As reported by hardwareLuxx, water cooling manufacturer Bykski has created a water block for the new Intel Arc A380 graphics card, known as I-GNA380-X. For a graphics card that is about as voracious as the GTX 1650, this new water block is superfluous as it is only 75W. Nevertheless, it is a compact, single-slot unit that will make the Arc A380 look like a fast, premium graphics card.
For reference, this unit is for the Gunnir Arc A380 Photon only and will not work with any other A380 AIB partner graphics cards.
The block itself is made of nickel-plated copper and covered with an acrylic clear cover. The block will cool three A380 components: the GPU core, the video memory and the power delivery system. It also features a back panel, which will probably cool some components on the back side of the PCB and should add some extra bling to the graphics card. Speaking of which, the water block also includes RGB lighting that illuminates the entire acrylic cover.
As mentioned earlier, the block turns the Gunnir graphics card into a single-slot card, so this block may be functionally useful for the very few people who need to squeeze an Arc A380 into their single-slot PC.
It’s unknown how well this water block will cool, but it’s safe to say that it’s incredibly excessive for the device, and temperature certainly won’t be an issue for the Arc A380 even with Gunnir’s stock cooler.
But the first problem you’ll encounter is unstable GPU drivers in the first place. Intel Arc graphics cards often run into problems, many of which include driver problems. Earlier on the web you could see tests of the Intel Arc A380 in which the GPU never reached its rated power or even close to it.
More recent reviews of the graphics card don’t seem to have this problem, but it still suffers from stability issues due to raw drivers, and the A380 also still suffers from poor performance, depending on the game.
So, for better or worse, the Bykski unit will be largely useless until the Arc A380 fixes its reliability problems and is finally sold outside of China.