BullsLab turns RTX 2080 Ti blower GPU into special Cyberpunk 2077 edition

BullsLab takes on a very unusual modification of their RTX 2080 Ti GPU. Although past its prime, it remains a high-end card capable of handling modern games. During the Turing era, the market was flooded with cryptocurrency mining business, many producing their own blower-style GPUs to fit large clusters, often without NVIDIA’s official backing. That period is long over, and with mining demand gone, Turing cards have become affordable and widely available, making them great candidates for custom projects.

As we recall, NVIDIA once launched a limited Cyberpunk 2077 Edition of the RTX 2080 Ti. It was based on the Founders Edition card, but its PCB design was not as unique as today’s Founders models and largely followed reference layouts. BullsLab decided to see if a blower-style RTX 2080 Ti could be retrofitted with that rare Cyberpunk cooler, which recently appeared on eBay, as we reported earlier this year. The reviewer managed to secure one and decided to attempt the conversion. While the cooler still had its protective film attached, it showed clear signs of previous use, including worn pads and small scratches, likely the only way to obtain such a piece today.

The donor GPU was an Inno3D blower model without a backplate. BullsLab bought it cheaply since the cooler was being replaced anyway. RTX 20 reference PCBs share a high level of compatibility, so the fit was expected to work from the start.

The cooler cost 187 USD. It arrived with protective film still attached, but there were signs of prior use, including worn pads and a small scratch. It was not a new service part but appeared to be removed from a used card, as the seller mentioned it was not original.

Source: BullsLab

During installation, the reference Cyberpunk shroud blocked the donor card’s 4-pin fan header area. BullsLab ripped the plastic guide pins off, insulated the exposed section with tape, and reused missing extra screws from another reference RTX 20 card, as the cooler kit arrived with missing fasteners and unusual hex screws.

Source: BullsLab

Before the swap, the blower-style RTX 2080 Ti scored 13,800 points in Time Spy, running between 79 °C and 84 °C with hotspots hitting 100 °C at 280 W. The fan spun at 3,500 RPM (87 %) with noise levels around 58 dB during gaming and 64 dB at full speed. After installing the Cyberpunk cooler, the score rose to 14,142, temperatures dropped to 69–70 °C in Time Spy and around 72 °C in extended gaming, with a peak of 75 °C at the same power limit. Clocks held roughly 50 MHz higher on average, and noise fell to 52 dB in games and 59 dB at maximum fan speed.

Overall, performance gains were relatively small and came mainly from better sustained clocks, but the noise improvement was clear.

Source: BullsLab

The finished card now closely resembles the original Cyberpunk 2077 Edition. Despite minor cosmetic flaws from used parts, the end result looks impressive.

Source: BullsLab

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