsinks I used, and apply a thin layer of thermal paste over the GPU die. I used Arctic MX-4 as it is not electrically conductive which will keep you from frying your card if paste gets on any exposed circuitry. Since the GPU doesn't have an IHS like a CPU, I would not recommend the pea method as you want full coverage and spillover is not as big of a deal.

The G12 includes two foam spacers that its instructions will tell you to apply to the bracket before mounting it to the card, but I found that they put an unnecessarily high amount of strain on the PCB in my setup (almost to the point of causing damage) and I personally recommend leaving them out on this specific card unless your components are touching the G12 somehow. I then attached the h90 pump/coldplate to the g12, and then attached the G12 to the mounting bracket on the card, and was careful to tighten it evenly so that the coldplate was flush with the GPU. DO NOT tighten the screws until they stop or you run the risk of cracking your GPU die, you just want the screws to be snug and evenly tight. If the coldplate looks crooked or the screws are unevenly tightened, I recommend backing them out until they barely catch the threads and slowly tightening them a couple turns at a time in a star pattern. Once your G12/pump is mounted to the card, you're ready to install it, but you could reinstall the backplate at this point if you wanted, however you would need to find some nuts to use on the screws that secured the old cooler, as the backplate screws thread into them.
 
I don't have any pictures of the card assembled outside of the case or of installing it, as I didn't plan on doing a write up, but make sure before hand that you will be able to fit the components in your case, as my huge Cryorig R1 prevented me from mounting my radiator as a top or rear exhaust as I had originally planned, and I was forced to mount it to the front intake fans using XSPC radiator mounts I had bought from Amazon, which is definitely not an ideal setup. This probably would have been adverted had I bought an NZXT cooler instead as they have 16" hoses opposed to the usual 12" hoses on other Asetek AIO's, but I wanted Corsair's 5 year warranty and the H90 is cheaper than an x42 or x41.
 
After I connected the pump, radiator fan, and G12 fan to the MOBO and powered it on, I was relieved to find that I didn't brick my card, and that it was now Idling at 30C as opposed to the 41C I was getting on the stock cooler. Under load I am now getting a new max temp of 43C on the GPU (Edit:seeing 48-50c once the loop heats up) vs the stock cooler's 70C at 80% fan. I was going to attach some pictures of GPU-z and Precision X here to show the temps but it won't let me upload more than four pictures for some reason so I may add a follow up post with pictures of temperatures if people care about that. I know a big concern of most people that consider going this route is whether or not the G10/G12's fan will properly cool the VRM in the absence of the stock midplate, but with my IR thermometer I found that the VRM and VRAM were not exceeding 40C under load, and that there was only one hot spot on the back of the PCB where the VRM is located that reached 52C, which is still within acceptable ranges. Its worth mentioning that most reports of high VRM temperatures with the G10 seemed to be a result of the tester using Furmark, which I refuse to run as its an unrealistic test and I don't want to kill my card for no reason. Once again, I can try to follow up with more pictures of the temperatures but this was all I could get to upload.
  Here is the hottest point I could find on the card on either side while under load.
All in all I would still recommend getting a card with better air cooling rather than converting a Founders Edition like I did, but if you already have a Founders Edition and think that this looks like too much work I would instead recommend getting the EVGA hybrid kit if it is ever available. However if you want a radiator bigger than 120mm for your 1080 Ti FE and don't mind some extra work, a G10/G12 and AIO combo is definitely a viable option. Also keep in mind that doing this will probably void your warranty so don't attempt this if you can't afford to replace your card in a worst case scenario.
 
 Edit:Having hard time adding pictures? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks Duke, now I just have to figure out how to make all those wires disappear lol

Its for the H90 pump, I have an extension on it so it can reach the water pump header on my Mobo but I'm thinking of adding another so I can route it though a cutout behind the ssd. I would have done it when I put the card in but I didn't want to do all that work and have to take it out if there was a problem

I like the white aesthetic, very nice

arestavo
Awesome!
 
You should add your build over on ModRigs!  You can link to it in your profile like mine under my username.

Thanks guys!

What's the dimensions for the FET and VRAM? will 7x7mm do fine for FET and 15x15 for VRAM?

Edit:I used the enokay 14x12x5.5mm for the VRAM and some of the bunched up FETs and the Cosmos 20 pk which did not give the dimensions on the package but they are roughly a 1/4 the size of the VRAM sinks
I will have to check when I get home, I bought all my heatsinks on Amazon though (the ones with Chinese on the box) and they were made for FETs and VRAM respectively so the fit was pretty close

Valtrius Malleus
That looks fantastic. I didn't know the G12 worked with Corsiar AIOs, I thought it was just NZXT's AIOs it was compatible with. Where did you get your G12 from?

I bought the G12 from nzxt directly and they have a list of the different coolers you can use on their site, if you wanted a cheaper version of this the corsair h55 works and is just 60 bucks on Amazon, plus 30 bucks plus shipping for the g12

Valtrius Malleus
It looks really thick in your first pic. How thick is the G12 since I've got two 1080Ti's in SLI. Is it 2.5 card slots or still just 2? I should be alright either way since I've also got a slot between my cards but I might not when I upgrade my mobo next month.

I'm not sure to be honest but depending on where you can put your hoses it might be possible, SLI is out of the question on my build since the only way I could run my hoses without putting alot of pressure on the card was to let them hang like that, there should be dimensions on the nzxt site though, so if you measure from your 1st pci slot to the next and add a little room (10mm?) for the mounting bracket you could check like that


Edit #2: It looks like SLI will work as long as you can attach your hoses to the bracket to keep them out of the way, took a picture to better show the spacing, the front part of the bracket you see there is about 3/4 of an inch past where the bottom card would be so you only have to worry about the pump and G12 fan
 

Schlomo
NZXT says VRM temps are around 45degrees without heatsinks and just the G12 itself, are VRM heatsinks really needed at all? It costs me around 40-50euro to do the heatsink mod for one card.

Honestly you may be fine without them, you can always try it without and check your temps then add them later if you feel it's getting too hot. VRM components are usually rated for something like 120C so unless you have a case that has limited airflow or its very hot where you live its probably overkill to add them. I went ahead and put them on mine for peace of mind, but that money may have been better spent on upgrading the G12's fan to a Noctua or something

arestavo

Schlomo
NZXT says VRM temps are around 45degrees without heatsinks and just the G12 itself, are VRM heatsinks really needed at all? It costs me around 40-50euro to do the heatsink mod for one card.

I run a G10 without VRM or VRAM heat sinks. It worked fine for a 980 Ti Classified, a 980 Ti G1 Gaming, a 1080 ACX 3.0, and now my 1080 Ti DR.

VRM temps were around 60 to 70 degrees C and VRAM temps were 20 to 30C lower - all while looping the Valley benchmark while overclocked. I've got a large case with three 200mm fans blowing in from the side, and that likely helps keep things nice and cool along with the little G10 fan.

What kind of 1080 ti do you have? I can't find any onboard temperature readings on mine (EVGA) besides the GPU temperature in both Precision X and GPU-Z, or did you measure manually too? Id like to be able to check my other temps without taking the panel off and using my IR thermometer lol.

arestavo

owhatnow6

arestavo

Schlomo
NZXT says VRM temps are around 45degrees without heatsinks and just the G12 itself, are VRM heatsinks really needed at all? It costs me around 40-50euro to do the heatsink mod for one card.

I run a G10 without VRM or VRAM heat sinks. It worked fine for a 980 Ti Classified, a 980 Ti G1 Gaming, a 1080 ACX 3.0, and now my 1080 Ti DR.

VRM temps were around 60 to 70 degrees C and VRAM temps were 20 to 30C lower - all while looping the Valley benchmark while overclocked. I've got a large case with three 200mm fans blowing in from the side, and that likely helps keep things nice and cool along with the little G10 fan.

What kind of 1080 ti do you have? I can't find any onboard temperature readings on mine (EVGA) besides the GPU temperature in both Precision X and GPU-Z, or did you measure manually too? Id like to be able to check my other temps without taking the panel off and using my IR thermometer lol.

The 1080 Ti Founders Edition from a step up of the 1080 iCX base model, which was from the 1080 ACX 3.0 base model to iCX upgrade, which I stepped up from a 980 Ti Classified (woah, right?).
 
I used a wireless thermal gun and tested directly on the VRMs, which may not be super accurate due to the reflective properties of the VRMs, the backside of the VRMs at the metal posts that protrude and the immediate surrounding area, as well as the front of the card in the immediate surrounding PCB which gave a closer approximation for temperatures which, being the hottest of the all the values, I went with. Since the VRMs are rated for ~120C, and they were well below even the 100C thermal throttle threshold, there won't be any issues. The VRAM temps should be spot on since they don't have that reflective issue - they were a lot cooler for obvious reasons (seeing as how they don't handle lots and lots of power).
 
Checking is fairly simple since the G10 bracket allows for testing most of the front of the card, and the back without a backplate is completely open to test out the backside of the VRMs.

Oh okay, that's pretty much what I did except for that it was hard for me to get any measurements on the back of the PCB underneath my CPU cooler, or on the inside of the card since the G12 sits so close to it. I was definitely expecting all of the VRM and VRAM components to run hotter than they did though, especially since some people on different forums had made a big deal out of it on posts Ive read about the G10.  

owhatnow6

arestavo

owhatnow6

arestavo

Schlomo
NZXT says VRM temps are around 45degrees without heatsinks and just the G12 itself, are VRM heatsinks really needed at all? It costs me around 40-50euro to do the heatsink mod for one card.

I run a G10 without VRM or VRAM heat sinks. It worked fine for a 980 Ti Classified, a 980 Ti G1 Gaming, a 1080 ACX 3.0, and now my 1080 Ti DR.

VRM temps were around 60 to 70 degrees C and VRAM temps were 20 to 30C lower - all while looping the Valley benchmark while overclocked. I've got a large case with three 200mm fans blowing in from the side, and that likely helps keep things nice and cool along with the little G10 fan.

What kind of 1080 ti do you have? I can't find any onboard temperature readings on mine (EVGA) besides the GPU temperature in both Precision X and GPU-Z, or did you measure manually too? Id like to be able to check my other temps without taking the panel off and using my IR thermometer lol.

The 1080 Ti Founders Edition from a step up of the 1080 iCX base model, which was from the 1080 ACX 3.0 base model to iCX upgrade, which I stepped up from a 980 Ti Classified (woah, right?).
 
I used a wireless thermal gun and tested directly on the VRMs, which may not be super accurate due to the reflective properties of the VRMs, the backside of the VRMs at the metal posts that protrude and the immediate surrounding area, as well as the front of the card in the immediate surrounding PCB which gave a closer approximation for temperatures which, being the hottest of the all the values, I went with. Since the VRMs are rated for ~120C, and they were well below even the 100C thermal throttle threshold, there won't be any issues. The VRAM temps should be spot on since they don't have that reflective issue - they were a lot cooler for obvious reasons (seeing as how they don't handle lots and lots of power).
 
Checking is fairly simple since the G10 bracket allows for testing most of the front of the card, and the back without a backplate is completely open to test out the backside of the VRMs.

Oh okay, that's pretty much what I did except for that it was hard for me to get any measurements on the back of the PCB underneath my CPU cooler, or on the inside of the card since the G12 sits so close to it. I was definitely expecting all of the VRM and VRAM components to run hotter than they did though, especially since some people on different forums had made a big deal out of it on posts Ive read about the G10.  

Yeah, I was expecting the same and was wondering why NZXT hasn't fixed the issue in a newer model.
With some googling, the card that is commonly reported having VRM issues with the Kraken G10 is the Radeon 290/X.
 
Speaking of the G12 has anyone in EU been able to pre order or buy it yet? I've been googling everyday last week and no retailer has them yet, NZXT has unfortunately no EU shop.

Very tempted to try this, just not overly excited to take apart my GPU. I have replaced the stock cooler in the past with a gigantic after-market cooler and was not a fun job, although the results were totally worth it.

DrunkMexican
Very tempted to try this, just not overly excited to take apart my GPU. I have replaced the stock cooler in the past with a gigantic after-market cooler and was not a fun job, although the results were totally worth it.

Yea I was pretty nervous when taking mine apart since this is the nicest/newest graphics card I've ever owned and EVGA put a "warranty void if removed" sticker over one of the backplate screws so there wasn't any turning back once I started, now that its done though and my computer doesn't sound like a jet engine every time I boot up a game I'm pretty glad I made the switch