 Today I'm going to be unboxing something that I purchased for myself. This is an EK GTX 480 full cover block. It's an acrylic nickel version. So let's go ahead and break the seals on this guy. So this is for the system upgrade that I've been well had in progress for quite some time. So I just have a quick disconnect fitting in my system right now bridging my CPU and my radiator. But what I'll be doing is I'll be putting this graphics card in between and then plumbing it in. So this is an MSI GTX 480 card that will be going along with the rest of my system. So it comes in an orange box and also comes with some accessories. So the first thing we're going to find inside are some thermal pads. It's important to use a good quality thermal pad when you're installing any kind of aftermarket cooler on your graphics card because if you use a lousy one it might not make contact which may not have any noticeable negative effects right away but it could dramatically shorten the lifespan of the card. It comes with two stoppers which are...oh it looks like they've changed the style of their stoppers. They used to not have an Allen key. They were actually...had like a top that you close with a wrench instead but it looks like they're using a different style now. They've got O-rings to go with some spacers. So if you have barbs or compression fittings with long threads you can use these spacers in order to make sure that they don't hit the stopper on the other side. If you have a block that you've run into this before with you'll know what I mean. They have also a washer here as well as a little spacer for...it looks like it goes around the GPU as well as screws that go into the back of the GPU to keep the block on from the back. You also get a black and white instruction sheet that shows you how to install the block on your card and a little reminder don't forget other EK products for your water cooling system. Okay and then we have the nickel plated block itself. Very dramatic looking, very heavy, very very nice. I've always been a big admirer of EK's pro cover blocks. They're my personal favorite with coolants coming in as a close second. I mean just the the finish on these is mirror-like in quality as you can clearly see it's very very very reflective surface and the thing about the nickel plating is that it is non-oxidizing. If you get a copper block yeah you might like the look of the copper block but I guarantee you if I touched it like this and then left it for six months it would have a disgusting fingerprint that you can only remove by polishing it so that means if you like touch your block or you take it apart to clean it and accidentally leave a fingerprint in it the only way to get it off is to take like a toothbrush and some Brasso and like clean the heck out of it and then and then like polish it and it that's a lot of work. Nickel looks nice stays looking nice so it's it's that simple. So I'm gonna go ahead and install this on the card I'll probably do a little guide about that but why don't you come in close and get some product shots of the FC 480 GTX and hopefully this will allow me to keep that card nice and cool nice and quiet well I know it will allow me to keep it cool and quiet but there you go here's all the machined surfaces on the back so these are gonna make contact with the RAM this is for the GPU itself I'll use thermal paste here and then pads on the rest of it this is for something else and then this is for the VRM's. Thank you for checking out my unboxing don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips