We’ve heard of GPU manufacturers encouraging users to make sure their graphics cards are mounted in the correct orientation before, but Japanese card-maker, Sycom, has taken things to another level. Its new G-Master Hydro RTX 4080 Super includes not one but two spirit levels to help users be sure their card is installed as perfectly as possible.
What’s more, this best graphics card contender is more than just harmoniously horizontal. It also includes both a trio of fans on the Nvidia card and a whole extra 240mm AIO liquid cooler for the GPU, which is wafted by two Noctua fans.
The combination – along with the interesting choice of a militaristic slightly luminous green design – makes for the most bizarre-looking of graphics cards that seems intent on ensuring it will break the color-coordination of any PC, whatever color scheme has been chosen.
The green styling and spirit level is actually something we’ve seen before from a Chinese brand called Manli. They’ve previously released an RTX 4090 variant with essentially the same air cooler design as this card but without the AIO part as well. Sycom has just taken things to the next level with its ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ card design.
While a sight to make for sore eyes, the G-Master Hydro RTX 4080 Super will no-doubt be a very effective graphics card in terms of its ability to maintain peak clock speeds under high loads, as its dual-cooler arrangement should keep it very cool. It should also manage to do so while being quiet too.
As for why you might want spirit levels on your graphics card, well there is some logic to this. Some GPUs that use vapor chamber coolers only operate properly when the card is in the right orientation. Plus, AIO coolers work best when the card and radiator are correctly position in relation to each other. Ultimately, neither of those considerations really needs spirit level… level accuracy but it’s a fun nod to making sure you get your gaming PC configured correctly.
Unfortunately, all this potentially impressive performance isn’t something that any user can buy off the shelf and use when looking to build a gaming PC. Sycom is a gaming PC system integrator that customizes the GPUs itself for installation into its own gaming PCs, so currently you can only get the card as part of a whole PC. The option currently listed includes a 14700K and costs a total of 462K Yen, or around $3,000.
If you’d like to recreate something akin to the G-Master Hydro RTX 4080 Super yourself, there are plenty of 240mm AIO liquid coolers that can be retro-fitted to GPUs, with the likes of NZXT offering a custom bracket specifically for aiding in mounting its coolers on GPUs. Meanwhile, you can grab yourself a handful of tiny spirit levels for just a few bucks on the likes of Amazon and just stuck ’em to your card.
If you’re not so into customizing your graphics card, though, you can also just check out our best graphics card guide for our latest recommendations that don’t need modification.