Huntercyril
Mandatory, no. Optional : Yes. Like said above, you would need to cool the back components, not the backplate. If the backplate isolate the heat and doesn't gather the heat of the components beneath it, then the 38 / 40°C the guy is talking about are totally irrelevant.
Also, making it mandatory will increase more the price of the HC. And I think it would be up to each to say if they really need to spend more for something they wouldn't want in the first place.
Basically it's a matter of need vs desire. Do you need it : we can't answer for sure since there's no testing yet on that card for this idea. But it's easy to assume if the card work fine aircooled, then watercooled is just for confort or pushing the card farther than air can (though currently it seems the power limit is the issue, not the temperatures). But you would need to use LN2 to push it to the extremes anyway so there wouldn't be a real need for those types of waterblock.
Now, can you want it : sure, you can desire it if you want. And if there's enough people wanting that, there'll be a product. There's already RAM blocks and HDD blocks, which only a handful of people would need, but that doesn't mean people don't want them even if they don't need it.
That's my two cents. :P
A 3090 XC3 was back-plate was hitting 97C in that same thread. GDDR6X max temp is 110C.
If you think running video memory at 100C sustained is conducive to longevity, let alone any kind of overclock, youre out of touch with reality.
Micron memory at max temp, what could go wrong?
https://www.forbes.com/si...o-flames/#7a1c9c6a4958 This is the main reason I wouldn't get a 3090 variant that isn't compatible with Aquacomputer's active back-plate even if I was in the market for this overpriced trash (25% faster than 2080 Ti @ 1440p @ 375w for $1500-1800 is overpriced trash, I don't care if it's another 10% faster at 600w, that's ridiculous)