* Installed today Radeon HD 7970 *

[Sandog]

Roll-yer-own

My water cooling setup is the best thing going in my system. You can get very customized with doing it yourself. Performance is also top notch, I think I could cool well over 500W of heat in needed. Mine is very quiet to, all I hear are my two top case fans. Couldn't be happier. Will be adding a water block to the video card this year.

[CrowdAds]

[XJ.]

Originally Posted by Sir Skully

A bigger roll your own GPU water cooling, in most cases is better then
off the shelf kits. I've had both and prefer roll your own. Mine is a lot of
cooling for a single card. 3Xrad... 6 fan setup to push pull/pump all
for one card. But someday I will maybe add a mobo full cover water
block...

Yeah, my reasoning for lower end LC was that newer CPU were running at lower TDP, even when overclocked. But seeing your load temps - GPUs sure benefit even more than I thought from a custom setup. The real catch is that you either have to void your GPU warranty or wait for a pre-installed LC cover from someone like EVGA - but those are only available on high end cards like the GTX 580.

I liked the good ole "wild west" days of overclocking and easy returns a bit better

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by XJ.

Yeah, my reasoning for lower end LC was that newer CPU were running at lower TDP, even when overclocked. But seeing your load temps - GPUs sure benefit even more than I thought from a custom setup. The real catch is that you either have to void your GPU warranty or wait for a pre-installed LC cover from someone like EVGA - but those are only available on high end cards like the GTX 580.

I liked the good ole "wild west" days of overclocking and easy returns a bit better

Yeah I hear that...

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Roll-yer-own

My water cooling setup is the best thing going in my system. You can get very customized with doing it yourself. Performance is also top notch, I think I could cool well over 500W of heat in needed. Mine is very quiet to, all I hear are my two top case fans. Couldn't be happier. Will be adding a water block to the video card this year.

Here's to Roll-yer- own
Yea you'll love water cooling your video card, yep ya have a
nice cooling system and it looks like its only gone a get better...

[Sir Skully]

Ok, I found a formula for extending voltage, core clock, memory clock, with
CCC and MSI Afterburner. Also downloaded FurMark and ran the 15min burn-in
benchmark. Yep FurMark pushes the GPU a lot harder then OCCT GPU. This is
my best so far. I've just started to play with FurMark. I'm throwing up some
pic's and you can read the numbers. FurMank gets my CPU speed wrong, but
the all the other info is correct...

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by XJ.

Yeah, my reasoning for lower end LC was that newer CPU were running at lower TDP, even when overclocked. But seeing your load temps - GPUs sure benefit even more than I thought from a custom setup. The real catch is that you either have to void your GPU warranty or wait for a pre-installed LC cover from someone like EVGA - but those are only available on high end cards like the GTX 580.

I liked the good ole "wild west" days of overclocking and easy returns a bit better

Sapphire had two series of Atomic cards that came with sealed WC already attached to the card.

[Sir Skully]

Update, 7970 with EK GPU water block is running cool and strong.
I'm just running a mild oc 1200/1600 here's a pic...

[Sandog]

Congrats Skully! Do you have a few pics?

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Congrats Skully! Do you have a few pics?

Sorry, I meant my EK GPU water block...
I edited that post to include the word * GPU *

[XJ.]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Sapphire had two series of Atomic cards that came with sealed WC already attached to the card.

Yeah, I saw those, but they also had a CPU cooler integrated in - too bad. I guess it's roll yer own or compromise

This would be nice (except for the fact that it'll be $600+):

[Sandog]

Hey XJ,

Yeah I saw that. The thing I like about EVGA's is it has a warranty block and all. Don't know if you can attach the hose to the backside like you can the EK. Also don't know if it has a backplate. The EK has IN/OUT NPT ports on both sides of the water block. I also like EK's use of nickel and that you can see through the block. The EK block will cost about $115 and the backplate is an extra $20

[Sir Skully]

I think all GPU water blocks come with i/o on both sides.
There's the need for SLI/Crossfire water cooling setups.
They most likely put the fittings on the front, cause there
ain't no back plate...

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Hey XJ,

Yeah I saw that. The thing I like about EVGA's is it has a warranty block and all. Don't know if you can attach the hose to the backside like you can the EK. Also don't know if it has a backplate. The EK has IN/OUT NPT ports on both sides of the water block. I also like EK's use of nickel and that you can see through the block. The EK block will cost about $115 and the backplate is an extra $20

This is the one you want Sandog...with backplate! GTX 680 HYDRO COPPER CLASSIFIED

EVGA | Articles | EVGA GTX 680 Graphics Cards

[Sir Skully]

EK back plate just about wrecked my Radeon HD 7970. It shorted out
for the third time. Took of the back plate, and wow it had corrosion 4 different places.
You could see where it was touching the small electronic chips on he back
of the card. I cleaned off the corrosion with a soft brush. Then used alcohol
to finish up. The back of the card now looks good, and the 7970 runs fine.
Anywho I believe I'm done with EK water blocks, back to Swiftech...

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by Sir Skully

EK back plate just about wrecked my Radeon HD 7970. It shorted out
for the third time. Took of the back plate, and wow it had corrosion 4 different places.
You could see where it was touching the small electronic chips on he back
of the card. I cleaned off the corrosion with a soft brush. Then used alcohol
to finish up. The back of the card now looks good, and the 7970 runs fine.
Anywho I believe I'm done with EK water blocks, back to Swiftech...

Man your Lucky, that would have been a bad one if it shorted out the card! Glad your got it fixed, it sure didn't take any time for it to corrode?